March 20-21, 2014, Sasse Ridge
3/20/14
3504
3
I'm not sure if this will qualify as much of a trip report, but nonetheless a few pictures of the trip to Sasse Ridge this Thursday Friday.
http://1drv.ms/NEoj40
Nothing much different than so many trips Jane and I have made before, and the pictures not that much different than a lot of the ones I have posted over the years (with a couple of exceptions) but this trip was really quite special for me. It was not that long ago when I was flat on my back in the ICU post heart cath. Max elevation gain at that point was in the single digits. Standing on the top of the ridge with the valley 3000 feet down was something I was most likely going to have to regard as a memory of times past.
But there we were, Jane and I, once again and it was all so familiar. Even the skiing down in just plain weird but still good snow. So in a way, this trip report is more about my uniquely skilled interventional cardiologist Dr. K. than me. (Everyone calls him Dr. K. because his name is hard for us Americans to pronounce, but it's also because we love him.)
What was really special however was the snowshoe rabbit who let us ski up to within about 10 feet and then sat there while I took several pictures. We see their tracks every trip; they are all over, but they are among the most shy of all the animals there. That was the first time we have ever seen one up close. Jane says it was welcoming me back.
Larry
http://1drv.ms/NEoj40
Nothing much different than so many trips Jane and I have made before, and the pictures not that much different than a lot of the ones I have posted over the years (with a couple of exceptions) but this trip was really quite special for me. It was not that long ago when I was flat on my back in the ICU post heart cath. Max elevation gain at that point was in the single digits. Standing on the top of the ridge with the valley 3000 feet down was something I was most likely going to have to regard as a memory of times past.
But there we were, Jane and I, once again and it was all so familiar. Even the skiing down in just plain weird but still good snow. So in a way, this trip report is more about my uniquely skilled interventional cardiologist Dr. K. than me. (Everyone calls him Dr. K. because his name is hard for us Americans to pronounce, but it's also because we love him.)
What was really special however was the snowshoe rabbit who let us ski up to within about 10 feet and then sat there while I took several pictures. We see their tracks every trip; they are all over, but they are among the most shy of all the animals there. That was the first time we have ever seen one up close. Jane says it was welcoming me back.
Larry
We also saw what appeared to be bobcat tracks lower down where we had seen them in years past. The large hole in the snow near the end of the photos was what looked like a den of a similar sized animal, except that it was in the middle of the road. Dirty paw prints down in the hole makes it look like whoever passed through the entry went down to ground level, probably three to four feet. We wondered if the critter just curled up in a snow storm in the middle of the road and went to sleep for a while. It was a very unusual place for a den. Then it could have been dug out in the search for a rabbit below by the hungry predator. Other wildlife, heard an owl around ten o'clock. Who,who....who. Didn't hear any wolves or coyotes this year.
Hi Larry,
I am so happy to hear that you had a great trip, that you skied the frontside, and that Jane was there with you!
Yes, Doc K deserves much credit but so do you for persevering through scary unknown challenges, working yourself back, and taking the chance and believing that it was possible to still do it!
Looking out from the ridgetop at the landscape you know so well, and have cared for, for so many years must have felt like coming home. Here's to a spring and summer of time spent in those special places.
John
I am so happy to hear that you had a great trip, that you skied the frontside, and that Jane was there with you!
Yes, Doc K deserves much credit but so do you for persevering through scary unknown challenges, working yourself back, and taking the chance and believing that it was possible to still do it!
Looking out from the ridgetop at the landscape you know so well, and have cared for, for so many years must have felt like coming home. Here's to a spring and summer of time spent in those special places.
John
Nice job getting back to it! The definition of "true grit"!
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