A Final Farewell at Mt Rainier 07/27- 07/28

I changed my mind and decided to write about my experience at Mt Rainier.

It is 90 degrees and humid here just as if I was in Birmingham. I got settled and took a ride up to Paradise Inn at the foot of Mt Rainier. I went inside and walked around remembering our visit here 13 years ago to the day. I went upstairs to the second floor where it looks out over the huge lobby area and sat at a small table where Janice and I sat and drank wine and played cards. I almost lost it but kept my composure and went back downstairs to eat dinner. It was hard being here without Janice because the trip we took in 1996 was one of the happiest times of her life and we always planned to come back if she got a miracle and was able to hike the mountain again. I hated having to bring her back this way but I promised I would. I went back to the camper to get a good night’s rest before hiking the next day.

I got to the mountain around 9:30 the next day for my hike up the Skyline trail to the spot where I wanted to spread Janice’s ashes. It was another hot but beautiful day. As I hiked up I saw a marmot and it brought back a happy memory from when we were here last. Janice called to a marmot like she was calling a dog and it ran to us. It didn't work this time but it made me smile. I made my way to Panorama Point and stopped for a snack. Everything looked different than it did 13 years ago. Back then it was much colder and there was a lot more snow. This was a nice place but it is not where I wanted to spread her ashes. I wanted to be at the highest point on the trail and this was not quite it. I moved on and got to the spot I remembered although there was no snow there now. It looked completely different but I knew this was the spot. I was fortunate and no one was around which was odd because there were a lot of people hiking. I said my final goodbye to Janice and prayed. Then I released her ashes as a breeze came from behind me to send her ashes a little way down the mountain. My promise to Janice had been fulfilled and then it started to rain. It was a salty rain and not from the sky. I made a cross out of rocks and started down the mountain. On my way down a peace washed over me and I knew that I now could move on with my new life. When Janice died she took a big plug out of my heart with her. She will always have that part of my heart but now it is time to re-fill that hole. I intend to live and love to the fullest as I know Janice wanted for me. I don’t know where life will take me from here but not knowing is part of the adventure. I’m grateful for the 22 years I had with Janice and I have no regrets even though the end caused so much pain. Garth Brooks said it best in his song “Our lives are better left to chance. I could have missed the pain but I’d have had to miss The Dance.”

Banff 07/21-07/26

I made my first ever border crossing as I entered Canada. It was very easy getting into Canada but we’ll see how easy it is to get back into the states. I arrived in Banff via the Kootenay National Park. This was a wonderful place with creek waters that were aqua like the waters of the Caribbean with mountains all around. I made it to my campground and there was an 8 point buck just standing by the road eating dinner. He stayed there for hours but I didn’t take a picture because I thought he came every day by the way he was acting. I never saw him again. The same thing happened with a bull elk I saw eating in the middle of our campground. I awoke the next morning intent on a bike trip to Lake Louise via the Bow River Parkway which is a scenic drive off the main highway. I ran into some rams and got a good picture. I stopped at Morraine Lake first which is right by Lake Louise and hiked around the lake a bit. Then I went to the famous Lake Louise. I thought Morraine Lake was prettier but the scenery behind Lake Louise was much better. The mountains surrounding the lake were spectacular. I then headed to Takakkaw Falls in a nearby canyon as I was told these were very big by the Canadian friends I met in Glacier. They weren’t kidding. Water was surging off the mountain and dropped 254 meters to the bottom. You could walk right up to them and get your shower for the day with the heavy mist coming off them as the water collided with the rocks at the bottom. I called it a day and headed back to camp for a nice meal. I met my neighbors who were from Denmark. They had the whole family there as a celebration for the father’s retirement. They were very nice but I think only a few of the men spoke English because they were the only ones who spoke to me.
The next day I decided to take a long ride down south along a route my Canadian friends suggested. The ride started off in a canyon with great views of the mountains. I stopped for a snack at one of the many lakes and got a picture of some more baby goats. I moved on and the road south moved out of the mountains and into the valley. I stopped to check my map and took off again but my saddle bag did not close all the way so it opened up and I lost my good maps. I decided to trudge forward since I remembered the roads I needed to take. I got to Crows Nest which is a town with a big mountain that looks like a crow’s nest or so is the thought. I saw the world's largest truck there so I had to take a picture. I had ridden a very long way to this point and I knew the way forward was even longer bought I proceeded on because I knew the views would be better going forward as I got back into the mountains. I was enjoying all the beauty but I noticed storm clouds building in front of me. I was hoping to skirt past them or outrun them but I was not so lucky today. I had stupidly left my rain gear back at the camper because there was no rain in the forecast. Apparently their weathermen are no better than ours at predicting the weather. I soon forgot about getting wet and worried about surviving as the storm hit with full fury and the wind gusts reached 60 MPH. The wind tried many times to blow me off the road and visibility was poor. There was nowhere to pull off so I had to continue on through the storm. I prayed for God to spare me and bring me to safety from the storm. I came to a town and pulled into a gas station for shelter and to fill up. I thanked God for sparing my life and went to a Dairy Queen for a celebratory Blizzard. The rain stopped and I headed on down the road. Unfortunately, it was the wrong road. As I was trying to stay on the road through the storm, I had missed my exit without realizing it because I couldn’t see it. One of the bad things about Canada is their lack of road signs telling you what road you are on or where you are heading. I didn’t realize I was on the wrong road until I was almost back in the states. I had gone 45 miles out of my way on what was already a very long ride. At this point I just wanted to get back to my camper and rest but I was hours away yet. I rode on non-stop except to get gas and finally made it back. I had ridden 650 miles and was on the bike for about 10-1/2 hours. That was the furthest I had ever ridden and further than I ever care to ride again.

The next day I decided to take it easy and rest from the previous day’s adventure. I went into downtown Banff and walked around all the stores and had lunch. Then I went to Sulfur Mountain close by and rode the Gondola to the top. I had spectacular views of all the mountains around and the city below. After that I took a short ride by some lakes close by and then called it a day.

My last day I decided to ride to the Columbia Ice Fields up North. I took a detour down a canyon rode that was worth the ride. The mountains again were amazing but another bad thing about Canada National parks is that they don’t have pull offs where the good picture taking would be and the ones they do have the view is blocked by trees. Also it was very hazy and the pictures would not turn out good anyway. So I missed a lot of great photo opportunities and they will have to live in my memory which means they will be lost after a couple of weeks. Anyway, I headed back to my original destination and the road to the IceFields has the best views of all I had seen so far. There were many glaciers and spectacular mountain ranges that of course offered very few photo opportunities. But I would never have gotten to my destination if I stopped to take pictures everywhere I wanted to take a picture. I made it to the IceFields and marveled at Athabasca Glacier with the ice fields above it. I debated on whether to take to $50.00 bus ride up to the ice fields or not and decided not to because it was getting late and they wouldn’t let you off the bus to walk on the ice fields. It turned out to be a good decision because I stopped at the last gas station before you got to Banff and they were out of fuel. I was not empty but I did not have enough gas to make it all the way back. Fortunately the man said there was a gas station about 30 miles out of the way. I had no choice so I rode down what turned out to be another great road for scenery and made it to the gas station hoping they were not out of gas. They still had gas and everyone there was in the same predicament as me. I was glad to get a full tank because I knew somewhere down the line they would run out as well and someone was going to be stranded. I headed back home and saw my first bear in Canada. It was a black bear eating berries on the side of the road. He was only about 25 feet away and paid no attention to the people nearby. I left for my temporary home to get packed and get out of Canada the next day. I had ridden 450 miles this day which was further than I had originally planned. My butt needed a rest from all the riding and I was going to get it. Banff and the surrounding areas offer amazing sightseeing but I still say the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier is the most amazing place I have seen so far. Banff offers more in what women would like with its downtown of shopping and nice restaurants. Glacier does not offer this upscale metropolitan atmosphere that many people like but they are close enough that you can enjoy both on the same trip. I next head back to the states and Mount Rainier for what will be a personal and emotional time for me as I climb up on the mountain to spread some of Janice’s ashes as I had promised her I would do. There will be no blog posting for this part of my trip so I will start back when I get to Lake Chelan where I will meet up with Janice’s aunt and uncle and their family for a few days. I'm having a great time but I miss my family and friends more each day. I look forward to seeing everyone again when I get back.

Cracker Lake and Skydiving 07/19-07/20

I hope everyone knows that you can click on any picture to see it bigger. It makes a difference.

Sunday I did not wake up in time to take the ranger guided hike so I picked another hike I had heard was good and headed for Cracker Lake in the Many Glaciers area. I saw a grizzly on the side of the road near where I was going to hike. He was about 40 yards away keeping an eye on the onlookers. I snapped a couple of photos and moved on. The hike was an 11-1/2 mile hike to a lake deep in the mountains. The trail started off easy but soon the inevitable uphill part came and I was fine for a while but when I hit the switchbacks going up the side of a steep mountain, my body told me I was in trouble. I guess it was too soon after my last 2 long hikes and I had not recovered as well as I thought. I pushed on and was happy that this trail was through the mountain forest which was different from my previous hikes. The foliage was lush and there were beautiful wildflowers everywhere. I followed a creek for much of the hike and hearing the sound of the rushing water made things serene. The smells were also intoxicating with the fragrance of the flowers and the trees that smelled like Christmas. The mixture of the two should be bottled because it was very pleasant to the olfactory. When I did emerge from the forest, the sights of the creek and the colorful mountains around me were astounding. I never really knew what they meant in the song by "purple mountains majesty" until I came out here. They truly are purple. I started doing better although my pace was a little slower than the previous hike. I forged on for what seemed like hours and I knew I had to be getting close to my destination but I was wrong. I hiked alone this day only passing the occasional young hikers going the opposite way. After a while longer, I finally passed a young family and they told me I had another 30 minutes to go. I was really hurting by this point but I was not about to give up. I finally made it to the lake and it was very similar to Iceberg Lake except no icebergs and the water was cloudy from what they call "Glacier Flour" which is a powdery substance from the glaciers that makes the water milky. I found a spot that I could climb down to the water and took off my boots and socks and soaked my swollen tired feet in the icy cold water. It felt really good as I ate some snacks and rested. The wind was tremendously strong this day with gusts that would come up and almost knock me off my feet but the cool breeze felt good to my hot body. I was the only one at the lake at this point and it was very peaceful and I enjoyed the serenity. After about 45 minutes I decided I should head back since it was going to take a while. My feet felt better and I started off OK but at a slower pace. The journey back was long and hard. This trail had kicked my butt. I had made it almost all the way back when I ran into a big grizzly (see picture of scared face). I had startled him because I was too tired to sing or talk loudly anymore by this point. He did not like that and started to come at me. I was able to snap this photo as I was walking the other way. I threw a granola bar over my shoulder and he stopped to eat it. I slipped quickly away and went way around him and thankfully never saw him again. I hadn't told anyone I've spoken to about this because I didn't want to scare them but I felt the story should be told. That got my adrenaline going and I was able to hike the rest of the way at a very fast pace. I got on my bike and headed home which was 2-1/2 hours away. I was whooped and ready for some food and a shower. I needed some rest since I was skydiving the next day and I wanted to have my wits about me for that. There is no way that skydiving could be as scary as the encounter with the bear.

I awoke early on Monday and prepared myself for jumping out of a perfectly good plane to fall at 120 MPH to the ground for 30 seconds. The day was perfect with no clouds and light winds. I left early and stopped for some breakfast and then headed to Lost Prairie to mark something off my bucket list. I had to drive 3 miles down a dirt/gravel road to get there, surprise, surprise. I arrived right on time at 11:00 and met Fred, the owner, who I had made the arrangements with a couple of months ago. I then met the 29 year old ex-army man, Ryan, who I would be tethered to for our "flight". He was very nice and very confident. After signing and initialing all the legal forms that said I would not sue or hold responsible anybody or anything associated with the jump, I watched an 8 minute instructional video. Ryan gave me some more instructions and then I met Steven the cameraman who would be filming everything associated with the jump. I would be jumping out of a small Cessna that barely held us 4 big guys. Ryan and I practiced getting hooked up in the plane and getting into position to see if I was flexible enough to maneuver when the time came. I did just fine to my surprise so we did some on the ground video and then the pilot, Danny, showed up. We loaded into the plane and said our prayers that the plane would get off the ground with all this weight in it and then took off down the runway. We made it into the air and slowly ascended to 9000 feet which was our jump height. The view from the plane was incredible with the mountains, the blue/green lakes, and the fields below. At 7000 feet we moved around to get into position and hooked up for the jump. My feet were being smashed so I was hoping to get out the door as soon as possible. I never was scared or nervous as I thought I might be. Steven opened the door and got out on the wing strut and then Ryan got his foot in place and then it was my turn. My other knee was still in the plane and I had to move it a little so it wouldn't get caught on anything as we jumped. I just got it in place and the next thing I know Ryan had jumped us out of the plane. We started to tumble and ended face up to the sky which is opposite of where we needed to be. We rolled back into position and I arched my head back as instructed and we were good. The cameraman came in and shot some videos and still shots. The 30 seconds went by really quickly and Ryan deployed the shoot at 500 feet and it jarred us like slamming on the brakes. At this point everything went quiet and we just enjoyed the beauty and feeling of flying. The parachutes are like hang gliders the way they can maneuver them. At one point Ryan said "This is a speed chute so let me show you what it can do." At that point, he pulls on the left chord and we go flying at 70 MPH to the left and down. It was a lot like being on a roller coaster 3000 feet in the air with no rails. It was truly exhilarating. We came down and Ryan said we would probably come in too fast to land on our feet so we should just slide in. Ryan had knee surgery last year because a girl didn't land right and caused him to tear his knee. So we came down right on target and slid home. Before I jumped I had said that this would be my one and only time but after this experience I'm not so sure. It was such a rush and so much fun that I may do it again one day. I would like to go solo next time however so that would require some training. After Ryan repacked his chute, we celebrated with a beer while Steven worked on editing the film and putting it on a DVD. It took a while but I didn't mind as Ryan and I talked and looked out at the beautiful day. Steven finally finished and let me watch the DVD and it was great. We said our goodbyes and I headed home glad that I had decided to skydive in Montana. Steven warned me that the DVD may not play on my player because of the format and that happened. He said to let him know and he would correct it for me so I will have to get him to send me another copy formatted differently so I can show it when I get home.

This was my last full day in Montana as I am leaving in the morning for Banff in Alberta, Canada. I am looking forward to what I am being told is an even more beautiful place than here. This I've got to see and I am anxious to get there. Goodbye Montana and thanks for all the happy memories.