Fires, trips, and traverses, oh my! (#solTuesday)

Oh, hey! Would you look at that? It’s Tuesday again! Time for some acts of public writing…

PART ONE:

This has been a bit of an intense week. The Lake Christine fire took over my immediate focus for most of the week, burning more than 5000 of my backyard(ish) acres and displacing most of the folks I know. Wildfires are an unfortunate part of the seasonal fabric these days, but this one hit close to home. Thanks to the Herculean and selfless efforts of local and visiting firefighters, people and structures are out of danger, the fire is more contained, and most evacuation orders have been lifted.

Fires are a natural part of any heathy forest’s life cycle, and if I was a lodgepole pine tree, then I’d be psyched that my cones could finally open under the heat of the fire but… I’m not. 🌲

Currently, I am on my first of two big summer trips, and am getting to catch up with friends and family in UT, MT, and WA. It was, admittedly, challenging to leave home in the midst of the flames, smoke, and uncertainty, but gathering with the ones you hold dear is a lovely salve for the heart.

PART TWO:

For most of the past ten years, I have spent much of my summer “break” on a large road trip. Pausing on friends’ and family members’ couches as well as pausing for adventures and hilarity, I’ve made my way from Colorado up to Washington and back down again. On a parallel trajectory to this driving journey, I have also developed a less than fun ability to cripple myself with ocular migraines. One big trigger for these blindness-inducing bouts of scariness? Long chunks of time spent driving in the car. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Long story short, I’ve been trying to recreate my road trip with plane rides for the past two summers. I do a pretty good job, but it’s just not the same.

Pros of the road trip:

• See all of my people
• Pack the car with as much adventure gear as I think I will need
• Have an exit strategy readily available for those times when one must escape to a hike or a yoga class
• Be in control of my own arrivals and departures
• Discover new hikes and yoga studios as perfect long-drive-breaker-uppers

Pros of the air trip:

• Spend less “lost” time driving between destinations
• Spend more time at home in CO, available for fun times and my regular yoga teaching schedule
• See most of my people
• Feel like a carry-on packing rockstar when all adventure gear fits in one bag
• Practice being okay with relying on others for transportation needs

PART THREE:

The reason I’m currently on my way to Washington is to spend a week with Mike, my other half, up in the North Cascades. He’s a mountain guide and he’s gone from May through September, so taking advantage of a rare week off is how I usually get to see him in the summers.

Now, you should know that peer pressure totally works on me in summertime adventuring situations. I’ve climbed Rainier, Cotopaxi, Shuksan, and Denali because of Mike’s confidence in me (and a general fear of missing out). Granted, I would not have done any of those silly things without Mike present, but I can still get talked into some crazy adventures.

Mike was in charge of finding us an adventure for this week. He chose the Torment-Forbidden Traverse.

😳

Sounds super welcoming.

I’ve visited the Boston Basin area before and have been awestruck by its beauty and its climbing opportunities, so I am really looking forward to returning. I may, however, be secretly calling our trip the Smile-Sunshine Traverse because I may need to enact some some positive peer pressure on myself this time.

PART FOUR:

To sum up: Fires are scary, family and friends are soul-filling, and future adventures are exciting.

Happy Tuesday! ❤️