Bend

Day 27. July 21.

Brad, Josh, and I were up on time, quietly packing. Cole was stirring. I had stayed up a little late. Up there with dripping faucets and a dog barking in the distance, one of the most annoying nighttime sounds is a mosquito in your tent. I had to dispatch a few of these stowaways before I could sleep.

We had a short four mile hike to the trailhead at Santiam Pass. It was all downhill and most went through a burn area. At the trailhead we cleaned up a bit so that Carolyn, the lady picking us up, wouldn’t be scared. I took a good look at the mountains I would be passing when I returned to trail: Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters.

The 30 minute ride into town was a breeze. I was amazed all our stuff fit. We offered to buy Carolyn a can of Febreze.

We were early to the hotel. We dropped our bags and went on a search and destroy mission for breakfast. We found an incredible restaurant. It was Portuguese and only served breakfast and lunch. All of us downed two entrees apiece; the food was that good and we were that hungry.

After brunch and checking in, the only chores were to ship some things home (ice axe and microspikes for me) and buying a few odds and ends. It was hot in Bend and we were glad to be off trail. We also ran in to the Washington couple; they had reached Bend the day before.

Later, we went out for our last dinner. All three had super early flights. They were nice enough and paid for my dinner. If I had known, I would’ve got dessert. We said our good byes in the lobby and parted ways.

I have never hiked with a group before. I’ll admit I was pretty skeptical at the start. They were younger than me (about the age of my oldest daughter) and seemed to be good friends. I was pretty sure we would part ways that first day given the age difference.

But these guys ended up being a great group. They were fun, funny, positive and hard-working. When we were nearing the steepest part of one of the snowy passes in Washington, I had what must’ve been a panic attack. It was extremely steep. I was last of the four kicking steps in the wall of snow. We were in our unofficial order of Brad breaking trail, Josh navigating, Cole kicking in deeper footholds and me offering useless advice. Clouds had rolled in, limiting visibility to 30 feet. I looked down the steep slope and just saw it disappear. Out of nowhere my mind started saying "I’m going to fall. I’m going to fall." I turned and faced the snowy slope. It wasn’t deep breaths or happy self-talk that pulled me out. It was the steady kick -scrape -scrape-stab ice axe into snow. It was just the comfortable sound of our small team fighting our way over Washington’s snowy passes. It was going to be fine.

I will always remember how Brad was always optimistic and ready to take the lead. His honesty and good nature should serve him well in life. Likewise, in addition to learning about what kind of things Cole was willing to do to become an Eagle scout, I enjoyed seeing him overcome some major obstacles (legendary blisters) and hope he pursues his dreams. Josh is a great guy and will be a great man. Creative, thoughtful, and willing to learn he has a bright future ahead of him and the world will be the better for it.

I started out thinking I was going to ditch (or be ditched by) a group of young guys. I ended up having to say goodbye to three brothers.