When I put my shoes on the morning we took this walk, I was rather upset to find that they were smaller than when I wore them last. While driving, I stored them beneath the bench seat that folds out into a bed in the bus. Apparently it gets hot under there. Because of the heat shrinkage, I had to keep my tough little loafers wet on this walk, because they fit better that way.
The smoooshing of a wet shoe can be quite musical.
Let it be known, M is from 200 feet above sea level in the hottest part of the Mojave Desert of Arizona. When I was planning our trip, I wanted to take her someplace beautiful, pristine, unspoiled and perhaps a tad snowy. This said, marching her up to Alice Lake at 8596 feet above sea level may have been an abuse of my trip planning powers.
However, I was pleasantly surprised when she managed the six mile hike up to Alice Lake like a trooper. And, as we all know, what goes up must come down, especially if it wants its dinner. Right? Of course right. I didn’t have to leave her up top with the mosquitoes, bears and mountain lions — she trotted right back down the mountain into a bottle of beer and a barbecued pork chop (the pork chop was donated to us by our campground neighbors who were really and truly, very hilarious).
In point of fact, we acquired our pork chops when one of said campground neighbors leaned out of his camper and bellowed,
“Hey! Want a pork chop?”
And so began a night of hilarity, half cooked s’mores created by the blondest little daughters I’ve ever seen, a cocktail, a bonfire, too much caesar salad and a Facebooking slum lord. Yes. That all really happened in one evening. Oh. And there were tricks on moving bicycles too.
Aw. How cute.
I’m passionate about the Sawtooth Range.
The front, rising up out of Stanley, is spectacular and perhaps one of my very favorite range views of all time. Once you’re up in them, the granite spires rise like cathedrals, nearly vertical in many areas, to cut away at blue sky.
It’s a magnificent, awe inspiring, humbling and purifying place to be, like so many places in Idaho are.
I.
Love.
It.
So did M.
I even made M bushwhack on a few creek crossings.
Favorite quote of the day, while crossing a furious stream:
“Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! It’s so cold!
It’s like I have a toothache in my knees!
How can you stand it???“
Quite easily, in fact.
I am all things Arctic.
Of course, we chatted while we walked, opined,
photographed and even applied some salve to a few wounds.
Hey M,
thanks for coming out.
This morning, your absence has fallen on my home like a cloak of silence.
I just washed your breakfast dishes from yesterday
and it’s almost like you were never here.
Come back soon.
xx
J
