On, Tuesday, August 9, 2011, Ted, myself and Bronka made another trip to Camp Muir. When we drove up to Paradise it was very misty and cloudy, as we headed up the trail. Bronka had her red tights on with matching red gloves, very chic. She also showed us the GPS her friend Wally gave her and insisted that she wear. Bronka is learning how to use it and I think that is a good thing. As we continued on, we were able to break through the clouds. It was great to see the mountain and it was clear and beautiful behind a deep blue sky. We stopped quite a bit on our way to Pebble Creek to see Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. Their tops started to peek through the clouds. The heather is also spreading through the ground as well as other beautiful flowers, paintbrush, lupine and others.
We stopped at Pebble Creek for a snack, rest and drink. It was getting warmer as the sun came out of the clouds.
As we headed toward Moon Rocks, Bronka ran into a friend/guide, Silvia. She was leading a group of climbers to Camp Muir. Bronka was so happy to see her that they stopped and chatted with one another. As we continued up, Bronka ran into another guide/friend of hers and they stopped and chatted a little.
When we reached Moon Rocks, we stopped for another break and food and drink. Then started up again. As we got closer to Camp Muir, there was a family coming down with their two kids. One looked as if he were 12 years old and the little girl, I asked how old she was and she said 9 years old! I was impressed and told her she was pretty tough. She gave us a big smile. I do not see kids that young going to Camp Muir.
It was great to finally get to Camp Muir. There were quite a few climbers coming up for the night. We sat on a big rock and ate and drank. Then we walked over to the castle shelter and Bronka sat on her bench. There were a couple guys preparing to climb to the summit. Bronka commented as to how brown and burnt they looked. Bronka chatted with them. One of them and he told her he had heard of her. He gave her a big hug and Bronka wished him well. I thought that was so nice.
Before we headed back down from Camp Muir, there was a guy there who was having his picture taken with some climbers. Apparently, he invented that talcum powder, called Monkey Butt. He had a container of it and was showing it off. Ted had purchased a container of it as a gag gift as it had a big picture of a monkey and its butt. So I took his picture.
It was still beautiful when we left Camp Muir. I kept stopping to look back because I knew we would be in the clouds below and would not be able to see the mountain any more and it was really beautiful. We finally did get into the clouds and almost whiteout conditions. Bronka also does not like going down the rock stairs as they are so large and hard for us short people to go down.
As we continued down, we noticed a guy hanging around us close by. I told Ted that I thought he might be close by because he may be afraid of getting lost in these conditions. He stuck pretty much with us for a while and then I spoke with him. His name is Bob and I found out he was from Seattle. He had been up to Camp Muir. Anyway, we all chatted with him and found out that he stuck close to us because he thought we might get lost and he was watching over us! I thought that was really nice. Even though we all had GPS’s and wands were pretty much all over, so there really was no worry about getting lost. You don’t find people like him around much. We all really liked Bob and Bronka and he hit it off and chatted with each other. When we got to the parking lot, Bob gave Bronka a big hug and told her he was happy he got to meet her and hoped he would see her again. We hope we see him again too!
Anyway, it was a great day, lot of sun, great views, great people and food. We left Bronka off at her home, until the next hike!!
