1. My plan is to go on a solo hiking, photographing, site seeing road trip. Today, I booked accommodations in Bonners Ferry for two nights, Crawford Bay, BC for three, and Ponderay for one night. I will hit the road on Sept. 18th and return on Sept. 24. So far, my tentative plans are to spend a good chunk of time at the Kootenai Wildlife Refuge and to hike to Copper Falls. I've read up on other hikes around Bonners Ferry and I'll decide which ones to do based on what I can learn about the condition of the roads that lead to the trail heads and how I feel about hiking alone in these places. In Crawford Bay, I look forward to revisiting Artisan Way, riding the ferry across Kootenai Lake and going on to a few places, most likely Nelson, Ainsworth Hot Springs, and Kalso; I'm also reading up on provincial parks near Crawford Bay, with a special interest in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park. I have some more reading and thinking to do about my time in Ponderay, but I'm almost positive it will include a visit to the Laughing Dog Brewery. I'll be looking into finding an easy to moderate hikes around there.
2. While making these plans, I've been encouraged by the way my big toe is healing. Yes, it still looks ugly and still feels insulted, but my toe is growing increasingly flexible and I am experiencing almost no pain. I am walking freely again and am on the verge of testing it out on a nearby trail. I am optimistic that my toe will be in great shape for my upcoming excursion northward.
3. I often hit the hay around 9 or 10 o'clock, but tonight was different. I got hooked on the CNN miniseries, The Eighties, and watched the first three episodes. These episodes explored, in order, the leap forward in high quality television in the 1980s (along with some junk!), the presidency and popularity of Ronald Reagan, and the AIDS pandemic.
The content of each episode engrossed me, and, at the same time, I found myself reliving some of my life's happiest days. Granted, I experienced some of my life's darkest days in the 1980s and I would love to go back and stop myself from doing some of the stupid things I did.
I'll leave it at that.
But, I got to know many of the best people I've ever known during that time. I thought about the people I worked with at Whitworth and felt gratitude swell inside me that I am still in touch with some of these friends. Yes, I've lost touch with others, but all of these people paid me visits this evening. My love for all of them, whether we've lost touch or not, occupied my inward self. So did my love for all the great friends I made in the 1980s at the University of Oregon and I thought about my good fortune to have worked at LCC with some of them and that we remain good friends. Starting in about 1987, I began to frequent hiking trails and waterfalls in Oregon -- I suddenly recalled trips to Crater Lake and hiking Mt. Scott, Silver Falls State Park, the string of waterfalls just off Highway 138 (the North Umpqua Highway) -- Clearwater Falls, Watson Falls, Toketee Falls, and others --, Silver and Golden Falls in Coos County, a trip to Waldo Lake and Gold Lake, hiking Fuji Mountain, jaunts up Mt. Pisgah, and many others. Those hikes in the late 1980s are with me all the time as I find places to hike and explore now in North Idaho.
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