| 461 | Tales of Summer | 2011-08-24 |
Amy and I discussed if we wanted to put together a slideshow on our summer; but then decided to just wing it. The pizza and dinner was great and then it was story time.
Our friends shared their stories first ...
They were originally going to the northern Rockies at the start of their trip and then changed plans because of the flooding rivers.
They went to Wisconsin instead to do a little fishing. The bugs were in prime season and one of our friends suffered an allergic reaction to some gnats. It took a hospital visit to reduce the gnat induced swelling.
Continuing they tried to reach Glacier National Park but were unable to cross the Missouri River in several places due to the flooding. (I am actually just assuming it was the Missouri.)
Reaching Glacier, they went canoeing one late afternoon. A fast moving storm caught them on Lake McDonald. Lightning filled the air and struck close to our friends. They sought refuge on a private dock.
Sitting out the storm on the dock, they looked up to see two mountain lions stalking them. Our friends started shouting and trying to look big, hoping the approaching lion would change his mind and leave. The mountain lion finally altered his path. The lion changed focus just in the nick of time, as our friends were planning to jump in the frigid water, if the lion came much closer.
Finally on a fishing trip one or our friends caught a hook that gouged deep into their hand. An airplane evacuation ride, in scary conditions, and twenty some odd stitches later, our friends were riding down the river again.
An hour after they had started with their stories, we sat on the edge of the sofa listening to every word. They showed a select few pictures and that was the evening.
We did not talk about our trip at all. I had been in the mountains from the last week of June until the first week of August and had hiked or climbed every day (Amy joined me in July). During that time I had not been bitten by anything. I had not even put on bug juice. I was never really bothered by high water (I did get my feet wet crossing streams; but that is not unusual.) I didn't even see a mountain lion, much less, be stalked by one. There were no hospital visits, nor emergency evacuation plane rides. I was not even rained on while hiking for the entire trip! (There were rainy times; but only in camp.)
With all of our mountains and trails we did this summer, we had nothing to say, but "WOW". We were just glad our friends made it home alive! It was a great evening.
Happy for our safe summer trails