TMax
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- Joined
- Feb 12, 2005
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I started out on Monday morning (Memorial Day) driving to the Slide Mountain trailhead (Catskills) in wet dreary weather. It fit my mood. As I was driving I wondered if I had the emotional strength to make this hike and say goodbye to my friend. I recently lost my hiking buddy, Luke (as in Skywalker). He was a Black Lab/Great Dane mix with the face of a lab, the body of a dane, and the spirit of a wise old soul. He was my regular hiking companion, completed the Catskill 3500 with me (other than Balsam Cap, which we got into trouble on, but that’s another story...) and was always eager to be a part of the hike. He was so in tune to my hiking abilities, he would stop and watch me get over sections that he knew would be difficult for me. He was a master at route finding and there were plenty of times I followed him. He always liked to be in front but if we were hiking with someone else that he didn't know, he would continually put himself between me and that other person. Once he accepted you as part of his pack though, his love was unconditional! In winter, when we were breaking trail he would tire and drop behind me to let me beat down the path. In the beginning there were plenty of times he would step on the backs of my snowshoes sending me on a face plant! We developed our hiking abilities together and operated as a pretty dynamic duo when we were on the trail. Slide Mountain was our favorite hike and in fact was our first 4000 footer. We hiked it together many times. So when I planned my goodbye hike, there was no doubt it would be on Slide.
So I started out with a dull spirit but once I was walking the good memories of so many wonderful hikes came flooding back. The weather cleared up, the sun came out and the humidity level soared! The trail was in great shape with lots of evidence of recent trail work that cleaned up the damage from the late storm that took down so many tree tops. (I think we can thank JayH and woodstrider for a lot of that!) I didn’t see any other people on the way to the summit so I really had the chance to get lost in my thoughts. I remembered the spot where Luke had his one and only encounter with a porcupine that led to his getting quilled (a single one in his nose). Unlike me, he learned from his mistakes! In those early days of hiking he would easily do two or three miles for every one I did. He was always out in front, running ahead and then back to check on me, or running into the woods on one side, back onto the trail, over into the woods on the other side, and on and on. Then there was the section of trail where I donned crampons for the first time and had to haul Luke up over an icy section. Spending so much time in my head made the trail pass by quickly and in what seemed like no time, I was on the summit. There was a comfortable breeze and a nice view. I built a small cairn for Luke, leaving some of his ashes. As I tossed handfuls of his ashes into the air, the wind blew them around the summit. It was such a peaceful and emotional moment I couldn’t hold back the tears (thankfully I was alone). I needed to continue the traverse to remind myself of more of the good times. So off I headed for Cornell. The first time Luke and I hit those three sets of ladders heading down the back side of Slide, he nearly panicked. It took him a couple of false starts, but he managed them well. He never did like the big ledge on that side and as he got older, he would come up to me and tilt his head when we would get to that section so I could grab his collar and his pack to help him negotiate it. Then there was that big drop off a rock heading up Cornell that I had to lift all 85 pounds of him over! A quick tag of Cornell and I was headed over to Wittenberg. Luke only made that section of the journey with me once and getting him through the Cornell chute was so difficult and potentially dangerous, that I never took him through it again. But I always missed him on that section. On this day, I left more of his ashes to forever provide safe passage for others coming through. On Wittenberg’s summit the day was simply beautiful. The view was a little spoiled by the haze but was still awesome. There were only a few other people there and I took a nice lunch break. Now I had to muster the energy to head back the way I came. When I was back at the Cornell chute, I caught up with a couple who were having difficulty negotiating the chute. I smiled and asked Luke to lend them a paw. I took another break at the campsites in the Cornell/Slide col before the climb back up Slide. On the summit, others were taking a break so I said another quick goodbye and headed down. I have been so fortunate in my life to have had the opportunity to do what I do in the woods, and to have had such a great companion as I had in Luke to share those journeys with me. The sorrow at his loss is far greater than I have words to express.
Good-bye bubala, I miss you.
So I started out with a dull spirit but once I was walking the good memories of so many wonderful hikes came flooding back. The weather cleared up, the sun came out and the humidity level soared! The trail was in great shape with lots of evidence of recent trail work that cleaned up the damage from the late storm that took down so many tree tops. (I think we can thank JayH and woodstrider for a lot of that!) I didn’t see any other people on the way to the summit so I really had the chance to get lost in my thoughts. I remembered the spot where Luke had his one and only encounter with a porcupine that led to his getting quilled (a single one in his nose). Unlike me, he learned from his mistakes! In those early days of hiking he would easily do two or three miles for every one I did. He was always out in front, running ahead and then back to check on me, or running into the woods on one side, back onto the trail, over into the woods on the other side, and on and on. Then there was the section of trail where I donned crampons for the first time and had to haul Luke up over an icy section. Spending so much time in my head made the trail pass by quickly and in what seemed like no time, I was on the summit. There was a comfortable breeze and a nice view. I built a small cairn for Luke, leaving some of his ashes. As I tossed handfuls of his ashes into the air, the wind blew them around the summit. It was such a peaceful and emotional moment I couldn’t hold back the tears (thankfully I was alone). I needed to continue the traverse to remind myself of more of the good times. So off I headed for Cornell. The first time Luke and I hit those three sets of ladders heading down the back side of Slide, he nearly panicked. It took him a couple of false starts, but he managed them well. He never did like the big ledge on that side and as he got older, he would come up to me and tilt his head when we would get to that section so I could grab his collar and his pack to help him negotiate it. Then there was that big drop off a rock heading up Cornell that I had to lift all 85 pounds of him over! A quick tag of Cornell and I was headed over to Wittenberg. Luke only made that section of the journey with me once and getting him through the Cornell chute was so difficult and potentially dangerous, that I never took him through it again. But I always missed him on that section. On this day, I left more of his ashes to forever provide safe passage for others coming through. On Wittenberg’s summit the day was simply beautiful. The view was a little spoiled by the haze but was still awesome. There were only a few other people there and I took a nice lunch break. Now I had to muster the energy to head back the way I came. When I was back at the Cornell chute, I caught up with a couple who were having difficulty negotiating the chute. I smiled and asked Luke to lend them a paw. I took another break at the campsites in the Cornell/Slide col before the climb back up Slide. On the summit, others were taking a break so I said another quick goodbye and headed down. I have been so fortunate in my life to have had the opportunity to do what I do in the woods, and to have had such a great companion as I had in Luke to share those journeys with me. The sorrow at his loss is far greater than I have words to express.
Good-bye bubala, I miss you.
