Adventure: one way to measure a life

Near the beginning of this year, one of my best adventure buddies, Boyd, found out that he had ALS, also known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease". I had emailed him to find out if he wanted to go skiing with me and our mutual friend Lynn. When he emailed me back he gave me the sad news. We had spent a lot of time together in the outdoors--skiing, climbing Kings Peak (Utah's highest point), hiking at Boulder Mountain, fishing, and many other great outings.
I wanted to know what I could do to help. I figured that about the only thing would be to maybe take him on some short adventures up into the mountains we both love.

Trip 1

The first one, in June, ended up being a drive along the Mirror Lake Highway in the Uintas. I wanted Boyd to do what he wanted to do, so we got out at the Provo River Falls and wandered down the trail.

Boyd's career was as a photographer. He still has the love for a good shot.

Though his disease is progressing rather rapidly, and his muscles are beginning to weaken to the point that he has a challenging time walking, he still wants to be as fully engaged with life as he can be. He told me that as far as his personal case goes, he'd rather not be like the late Stephen Hawking and be confined to wheelchairs or other means of life support. He told me that when he can no longer do anything he loves to do, he'd just as soon go.
I certainly could relate to that. I have told several people that if I ever get Alzheimers, I'm going to go while I still have my thinking ability, and do the riskiest activities I can think of in the hopes of ending my life by a slip or a fall, instead of making someone have to take care of me. He had also mentioned to me that he regretted the summer of 2017, because he had worked so hard to put in his backyard, and his family members and friends had asked him several times to go camping with them, but he had put it off so he could finish the back yard. He wished he would have known was was going to happen. The thing is, we rarely do.
As we walked down to the falls, the only time he asked for help was going down the stone steps. We hung around the falls, taking a few pics, Boyd talking to one guy who had made it out to the middle of the river and sat on a rock just above the falls. After a while, we headed back to the 4Runner, and continued driving up the highway. Eventually Boyd said, "Let's turn off here and go for a hike."

A short hike into the woods--nothing like it!

I pulled off and we got out, following some old dirt road back in, until it ended, which wasn't very far, and we continued on through the forest. We spotted a couple of deer, and maybe a beaver ducking beneath the water in a lily-pad covered pond. At one point, Boyd lost his balance and fell. I had wandered away a few feet and came back to help him up. He was okay. "At least I picked a good place to fall--pretty soft here," he said. We probably walked through the woods for about a half mile, then headed back to the vehicle. "Let's see if your trail finding skills are still good," I said. Within moments he had found our way back.
We stopped at Dick's Drive-in in Kamas and got a late lunch, continuing our conversation between bites. "I would really love a cheeseburger," he said, "but I deal better with chicken strips in these hands."
We talked about going out the next time, how we would drive from Mill Hollow over to Currant Creek. "As long as I'm still able to go, let's plan on it," he said.

Trip 2

We made it out again on July 3rd, and accomplished the goal.
We mostly traveled dirt roads over the top of some spectacular country.

We talked about places we had been and he told me of places I should go--even showing me his favorite fishing spot at Currant Creek. I wanted to try it right then, but we hadn't brought any gear. It was time to go home though. Ann wanted to see me for dinner. When we were nearly home, Boyd pointed up at Mt. Timpanogos and said, "I have never been up on that 'plateau'. I'd like to go up there."
"I went up there last year," I said, "my first time ever. It's called Sagebrush Flat. It's a pretty cool place." We decided that maybe that would be our next trip.
The conversation, like the first time, had been matter-of-fact about his disease and the ultimate outcome. There was no beating around the bush for either of us. "Some people have a hard time knowing what to say to me now," he'd said on our first drive. I just tried to treat him the same way I always had, like my friend. That's the way I want to be treated if I'm ever in that kind of situation.

Trip 3

On July 31st, I picked Boyd up and we headed up to Sagebrush Flat. The road is a continuation of the road that leads up to the Timpooneke Trailhead---one of the ways to the top of Mt. Timpanogos. It's a dirt road that leads around to the west side of Timp. It was actually rockier and bumpier than I had remembered it being, and I thought about how Boyd had mentioned on our earlier trip this summer into the Uintas how he didn't want to go on a certain road because of how bumpy it was. I mentioned to Boyd that I hadn't remembered it being so rough and he said, "It's not that bad. You're just worrying about me." And he was right. It likely seemed bumpier to me because I was remembering what he'd said about that other road, and worried that I had taken him on a road that was too bumpy because of that.

Selfie near Sagebrush Flat

I had climbed up on the rocks to pick some currants.
Boyd asked me to stay up there and he took this pic.

Sagebrush Flat is a Beautiful area with views into both Utah and Salt Lake Counties.

We made it up to Sagebrush Flat and began exploring a little. We talked about how many hunters might be up in that area during archery season. We saw a large buck and a moose, and took some pics. I had forgotten my DSLR and Boyd was trying to get some good pics with his phone. Getting good pics with my phone is really out of the question.

The scenery was magnificent. The friendship, even better. We ended up by picking up some food at Costa Vida and taking it back to Boyd's house and eating it there.

The Sagebrush Flat area. Sweet!

We saw a moose and nice buck up here in Sagebrush Flat. I couldn't
find the pics though.

Trip 4

August 15th was our most recent trip. We made it back to Currant Creek. I remembered that earlier in the summer we had passed through the area during the huge fire up near Strawberry Reservoir, the Dollar Ridge fire, and we had seen flames and tons of smoke along with aircraft dropping water and/or fire retardant on it. I couldn't see any smoke now--at least from that fire. The air was a bit smoky from all the fires further west, but not as bad as it has been this summer.

Boyd told me that we wouldn't be able to make it down to his favorite fishing spot, because they had tried the week before when he came up with some family members, and he had fallen down pretty good. So we made it to an area that was easier to access and set up our stuff.

We caught a couple of eating-sized fish. Boyd had told me that he and his wife Robin love to eat fish. That was fine with me. My wife Ann hates even the smell of them cooking.

It was a team effort. I tied on all the hooks and other gear, baited up the hooks, and cast out the line, and then Boyd reeled 'em in. The weather was nice all day, with long periods of cloud cover and some cooling breezes. We could have sat up there all day long and pretty much did.

Boyd got to reel in the bigger ones, although I managed to bring in
the minnow on the left. Ha ha!

During the time there we had some pretty open and frank conversation. Boyd told me that he had stopped using the BiPAP machine that doctors had wanted him to use to help out his breathing at night. "It's just so uncomfortable," he said--or something like that. He's pretty honest about his approach to life, telling me that if he goes, he goes, and he doesn't want to prolong the inevitable. On the way home we stopped to grab some food, and he accidentally dropped his fries on the floor. He picked them up and still ate them. I had shaken off the floor mat before I went and picked him up that day, so there wasn't any loose dirt on it at least. I asked him "did you get any grit?" 

"No," he said.

I told him that I had shaken off the mat.

He said, "Well, it's not like I care about that stuff anyway. I mean I'm not going to be around much longer, so what's a little dirt." He held up his root beer. "And I never used to drink much of this for health reasons, but now, what does it matter? I can do what I want." I had to admit his logic was compelling.

The haul! Boyd enjoyed reeling in the larger fish. It weighed somewhere
in the 2-3 pound range.

The Next Time

I'm not really sure when we'll be able to get out again. Ann, who is disabled, expressed some concerns about how much time I'd been spending away from her, and not just with Boyd. I had gone on a hike with my brother and taken some of my grandkids out exploring all within the last few weeks.

But that being said, I'm hoping that Boyd and I can continue to get out until he can no longer do it. And personally, I'm hoping that I'm being the right kind of friend--one who cares enough to spend time with an old buddy who's ill. I'd like to encourage all my readers to do the same, and if you're friends with Boyd, go and see him or even take him somewhere fun.

Boyd has been able to keep an upbeat attitude during this ordeal, which is exemplary. I think it would be pretty hard to not get down, but he considers himself to be pretty lucky. And me? I'm lucky to have friends like Boyd to adventure with. It's one way to measure a life.

Hiking: Uinta Lakes near Bald Mountain

Clegg Lake with Reids Peak in the background

Bald Mountain, more affectionately known as "Baldy" looms at the summit of the Mirror Lake Highway, a huge sentinel among many.

I did my best to get at least some images of these Sandhill Cranes
that I saw along the highway.

As soon as I stopped my vehicle, the birds decided to walk away. I had no time to grab the longer lens.

The hike to the top of Baldy is relatively short (2 miles) with spectacular views of the Uintas, and over to the Wasatch. I had done that hike several times in the past. Friday I was up for something I hadn't done. Ever since I had found the trailhead to the top of Baldy though, I had wanted to take the fork in the trail that headed over to some lakes and see what that was like. I was not to be disappointed.
The trail begins as part of the same trail that will take you to the top of the peak, but diverges very quickly and is unmarked. There is a fork about fifty feet after you start up the trail. The left fork heads over toward the picnic tables that are visible. If you want to go to the lakes, instead of the top of Baldy, that's the trail to be on.

To get to the lakes, take the trail that heads toward the picnic table (in trees, top left).
To climb Baldy, follow those people in the pic.

A brown Forest Service sign in this pic (top right) shows the way to the top of Baldy.

Some shallow cornices still on Baldy's edges.

Bald Mountain isn't quite as bald from this angle.

Reids Peak left, and Baldy right.

For the most part, the only way to go on this trail is down as you are pretty much at the highest point when you begin. Nevertheless, the trail is only steep periodically and had both uphills and downhills, some rocky sections, some not so rocky. This time it had some pockets of snow across it in several places, after all, it's still early June. If we would have had a normal or heavy snowfall winter, there would have been even more snow remaining.
As it was, there was a lot of water both on and off the trail. I expected a lot of mosquitoes because of the amount of water, but I only saw one, and that was when I was getting my pack ready to start down the trail. I killed that one, so if that was the only one, you're good.
I was heading for four lakes or really to see how far I could get in the time I had allotted myself, and depending upon how long I spent fishing or doing non-planned explorations. The four lakes I had in mind were Clegg, Dean, Notch, and Bench.

Lots of water with these white flowers.

Closeup of one of the daisy-like blooms.

Spectacular meadows. A lot of dead trees--probably from pine beetle.

Since this is part of the trail that you can begin at Crystal Lake trailhead and hike up to the Bald Mountain trailhead, or visa versa, I could've conceivably gone quite a bit further. There was no way I was going all the way to the Crystal Lake trailhead though as I'd have to walk back, either up the road or back the way I had come on the trail. That would have made for a very long hike.

Patches of snow like this were frequent across the trail.

I was moving pretty slow for the first hour or so, taking a lot of pictures, and checking things out. I think I was forty-five minutes in before I made it to the first lake, Clegg, just behind a group of three that had passed me shortly before.

Clegg Lake

Clegg Lake II

I took several pictures and then headed on towards Dean Lake. However, the next lake I actually found was Notch Lake, my planned fishing destination. I had re-passed the three people at Clegg, who had stopped for some snacks and they caught up with me again at Notch as I was heading down to fish. The lake itself was Beautiful. I could have sat there all day and just looked at it, and I probably should have.

Notch Lake

Something about the look of things told me that fishing would be slow. No indication of fish feeding--no circles on top of the water, no jumping fish. I baited my hook and cast it out. A wind had picked up making it difficult to see the bubble. I didn't want to waste a lot of time if the fish weren't biting. That wasn't the main reason I had come anyway, so after about twenty minutes, I decided to pack up and head further down the trail to Bench Lake and see what that looked like.

Bench Lake

It wasn't far--maybe another 5-10 minutes and I was there. It had the same lifeless look as Notch Lake had, so I didn't even bother to get a worm in the water. But the landscape was amazing! I couldn't help getting into my virtual John Denver "Wow!" mode.
I wondered if I could make it down and around the short row of peaks and follow it around to Ibantik Lake, which was the furthest I had been on that trail from the Crystal Lake Trailhead and thus would allow me to say that I had been over the entire trail, but never from trailhead to trailhead. Ibantik though was a lot further than I had planned on traveling and it would have to wait for another day.
I started back toward the trailhead, planning on trying to find the missing Dean Lake along the way. On the map it had appeared to be set off the trail a ways, so I thought maybe I just hadn't looked at the right time through the trees to spot it. I had left my Garmin GPS at home this time and I really could have used it.

When I passed Notch Lake on the way back I began looking for Dean Lake. I never saw it and finally found myself at Clegg Lake. That must be Dean I thought. It looked like a straight shot down from there, so I headed down. When I got there, I was not disappointed for taking a little more adventure time to find it. I think it was the prettiest of all the lakes and all of them had been Beautiful.

Back at Clegg, I decide to go up the high rocks to the right to find Dean.

I went up to the top of these and looked down, spotting Dean Lake

Off to the right was a rocky ridge and I climbed that  hoping that from there I could maybe spot Dean Lake down below somewhere. It was a good plan and it worked. Far below in the distance, I saw the edge of a body of water.

I followed some rocks, then this meadow down to Dean Lake, (barely visible top).

There were a couple of fire rings around, so people had hiked in here and camped and since it was harder to find, it was probably a little more solitary than some of the other lakes as far as getting away from crowds. I noted in my mind that I might someday like to come back here and spend the night, or have a picnic or something. I was thinking too, that this whole area would be great for GPS hide and seek or something like that.--you know, someone saying "here are my GPS coordinates--come and find me"--that kind of thing.

If you follow this meadow by this curved bridge down, it will take you to Dean Lake.

I looked for any kind of trail leading away from Dean that went back to the main trail, but couldn't find one. I assumed people just walked through one of the many meadows or down the rocks like I had done in order to get there.

I stopped and took a final picture of Clegg Lake and Reids Peak.

I headed up to the main trail and back to the vehicle. I had begun my hike at 7:45 and was done a little after 1:00. I wished I could have stayed all day--even for several days--but that was something that would have to wait for the future.

Resting on a log near Dean Lake.

As for now, I was happy to have had a few hours escaping into "God's Country" and a few adventurous moments. The rewards are always worth the effort up there as far as I'm concerned.

Hiking: Thoughts on footwear

I hated those hiking boots almost from the time I bought them. Years ago, I had been in the market for some hiking boots. Strapped for cash, I had looked for some good boots at a great price. I finally found what I thought were great boots advertised at the REI discount page of their website. These boots were from The Northface. I had previously owned some Northface gear, but not much of it, because the cost was higher than my spaghetti and meatball diet could afford. However, they made great sleeping bags and jackets and so I figured that their boots were probably great too. I ordered the boots.
As I opened the package, the first thing I noticed was that they were made out of ankle-high sturdy leather with little give. Unlike the running shoes that I had been hiking in for most of my adult like, these boots were not flexible.  I couldn't help wonder how it would be to hike in them and not be able to flex my foot all that much as I had been accustomed to with the running shoes. They seemed well-made though, and I put them on, walking around the house. They were pretty comfortable and all of that, but I couldn't put out of my mind how stiff they were. I've always had fairly picky feet, when it comes to footwear, and I was worried about these boots. Still, I had spent the money and maybe they required a breaking-in period, so I held onto them.
My day job was as a mail carrier and I thought that I could break them in just wearing them to work. The postal service does have requirements for footwear, but occasionally, people do a bit of fudging on that without being reprimanded, and that's what I did. At the end of the day, there was one spot on the outer part of the boot's collar that had really hurt the tendon that runs down the outside of the ankle. Still, I thought, maybe the boots needed more breaking in.
However, I put them aside and went back to the running shoes.
A few years went by and the boots just sat in the closet. At the time, I wasn't doing any kind of winter hiking--rarely venturing into inclement weather, and when I did, I had some old army boots that were broken in and that did the job adequately, if not wonderfully. I had been backpacking, but generally it was for overnighters and no multiple day excursions. Then I planned the Kings Peak four night backpacking trip.
With that length of hiking, and expecting any kind of weather, I wanted something a little more durable than my running shoes. I remembered the Northface boots I had tucked away in the closet. I'll take those, I thought to myself.
It started out fairly well, but that first day on the trail, due to unforeseen circumstances, such as heavy run-off keeping us from crossing the creek where we needed to, we ended up walking extra miles, just so that we could be ready for the hiking on the following days. The first day was 12 miles and by the end of the day, I was exhausted.
Already that place where the boot rubbed my tendon on the first day I ever wore them was beginning to hurt tremendously. I didn't know what to do. We were miles from any chance of wearing something else, and we still had the peak to climb. By day three, there was no way I could endure the pain any longer. I pulled off the boot and took my knife and cut out the portion of the boot that was rubbing. Relief at last! It would take days for that pain to totally subside, but at least the pressure was gone. For the rest of the trip I could focus on why we were there instead of the pain I was in.
When I got home at the end of the trip, I tossed the boots into either a box that we had been saving stuff in to go to the local thrift store, or I threw them away disgustedly. I honestly cannot remember.
There is a moral to this story. That is, that when purchasing boots, or any article of clothing on which you have to depend to protect you in wilderness situations, make sure you like them, and if you have any misgivings, return them immediately and get something you are comfortable with.
A second lesson is this: Don't be afraid to modify your clothing to save your body from pain.  If I hadn't been smart enough to cut my boot to relieve the pressure, I'm not sure how much longer I would've been able to walk. And don't skimp when it comes to footwear that you will depend on to get you out of rugged terrain.
Northface likely does make some good hiking boots, but in this case I think they were on the discount rack for a reason. It's all part of the adventure though. Keep on hiking!

Jewel Lake, Uintas

Hiking: Bald Mountain and Fehr Lake

This past Tuesday I wanted to get out, get hiking and try some fishing. Mostly, I wanted to get into the Uintas as I hadn't had the chance to go there yet this year. I had debated which lake I wanted to hike to in order to fish, and I kind of wanted to try somewhere new. Then I decided to hike to the top of Bald Mountain, a relatively short hike, and come back down, then hike to one of the lakes off the same trailhead that goes to the top of Baldy.
I had told my wife that I'd be back at around 4:00, so I had to keep that in mind as I was figuring things out. I driven out of the gas station parking lot in Taylorsville at around 6:20 and it was just shy of two hours drive time by the time I got there. I had stopped to go through the McDonald's drive thru at Park City, and to pick up a fishing license, some worms, and some Power Bait at the grocery store in Kamas. I didn't need to pick up a pass at any of the kiosks or whatever you call them along the Mirror Lake Highway, as my pass that I had purchased the day before, when my wife and I took a drive up there, was still good.

Saw these deer on the drive up. Just did a drive by experiment with my zoom.

As I began hiking, I started thinking that maybe I should've brought the short-sleeve shirt instead of the long-sleeve, because I was working up a sweat. And I had not been up at altitude like that all year--Bald Mountain Pass clocks in at over 10,700 feet, and the trailhead itself is just a bit lower than the pass. My legs were fine from all the stair climbers I've been doing, but I found myself lightheaded as I tried to adjust to the thinner air.
There was only one other car in the parking area when I began, which was quite a change from the day before, which was Labor Day. That day, there was wall to wall people all through the Mirror Lake highway area. In fact, on Monday we had got caught in bumper to bumper traffic coming back from our ride--people from the Uintas, and likely Strawberry Reservoir and other areas too. Tuesday was completely different and back to nearly normal levels of people, though there were still a few campers and motor homes belonging to people who probably wanted to stay up for a few more calmer days.
As I began my ascent, I could tell it was going to be a low visibility day due to the smoke from all the fires that had accumulated amongst the peaks. At that point I was not aware of the Weber Canyon fire, and thought that most of the smoke was blowing in from other states.

It's quite a slope, both to the right and left as you go up the trail.

I kept it slow to better adjust to the altitude and took a lot of pics along the way.

This is about where the woman who had climbed it 100 times passed me.

One woman passed me on the way up and then, just as I neared the top, she passed me on her way down. We stopped and chatted for a few, and I found out that this was about her 100th time climbing this particular peak. I had just heard a couple of weeks ago about a retired mail carrier who had hiked to the top of Mt. Timpanogos more than 900 times. It made me wonder. I mean, there are so many different trails to take, why do one particular trail that many times? But to each his or her own. I have hiked several of the trails in the Wasatch around five times and Mt. Olympus maybe ten times. That would be my personal record. The most times I've hiked any one particular peak. And I don't necessarily see me doing Oly again. So many trails, so little time!

After talking to that person, I got up to the top and hung around for a while, finding the exact top with my GPS (this mountain tops out at 11,943 feet) and then going to various points to see the 360 degree view.

Looking to the southeast. That's Mirror Lake directly below.

A little to the northwest is the Notch.

Another view of Mirror Lake and Highway 150

To the west. Among those lakes are Trial and others.

Reid's Peak

Large cairn on top. The actual high point is where I am taking the picture.

After eating my second breakfast, I headed back down. On the way, I met a couple of people from New Zealand who were camping nearby and enjoyed my visit with them. before I even got to the trailhead, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to hike into even the nearest lake along the other fork of the trail. This trail eventually leads to the Notch, and one can do a point to point hike if you start here and end up at the Crystal Lake trailhead, or start at that trailhead and end up at the Bald Mountain parking area. I certainly want to do that one some day. I have hiked from the Crystal Lake trailhead over the Notch and down to Ibantik Lake and that is a fabulous hike.
Anyway, I had spotted a lake on my map on top that was only about a half mile from the main highway, and I drove down the highway to the parking area, then hiked into Fehr Lake. I figured I had about an hour and a half to fish in order to get home by the time I had told my wife.
Fehr Lake is a Beautiful little lake.

Can you find the guitar in this image?

There are other lakes further back in. As I said--there are so many hikes, and I love Timp and all, but could never see me doing it even 100 times--just too darn many other places to see. One of these days, I'll get back on that trail and see the other lakes that were further in.

Views along the trail to Fehr Lake

Since I had an hour and a half, I just decided that my best course of action in catching fish was to try something for 20 minutes, and if there were no bites, to try something else. I first used worms. After all, I had stopped and bought them in Kamas, so I figured I'd better give them a try. Nothing. The Power Bait was next--rainbow with sparkles. Again, nothing. I decided to try a fly with a bubble. I used a brown scud and a fish took it, right after it hit the water. I reeled it in. If I had my backpacking stove with me, I would have cooked and eaten it on the spot, but I didn't, so I let it go. I let nearly everything go when I fish as it's rare for me to have my stove along, and I never take them home.
I tried the scud a few more casts, but got nothing. I figure that the fish hit it on that one cast because it was still basically dry and they were feeding on the surface, but after that first cast, it was waterlogged and sunk. Something to think about for the future. I should take my fly rod next time and that stuff that makes flies float.
I switched to spinners and caught nothing except an empty plastic cup that some uncaring person had thrown down, either in the lake, or on the land and then it had blown in. Either way, I didn't like it.

You can stop leaving your trash in the mountains at any time. I won't complain.

The trail back out afforded me a great view of the peak I had summited earlier that day.

Bald Mountain

I knew I would be back to climb it a fourth time some day---probably in my golden years--and then stopping in the forest below for a picnic or something. One thing I knew for sure--I would never run out of places to hike, for the first time, or for the seventh. And it's always a new adventure.