Vacation and Returning Home

It is 9 – 11, my son is returning home today and it is the last day of my vacation. A day of reflection, sadness and hope for the future. In some respects, I have had a stay-cation. We cancelled our trip to Salt Spring Island this year with the intention of going to Minnesota so I could go to the Boundary Waters camping with our youngest son, Josh (age 29). We realized that we didn’t have the time we needed for that trip and Josh really wanted to come here to go backpacking so he and I planned a High Divide trip in the Olympic Mountains.

The High Divide Loop is 18.2 miles with 3050 feet of elevation gain. We planned for two nights at Heart Lake and one night at Lunch Lake in the Seven Lakes Basin. With our day hikes we estimate that we actually walked more than 30 miles, but we bagged the last night at Lunch Lake. From the very beginning we kept hearing how bad the mosquitoes were at Lunch Lake. We thought that they were bad at Heart Lake and they were really bad at Bogachiel Peak so we decided to return home a day early.

Our first day (Labor Day) was a strenuous hike to Heart Lake where we pitched our tents and had numerous goats as visitors (or maybe we were the visitors). The elk across the valley sang all night long and the moon made it all the more beautiful.

Our two highlights were our lunches on day 2 and day 3. Day 2 we hiked to Swimming Bear Lake and had a very cold swim and ate lunch. I went to a high point and was filming a video when there was a splash in the lake and sure enough there was a bear. We spotted another bear on the trail ahead of us as we hiked back to camp. It was an amazing afternoon of warm sun and father-son time.

We left our camp early on day 3 (Wednesday) on the High Divide Trail and found stunning views of Mt. Olympus. We spent about an hour on the summit of Bogachiel Peak eating our lunch and marveling at the 360 degree panoramic view. We looked down into Seven Lakes Basin and decided we just didn’t want to fight the mosquitoes. We met a hiker later who came from Lunch Lake who told us that she had to wear her rain coat in the hot sun to protect herself from the mosquitoes so we were please with our decision.

It was a long and hot hike back to my truck and home was a welcome sight at 10:30 PM. And, oh – my bed felt so soft and so good!

Thursday was marked by a Home Depot delivery of 51 sixteen foot cedar deck boards and Josh and I started ripping up deck boards. We got a lot done, there is still more to do. We did take some breaks so he could go disk golfing and I got in a couple of bike rides. Saturday night we had a family feast with the other kids and grand-kids who could make it.

Today I am remembering the horror of September 11, 2001, and feeling the sadness of having my son leave to return home to his wife in Minnesota. I am overwhelmed with pride for him. He has become a remarkable young man and I look forward to his bright future.

While I am physically tired from hiking 30 miles with a 45 pound backpack and from working on the deck, I am relaxed and feeling great. I am reminded of a story that I often tell clients about a woman who went on vacation and returned home …. and stayed on that vacation as well. My plan is to return to work and remain relaxed, comfortably relaxed as well.

I look forward to seeing many of you this week!

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