I've written (at length/ad nauseum) about how I tricked my kids into having a nurtured in my kids a love of the outdoors. It's a long, slow process that yielded results better than I could ever have hoped. Every short hike was well worth it to see them now share my passion for adventure and respect for nature.
When presented with a potential new hiking partner in a friend from high school getting back into adventuring, I had to choose how I'd approach it.
Approach #1: The easy-does-it. I could choose short, easy hikes and slowly build up to the sorts of adventures I was used to. Shane's an accomplished outdoorsman, but you never want to assume anything. I have, on occasion, been accused of "breaking people" or at least their will to hike with me. This approach would take a while, but was the safest.
Approach #2: The start-in-the-middle-and-adjust. This is kind of #1, but instead of starting at the beginning you assume a level of engagement. Too little? Ramp it up! Too much? Mellow out.
Approach #3: F around and find out. Go big and maybe go home. We have rescue insurance for a reason, right?
Guess which approach I chose? Yeah. You know me. It was #3.
Shane arrived at the house before first light. Never mind that he had a long drive to get to the Moosefish base camp. This is how we do. Hello. Hello. Into my car and into the mountains. It was about an hour's drive so I asked the sorts of questions of someone you last new as a young adult. "Pronouns? Political leanings? Anything taboo we can't talk about?" Good. That was out of the way.
The trip I'd chosen has a very short warm up, then gets steep, gets steeper, chills out, gets gorgeous, gets sketchy, and rewards your effort with unparalleled views. We cruised along. I huffed and puffed. We did light scrambling. He indulged my need for SCIENCE! and we got to the crux.
To be fair, this trip did have an "out" if it got a little too much. The intent was to take an alternate route to the summit that had a bit of rock scrambling, but there was no exposure and no significant risk. I presented the option to return the way we came and skip the summit. One of the conversations we'd had on the way up was about expert halo and other heuristic traps that can lead to making unsafe decisions in the backcountry.
Shane is an Eagle Scout and has climbed volcanos, so this was all likely stuff he already knew, but these kinds of discussions are critical to staying safe. (Wait. Is assuming someone knows about heuristic traps a heuristic trap in itself?)
All that to say we could have turned back and never got in a situation where we were committed. I'm crazy, but not that crazy.
Next thing you know we were on the summit. Marveling at the wonders of the world, counting volcanoes, and (at least in my head) planning the next adventure.
So score one for going hard and one more for validating a new adventure buddy. Maybe next time we'll do something truly stupid.
📍On the lands of the Wenatchi people.
