She had not planned to hike that day. After all, her feet were sore. Her shoulders hurt. She had hiked twice the day before – and it was her private get away – her chance to rest and rejuvenate. So, hike she would not.
She pulled on her dark indigo Levis instead of hiking pants and buttoned up a flannel shirt for the third day in a row simply because it looked good with the Levis and she was headed into town. Perhaps, she thought, some shopping, a stop at the real estate office and then maybe brunch before meeting a friend. It seemed prudent to grab her hiking poles as icy patches lurked in the shadows and town was perched on a steep hillside. Likewise, she slung a water bottle over her shoulder as proof against altitude sickness, and swapped Teva sandals for closed-toe Chacos. At the corner, she turned left instead of right, thinking to check the snowpack at a popular trail access point. She stretched a knit headband over her ears, zipped her down jacket to the chin and positioned her purse as backpack instead of shoulder bag. Half mile up the trail the sun was shinning. Her feet no longer hurt. “I would like to go up to the high bridge and see the gorge this time of year,” she thought aloud. Reversing course, she veered to the south and marked a path through compacted snow, sometimes walking on top, sometimes sinking abruptly to her knees in drifts, twice crawling up inclines packed to ice by previous hikers. Crawling. So much for the new Levis. And how about the YakTraks left dangling in the backseat of the car? The sun continued to shine. The coniferous trees began to respond with fragrance. Her down jacket became a waist wrap. Soon she was overheating in a long-sleeved flannel shirt with no other base layer to strip down to. She sipped from a stainless steel water flask. She took selfies at the bridge. She strode back into town with renewed vigor, found a real estate agent and took a look inside a cozy cabin. She enjoyed an early lunch with a friend and took a healthful, healing soak in hallowed hot springs of the ancients.
It was the best day in recent history and nobody had to rescue her. The mountains did that.
