Since Cody was 6 months old he and I have done most of our trips with no one else along. Once I was accused of child abuse when we pulled the canoe off of a blustery lake in Glacier Park. When he was just beginning to talk I had him saying "hey bear" from a baby backpack as we walked through the low lying Grizzly bear habitat of the Mission Range. We used to spend a trip a year on Deso before my managers decided that too was reckless and unsafe. We sat beside a campfire roasting marsh mellows at 10pm when it was still 100 degrees, because no kid should allow a seven day trip to pass without at least one campfire.
I quietly hoped that Lisa would accompany Cody and I some time, but I wanted the subject to come up at it's own pace. After she mentioned it the Highline trail the miles clicked off while we walked and talked about how we hoped the trip would go. I was excited and so was she.
The next summer I rigged things up a bit different so we could make the most of our time off and I wouldn't have to spend as much time driving. Cody wasn't used to hiking with a pack on so we planned a slow and leisurely walk in the Notch Mountain area of the High Uintas. We started at 11,000 feet and took 4 days to go 14 miles, which was definitely the slowest trip Lisa and I have ever done, but was just what we needed at the time. We had fantastic weather and the wildflowers appeared to be at their peak. We relaxed in the green grass of a high alpine summer while SLC baked at near 100 degrees. Cody spent a fair amount of time fishing with a broken fishing pole which annoyed him, but amused the hell out of me to watch.
Anyway, it was one of the more relaxed trips I've been on. In recent times it has occurred to me that since Cody is about to finish high school these kind of trips are bound to get harder to do as his world becomes busy with life. I'm sure glad Lisa brought up the idea when she did.
 |
| takin' a gander at "The Notch" |
 |
| Notch Mtn. Trailhead ~11,000' |
 |
| chillin' |
 |
| Lisa raidin' the whiskey stash |
14 mile in four days, this actually a skill/asset that we should strive to acquire.
ReplyDelete