A Day Not Stolen

 

The sky was low and gray this morning and snow was in the offing.  I headed out anyway, hoping to hike a few miles on a trail I hiked last August.  On this first winter venture into the Wind River Mountains I would see how things change between August and January. 

I am by no means deficient in a taste for natural places in all their seasons, but I am deficient in improving upon them with art.  Photography fills the gap for me with attempts, not at realism, and certainly not impressionism, but at lure—to seduce you into my little world by displaying things not seen by most visitors, because they don’t go there.  

“Leave it as it is.  People can only mar it” said Teddy Roosevelt, speaking of the Grand Canyon.  May I simply leave it alone and not mar it.  

So with summertime memories of wildflowers and green clothing on ancient rock, I headed out to see what winter brings.  But I never got there!   

The road to Elkhart Park Trailhead was deep in snow, and I got stuck.  Four-wheel-drive and winter tires will take you anywhere, right?  I walked a mile to find a place where my cell phone worked, and called AAA.  They said their tow trucks can’t get there.  I walked back to the jeep and started digging with my small shovel, and after an hour’s work, was able to back down the road.  I had given up on getting to the trailhead.  After a quarter mile I was stuck again.  I realized that there was only one place on this paved road, covered with two feet of snow, that I could back down it, and that was in the tracks of other vehicles. 

       

Finally, after thinking I was the only person up here, I met a car driving up, but it was stuck in the middle of the road, and a man was shoveling snow.  I went to him and wife with my shovel, where it felt good not to be alone. There were no arguments; we realized that together was the only way we would all get out of this situation.  We got the car unstuck, and he started backing down the road, but got immediately stuck again.  We got them unstuck three times before he was in the tracks of former vehicles and backing slowly down the road to a place where we could turn around.  

And then we saw the tow truck coming up the road.  He said that AAA had called him because someone was stuck up here, and he came even though he is not with AAA and could expect no payment.  We gave him some money anyway, even though we thought we could get down without his help.

The tow truck driver tried to turn around.  Here he is stuck in the ditch trying.  I had to ask the obvious question, “Would you like me to call AAA?”  We all laughed at our silly situation.  They used the towing winch tied to a tree to pull themselves out of the ditch.  A tow truck towing itself. 

It was afternoon before I got back on a road that was snow-covered, but not so deep, and I decided not to let the day be stolen.  I put on snow shoes and plodded slowly into the woods.  Just a few pictures here show the kind of country I might explore on this long stay in a mountain winter.