Relax, Unwind, Renew – and Rewind

Busy, busy, busy –

·        Sept 7^th: Pratt open house, then a joyful surprise birthday party with people in from all over – and me totally clueless.

·        9^th: committee meeting at Pratt;

·        10^th: appointment at anti-coagulant clinic, meeting with lawyer to update wills and trusts;

·        11^th: two committee meetings at Pratt, birthday dinner with Ann. 

12^th: thank God, off to the Methow.

The bucolic Methow: unplug and renew in this valley of peace.  We based ourselves at the Mazama Country Inn – no TV, no radio, no nothing except fresh air and good food. 

Sept. 12^th, my day one embarkation on this 86^th year: Ann and I hiked Maple Loop, the most beautiful hike we’ve ever done – notwithstanding the Kleine Schetigg and the Grundewald, the Dolomites and Sud Tyrol, Montana’s Glacier and BC’s Waterton Park, Yosemite and Yellowstone, Lake Louise and the Ice Fields, Mts Rainier and Adams and the rest.  The Maple Pass Loop, a glacial cirque above Rainy Pass in the North Cascades.

Half-way up the north rim; Lake Ann down below.

The north rim takes one up 2,100’ in 4 miles and then curls around the lip and back down the south rim, with Ann Lake on one side and Rainy Lake on the other. We’ve done the seven and a half miles in mist and cloud; this week, in crisp, bright air. . . simply stunning either way.

 

From the lip @6,995', looking northeast into the Cirque 

From the lip, looking southwest toward Glacier Peak (left)

A panorama from the twelve-foot wide south rim; Lake Ann on the left, Rainy Lake on the right; path down the middle. 

Why did the hoary marmot cross the path?  Because he decided Ann was benign.

Friday morning, out on a northern section of the Pacific Crest Trail between Hart’s Pass and the Canadian border.  Despite its glamorous reputation, the trail itself but an unassuming track across Alpine meadow and tundra – just one foot ahead of the other.  One might hope to meet one PCT-er, but we met nine!  Four Kentuckians, 4 months and eleven days from the Mexican border and 31 miles to go; they planned to finish yesterday.  A North Dakota lad, lean and blonde, who finished Thursday, five months and 23 days, who has now walked back south to Hart’s Pass, looking for a ride down to Mazama.  A cold and wet Missouri girl, chilled through and through, calling a halt just 31 miles from her goal; she probably ran out of her food supply – they need 3,000 calories a day.  She planned to warm up a few days in Seattle and then come back and finish.  An Oregon couple, married 34 years, whom we met above Hart’s Pass, adding 31 miles to their completed 2,756; we ran into them at breakfast in town today. 

The Pacific Crest Trail north of Hart's Pass

The border crossing is just a set of post markers and a welcome to Canada sign; no guns, no badges, no questions.  Don't tell Trump.

Finally, Debra, a New Zealander, also finished and coming south. She blew by us at a pace we couldn't match. Debra caught the walking bug back home when for a charity fund-raiser, she did a sponsored walk of the 1700-some miles from south end of South Island to north end of North.  She never went back to her office job in water management civil engineering .  She has walked the Allegheny, on which she acquired a Ohioan boyfriend. Her PCT was interrupted last year in Stevens Pass by a pulmonary embolism that hospitalized her in Wenatchee for two weeks, so she came back this year to finish the last bit in 13 days.  Next: a job in Toronto and then the Continental Divide Trail from Canada to New Mexico.  We gave Debra a lift down to Mazama from where she intended to hitch to Everett and reconnect with trail pals. These free spirits are infectious – but, no, I am not about the tackle the PCT even in small increments.  Seven to ten miles are challenge enough for this lad.

The trail to Blue Lake

Today, a weekend finish on the short, simple Blue Lake Trail between Rainy and Washington Passes.  The huckleberries and blueberries have been hoovered up by the bears; larches turning yellow; small cutthroat hitting at flies in the lake; the rock spires calling for Taylor and Corriell to come and climb.   All is ancient and peaceful and the “real world” far away.  But which is that real world?

These magical 31 years with Ann; we are so lucky to have each other and to share our love of outdoor air, of views, of ascendant challenges.  Onward and upward to renew, recharge, rewind and to keep life in perspective.

PS.  On the way out, we made reservations at the Freestone for MLK Jr weekend in January.  Our winter Methow-fix.

14Sept’19