Many years ago Carl talked me into going on a hike to the top of Thurston Peak with him and his friend Bart. I was an inexperienced hiker and had didn’t have a clue of what I was in for. The idea was to drive from Carl’s cabin to Francis Peak, and then hike along the ridgeline to Thurston Peak and back.
We started out about 9:00 AM, after a while it began to snow. We we’re about half way there when the snow really started coming down. The goal was Thurston Peak and we weren’t about to turn back. By the time we reached the top I was exhausted and my clothing was soaked. We headed back to Bart’s jeep. It took us a couple of hours to make it back, at this point it was a full on blizzard.
All I could think of is how wonderful it was going to be to get back to the nice warn jeep. When we arrived we discovered that the jeep was buried in a five foot snow drift. We tried digging it out to no avail, we were stuck and I was in bad shape. Bart suggested that we call Search and Rescue, Carl protested and exclaimed “I’ve never been rescued and I’m not going start now, my cabin is 7 mile down this road and I’ll have no problem walking there."
After some debate, and Carl realizing that there was no way I’d be able to walk to his cabin he agreed to call Search and Rescue. At this point the snow was so deep that they had to come up on snowmobiles to get us. They took us down and dropped us off at a pickup, I’ll I could think of was how grateful I was to be in a nice warm truck. It appeared that the truck was being used as a command center. The driver was directing other rescue operations on the mountain over his CB radio. When asked about us he responded by saying “I have the two victims safe and secure in the cab of my truck”. I looked at Carl and he was visibly irritated by being referred to as a victim. The next time the driver referred to us as the victims Carl responded, “let’s get something straight, I’m not a victim, he’s the victim (pointing at me) I could have easily walk down to my cabin, but I wasn’t going to leave my friend”.
I was a grateful victim on that day, grateful that I was warm, safe and dry, and grateful that I had a friend like Carl that was willing to stay with and make sure I made it out safely. That was the first of what now what seems like hundreds of hikes and snowshoe treks with Carl. Being his friend has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. Carl was a man of character and integrity and anyone who was privileged enough to get close to him knew it!
He was a fierce competitor and the toughest man I’ve ever known, it didn’t matter if you were biking, hiking, or snowshoeing he was going all out and the idea was to finish first. I ate a lot of dirt off the back tire of his mountain bike and served as rear guard on many of our snowshoeing and hiking adventures. It took me a few years but Father Time and I finally reeled him in on the mountain.
Carl was eight years older than me, I used to joke with him that Father Time and I were going to catch him. I wouldn’t have stood a chance when he was in his prime. If not for Carl I wouldn’t gotten involved with any of the above mentioned activities. I didn’t realize it early on, but I figured it out after a while, he would challenge you to help you improve as a person. It didn’t matter if it was a principle of the gospel, at work or play, he would always challenge you to improve and get better.
My life has been greatly enriched having had the wonderful opportunity to be Carl’s friend, I will be forever grateful for the things he taught me. He’s the best example I’ve ever seen of what it of what it means to be a good husband, father, employee and friend. God speed my dear friend.
Tod Smith, Team Red Dog (Mountain Division)
No comments:
Post a Comment