Senior Hiking #367 - Harrison Lake to Ridge Trail 217

53° Aug 23, 2010…Harrison Lake to ridge…Tr # 217…hike # 367 by Betsy

It was 44° at our house this morning…and the mist hanging over town was so typical of an early October morning. Did summer pass us by this year?

We have hiked to the ridge once before...it is a nice hike and with not too much bouldering…we learned that last time and found another away around the huge boulder field. There was no one at the trail head today. I dug out my jacket and gloves…it was quite cool and then began the hike up this very hard to walk on trail with its loose rocks, gravel and cobble. There were no huckleberries on this usually ‘purple tongue and fingers’ trail. What happened this year…possibly a severe frost just when the berries were getting ready to set? Heat? Not this summer. Sadly, I found but one…Jim ate it and it wasn’t quite ripe.

The lake was as pretty as ever but wind was rippling over the water surface so I missed out on some nice still turquoise-y shots, so typical of this lake. As we walked around the lake, we saw a camp set up...a couple of tents, a tarp and a backpack hung up in a tree.

No one was around, so we assumed they were rock climbers who had set out early to scale the jagged sides of Harrison Peak, world famous for being a prime piece of rock to climb. We never saw them. We have gone to the top but from the backside where it is more vegetative, though still difficult to navigate. That was fun. We walked up the ridge a bit along the rocks and the drop off on the other side was as steep as could be. One false step and it was a long way dawn. The views were amazing on both sides…it was hard to know where to look…or what to photograph...and not get too close to the edge! We could see the lower of the Two Mouth Lakes on the north side and on the Selkirk side was finally were able to spot our special Little Harrison Lake, tucked in a circ, and of course, Lake Pend Oreille way off in the distance. We looked for a more sheltered spot to get out of the chilly wind to eat lunch as we marveled at the fantastic view of our favorite peaks.

On the way out we saw two more tents now pitched at the lake…people were inside staying warm and then met another couple hiking up as we started down. They looked tired. We saw no bear scat today and only one cougar or wolf track.

Lots of pikas, chipmunks and marmots, all working to get their winter food supply safely stashed away. We saw a dark coated mule deer on the drive out…thought it was a small moose at first.

 And the funniest thing is that as we were driving up our own road, I spotted one the four neighborhood bears but when we backed up to get a pic of it, it was gone. And two days ago, we had a huge moose run up our road and stood at the end of our driveway to have its picture taken. There is more to that story but I won’t digress. As so often has been the case over the last seven years, we always see more wildlife in our own back yard than on the trail!

Left home 8:25
Started up 9:25Got to lake 11:05Got to ridge 12:48Headed down 1:00Back to lake 1:50
Got to truck 3:05
Total miles hiked 10 miles
Total hiking time 5 hours, 35 minutes

Senior Hiking #366 - Beehive Lakes Trail 279

87° HOT!Aug 16, 2010…Beehive Lakes…tr#279 …hike # 366

The plan was to go back to Beehive Lake trail a third time and try for the saddle on the ridge between Twin Peaks, even though we have done it before but a bit to the east. It’s all the same to me…a ridge is a ridge is a ridge.

But I agreed, even though this is usually a very hot trail and the temps were predicted to be close to 90°. If I learned anything in the last 50 years, it is that when Jim gets something in his head, it’s best to just go along with it because nothing will change his mind.
There was one rig at the trailhead, (Washington plates!) a guy who we met coming down as we were headed up. He said no one else was up at the lake but it had been pretty busy over the weekend. I carried the bear spray on my belt today. On and on and it got hotter and hotter, and steeper and steeper. The huckleberries were few and far between…I would say I only found and ate 10. The bears will not have an abundance of the purple gems this year, at least not on this trail. The four big snags are still there but we have now had a lot of practice getting over them, adding huge rocks along the sides where necessary.

I was leading as usual, and noticed Jim lagging behind quite a lot and he needed to take frequent rests to sit down. We were traveling at a snail’s pace as in baby steps. He was completely overcome with the heat but would not ‘say uncle’ so we kept moving albeit slowly. I thought for sure he would say he had had enough when we got to the steep, hot and sunny granite but no. However we needed to find a clump of trees for him to lie down. I ate my sandwich thinking this was where we would turn around. But it was not to be…he said nothing. After about 30 minutes we continued on up to the lake where we rested some more and I took lots of pics. This is a great lake to photograph…the water color is always amazing. And this time there was no one in my favorite photo op spot, another couple passed us on the way to another campsite on the lake. We only said hello as they were too far away plus we weren’t really in a sociable mood. (We noticed their rig later…more Washington plates! Washington folks just love our mountains and trails!)

Heading down, and knowing it would be a slow descent, I paced myself as I stepped more carefully than usual over roots, snags, rocks, bear grass and whatever, on this ‘not such a ‘foot friendly’ trail. As if heat exhaustion was not enough, Jim took a hard fall, tripping over a root, and then getting his poles twisted between his legs. I heard the thud and as I turned around he was still rolling, muttering some x rated words. I was not allowed to talk or take pictures but a single hand gesture told me he was okay.

 After catching his breathe, we continued down, and I was again permitted to talk. To keep a better eye on him, I put him in front for the way down…this also avoided having to stop every 30 seconds for him to catch up. Probably a good thing as I tend to walk too fast for conditions on the way down. It took long to get down and as soon as we got into the truck, we blasted the A/C.

Left home 8:25Started up 9:30Got to lake 12:30
Headed down 1:30
Got to truck 3:35
Total miles hiked 8 miles
Total hiking time 6 hours, 5 minutes

Farewell to a Friend

My heart is really full right now.  I just finished reading a very moving blog that has recently been started by a loving mother grieving over the loss of her little girl a couple of weeks ago.  Life and death has been on my mind a lot lately.  A very dear friend is ready to go to the other side and my thoughts have been heavy with her and now to read these touching thoughts from a mother to her daughter, wow, my heart is full.

I heard the sad news of the loss of this little girl from my grand kids.  The family is related to their Aunt's husband.  It was extremely sad news and brought back memories of when my children were young.  We lived out in the country but we had a neighbor not from from us (out of sight but not far - across the creek).  One day I was outside hanging up clothes when I heard this blood curdling scream.  It did not even sound human.  It was not until I heard the sirens that I realized something dreadful must have happened.  Their child had fallen in the pool and drowned.  The doctors managed to bring him back to life but he was never the same.  That scream has never left me.  It is truly a sound you never want to hear.  This mother's blog is beautiful.  I hope you will take a moment to read the beautiful thoughts of a loving mother.  Be sure to keep the tissues close as I doubt that anyone can read this without tears.

We have a very dear friend that is ready to cross over to the other side.  She is almost 90 and very ready to go.  I have not known her for a very long time - maybe 6 years (ever since they moved here).  She has been such an influence in my life.  She was living with her daughter and son-in-law.  She has a bad heart, bad circulation (which resulted in the recent amputation of her leg), and has needed assistance walking - but, she has a wonderful mind and a dedication to life that has been such an influence on everyone that has known her. 

Vera has been working in our Family History Center.  She said she was mostly a warm body but her presence was far more than that.  I was amazed to see this elderly lady learn a computer program called Indexing - where you extract data from things such as census records and record it into an Excel type format.  She even learned to do it in Spanish!  She loved to learn and studied Gospel subjects regularly.  She is a very determined lady.  When she sets her mind to something, it gets done.  Now she has set her mind to the fact that it's her time to go.

My husband and I visited her at the hospital before a recent surgery that has left her in this decline.  Her attitude was that she has served her purpose here on earth and now it's time to go.  After her surgery she woke very upset that she woke up on the wrong side of life.  She was anxious to meet her mother who had died when she was just a baby.  She has since elapsed into a coma and is heading to her destination.

Two lives, one very young, one very old yet both here to accomplish the same thing - to receive a body and return to our Heavenly Father.  Both have lived their lives to the fullest - their timing to go has just been different.  For those of us left here it is sad.  We will miss the young and the old but as the loving mother of that beautiful little girl said, lessons are learned (hopefully) and from them we grow. 

I think of those that have gone on and those that are still here and think about what I have or can learn from them.  There is so much to know and understand in this life and I wonder how I am doing with learning the things I need to before I return to my Father. Am I the person that I really want to be?  Am I doing everything I can to learn and grow in the ways Heavenly Father desires?  Death of the young or old remind us to take a look at how we are doing in our time here on earth.  I realize, being a senior, that I'd better hurry and get things together in my life.  There is always much to improve upon and it's time for me to survey how I am doing.

I am sad for this dear family at their loss.  I can't even imagine the pain.  We have lost loved ones when they were young but not my own children.  I know the guilt this mother is feeling.  I wish there were a way to take that away from her but there isn't...time, it just takes time.  My heart is sad for the loss of our dear friend Vera.  I know it is coming soon.  I am so grateful to have known her.  She set such an example for me.  I hope the lessons that I am learning will help me to be an example to someone else.  That we all will take the time to examine how we are doing in our stage of life and make sure we are doing all we can to prepare for the next stage.  I know the little girl was loved and she knew she was loved.  I know that Vera is loved she Knows she is loved.  Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if everyone felt that way?  We pray for these families and all of those that are hurting.  I know God does not like seeing us hurt this way but it is part of the process.  From these experiences we learn and grow.  We need to treasure the memories and learn from the examples - and Go Forward!

PS:  Thank you for the examples and the lessons!  We love you Vera! 

Note:
Today - Aug 26 - Vera passed on to the other side.  She left peacefully.  How happy she must be to finally meet her mother.

Genealogy - Storing that Stuff!

I have been doing genealogy since I was a little girl.  I am well on my way to Medicare - so I have been doing genealogy for a very long time.  When I began, computers were not used to do genealogy but today, that seems to be about the only way to go...maybe even the best way to go.  I have containers stuffed full of materials I have gathered over the years - certificates, copies of my pedigree and family group sheets, tons of notes, photo copies of all of my research, and of course, pictures.  I have had a great way of organizing my work so that I could easily take what I needed to work on to the Family History Center to do my research but with the changing ways of doing genealogy, I have been confused with how to switch over to this new system of research.

So my old system was to make folders for each surname and a folder for each person with that surname.  As I gathered information, I would organize it into the proper folders (even making duplicate copies so that the correct information could be placed into each person's folder that the document applied to), and thus making a complete history of each and every person in my direct lines.  I taught this system and it seemed to work for almost everyone (maybe some tweeking here and there to each person's likes).  I called this system ABC-123 because the surnames are organized into ABC order and the names within that surname are in 123 order (putting the first name that introduces that surname as 1 - that person's father is 2, grandfather is 3, etc. - it has nothing to do with which generation they are from you!).  I stored all of these in a portable file case so that I could take it with me to the Family History Center (FHC) or I could pull just a few folders if I was doing a specific family research.

Then I got a computer.  I continued with ABC-123 for a very long time because I could not haul my computer around with me so I still needed the full information when I went to a FHC.  But, as computers got better and programs became so much better, I found a new way to do the ABC-123 system.  I got a 1 1/2" binder and set it up in the same way as my files.  I used this as my "working" folder.  So instead of hauling the whole file cabinet, I only had to take my binder.  Behind each name I had their family group sheets showing them as a parent.  They would be shown as a child under their parent's section.  As I researched, I would enter the information I found onto the pages in the family group sheet in different colors.  The colors dictated to me what the source was.  (ex:  1850 census Martin County IN - all information gleaned would be in red.  Death certificate of so and so would be written in green, etc.)  When I ran out of different colors and/or when the page looked really messy, I would transfer the information (and documentation) into my genealogy program (at that time I used PAF).  I would then print out new pages and replace the old colored pages in my binder.  If I photo copied any information, the copy was put into my hard files (so I still used the file system and kept it at home).

(The picture  shows the binder with a family group sheet - the purple page is a list of census records where I found this person/family.)

Now with the computer age upon us, I have lap tops that I take to the FHC, but more important, I only really have to take my flash drive (thumb drive or whatever you know it as) with me.  I use the Roots Magic program instead of PAF (I easily transferred ALL of my information from PAF over to RM in about 1 second) and my flash drive actually has my personal genealogy along with the program so I can use this flash drive on any computer - even ones that do NOT have the Roots Magic program on them. 

I have taught myself to record all of my research finds directly onto my genealogy program right as I am working on it.  (I say taught myself because I have been so bound to the physical paper that it actually was difficult for me to change and use only the computer.)  What does this do for me?  It reduces tons of paper work, it allows me to quickly look at any person in my program and know everything about that person, it greatly reduces what I now have to take to the FHC.  Now, all I take with me are my flash drive, pen and paper (because I still need to take some instant notes but they are not notes that I need to keep). a calculator (because my brain doesn't want to figure out dates), a small portable magnifying glass (my eyes are not the greatest these days), and a snack (because I get really hungry working on genealogy all day).  That's it!  So easy.  And more important, when I go home, I almost always have nothing extra to take home because everything has already been recorded.  Note:  I also save documents on my flash drive as I go so that I now have a digital record of the actual document so I can look back at it anytime I need to. By the way, almost all of my research is done on the Internet these days so it is easy to copy and save the documents in a digital file.  If I do bring home printed copies, I do file them.

So now I still have all of this paper stuff and what do I do with it?  I have discovered that I almost never get into my folders that I once treasured.  I am getting ready to teach a class at the FHC on this exact subject so I decided that I had better come up with some kind of program that I can use, that others might like, and that works.  By the way, my philosophy is - If it works for you, then don't change.  We all come up with ways to do things and if it is working for you then by all means, do not change it.  It is a huge waste of time to change to another program only to find that you liked your original program better.  If you find your system does not work for you, then look for a better way.

This last weekend I made my decision as to how I would save my paper items.  I have done away with my ABC-123 file folders - in a way.  I have kept the Surname folders (only) and kept the portable file case.  I still file the surnames in the ABC format.  In this case I put miscellaneous information collected that has no place on my genealogy program (yet).  I also keep some misc. packets of information gathered - like I have small books on say the "Smith" family so I file it behind the Smith name.  This is a "small" holding place.  I am trying to rid myself of unnecessary papers so I am only holding onto things that I feel are of value to my research or treasured for that surname.  I do have a box of information that I still need to enter into my genealogy program - after all, it takes a long time to extract information off of papers collected for many years.  As I enter that information, I dispose of the papers.

I have elected to keep the binders (I have several binders because I had too much information for just one.  I divided my lines into my grandparent's lines so each binder begins with one of my grandparents instead of me or my parents.) but honestly, I do not keep them updated.  I have them more for teaching purposes and for some family members that may need to see a printed version of my work.  I do store some papers in there that I am not ready to part with such as census records that I view often.  Sometimes it is easier to look at a hard copy than see it on the computer screen.

I have begun a NEW binder.  This is my Certificate Binder.  I am putting my original copies of certificates, letters, and important keeps, into this binder (in archival plastic slips).  I have set it up under Surnames in the ABC order but I also have a section in the back for non direct lines (somehow I have collected several birth, death, obits, etc. from non direct lines - aunts and uncles etc.).  I put the documents into ABC order of first names behind the Direct Line Surnames and ABC order of surname in the Non Direct Line section.  It may sound confusing, but it is really quite simple.  So under my Smith line, I have my grandmother's birth certificate and her death certificate.  All certificates that would apply to her will be kept close together except for her marriage or family related certificates.  Those I always file behind the husband's name.  (I do make copies of delicate original documents to preserve them as a backup.) 

The purpose of this book versus filing these bits of information in various places allows me to quickly find original documents.  I keep this binder at an easy to access area whereas I store much of the other hard copy information out of sight.  Basically, I eliminated the individual files for each person and save the space by just putting this vital information into one easy to access location.

This last weekend, I began getting rid of tons of stuff.  It felt so good to finally go through all of those records that I was no longer using and reduce the size of my files.  I am finding the new certificate binder a nice way to store my original documents and very easy to find what I want when I need it.  I love using my flash drive to record ALL of my findings as I do my research and it is so much easier now that I have trained myself to record things as soon as I find them.  Be sure to make back ups of your flash drive often or all of that work may be in vain.  I save my information in at least 5 different places (on several flash drives, on all of my computers, I send it as a file to an Internet email address, I keep a copy in my safe, and I make hard copies for my binders - I still do have my family binders with printouts of my pedigree and family group sheets with the sources and notes I have recorded on my computer program).

Bottom line - If you have moved into the computer age with your genealogy program but are still in the dark ages with mounds of hard copies and documents, try as I have done and re-think your research documentation and collections by entering it onto your genealogy program and working from your flash drive.  It really is nice having it all in one place and not having to lug around a ton of books and such.  Try it - you might like it!

Senior Hiking # 365 - Beehive to Ridge Trail 279

70°

Aug 9, 2010…Beehive to ridge, over and down…tr #279…
hike # 365
by Betsy

Another nice day with just a 30% chance of thunderstorms but decided to go back again to Beehive Lake, el 6457’ elevation, try for the ridge and see if we could get down to Little Harrison Lake. At the trailhead we saw another couple headed up. I like having the trail to ourselves but it is summer time! We never caught up to them and never saw them. This week, on the advice of a friend, we finally bought a canister of bear spray…and began to carry it today. I am trying to decide if I too should have a canister of it on my belt.

Up the same steep trail on the granite and we had to make a decision on how to get up to the ridge. No matter what, we kept getting lost, not really knowing where to head off trail. Did a small bit of bushwhacking, but couldn’t remember how we did it other times. We need a GPS that talks to us! After much whacking and rocking, we ended up exactly where we were last week…but from there we were able to find a way up to the ridge. BUT it was still too far south of the descent chute and had to climb up and over some big rocks north. The views kept getting better and better and it was freaky looking down.

With the chute now in sight, we figured ‘easy peasy’. HA! The chute is a narrow canyon type thing with vertical sides and almost vertically down. Today it was wet and most likely very slick, and slipping and sliding down it is not something you want to do. Deciding not to take the chute today, we found another way to get down, equally steep but much safer and hung on to the small brush trees as we descended. Poles were useless and dangerous. Jim slipped fell down once and I kept waiting for him to stop sliding. Then no sooner was he up when I went down and I kept saying to myself…okay, you can stop sliding now! Omigosh. He wouldn’t help me up till he took my picture!

Now we were much closer to beautiful Little Harrison Lake and as much as we longed to get down to it, after wandering around back and forth on the vertical slope and not finding a good way down the steep side to the lake, we decided it would be best to abort the plan. We may be getting too old to be doing these kinds of things. And we rationalized that we had done it a couple of times in the past, so we knew we could, and besides, the view of the lake from up above where we were is prettier than being at the beautiful lake itself. So we sat down and ate lunch, while marveled at the lake and the gorgeous vista that lay in front of us. Took lots of pics. Still some snow.

Now to get back up to the ridge. It certainly was easier than going down and we clung once again to the stunted scrub pine, pulling ourselves up. Back up to the top of the ridge, we took more pictures and began to hear voices down at Beehive Lake. Following the same route down as we took up, we found a group of five people enjoying themselves at the lake and of course, right in the spot where I wanted to take my picture, right where Twin Peaks loom majestically behind the lake!

Left home 8:25
Started up 9:30
Got to ridge 11:50
Turned around 1:30
Left lake 2:40
Got to truck 4:15
Total miles hiked 12 miles
Total hiking time 6 hours, 45 minutes

Bear on the Porch

The other night I was working on the computer while sitting in my recliner.  My dog was outside.  I heard a commotion and thought that my son's big dog was down at my house.  His dogs are huge and my dog is little so I like to have my dog inside when his are outside.  Normally they stay at his house but occasionally they come down our way.  Anyway, I hurriedly put the computer down and went to our back door.

Our house is designed so that the back door leads to a little enclosed foyer type area.  In the foyer we have a wood shed where we store about 2 cords of wood (so I don't have to traipse outside in the snow to get the fire wood).  We also have a little area where we have a box style dog house, and an area that allows us to go to the front yard of the house, the back patio, into our house, or into our little cottage attached to the house by this foyer - so 4 doorways with doors (we do leave the two doors going outside open).  On top of the dog house I keep a tub of dog food - one of those big gray plastic tubs with a snap on lid.

Back to the ruckus.  I heard this huge crash.  I hurriedly put down the computer and ran to the door that was just 6 feet from where I was sitting.  As I opened the door, I saw out the doorway (the one heading to the front yard), a good sized black bear.  It had drug the dog food container out of the foyer, through the door, got the lid off, and at that moment stopped to stare at me.  It was less than 4 feet from me.  I was stunned!  That bear had come through the door (even with a bright light on - which we leave on at night) and dragged that container off of the dog house (about 2 1/2 feet high) and hauled it back through the door then got the lid off of the container in just those few seconds before I got out there.

So there I was in the foyer with the bear right outside the door (about 3 feet from me) staring at me.  I hurriedly got back inside the house and yelled, "BEAR"!!!  My husband came running (well, he's not real fast but he came out as quickly as he could) and brought his shot gun. I had gone to the other back door and had been gathering my dog in as she was barking at the bear (but hiding on the patio) and I didn't want the bear to panic and attack.  He went to that back door and shot into the air to scare the bear away.  

I went back to check on the bear and it was gone.  I brought the dog food back in and put it into the cottage.  I blocked the way outside the door to discourage a return of the bear and shut the door tight.  We kept a very close check on things for  awhile.  The last time I had seen a bear in our area (even though I know they are around because we live in the woods) was a year or so ago.  I saw a cub crossing our driveway (but our driveway is a mile long and I saw it about midway down the driveway...not by any houses).  My son said that he thought the bear may have been hanging around his shop as his dogs have been barking for several days at something in the woods.

I guess we won't just walk outside at night and take for granted that all is okay.

Senior Hiking #364 Beehive Lakes Trail

70° HAZY

Aug 2, 2010…Beehive Lakes Tr #279…
hike # 364
by Betsy

This is another one of those long and steep hikes and again plans changed as we drove out of the driveway. Don’t ask. The plan we decided on the night before was Schafer Peak but Beehive Lake is also a good hike, in spite of its steepness and numerous switchbacks. I like this trail a lot because it is so varied and it does not have all the loose rock and shale that Harrison Lake and other Selkirk Mt hikes have.

The trail starts out with just a normal incline and then gets much steeper, especially the first half. All the creeks which are impossible to cross in the spring are now just a hop, skip and a jump. When we hit the huge span of steep granite, we had no trouble…it is easy to get lost in spite of the numerous “ducks” marking the trail but we had no trouble having done this hike a gazillion times in the past.

The air was extremely hazy which was a blessing today since this is usually a very sunny and very hot hike. Lots of bear grass in bloom and many wildflowers. This huckleberry laden trail is now full of tiny green berries, just ready to explode in just a matter of weeks. And picking and popping them always make this hike worth it. But alas we were too early for that in early August at this elevation.

We tried for the ridge to head over and down to Little Harrison Lake but we never seem to be able to find the right route. So much brush and so many boulders, and that we have been up there so many times before didn’t help today so just decided to head back down to the Beehive Lake. The air was much cooler at the lake and the breeze a bit stiff so we took a few pics and headed down the trail a bit to eat lunch in a more sheltered spot.

The trail was quite busy on the descent…we met three groups of people heading up, loaded with backpacks and gear for an overnight stay. While there are several campsites spread out quite nicely, unless they walked around the lake a bit they would not find them. Only one party had actually been up there before and this was a day hike for them…they were stocking both lakes with baby fish. I was surprised to see so many on the trail today but I guess summer mode is in full swing, even on Monday.

Coming down, I was able to spot one of the two lower Beehive Lakes nestled down deep in the canyon…somehow I missed them on the way up. My guess is that the smaller of the two is all but dried up.

Left home 8:30
Started up 9:45
Turned around 1:10

Got to truck 3:15
Total miles hiked 10 miles
Total hiking time 5 hours, 30 minutes

Busy Busy Busy

This summer is flying by.  I am sorry to be so far behind in our Senior Hiking and other stories.  I have been preparing for some genealogy classes that I will be teaching very soon - beginning in September.  Between regular chores, berries, family history service, and my vinyl company , I have been working full time on preparations for these classes.  I will get our favorite hiking series going soon.  Betsy keeps right on hiking and sending me the information so it is ME that's dragging her feet.

Stay tuned...I will get them posted.

Thanks for your support.

It's a "Berry" Good Idea!

Raspberries are ready to pick in North Idaho and as I began picking mine, I was reminded of the many times I picked them with my daughter. As she was growing up, I took many opportunities to discuss life with her. Berry picking had the best analogies to help her realize her importance in this world and the importance of others. As we picked, I would start telling her things like, “beauty is not always easily seen just like some of the best berries are not easy to find". So we would pick and think of one analogy after another. She joined in with her examples and me with mine.

Today while I was picking berries (no daughter around), I began thinking of all of those analogies we used to come up with and thought I would share some of them with you but in the realm of genealogy. Now I am using this for genealogy, but you can apply these things to anything in life. You can compare it with business, people, animals, school, church, being a mother, teacher, missionary, or genealogist. Allow yourself to use your imagination and thinking skills to see what you can come up with.

I have some pictures to help illustrate some of my thoughts so let’s begin.

Sometimes I look at my research and think, “This is just too overwhelming, there’s nothing out there for me, I just can’t do it.” I agree that sometimes it looks that way. When I look at my berry bushes, I sometimes see nothing in site and get discouraged that there are no berries….BUT… if I just go in a little closer, I see new things. If we will just step into research and take one little area to concentrate on, we may find something we thought was not there – we may actually find that there is a lot more in there for us than we could possibly imagine.

Once we get into the berries (our research), we may find some of the fruit is ready and easily picked but others are still not quite ripe enough.  The same thing comes when we are researching.  Some information is loaded onto the internet or in books or microfilm and more ready to reap the harvest but other information is still not readily available to us.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sometimes we need to look a little harder.  It may well be out there, but hiding in some obscure place.  It is important that we turn over every leaf.  I've said this before but we sometimes need to think out of the box.  Ask ourselves, "What leaf have I not turned over?"
 

Looking high and low and into every corner may bring about fruit that was very hidden before.  I can't tell you how many times I have researched an area only to look at it in a different way and found that missing piece that opened up my lines.  Think about being in that berry bush and the times you may have picked an area only to go to the other side of the bush to find a whole new grouping of berries that were just not seen from the original view.  Sometimes the weeds of research choke out what we are looking for (the areas that charge for their services) but if we just deal with the problem at hand things may be for our benefit.

Once in awhile, right in the middle of your picking, you find something strange growing.  As you get working on it, you find a whole new tree growing out of the bushes.  What a find!  (Mine is a new plum tree!)

The bottom line is, if you stick to picking, work through the problem areas and deal with the difficulties as they come along, dig deep inside to find those hidden treasures, turn over each leaf, and don't let your first view discourage you, you may just come up with more that you thought was there.

 

Senior Hiking #362 - Mt. Pend Oreille Loop/Gordon Creek Trail

64° Jul 19, 2010
Lake Darling #52/Mt Pend Oreille Loop/Gordon Creek Tr #161
…hike # 362

By Betsy

Back up 20 miles of twisty Trestle Creek Rd again. We did this hike six years ago on a very hot August day in 96°…I remember it well. I also remember that we took the old, and wrong trail from the lake to the top of the ridge…I did a lot of muttering under my breath about bushwhacking thru the high and thick overgrown brush. In 2004 we had noticed a nice looking trail heading out the east side of the lake but our map showed the trail to the west so we took that one. (We now know the map was not up to date!) Before we knew it, we were deep in thick brush, climbing over huge downed trees and walking thru muddy boggy areas and thankfully the moose and bears kept it navigable…today we did it the right way.

There was a car parked at the trailhead, and we eventually met up with the guy who was camped at the lake, a short 2¼ hike in and elevation 6276’. He said he would soon be headed up to Mt Pend Oreille as were we. Took some pics of the backside of the mountain from the pretty little lake. We said our goodbyes and this time headed up the correct side of the lake to the ridge and when we got there, decided to go all the way up to the top of Mt Pend Oreille once again. All of a sudden I noticed quite a chill in the air and then saw a huge patch of still unmelted snow on the left side of the trail. The air was hazy but the wildflowers were blooming everywhere. I don’t remember ever seeing so many and so abundantly ablaze with color. I took lots of pics, including another pic looking down at Lake Darling...it was a long and steep hike up from the lake to the top of the mountain.

Descending, we met the guy who was camped at the lake as he was coming up. We chatted for a while, introduced ourselves and said goodbye again. I noticed he didn’t have a camera, nor a pack or water. He said he needed some peace and quiet, rest and relaxation…and was totally enthralled with the incredible vistas and beauty all around us. He reminded me of a combination of a now deceased friend of ours and our son Steve, both of whom love hiking and the peace and solitude of the mountains.

Now back on trail, and this time we knew exactly where the turnoff trail, #161, was to get us back down the lake. Omigosh, it was so steep and long. This, our second time down it, will be our last if I have anything to say about it. I think that the first time back six years ago, I was so brain dead from the heat…I didn’t even remember how steep is. It just went straight down all the way, seemingly never ending, and the descent was 2500’ in two miles and two hours! A few meadow-y areas ahead, we stopped for a rest and threw rocks down the hill and were like kids watching them bounce higher and higher down the steep grassy grade. Okay, enough fun…let’s get the heck down and out of here!

Lots of water and mud to plow thru and a few more downed trees to get over or under, and we were down and back to the main trail, and finally to the truck. A planned 8-mile hike turned into a 12-mile hike…but the day was a perfect one for this hike.

Left home 9:45Started up 10:00Got to lake 11:00Top of Mt P.O. 1:10
Descend mountain 1:30
Got to truck 4:10Got home 5:30
Total miles hiked 12 miles
Total hiking time 6 hours, 10 minutes