Friday, October 20, 2006
Vacation Story
In August, I went to visit my aunt and uncle in the Seattle area. They are among my favorite family members. Delightful and funny people who enjoy life. But Aunt Alex has diabetes that is slowly destroying her body. She just had her second heart surgery and they put in a fourth stent. I wanted to see her on my vacation just in case there are no more opportunities.
Uncle Larry and I are kindred spirits who love the outdoors. I wanted to explore Olympic National Park and he quickly agreed to join me when I said that I wanted to go hiking there. We took the ferry across Puget Sound and settled in Port Angeles on the park boundary to be ready to go to Hurricane Ridge the next morning. It provides a spectacular panorama of the Olympic peaks.
The next day we were about an hour on the the trail when we ran into a family of mountain goats - apparently a mother, father, teen and a kid. We watched them and expected them to move down the mountain. After all, they are *mountain* goats, not trail goats. Instead, the large male started to walk toward us. He was pretty big - I would estimate 150-200 pounds. Had two well-developed horns as well.
Uncle Larry said, "Run," so I did without regard to the fact that I was also running away from from my 67 year old uncle who had a 50 pound pack on his back. Fortunately, the goat was not running at either of us. After we were a distance away, we encountered several other hikers. We told them of our goat experience and cautioned them that they may meet the goats ahead if they proceeded in their original direction. As we were talking, someone pointed and said, "Here they come!" The goats were following us. We rushed off the trail into a grove of trees. The large male wandered over and stopped in front of us. In our group were a father and his two kids. The kids kept pointing and snapping photos. Dad looked rather anxious. It must have looked really funny - a crowd of people in a grove of trees surrounded by the Billy Goats Gruff. Soon the goats slowly wandered up the mountain on a small spur trail.
We stepped back into the open to share our "relief" at having survived. After a minute of light hearted talk and exchange of information so that we could get copies of the pictures, the goats came back. It was like Uncle Larry or I had a homing beacon. We dove back into the grove. Again the large male took the lead, perhaps in protection of the others or perhaps he enjoyed menacing hikers. This time, he slowly walked around us, looking us over. He never threatened us directly but we all wondered what he had in mind. This was tenser than before. He could have rushed any of us in about two strides.
After a few moments (and at the same langorous pace as before), the goats went on their way. Uncle Larry has been going out into the wilderness for over 40 years and had other wildlife experiences (he was even attacked by a marmot), but nothing like this before. He said though that the most humiliating part of the experience was the fact that the male called him an "old goat" as he walked away.
I certainly had other highlights from that trip. Visited a wildlife park where I saw grizzly bears for the first time. Went to a baseball game (another stadium visit to add to my collection). Especially enjoyed a walking tour of Dale Chihuly's glass works in and around the Tacoma Art Museum. Incredible! I also was able to visit a "hot room" and watch glass artists at work. It really was a nice trip.
Uncle Larry and I are kindred spirits who love the outdoors. I wanted to explore Olympic National Park and he quickly agreed to join me when I said that I wanted to go hiking there. We took the ferry across Puget Sound and settled in Port Angeles on the park boundary to be ready to go to Hurricane Ridge the next morning. It provides a spectacular panorama of the Olympic peaks.
The next day we were about an hour on the the trail when we ran into a family of mountain goats - apparently a mother, father, teen and a kid. We watched them and expected them to move down the mountain. After all, they are *mountain* goats, not trail goats. Instead, the large male started to walk toward us. He was pretty big - I would estimate 150-200 pounds. Had two well-developed horns as well.
Uncle Larry said, "Run," so I did without regard to the fact that I was also running away from from my 67 year old uncle who had a 50 pound pack on his back. Fortunately, the goat was not running at either of us. After we were a distance away, we encountered several other hikers. We told them of our goat experience and cautioned them that they may meet the goats ahead if they proceeded in their original direction. As we were talking, someone pointed and said, "Here they come!" The goats were following us. We rushed off the trail into a grove of trees. The large male wandered over and stopped in front of us. In our group were a father and his two kids. The kids kept pointing and snapping photos. Dad looked rather anxious. It must have looked really funny - a crowd of people in a grove of trees surrounded by the Billy Goats Gruff. Soon the goats slowly wandered up the mountain on a small spur trail.
We stepped back into the open to share our "relief" at having survived. After a minute of light hearted talk and exchange of information so that we could get copies of the pictures, the goats came back. It was like Uncle Larry or I had a homing beacon. We dove back into the grove. Again the large male took the lead, perhaps in protection of the others or perhaps he enjoyed menacing hikers. This time, he slowly walked around us, looking us over. He never threatened us directly but we all wondered what he had in mind. This was tenser than before. He could have rushed any of us in about two strides.
After a few moments (and at the same langorous pace as before), the goats went on their way. Uncle Larry has been going out into the wilderness for over 40 years and had other wildlife experiences (he was even attacked by a marmot), but nothing like this before. He said though that the most humiliating part of the experience was the fact that the male called him an "old goat" as he walked away.
I certainly had other highlights from that trip. Visited a wildlife park where I saw grizzly bears for the first time. Went to a baseball game (another stadium visit to add to my collection). Especially enjoyed a walking tour of Dale Chihuly's glass works in and around the Tacoma Art Museum. Incredible! I also was able to visit a "hot room" and watch glass artists at work. It really was a nice trip.
