A Word About Wallace, ID

We spent the last two days in Wallace, ID. Wallace is an historic mining town and the core of the town still has older buildings from the mining era. It sits at the bottom of the valley where the mountains kind of "pinch" before leading up to Lookout Pass. It is just off I-90.

It is a hard town to describe. There are not a lot of super active businesses, now. It is was eerily quiet on Saturday and Sunday. Very little traffic, not a lot of locals in town in the historic district. That district is kind of like Putnam with lots of store fronts seeing antiques and collectables from a bygone era. There are a lot of bars for such a small space, a holdover from when it was a mining town. A lot of the buildings histories point to when the upstairs were houses of ill repute, with a tinge of past pride. There is a microbrewery but it closed at 6PM on a Saturday night, and did not have an eatery.

We saw quite a few ATV's being used as go to town vehicles. They are obviously allowed and all of them had some kind of license on the back. I watched one dude with his dog riding behind scoot off main street and quickly start climbing a steep road up into the forested mountainside.

To tell you the truth the town kind of gave me a "Twin Peaks" kind of a vibe. Very quiet trees towering above, the only locals hanging out at the bar/restaurants, a lot of empty store fronts. The 1313 Club where we had dinner on Saturday sported a a bumper sticker for sale that says, "Nobody is ugly after 2AM at the 1313, club".

On Sunday night we ate at the Red Light Garage a small place that like most other places has a history of other things. The current owners sell tacos, burgers, espresso, and huckleberry jello shots. The decor is collected antiques, books. hanging lamps, and license plates  (all for sale - a 1914 CT plate = $150). They also decorate with political signs, that trend conservative - Goldwater, Reagan, McCain/Palin and a bunch of locals. I think the position on women in office was clear with one button that said, "No More BOOBS, in Town Hall". I was gratified to see one Obama sign off in the corner.

As we sat there, a couple of locals were bellied up to the bar. A guy walks in and the gal starts welcome him as a stranger saying she was the official greeter of the place. The guy barfly asks, "You don't know who this is? This is XXX from over in Mullan, the guy who shot YYY." The conversation went on with the shooter relating that YYY was abusing his wife and he happened to be in the right place at the right time to stop it and the prosecutor declined to charge him with aggravated assault.

He went on to say they he had an insurance policy in place for stuff like that because of his past history. He related that every couple of years he kind of gets into a jam like this so it was good to have insurance. I kept my head down and kept eating my huckleberry ice cream. A casual Sunday night bar conversation about shooting somebody was a little out of my experience.

To be fair everyone we met in town treated us nicely. It was just a bit of a weird scene.

 

 

Wayward Johnsons, Springs That Are Hot, and Two Dollar Goats: Updated w/ New Pictures!

Well, Katie and Nate left yesterday and arrive home safe. We are now back in the land of Wifi at Lake Louise Hostel for one more day/night and then it is off to Kootenai National Park, and then sadly we leave Canada. Time to catch up on some posts.

As Marsha said in a past entry, we took the Jasper Skytram up Whistlers Mountain, and then hiked up the ridgeline into the alpine. It was breathtaking in both senses of the word in that it provided spectacular views, and at 7750 feet it was a chore. For me it was 50 yards, stop, let the breathing and heart rate come down, and then 50 more yards. We did the trail with about a hundred of our newest and closest friends.

However, the views are spectacular. To the east you can see the Colin and Maligne (home of the Skyline Trail) Ranges. To the south was the beautiful Mt . Edith Cavell. To the north and west mountain ranges layered on top of each other and peaking out between the clouds was Mt. Robson at just under 4000M (13,000 feet). Below us was the town of Jasper with its rail lines running east and west.

Best of all especially for Katie and Nate, as they got to the top of the ridge a herd of 15 mountain goats appeared. They hung out for quite some time doing there thing. The youngsters had been snookered in the large mountain mammal department so it was great for them. It also triggered a tidal wave of animal sightings later in the day. They saw elk on the way to and again on the way back from Miette Hot Springs. In the parking lot at the hot springs they got to see Rocky Mountain Sheep. Of course it was worth mentioning that the Skytram cost about $30 US making he cost of goat sighting $2.00 per goat.

Next on the trip was lunch. Now the Wayward Johnsons had found on Trip Advisor the number one rated restaurant in Jasper was The Deli on Patricia St. We had pretty much covered Patricia Street the night before but if the Internet tells you it is number one, ya' gots to go. Except we could not find it. Up and down Patricia Street we traveled. No, luck. When we finally went into the Visitor's Center to get directions, they said it was right next to the Pharmacy (which Nate had checked out the night before as part of his investigations of all things Canadian drug related.) Now in his defense, the Deli was tucked inside a mini mall of shops off the main street. When we got to the Deli, there was a note on the door explaining that the owner had decided that she wanted to take advantage of the great Jasper weather, and decided to close for the day.

No worries, next on the Wayward Johnson's Trip Advisor top ten was the nearby Evil Dave's, just down the block. whoops, closed until dinner at 5PM, which was not much use if you are hungry at 1 PM.

We were saved from hunger by looking for visual clues like the OPEN sign in the Greek restaurant just across the street. They gave us a great meal that was huge in portions and cheap in price. And best of all free wifi with great band width.

We ended the day with a trip to Jasper's Miette Hot Springs which is a 45 minute drive out of town (and back) but it did offer sheep and elk along the trip.

The Wayward Johnsons  redeemed themselves by choosing a great bistro for dinner!

 

The Takakkaw Falls Mets Fan

When we pulled into the Takakkaw Falls parking lot to begin our Stanley Mitchell Hut trip I noticed that the car next to us had a Mets hat sitting on the dashboard on the drivers side. Way out in the middle of British Columbia, a fellow traveller. ANd it was not just any Mets hat. It was the classic blue with orange lettering. Dutifully I took out my classic cap out it on and waited and hoped as we sorted and packed.

In a few minutes a couple of guys came out of the Takakkaw Falls Campground. The Mets fan was from California. We bonded instantly. I had been able to jump on the Internet and knew about some player movement at the end of the trading deadline, and wa aware that the Mets had backslid into first place. He filled in a few more details.

They ended up hiking the Iceline up to Stanley Mitchell and then out the Little Yoho Trail. Essentially doing the loop we contemplated counter clockwise in one day, while we planned on going clockwise in two days of hiking. So, we were there at the hut as they turned for home.

I seriously doubt that the Stanley Mitchell Hut has ever heard cries of , "Let's Go Mets!"as we said good bye to each other.

Jimmy Sheep and the Embraceable Ewes

Jimmy Sheep and the Embraceable Ewes

dedicated to Sondra Grizzlyfingers, Sir Charles of Evans, and JPB - who better have done the 50 mile route today!

There once was a Greek boy from the town of Lebanon.His name was Jimmy Sheep. Jimmy liked to run. No, Jimmy loved to run. He ran for the love of it. He did not care about how fast he ran  or how far  he ran. Running just made him feel good. Everyday, early in the morning,  he would put on his nylon shorts and singlet running shirt (you know the kind with no sleeves, that looks like an undershirt) and he would run.

He ran all over town. People in Lebanon got a little curious, because he looked like he was running around in his underwear. They began to follow him in their cars to see what he was up to. Some wondered that because it was so early in the morning maybe he was having a case of sleepwalking.  Maybe he was getting out of bed and running all over town in his shorts and singlet that looked like an underwear. Maybe he loved running so much he was not just sleepwalking, he was sleep running! Would it be safe to wake him up as he ran?

Finally one man got up enough courage to drive his truck up along side as he ran and said, “Hey, what are you doing running all over town in your underwear? Are you crazy?”

Jimmy answered, “I am not crazy, I am Greek! I am only a little bit crazy and a whole lot stubborn.” The man went back and told all the others that there wa nothing wrong, there was just this Greek kid who was a little bit crazy and a whole lot stubborn running around in his running clothes.

Pretty soon Jimmy ran out of roads to run on in Lebanon. He started to run on road outside of town. Other folks in other towns began to see him running. They would point at him and say, “Hey, thats that crazy Lebanese kid that runs everywhere!”

Jimmy Sheep would say, “I am NOT Lebanese, I am Greek. I am only a little bit crazy and a whole lot stubborn!”

On his runs, Jimmy Sheep would run by farms. He would see cows. He would see horses. He would see goats. One day he saw sheep. Beautiful sheep! Fluffy, white, cute and cuddly were the sheep he saw. He was amazed that there was an animal that had his last name. He knew that he had to have sheep of his own.

He ran home and started bugging his parents. His mother said, ‘You are crazy!”

Jimmy said, “I am not crazy, I am Greek! I am only a little bit crazy, and a whole lot stubborn!”

And his mother said, “Well, I am Greek too and I can be just as stubborn, no sheep!”

But JImmy Sheep was stubborn-er. He kept bugging his Mom and Dad about sheep. For a whole year it was nothing but sheep this and sheep that. Slowly he was wearing them down. They decided that he had to prove that he was ready for sheep. He had to learn about different breeds of sheep. He had to build a pen, and a sheep shed for the sheep. He had to use the Internet to learn how to take care of them. He went to the library and found a book by a famous French shepherd - “Sheep in the Barn by I. Scoop dePoop”.

Finally after all his work, his parents decided that he had proven he was ready and allowed him to get sheep. He got three female sheep, which became known as the Embraceable Ewes. Every morning he would put on his running clothes and his rubber barn boots and go out and feed, water and take care of the sheep. He then would switch to his running shoes and take off for his runs. All around towns he was now known as that crazy Lebanese Suburban Shepherd, to which he always replied,  “I am not Lebanese, I am Greek! I am only a little bit crazy and a whole lot of stubborn!”

Day after day he took care of his sheep and then went out on his runs. He began to notice that the sheep looked a little sad. He was not sure but he thought they were trying to tell him something. One day he swore that when they bleated out their morning greetings they were saying, “We are saaaaaad. We want to have laaaaaambs. We need to have husbaaaaaands.”

Jimmy Sheep thought about this. He realized that he would also like to have some lambs around next spring. He needed to find husbands for the Embraceable Ewes. In his Internet research about raising sheep, Jimmy Sheep had found that the best and strongest kind of sheep were Rocky Mountain Sheep. They lived high in the mountains in the USA and Canadian Rockies. Jimmy thought that if he was going to find husbands for his sheep, he wanted the best and the strongest sheep.

Jimmy Sheep had also run across another Internet reference about a man called Terry Fox. At the time Jimmy did not think much about it except that this man also loved to run, and that he also had an animal as his last name, same as Jimmy.

He read further about Terry Fox  and learned he was a famous Canadian runner. As a young man Terry Fox was an athlete who played many sports. He was best at basketball. One day he hurt his knee and it would not get better. When he had it checked out, it was found that he had cancer in his leg. The only chance to save his life was to try to stop the cancer from spreading. The doctors would have to cut off his leg. Bravely, Terry decided to take this dramatic step.

As he recovered in the hospital and got fitted for an artificial leg, Terry made friends with other cancer patients. While he was getting better, some of them got worse, and sadly they died. Terry never forgot how brave they were. He tried to understand why he had been saved but others had to die from this disease.

Terry learned that there was not enough money going into research that could lead to cures from cancer. He decided that when he was well enough to run with his artificial leg, he would do something to raise money to fight cancer. He decided that he would try to run all the way across Canada, artificial leg and all. He would ask every Canadian to give $1 to fight cancer. At the time there were about 24 million people living in Canada. Terry was going to try to raise $24 million dollars!

Terry started his run and the people of Canada got all excited about it. They all got behind him as he ran from the east to the west. Unfortunately, Terry Fox never finished his run. About 3/4 of the way across, Terry discovered that he was again sick from cancer. Even with taking his leg and with follow up treatment, the cancer had come back. This time it took his life and he never finished his run.

It was sad, but Terry’s run made an impression on the Canadian people. Jimmy Sheep learned that the Canadian people were so proud of Terry Fox’s bravery that there are statues of Terry all along the route he ran, and runners who run the route every year to continue to raise money to fight cancer. There is even a mountain in Canada named after Terry Fox!

Jimmy Sheep was still thinking about his problem of finding husbands for the Embraceable Ewes when he remembered Terry Fox’s story. All of a sudden it hit him! He could run from Lebanon, up through New York and then across Canada just like Terry Fox did. He could run to Mount Terry Fox, find Rocky Mountain sheep and get some to come back with him to be husbands for the Embraceable Ewes. It would be great! He could tackle two things at once! He could run and run and run and run and at the end he would find husbands for the Embraceable Ewes!

When he told people about his idea, they said, “You ARE, crazy!”

Jimmy Sheep said, “I am not crazy, I am Greek! I am only a little crazy and a whole lot stubborn!”

And off he went running in his running singlet and nylon shorts. When people saw him on the road in New York and Canada they stopped him and asked why he was running around in his underwear. When he told them he was running across Canada they said, “Oh, you are that crazy Lebanese kid!”

Jimmy Sheep said, “I am not Lebanese! I am not crazy! I am Greek! I am only a little crazy and a whole lot stubborn!”

As he ran he told the story of Terry Fox and how he ran to fight cancer. He asked people to donate money to fight cancer. He ran and ran and ran.

Finally he was at the bottom of Mount Terry Fox. He ran up to the top looking for Rocky Mountain Sheep. At the end of a small meadow he saw three young rams. He walked over quietly so he would not scare them. He told them that he was looking for three Rocky Mountain sheep to come home with him to Lebanon to be husbands for the Embraceable Ewes. The rams said,”You are crazy!”

Jimmy Sheep said, “I am not crazy, I am Greek! I am only a little bit crazy and a whole lot stubborn!”

The rams walked away shaking their heads thinking they were done with the Suburban Shepherd from Lebanon. They had forgotten about the stubborn part.

Jimmy Sheep would not give up. He followed them all over the mountain. When they ran up the cliffs, he ran up the cliffs. When they ran down the valleys he ran down the valleys. Just like his mother and father he wore them down. FInally, the rams gave up and said they would come to Lebanon and become husbands for the Embraceable Ewes.

Jimmy led them down Mount Terry Fox. He did not make them run back to Lebanon. He put them on a train and rode all the way home. When they got to Lebanon the rams and the ewes hit it off. Next spring Jimmy Sheep, the rams, and the Embraceable Ewes are hoping for a lot of little laaaaaaaambs running around the Lebanon pasture. And a lot of people who heard about the adventure donated money for research to cure cancer.  All because Jimmy Sheep was Greek. You know, only a little bit crazy and a whole lot of stubborn.

Four Days, Ten Glaciers and Two Wayward Johnsons: Part 1

This is a tale of exuberant youth, and wisdom that comes with age. If you have been reading our previous posts, you might agree with me that everytime I write it sounds like we are gushing over everything we have seen. Each post we seem to find something more fantastic, see something more extraordinary, something more amazing. Some of you have been very kind to post comments about all the cool things we have experienced and seen.

We started this blog to help us remember all the details of what we had seen and done. As we get older when we look back the things get jumbled. Did that happen when we were here with Janice Shannon and her crew or was that with Rick and Doug?

I can tell you sincerely that for all the wonderful things we have seen and done so far, the last four days have surpassed them. If I become addled with age and cannot think straight to recall the bike rides or the times in Glacier, or Waterton and I need someone read me the old blog and tell me, "Look Steve, you wrote in 2015 that you saw a bear near the Prince of Wales hotel",  I will have the memory of these last four days burned deep into my brain. Other than my wedding day, the days spent creating and birthing my children, the 1969 and 1986 Mets World Series wins, and that day in Gampel when the UCONN Women beat Tennessee for the first time,  these have been the best four days in my life.

We left the luxury digs of the HI/ACC hostel at Lake Louise on Tuesday morning. We had spent late Monday afternoon into the evening organizing our packs, sorting and dividing up four days of food all to be ready for an early start up the Yoho Valley Road to the parking lot at  the base of Takakkaw Falls. The road is twisty with two hairy hairpin turns, but the thundering cascade of the 300 meter falls was worth the white knuckles. The falls is the outflow of a lake fed by the Daley Glacier. it is actually a two stage falls with the first cascade hitting something up there and sending it out in a 254 meter free fall to the base. Its roar made it difficult to talk to each other in the parking lot as we gathered our things. We met a couple of interesting fellows as we left. They will be the subject of another post.

I also experienced my first taste of the exuberance of youth. We were headed to ACC Stanley Mitchell Hut in the Little Yoho Valley. The trail junctions we were headed to were described by Patton and Robinson as tricky. So, with a tear in my eye, I took my Swiss Army knife and carefully sliced out the 5 or 6 pages of the "bible" to take with us up to the hut. Katie looked over my shoulder and said, "Oh yeah, I took pictures of those pages with my phone." Kids these days.

Trail at the end of the parking is the terminus of many routes that take you into the delights of the Yoho Valley.  At the beginning you follow the access road to the Takakkaw Falls campground which is self service and first come first serve. It was going to be one of our options for a place to camp on our day out, but by happenstance Marsha had checked with hostel  and found that there was a family room available on that day, so we skipped the campout and grabbed the room. We did check out he campground for future reference. It is a .2 km walk in and there is a cart where you can lug your stuff down the road to a tent site. Water from the gray glacier fed Yoho River, to be filtered or boiled and pit toilets. It has a kitchen shelter. We learned later that for a winter trip when the access road from Trans Canada 1 is closed, folks ski the 13 km up the road and camp in the kitchen shelter and then head out to other destinations up valley. The walk in without snow was not bad.

Beyond the campground, the trail follows along a roadbed on the broad flat alluvial plain of the river for a while, then turns up and scabs the side of a hill steeply. It gets your heart going.

The trail does flatten out  after a while, and leads down to the Laugh Falls Campground, where of course the outflow of Laughing Falls which takes the flow of the Little Yoho River and delivered it to the Yoho. Laughing Falls is tent sites scattered around the all alluvial debris of this part of the Yoho River. No kitchen shelter, water from the river but a very nice, new pit toilet. It was a pretty busy place with many tent sites filled.

Out trip now took us up the hill that formed Laughing Falls on the Little Yoho Valley Trail.  Just a heavy stepping one foot after the other, turn at the switchback, move up again, turn at the switchback and move up again. It was a chore and a half, but after the initial surge it tapered off a bit so that your heart was no longer pounding in your ears, just merely pounding out of your chest. It was long and tedious but in the end not overwhelming. Katie had her FitBit tracking her walking and the trip up was worth 182 flights of stairs.

Stanley Mitchell Hut sits on the edge of a meadow hard by terminal moraines formed off the flanks of several 3000 meter peaks, that ring the Little Yoho Valley. The hut and the meadow are broad and green, but once you leave the valley floor you are up into alpine tundra of scree and rock. There is an camping area just up valley if you do not have a spot at the hut.

You can see right away that it is an alpinist hut build in the ACC tradition of placing huts in places that support technical ascents of peaks. From the warm secure hut you can strike out and summit several peaks that ring the valley.

The hut itself is very nice. Complete kitchen with gas stoves, pots and pans and all the kitchen utensils you need. Water is pulled from the stream outside and boiled. The creek also serves as a refrigerator. There is a small bunkroom that fits eight, and an attic loft up a ladder that sleeps another 16 or so. The common area has tables and benches and a woodstove. It is a fine place to stay, well used and signs that tell you how everything works. Whatever group is there quickly figures out the routines of hut life and works cooperatively to share chores and kitchen time.

We settled in with our hutmates. The first night there were a couple of families, a guided group that was learning technical mountaineering, and other groups that were using the hut as a base. 

The second morning we chose to head up the meadow to climb up to Kiwetinok Pass,  a col that would offer views back across to the two high peaks, The President and the Vice President, and views down valley to the peaks to the east. A perfect cloudless day with cool temps and a little breeze. 

The exuberants lead off, charging up the valley, with the old folks bringing up the rear. Thier strong legs led them to the bottom of the scree and the streams that flowed down from the glaciers. They had heart, they had courage, they did not have a map. The old folks did. After a few minutes watching their path from far below it was pretty clear that the Wayward Johnsons had gone up the wrong drainage. Too much thundering water, too much wind to call them back, to exuberant to look back over their shoulders to see the old folks far below waving and pointing at the valley now far to our right leading to the visible and obvious pass that was now getting further and further away.  We were headed pretty straight toward the glacier that hung off the President on the route the peak baggers took to use the glacier as the route to the summit. We were not inclined by temperament nor by equipment and experience to make a summit attempt, but we pressed on up the moraines, the exuberant Wayward Johnsons hopping over rocks, bounding over streams, climbing up the sides of cascading water, the old folks far below, muttering under their breath and carefully placing one foot after the other. 

In the end as always, folly rewards youth, and serendipity often leads to its own reward. As the intend pass stayed to the west, the height of the moraine at the outflow of the glacier was reached. first by the exubernt legs, sometime later by the old ones. It was glorious. The flanks of the President offered views down valley, and to the peaks and associated glaciers of the Waputuk Icefield to the east. Clear as a bell, not a cloud in the sky, warm but not too warm and a cooling breeze.  The mountains seeming so close that you could reach out and touch them, yet so far away. The Wayward Johnstons were forgiven. 

We marveled at the glacier and wondered at the tortured geology. The mountain had a lot of sedimentary shale that had been lifted. In one area, a huge bulb of underlying granite had pushed up under the shale, bending it into a horseshoe but not breaking it. 

Too soon it was time to descend, but which way down? We did some scrambling down the scree slopes, picking and choosing the least steep and least scary routes. Tricky and nerve racking. 

I am being called to a lovely breakfast so I will finish this post and pick up the tale in Part 2. We have decisions to make today. It has been thundering and lightning in Lake Louise all night. We are scheduled to move 3 hours north into Jasper for tent camping the next three nights, however, they have room for us here at the hostel. Time to rouse the Wayward Johnsons for this no brainer.

Sir Charles of Evans and the Yukon Medicine Man

Sir Charles of Evans and the Yukon Medicine Man

dedicated to Sondra Grizzlyfingers and Sir Charles of Evans

Sir Charles of Evans and his Merry Men were travelling from Banff National Park in Alberta to Yoho National Park, in British Columbia. They were  headed over Kicking Horse Pass to get there. Sir Charles had an idea. “Men,” he said, “I think I need a little adventure, I would to go to Yoho by way of Lac Sherbrook (he was trying to practice his French while he was in Canada).

“The horses and wagons cannot go that way, so we will divide in half. Half the Merry Men will go over Kicking Horse Pass with the horses and wagons, half will come with me and we will hike up to Lac Sherbrook, through the the pass at the head of the lake and meet the horses and wagons in Field, B.C. That will be a grand adventure!”, he said.

And that is what they did. Half of the Merry Men went toward Lac Sherbrook with Sir Charles of Evans. They hiked toward the lake. The trail was steep. It was a hard hike.

After an hour, the Merry Men were getting hungry. Sir Charles of Evans stopped and said, “Let's have a snack and a short rest before we go on.”

When they went to look for a snack, they realized that they had sent all the food with the wagons and horses! They had no food. It was too late to go back. The other half of the Merry Men had already gone over Kicking Horse Pass by now. They only thing to do was to hike on.

As they hiked Sir Charles and the Merry Men got hungrier and hungrier. Some of the Merry Men saw berries that were blue along the trail. Hmm, they must be blue berries they thought. They started picking them as the went along. Sir Charles of Evans ate some too.

After a while they saw red berries and they thought they must be strawberries, They started eating them as well. Sir Charles ate them as well. Then one Merry Man saw a mushroom, He thought, "I’ve had mushrooms on pizza, and they tasted very good!"

Soon everybody was picking and eating mushrooms as they hiked along.

They got past the lake, and started up the steep part to the pass. Something strange started happening. Sir Charles of Evans started to feel funny. They started to get headaches. They had ringing in their ears. They started getting pains in their stomachs. Soon it was hard to walk. They were holding their stomachs and doubling over in pain. Some of them threw up. They were crawling up the steep trail to the pass. Sir Charles of Evans found his tongue was starting to swell and it was sticking out. He could hardly speak as his tongue would not go back in. He was on his hands and knees crawling as he got to the top of the pass and collapsed.

His head was spinning, he could hardly move and the rest of the Merry Men were no better off. He looked up. There was a tall man standing in the pass. He had on a blue robe, trimmed with white fur, and red trim on his sleeves. He had a black dog at his side that wore backpacks along his body.

As was his habit, Sir Charles tried to raise his hiking stick like a sword and announce his presence with authority. He only got to his knees. With his swollen tongue it came out, “ I yam Sirth Charfles of Evanths and deese arff my Mawee Menth. Whoth arff yoot?”

The man in the blue and white robe said, “I don’t know exactly what language you are speaking sir, but I am Nay-tan-yell, a Medicine Man from the North, the land of the Husky Nation, the place you call Yukon, and this is my Medicine Pup, Sky.”   

Sir Charles of Evans tried to stand all the way up but fell to his knees. He blurted out with his swollen tongue, “Helffff!”

Nay-tan-yell looked at all the Merry Men lying on the ground holding their stomachs and groaning. He said, “What happened?”

“Berrithese”, said Sir Charles.

“You ate berries?”, said Nay-tan-yell, “Were they blue?” Sir Charles and the Merry Men shook their heads, yes.

“Were, they red?” Again the Merry Men and Sir Charles shook their heads, yes.

“And muthrooms!” said one of the Merry Men.

“Muthrooms, I mean mushrooms?” repeated Nay-tan-yell.

And slowly the story came out of how Sir Charles and the Merry Men ate berries and mushrooms and were sick as dogs (Sky the Medicine Pup, excluded, of course).

Nay-tan-yell told Sir Charles of Evans and the Merry Men how foolish they had been for eating food from the forest when they were not absolutely sure it was safe. He told them that they needed to get to a doctor, right away.

Sir Charles said, “Youth powerfuth Meth-a-din Manth, pleeth helphhh!”

Nay-tan-yell said that he was a powerful medicine man, who had studies the medicines in the Yukon for many years, and that Sky the Medicine Pup carried many powerful medicines in her  bags, but it was the doctor’s job to decide what was the right medicine. It the job of Nay-tan-yell the Yukon Medicine Man to mix the right drugs and deliver them to the person. He needed a doctor’s OK.

Just then a Merry Man threw up and the barf landed on Nay-ta-yell’s blue robe. Nay-tan-yell thought about all his years of medicine training in the Yukon. There must be something. Then he had it. He remembered his teaching from an old French explorer, Oveer de Countear, who taught the Yukon medicine men to collect leaves and twigs from nature and brew a soothing tea that made stomachs feel better.

Nay-tan-yell told Sir Charles of Evans, “I have an idea. I  remember a recipe for a soothing natural tea taught to me by the old French explorer, Oveer de Countear. It won’t be as power as a medicine chosen by a doctor, but it might soothe your stomachs enough to get you off this mountain. Sir Charles of Evans said, “Pleeth, dooth it”

Nay-tan-yell called over Sky the Medicine Pup and pulled a few packages of dry leaves and twigs from the dog’s backpack. He started walking around and carefully picking  a few leaves here and a few leaves there.

Sky the Medicine Pup helped, too. She dragged sticks out of the woods for the fire. She gave the Merry Men some puppy love by licking their faces to help them feel better.

Soon Nay-tan-yell had the tea ready. He had Sir Charles and the Merry Men take little sips. It tasted good! And it was helping! Sir Charles liked it so much he reached over to add extra sticks and leaves to his tea. Nay-tan-yell swatted his hand away.

He said, “Sir Charles, isn’t that just what got you in trouble in the first place? Grabbing things you don’t really know about  and sticking them in your mouth? Look what it did to your Merry Men! I am a Yukon Medicine Man and have dedicated my life to understand drugs. I know that even natural drugs have to be taken with caution!”

As Sir Charles’  tongue was smaller now he could speak better. He asked Nay-tan-yell what a Yukon Medicine Man was doing so far from home. Nay-tan-yell explained that while he lived in the north in the summer, he spent his winters in the south. Part of his Husky Nation had settled in the northeast corner of a state called Connecticut. The tribe was very good at many sports. Nay-tan-yell was making his yearly pilgrimage to cheer on the sports teams for the winter. This was going to be Sky the Medicine Pup’s first trip and she hoped to meet the Yukon Husky Mascot, Jonathan.

Bye and bye, Sir Charles of Evans and the Merry Men were feeling better. Not great but good enough to try hiking again. Nay-tan-yell reminded them that as soon as they went down the mountain they all had to see a doctor. He gathered up some of the berries and mushrooms so they could show the doctor what they had been eating.

Sir Charles of Evans asked what he needed to pay the Medicine Man for helping the Merry Men and Sir Charles get better. Nay-tan-yell explained that it the north it was not necessary to pay for these kind of services. He said that they believed that it was enough reward to just make people feel better.

Sir Charles was shocked. He insisted on paying something. Nay-tan-yell explained again that it was not necessary, but Sir Charles insisted again. Nay-tan-yell, said it was only in the south that people argued and fought about paying to help people feel better. Sir Charles insisted again. Nay-tan-yell finally said, “I know in the south they have something called a "co-pay", where you have to pay a little as part of the service. Give me $10 and I will consider it a co-pay.”

Sir Charles quickly counted out 10 Canadian Loonies and gave them to Nay-tan-yell.

Sir Charles rallied his men with the traditional cry, “Tally-ho!”

His men answered, “Let’s go!”

He led his men through the pass and Nay-tan-yell and Sky, the Medicine Pup went down the other side. As they went Sir Charles could her Nay-tan-yell singing the Yukon Husky Fight song,

Connecticut Yukon Huskies

Symbol of might to the foe

Fight, Fight, Connecticut

For victory, let’s go…….

Skythe Medicine Pup was barking and howling right along!

Sondra Grizzlyfingers and the B.V.B.S.

Sondra Grizzlyfingers and the B.V.B.S.

dedicated to Sondra Grizzlyfingers and Sir Charles of Evans

Sondra Grizzlyfingers was turning 5 years old. She wanted a very special present. She wanted press on nails. Most girls turning 5 don’t get press on nails for a birthday present, but she was insistent. She bugged her Mom and Dad for them. She told them that she thought that they would make her look beautiful just like the older girls she had seen in magazines. She bugged them night and day telling how happy press on nails would make her feel. On the day of her birthday, sure enough she got her nails.She was very happy to press them on and show them off.

What she did not tell her Mom and Dad was that she had a secret deep in her heart. She did want the nails to make herself beautiful and fashionable like the older girls, but there was more. In her heart she had always wanted to join a bear clan. She knew that if she got those press on nails she would look more like a bear, and be one step closer to being able to join an bear clan. She knew this was kind of nutty, so she kept the secret wish to herself and told no one.

Later that summer her Mom and Dad took her and her brother. Sir Charles of Evans, on a family vacation to the Canadian Rockies.  It was going to be a wonderful trip and maybe Sondra Grizzlyfingers would be able to meet some bears and ask how she might be able to join a bear clan.

On the trip the family went on a hike to a beautiful meadow. The meadow was full of wildflowers and berries. It was going to be a glorious hike. Just as they were about to start Mom said,”Oh no, I think we have a problem here.”

Sondra turned and all of a sudden she smelled it. Sir Charles had messed in his diaper. And this was no ordinary mess.  It was big, and it stunk! It was going to take both Mom and Dad to clean this one! And they were just on the edge of the beautiful meadow. Mom said, “Dad and I are going to quickly take Charlie to the car and clean this up. You stay right here Sondra, we are going to be right back.

Sondra was kind of mad at her brother, but she made the best of it. She used her nails and pretended she was a bear. She picked a berry here, she picked a flower there. She ate red raspberries, and blue huckleberries. She sniffed yellow flowers, she sniffed purple flowers.

All of a sudden she looked up. She was no longer at the edge of the meadow, in fact she was not sure where she was. The meadow was like a sea of flowers with no end and no beginning. she tried going right for while, she tried going left for a while, she still did not know where she was or how to get back to the edge.

She tried again. Left, right back and forth. She called out. She listened for people calling for her. Nothing. The sun sunk behind the mountains. It was getting dark. Sondra Grizzlyfingers realized she was lost! She sat down, put her grizzlyfingers over her face and cried.

Out of the shadows stepped a bear. A big grizzly bear! It huffed and grunted and growled a little. Most people would be scared. However, Sondra’s mother had been teaching her English, but other languages like French, and Spanish. Sondra was getting very good at these languages. What she hadn’t told her mother was that secretly she was teaching herself another language, Bearish - the language of bears. so, while other humans might hear growls and grunts, she heard the bear say, “Hello, little one! What pretty claws you have. What are you doing way out here in the meadow? My name is Momma Grizzly. What is yours child?”

In her best Bearish, Sondra Grizzlyfingers told Momma Grizzly that she had wandered away from her family, and she was lost. She also told Momma Grizzly about her wish to join a bear clan someday. Momma Grizzly told her that she did not know where her family was, but if she wanted to join a bear clan maybe she could help.

She explained that her bear cubs had been with her for two years as they grew up. This was the summer where they could go out on their own so they could start their own families. For the first time in a long time she was by herself. She missed her cubs, but knew they had to grow and move on. She told Sondra that if she wanted, she could stay with Momma Grizzly. Momma Grizzly would have a “new” cub to raise and Sondra could join Momma Grizzly’s bear clan.

Sondra thought about it. If she had lost her human family, this might be the best thing. Momma Grizzly seemed very nice. She told Momma Grizzly that she would be glad to become her cub and join the bear clan.

They spent the next few hours before it got dark eating berries for dinner. Momma Grizzly showed her how to tell the best berry patches. She taught her how to her how to use her press on claws to scratch the ground to get tasty roots. She even taught her how to find the super sweet Saskatoon berry! As the daylight faded, Momma Grizzly led her to her den, just off the meadow in the woods. She curled up in the den hugging Sondra Grizzlyfingers to her belly to keep her warm. Sondra was warm and cozy all night night.

The next morning, Momma Grizzly stretched and yawned. She told Sondra that it was going to be a great day. She was going to take Sondra to meet the rest of the clan. First however, they had to get breakfast.

“Come Sondra,” said Momma Grizzly, “we need to get breakfast. I have been keeping my eye on a herd of elk just over the pass. That will make a nice breakfast”

Sondra and Momma Grizzly climbed up into the pass. The looked down at the meadow on the other side. There were the elk.

“Look, Sondra.” said Momma Grizzly, “That little elk off to the side by the woods will make a nice breakfast.”

Sondra followed Momma Grizzly around the edge of the forest. They walked quietly, sneaking up on the young elk that had wandered off to the side. When they were just close enough, Momma Grizzly, leaped out the woods with one big jump. Sondra had never seen anything animal or human move so fast.

In one move Momma Grizzly had the young, elk pinned to the ground. The young elk was bleating and crying calling the other elk to come and help. Momma Grizzly yelled to Sondra, “Quickly Sondra, make the kill, before the other big elk come. Use your grizzly fingers, rip open her belly, I’ll hold her! Come on, it will be your first kill as a bear!”

Sondra, was stunned. She could not move. The young elk was crying and scared. Momma Grizzly held her perfectly for Sondra to make the kill. She couldn’t do it. She could not kill the elk. She just stood there.

The other elk were running over. Big adult elk with antlers that could really do some damage.  Momma Grizzly let the young elk go, grabbed Sondra and dashed back into the woods before the big elk could get there.

After they caught their breath, Momma Grizzly said, “Oh Sondra, I am so sorry. Did you not know that bears sometimes kill other animals to eat?”

Sondra shook her head no. Momma Grizzly explained that bear mostly ate berries, flowers and roots, but also ate meat. If they could kill and eat an elk, or a sheep, or a mountain goat they would. Sometimes they caught fish to eat. Sondra told her that she never thought she could kill others animals to eat. She knew the young elk was helpless and scared. It was just like she felt when she was lost. She could never take her grizzlyfingers and kill another animal.

Momma Grizzly, finally said, “I am so sorry Sondra Grizzlyfingers. If you can’t kill to eat, you can’t join my bear clan. Maybe I should try to take you back to your family.” Sondra, was sad and cried about not being able to join the bear clan, but wiped the tears away and agreed it was best to try to go back and find her family.

Momma Grizzly took Sondra back around a mountain and through a pass. There below they could look down on the big meadow where Sondra got lost. She could tell it was the meadow because way at the far end, she could see flashing lights and park trucks and a lot of people. There was even a helicopter. Her family and the park rangers were looking for her!

Momma Grizzly said, “Oh, no! I can’t go down there! The last time I got close to those park rangers, I got shot  with a tranquilizer dart and fell asleep. When I woke up I had a big radio collar around my neck. I wore that thing for two years before it fell off. I think they were tracking me and my cubs everywhere we went. I am not doing that again. You’re going to have to do this on your own Sondra. Look ahead, just keep very straight as you cross the meadow. You will run right into them.

Sondra Grizzlyfingers, said that she thought she could do it alone. She thanked Momma Grizzly for all her help and was about to start off, when Momma Grizzly said, “Wait a minute, I just thought of something! You told me you lived in Master-chew-nuts or something, right?”

Sondra said yes she did (she was too polite to correct Momma Grizzly, that it was pronounced Massachusetts, in human English).  Momma Grizzly went on to say that she had heard of a small clan of bears that lived in western Massachusetts. Momma Grizzly said, “This clan of bears had decided that they will not eat meat, or kill other animals to live as bears. They are a very small clan, but they are interested in getting more bears to join them. The are called the Berkshire Vegan Bear Society or the B.V.B.S. It is hard to find them as they live quietly, but they do have an office in a town called Amherst. The office does something called “advocacy” ,whatever that is, but if you still want to be a bear that does not eat meat, this is the bear clan you ought to talk to.”

Sondra Grizzlyfingers thanked her again and walked off in a straight line across the big meadow. In a short while the park rangers and her family heard a grunting and growling noises coming through the tall flowers. The rangers raised their tranquilizer guns, but it was Sondra Grizzlyfingers who stepped out. Sondra had been calling and yelling for her family, but she forgot she was speaking in Bearish and all her family and the rangers heard was grunting and growling. She quickly switched back to English, and yelled, “Mommie, Daddy, Charlie, it’s me, Sondra! I am back I found you!”

Sondra’s family was so glad to see her and she was glad to see them. She was so happy to be back with them, that she did not care that they did not believe her story of meeting Momma Grizzly (and she did not mind being scolded for wandering away from where her parents told her to stay. The family went on to enjoy a great vacation.

And next year for her 6th birthday, all Sondra Grizzlyfingers wants is a trip to Amherst, Massachusetts to find the office of the Berkshire Vegan Bear Society and she is beginning to bug her Mom and Dad about it already.

Sir Charles of Evans and the Fire Warden

More editing coming on this -

Sir Charles of Evans and the Fire Warden

dedicated to Sondra Grizzlyfingers and SIr Charles of Evans.

One day Sir Charles of Evans decided that he was going to become a Fire Warden. He thought he would enjoy his days in a fire tower keeping people safe from forest fires. He gathered his Merry Men and told them that they were going to take a hike, and at the end of the hike, he, SIr Charles of Evans was going to become a Fire Warden.

Sir Charles and the Merry Men started off on their hike. It was not an easy hike. The Fire Lookout was at the top of a mountain. At first the Merry Men thought it was fun, singing and laughing along. But, the hill got steeper, and it got longer. The trail went up forever. The Merry Men began to complain. It was hot. The trail was too long. Couldn’t they just stop and have a snack?

Sir Charles cut them off. “Are you not the Merry Men of Sir Charles of Evans?” he scolded. “You are all whiney bears! You sound like my sister Sondra Grizzlyfingers when she hikes! Get along there, up the mountain with you!”

And off they went again. The mountain did not get any shorter, it just got steeper, and longer. And the Merry Men did not stop complaining until it got so steep they were panting so hard they had to just breathe and couldn’t talk at all.  

Finally after hours of hiking, they could see it just up the trail. With one last great effort they made it to the picnic area right next to Fire Tower Lookout. Sir Charles was excited. The Merry Men were pooped!

Sir Charles said,”On men, I am going to the top to become a Fire Warden!” but the Merry Men were already too busy lying on the ground or getting lunch out of their back packs.

Sir Charles ignored them and ran up the stairs. He burst through the door of the lookout and raising his hiking stick like a sword said, “I am Sir Charles of Evans, I demand that you make me a Fire Warden!”,

There was a man there looking out over the mountains with binoculars. He said, “Not happening buddy, this is a very busy day during a very busy fire season.” He had not taken his eyes off the mountains.

“ But, I am Sir Charles of Evans! I will storm the Fire Lookout with my Merry Men, and make you, make me a Fire Warden!”, said Sir Charles.

The Fire Warden glanced down at the picnic area. The Merry Men were all sprawled on the ground. Some had peanut butter and jelly smeared on their faces from stuffing their lunch. Most were fast asleep in the afternoon sun. “Yeah, good luck with that plan, Charlie,” he said. “And where to you come off being so bossy?”

Sir Charles said,”I am always bossy! I am Sir Charles of Evans! I boss my sister, Sondra Grizzlyfingers around all the time!”

“And how is that working out for you, Charlie? I’ll bet your sister doesn’t like it much being bossed around. I don’t think I like it either, but I do need some help, and I have a plan.”

The Fire Warden explained that he could not make Sir Charles a Fire Warden, but if Charlie was willing, he could help around the tower for the afternoon. He explained that it had been a very busy year for fires and today was the busiest of all. There were fires to the south in Montana, and there were fires to the north in Banff he had to keep track of. He was having trouble keeping up with the regular reports.

Charles agreed to help. He answered the radio when the warden was busy. He wrote down weather observations when needed. He became a second pair of eyes for the Warden.

But mostly, he learned about fires as the Warden talked as he worked. He learned that most forest fires were caused by lightning strikes, but sometimes careless human beings start fires by not putting their campfires completely out.  He also learned that weather played an important role in how a fire spread and how it could be fought. The hotter and dryer it was, the harder it was to fight a fire.

He also learned that not all fires were bad fires. Fire is part of the cycle of nature. An old forest that burns, makes room for a new forest and is especially good for animals that live best with young plants, like deer who like low bushes and bears who eat berries, and birds make homes in dead trees.

Even that day the fire in Banff was being watched, but not being put out. That forest was being affected by the red pine beetle. It was attacking lots of trees and killing them. The fire was being left to burn in the hope that it would kill the red pine beetle and keep it from spreading. The trees would die but they would grow back after the fire. Hopefully the beetles would be killed and not spread to other forests.

Sir Charles learned that decisions about fighting a fire were tricky. It took a team of wardens, weather reporters, fire cews, foresters, animal biologists, and government official to make a fire plan. And they had to monitor the plan to be sure they had made the right choices.

That is why the Fire Warden was so busy. He was especially concerned with the fires to the south and the north. Sir Charles was a big help. He did look out to the west however and notice a large thunderstorm.

All of a sudden he saw lightning flash from the bottom of the cloud. It hit the ground and Sir Charles noticed an orange glow beneath it. A fire! Sir Charles tugged on the Fire Warden’s sleeve and said,”I am not trying to be bossy, but I think there may be a fire out to the west!”

The Fire Warden turned and trained his binoculars on the patch of orange. “Good job, Charlie!, that is a fire and it is very near a campground! This is one we have to fight to protect the buildings and people that might be there! I am going to call it in!”.

Sir Charles knew that with thunderstorms around, he and the Merry Men had to get off the mountain as the hike down would be as long as the hike up. He told the Fire Warden he had to leave, but as he left he said, “Sir, I now know that you can’t become a Fire Warden in one day. What should I do if I really want to be one?”

The Fire Warden said, “Charlie, remember what you saw here  today. We work as a team to fight forest fires. We need lots of kinds of people to help make decisions around forest fires. We need people who understand about animals, and plants, people who understand fish and birds. We need weather people, we need figher fighters on the ground and pilots in the air, we even need computer people who can make models of how fires work so we can try out a decision on a computer model, to see if we have the right plan or have to change it.”

“My advice to you is to do your best in school, and work especially hard in science and math.

All of your hard work in school will pay off if you grow up an decide that fighting foret fires is what you want to do. And please, try not to be so bossy”

Sir Charles thanked the Fire Warden and went down to the picnic area. He woke up the Merry Men who were sleeping, wiped off the peanutbutter and jelly from the messy ones. He raised his hiking stick and pointed down the trail and gave the command to start.

“Tally Ho!” he shouted.

“Lets go!, shouted the Merry Men.

And off they went.