Since this hike at the beginning of October, Treen has passed away. I thought about not writing about Treen's last adventures, but the outpouring of support after she died convinced me to share her love of the outdoors.
The boy had a morning appointment with the orthopedist to check on his broken patella and then physical therapy later in the day. That meant I had nothing to do for a few hours in the middle. In the middle of a blue-sky day in early October. When there would be no one else on the trail. Should I be responsible or play hooky?
Needless to say, Treen and I headed a few miles into the mountains and up a familiar trail. This trail has some good steeps to get the heart pumping before gaining the ridge on the way to the summit. On previous trips I'd seen a faint trail that runs along the ridge, but goes away from the summit. This seemed like the right time to check it out.
The actual trail stays close to the ridge, but is in the trees until the summit. This new trail breaks out of the trees right away and emerges onto an open plateau. Each side dropped off precipitously and Treen stood on the edge of each one. She peered down hundreds of feet and each time I got that tingly feeling throughout my body that screams DANGER!!!
Although we did have to walk along a very narrow edge and I did indeed scrape up my leg, there were no other calamities. Even the yellow-jacket nest had been dug up and scattered all over the trail. So all those tingly feelings of DANGER!!! were for naught.
We continued up to the summit for a quick look around (and to say we'd done it) and then returned to the car with plenty of time to get home, showered, and pick up the boy. All in all, a great day of hooky.
