June 2025

My bruises were fading and the scabs falling away from last week's hike. But I was still feeling tired and not ready to see any fallen trees this week. I have decided to rename last week's trail the "Trail of a Thousand Blow Downs" and have not been thinking very fondly of the nightmare it turned into. I still cannot comprehend what I was thinking other than I got stuck in that zone in my head where it is just full speed ahead, no matter what. In hindsight, that zone is a bit dangerous for me. But I also get a lot accomplished while in it. Apparently I just need a supervisor to tell me when to stop, because I don't have an off switch in me.

Today, as I slid out of bed, I instantly regretted it. My left hip and right heel were already hurting without taking a single step. The day was overcast and drizzly. Everything inside me screamed to just climb back in bed. You need a day of rest that annoying voice inside me said. You could spend the day in bed reading it insisted. As alluring and tempting as that idea was becoming, I forced myself forward. I knew I would regret missing a trail day and couldn't allow it to happen no matter how tired or sore I was. So I pushed through all the reasons I deserved to take a day off and let my exhausted body rest and loaded up my trusty trail truck. We drove up to the mountain, almost falling asleep even before we got there. I told myself that we were just going to take it easy today.

The trail had other plans. For some reason this is the sort of trail that just sucks you in as soon as you leave the trailhead. You instantly find yourself on lava rocks with killer views. I knew the clouds were going to part for us as we climbed, so I didn't worry that the mountain was playing shy with us.

I can't really say what happened, but before I knew it we were moving fast....I mean really, really fast. I am talking flying up that trail with a great deal of speed and not even breaking into deeper breathing at all. "So much for taking it easy" I muttered out loud. I had to force ourselves to slow down every mile or two just long enough for our souls to catch back up with our bodies. We were surely possessed by the trail today and had no control.

Before long, as we whipped around a corner, a large chipmunk darted in front of us. It literally ran mere feet in front of Josie the Wolf who was in the lead position. She barely looked at it and kept on moving forward. "Whoa", I exclaimed. "What is wrong with you Josie??" I asked, shocked that she hadn't tried to chase the little guy. She didn't turn her head and kept moving forward. That is when I knew something was wrong. I looked back at Nova who was hiking single file behind me and she seemed fine. I started to question if we were moving too fast or if it was too hot. Surely Josie wasn't too tired to chase prey when we were only a couple miles in. Heck, that beast wouldn't be tired if we were 20 miles in. "Josie??" I asked out loud. "What is wrong?" She kept moving, going faster if anything and refusing to turn her head. I pulled back on her leash and said her name again. "Josie??" She would not look at me. So I started to move to the side. Suddenly we came to our first log blow down of the day and before I could have a PTST response from it, I saw the reason for the Wolf's strange behavior. She had something in her mouth already. Something big and furry. While she stood next to the log waiting for my "under" or "over" command, I got a glimpse of feet hanging out of the right side of her mouth and a head sticking out of the left. I gasped and the beast jumped right over the log wanting to get away from me.

She knew how this would go. I would ask nicely for her to drop the treasure in her mouth. Then when she refused, I would let her carry it for awhile. But eventually, I would become more demanding not wanting anyone to catch us hiking while carrying dead things and I would likely pry the treasure out of her mouth and make her leave it behind. "Wait, is that thing dead Josie??" I asked. No response. I pulled harder on her to look. There was no movement, but it was also looking very fresh. I racked my brain to try to remember any movement from her that could have been her grabbing an animal while we hiked. Yes, we were practically running on the ascent, but she never jerked on her leash, pounced or jumped at all. There was no squealing of small things being grabbed. It had to have been dead already and she just slurped it up while we were moving fast without me seeing. So gross! At least now I knew why she didn't feel up to chasing the chipmunk....her mouth was already very, very full.

As I became more insistent that it was time to put the body down, Josie crossed a new line. She jerked her head up and down a few times like an alligator and positioned the body parallel inside her muzzle. Now there were just little feet hanging out from the front of her mouth from her incisors. "Josie!!" I warned her. I heard 2-3 crunches and then she tipped her head back and gulped. I instantly retched in my mouth twice at what I had just witnessed. Josie had just swallowed the entire body of what I am pretty sure was a six to seven inch rabbit...whole. Head, legs, fur, bones, it all went straight down.

After gulping myself a few times and gasping for air to keep from vomiting my small breakfast onto the trail, I turned my head to look at Nova. She shrugged and gave me the "She's a Wolf" look. After a few moments of silence, I simply and quietly said "I know someone who just earned themselves xrays and bloodwork tomorrow" before continuing down the trail. I kept hoping and praying that the creature hadn't died of something horrific that was now inside my beast.

Before long we came to a quiet gentle brook moving right alongside the trail. We briefly stopped so Josie could tank up. She seemed extra thirsty. "Must be all the fur in your tummy" I told her without any sympathy in my voice. We didn't stay long as the mosquitos are now awake and were happy to see us. But as we continued to move down the trail, Nova and I chose the dry trail as Josie chose to slosh her way up the creek bed. Things were definitely turning into a Josie kind of day! Eating small woodland creatures and walking in cold water are certainly on her list of favorites.

The trail now started to really climb in earnest. We kept our fast pace up the entire steep trail clinging to the side of the cliffs heading to the upper ridge where we would get our first real views. I was thankful that we were not meeting any other hikers as the trail became skinnier and skinnier with a steeper drop off which would have been very awkward to try to pass anyone on. Impossible if they had a dog with them. But we seemed to be the only ones up here today. I am happy to report that we only encountered a total of 4 blow downs before we got above tree line. That was super refreshing! As were the views as we broke above the trees. Josie looked back on the trail we had just crossed.

Before long, we came to our first snow on the trail. Ironic since I had decided not to wear my snow boots on today's trail. Last week, I stupidly had worn the bigger snow boots and never ran into any snow as expected, only downed trees. The challenges of between season hiking never abate! But as part of Josie's dream hiking day, we stopped so she could roll around making Wolf Snow Angels. She actually did a pretty good job as it looked like we left wings behind us!

The problem that can often come with snow however, is the trail is easily lost. We lost it shortly after this point. I decided that instead of wasting time trying to find it, that we would just blaze our own trail upwards as I knew we would eventually run into the trail that goes around the mountain that way. So off we went, meandering left, then right, always climbing upwards. I tried to steer us between snowy ridges, while Josie fought to stay on the snow. We paused for a quick photo shoot as the mountain was smiling down on us.

As we came face to face with the Loowit Trail I looked both to my right and to my left. Right there, just about 20 feet away from me was where the trail we were suppose to be on was. We literally just blazed our way up on the other side of a ridge line from it. "Oh, we are good" I smiled and said to the girls. This is where we had a decision to make. We could go either right or left from here. It really didn't matter. But since I had done the section to the right previously, I turned us left, ready for new adventures. It did not take long before we were finding the beautiful wild flowers I had been hoping for!

The flowers were breathtaking and the vistas made me feel as if time stood still. But our challenge were the huge snow fields breaking up the trail between the flowers, sand and rock. Every other ravine was filled with snow. Most of the time we had to cross dangerous snow bridges where we could hear the rushing water beneath the snow. Since the girls wear very robust tactical harnesses that can hold their weight if they fall through, I had them go first to see if the snow bridge could take their weight. I slowly followed behind constantly ready to drop and pull if they fell through. It made me hold my breath every single time. There were also sections that were so steep that I really needed my ice spikes. Luckily, I had them with me, but wanted to hold off as long as possible before strapping them on. Instead, if we got to a section that was too steep without spikes, we glissaded down to rock below, hiked across the bottom of the snow field, then climbed back up to the trail. I think we likely doubled our amount of elevation gain doing the trail this way, but it was Josie's dream come true. That girl loves glissading more than about anything. Even Nova was loving it and smiling ear to ear! We left funny glissade tracks all over the mountain!

The snow fields somehow seemed to become more and more challenging as we progressed. We had to constantly rethink and change what we were doing, sometimes climbing higher or lower, or switch-backing up the snow banks. My pants were soaked through from all the glissading, but man I was having fun. The glissades were fast....partly because the snow had a good layer of ice on top, partly because the terrain was so steep, but mostly because Josie was pulling Nova and I for all she was worth. Before each landing I rolled to my right side to try to control the crash. I had not brought my ice axe, so was counting on my feet to stop us each time. That can be rather jarring might I say. Luckily I didn't break anything.

Dark clouds were rolling in all around us, but I was choosing to ignore them as we were having way too much fun! We found a new friend who was also having fun on the trail and he was very interested in meeting us. I had to explain in great detail that he needed to stay away as Josie had just swallowed a whole critter far larger than he was. Strangely he was not impressed by this story and just sat and ate next to us wanting some companionship. We stayed for a while, but eventually the cold winds kicking up made us keep moving along.

As the day was quickly slipping away and miles were disappearing under our feet, we decided to shift gears and veer off the trail. We turned toward the mountain's peak and began climbing. Soon all the flowers were gone and we were walking on nothing but snow, sand, ash, and rock. It always feels like what it must be like to hike on the moon up here. We came to the bottom of one particularly long glacier and found the gentle trickle of water at the base. This is the coldest and best drink you can ever have!! The only kind of drink on the rocks I will do. No, I don't filter, that is what makes it so liberating. Yes, it is real gritty, but that is all part of the experience and how you bring the mountain home with you! The moment I put my hand in to get a drink, Princess Nova thought I was surely getting her water first. "Sure, Baby Girl, this is all for you" I told her as I let her drink before me.

Josie the Wolf chose this spot to stop and eat our supper. She was not wrong. We had the most gorgeous views, were tucked right next to a huge glacier with fresh water, and we were slightly inside a ravine to give us some protection from the winds. We had the peak right to our backs and the valleys and clouds in front of us. I leaned up against a boulder, stretching out to relax for the first time all day. It just does not get better than this. These are the only moments in life I live for. The peace, serenity, exhaustion, beauty, all with God so close....nothing compares.

Despite feeling like we were in Heaven, there was one problem. Since the mosquitos had been so bad on last week's hike, I assumed they would be the same today. So I had not planned on laying down at all. This meant that I did not bother to pack our normal blanket. During the great mosquito wake up early each summer, we basically have to run non stop to keep from having our blood drained by the angry and desperate insects. Apparently, however, we were high enough now, with too much wind, to have any bugs to contend with. Now Josie and I are totally fine just laying on the ground. I even smoothed out some of the rock and sand to make a nice place to lay. But Nova, well she is a true princess. She was refusing to lay down, even after both Josie and I were asleep. I tried to get her to just lay on top of me. But she said it was completely unacceptable that I did not bring her blanket and decided to protest the indignity of it all. Every time I opened my eyes, this is what I saw.

"I'm sorry Baby" I told her. "I'll never be so careless and stupid again. It is totally my fault I did not bring your blanket. I am a horrible human. Would you like my jacket? I can give you a hat. How can I make this right??" We compromised by my sharing my stew with her and putting her brown hat on her. Josie wanted stew too, but I told her I was not about to share my spork with someone who swallowed a whole rabbit earlier. She just laid back down and didn't say another word. Man these girls couldn't be more different! They are surely the best hiking partners ever.

Since Nova was refusing to nap with us and the clouds kept rolling in more earnestly, we finally and very reluctantly decided that it was probably time to hike out. But before we could, Josie made it very clear that there was one more section that she wanted to repeatedly glissade down. I have to be honest, it was pretty much the perfect place. "Okay" I laughed at her, "just a little more glissading it is. But then we have to go. I have to be at work early tomorrow."

I knew I would spend the rest of the hike with wet pants since I had not brought a spare glissading pair, but it could not be helped. Years ago, up on Mt. Hood, I had had the bright idea to take my pants off and glissade in my skivvies so I could hike out in dry pants. Yeah, that was a tough lesson learned. Did you know that when the snow is real icy on the top and you are sliding real fast over it, that it will just completely take off your outer layer of skin? I thought the pain was simply the extreme cold ice and just kept glissading in my panties, but later learned that it was not just the cold causing that excruciating pain. I guess I can say I know what it is like to be skinned alive. I don't recommend it. Alas, some lessons are learned the hard way. So I knew today, that, no matter what, I would be keeping my pants on even if it left me wet all the way to the truck. It was totally worth it though. Each time I asked Josie if this was the best day ever, she closed her eyes and prayed with great thanksgiving in her heart to God above.

As we hiked out watching a spectacular sunset, I did have to put on my ice spikes. But since I was not wearing my snow boots, they kept being pulled off in the ice and always at the most precarious of circumstances. It made for some real heart pounding moments I can tell you that! As we hiked and reflected on the day, I told Josie this was surely her dream hike come true. She got to swallow an entire woodland creature, hike through streams, roll in snow, repeatedly glissade down steep glaciers, watch the sunset, night hike out and at the very end be tracked by a creature surely large enough to swallow one of us whole.

You see, we were deep in the forest and I was stubbornly refusing to turn on one of my many flashlights. I hate to ruin our night vision so we were slowly stumbling along in the dark trying to make it all the way without a flashlight. But in a particularly dark, thickly wooded section, that even I must admit was a bit creepy, Josie suddenly jumped and looked intently behind us, almost knocking me over as she slammed into the back of my legs. She was all kinds of excited and showing some rare fear at what was there. When she shows fear, my heart plummets in my chest. I immediately realized that I could feel eyes on us. All my senses were screaming. We could not see very far at all into that darkness, but when something big snapped and brush moved right behind us, all three of us jumped. Did I turn on my light then?? No way. But I did whisper with excitement that we were about to have a face to face with something big and scary. I was hoping for Bigfoot. I think Josie was hoping for a Cougar. Nova really wanted to get out of there and didn't want it to be anything at all.

I think it was in this moment that I truly grasped that I might be a little weird. I pondered if most women in the world would enjoy standing in the dark, in the middle of no where, feeling like they were about to be eaten by something. I found it utterly thrilling and did not even pull my gun out of its holster. I was fearful of course, but also excited. I just kept thinking how great this was going to be. Sadly, whatever was there must have sensed that we were an insane group not to be trifled with. Or perhaps it was our guardian angel who forced the creature to turn and leave. Whatever it was, we sadly never saw it.

As we reached the very final quarter mile through the rough lava rocks, I knew I would have to turn on my light so one of us didn't snap a leg or ankle bone while rock hopping. We blinked from the brightness as I turned it on, feeling the trail magic disappear. Just before we reached the truck however, we had one more moment of magic. My light beam touched on the most handsome of fellows. He was a giant Bullfrog, larger than my fist just sitting tall and handsome. Nova was in the lead as Josie was still protecting my back and she bent down to sniff him. He hopped straight up in the air which made her jump straight upwards too. I laughed out loud delighted with their fellowship. They did it again and again, each jumping when the other did. It was the best dance I had ever seen....the giant bull frog and the Princess in her cowgirl dress by dark of night jumping together. I will never forget that dance or the sunset we watched that night coming out. Josie wanted to sniff the handsome frog too, but I told her absolutely not. She had swallowed enough creatures for one day.

Psalm 113:3

From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised.