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The hour and a half drive to our first stop, breakfast at Spiffy’s Restaurant, gave us time to talk and remember some of the highlights of previous adventures. I was just telling about the time when I pulled my pack from the back end of our station wagon and then remembered that my water bottle was still at home in the refrigerator. About that time my wife called me on the cell phone to ask about a particular water bottle that she discovered sitting on the kitchen counter. I recognized the description. It was Andrew’s water bottle and pouch, one that I had bought him for a Christmas present. I told her not to worry about it because we could pick up another bottle of water at the next stop. As we joked about that, it dawned on my foggy brain that I was wearing sandals and had ran off leaving my hiking boots sitting in my bedroom. I quickly phoned my wife to have her confirm my dreaded suspicions. She did.

My wife, Debby, has always been one to look after my needs. I can’t remember a time when she had a selfish bone in her body. She caught onto my situation in an instant and wanted to bring my boots and Andrew’s water bottle to us. We decided to meet at Spiffy’s where we would be stopping for breakfast, anyway.

Just before we finished our breakfast, Debby arrived to save the day! It was at this moment that everyone in our group knew what I had done. It will be a week or so before they let me forget this incident. I suppose having fun at my expense helped pass the time as we hiked the trail to Snowy Mountain.

The remaining 90 minute drive to the trailhead was uneventful except for one thing. Marvin remembered that he had left his hat sitting on the floor beneath his chair in the restaurant. We would not be going back for a hat. We stopped at the Packwood Ranger Station to use the facilities and to ask about the trail conditions and any restrictions for camping or fires. We noticed Smokey Bear hats for sale in the gift shop, so he purchased one for $15.00. We also picked up a couple of nice maps of the wilderness area.

Passing Deer and Elk in the road, we arrived at the trailhead parking lot where we would be emerging the last day of our 3 day hike. We left a changed of clothes in the trunk of the car so we would have something clean and dry to change into on our last day, We knew we would be tired and sweaty when we arrived because we had to face a grueling 13 mile hike from Elk Pass that last day.

Loading into the 15 passenger van, we proceeded to drive to the north end of the Lily Basin Trailhead. With only one other vehicle at the trailhead we had our choice of parking. We filled out the Wilderness Hiking Permit and attached our copy to the outside of Andrew’s pack, in compliance with wilderness regulations. We hung the Parking Pass from our rear view mirror to allow us to park our vehicle for the duration without being ticked by the Rangers. We donned our hiking boots, taking more ribbing from my fellow hikers, and slipped into the heavy packs. Pausing for a prayer to our Maker, thanking Him for safety and the chance to see this beautiful place, we began pounding the dusty trail towards Lily Basin.

to be continued....