This is an essay that was published in the local newspaper here in Silverton last Thursday. All and all, 2018 hasn’t been a a great year. A variety of strange events converging to create one set of problems or another. This hiking thing has kept me on an even keel as it were.

Word Count: 696

The Soothing Charms

of Hiking to Timberline

It would be a gross understatement to say it’s been a tough summer. Living through the #416 Fireand its aftermath of a shut-down train, low water marks everywhere, and mudslides because of the sudden, torrential, rains over the past few weeks just doesn’t seem fair. On top of that, it feels like we’ve been hit by a double whammy this year.

The first blow, a pathetic winter that was highlighted by going skiing at “The Purg.”and having all my buddies telling me over and over again that the next storm is the “Big One”that we’ve been waiting for all season.  Unfortunately, this brings back all sorts of rotten memories instead, because the low-pressure front we kept talking about always amounted to 1/5^thof the moisture it was supposed to bring us (most times it was even less), and the entire winter was one big non-winter. Then the month of May was highlighted by everyone walking around town on egg-shells because of the fire threat. Sure enough, having the #416 start in early June was like living through some sort of weird Zombie Apocalypse. The weather patterns of 2018 are definitely something I won’t look back on with any sort of fond memories.

So, what does one do in situations such as this? Unfortunately, some people have been known to excuse themselves just so they can go into the nearest bathroom and slash their wrists. Fortunately, I’m not one of these folks (much to the chagrin of a few of my enemies). Instead, I’ve done what a lot of my friends here in this little valley do in the summer time, climb up into the mountains. This seems to act like some sort of mildly natural sedative for me, and that, in combination with the regular yoga and meditation practices, has gotten me through this highly turbulent time.

I’ve got lots of friends who do a ton of hiking (this year in particular). This includes the local librarian and her husband the ice cream delivery man, my yoga instructor, the retired former hardware store owners, and many others too numerous to mention at this juncture.

The ultimate hiking champion is the guy who takes total advantage of living in this town. He gets up regularly at this ungodly early hour of the morning, and he does more mountain climbing in a week than most people do in an entire summer. His reply upon reading an account I gave him of two regional heroes (Telluride & Ouray Demi-Gods) who set the original speed record for hiking all of Colorado’s 14ers in record time. Borrowing a quote from the esteemed Mark Twain, “Sounds to me like this article is some sort of bad analogy of that original Samuel Clemens’ definition of, “Golf”-a good hike wasted.”

There have been a few advantages to this unseasonably dry summer. Last Monday I marched up to the ridge across the highway from the old mining camp ofChattanooga, and the way I did it was to walk straight up the creek bed that was totally dry at this time of year. Wet in one or two spots, but almost as desiccated as the sucked dry body of water at the formerly Mono Lakespot in the Sierras of Southern California. In a normally wet summer, with the Monsoon rains having totally kicked in by now, and lots of snowmelt from the previous winter, I wouldn’t have been able to do this sort of hike. As we all know though, this hasn’t been a normal year for those of us in the Four Corners. The entire west for that matter, but we won’t get into that at this point in time since the arguments have migrated into the political realm.

Now that we’re on the verge of the mushroom and raspberry picking seasons about to happen, hopefully the mountain exploration options will continue to be just as endless as they have been. Because of the schizophrenic nature of the monsoons this summer, that may not be the case. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the sensational walks carry over into fall.