Winter Hike

It’s February. There is snow on the mountain. Plenty of snow. It’s hikin’ time!

There have been a few times that I have written about the snowshoe trips my daughter and I have taken. Each time has been fun. This time was just a little different. There was a helicopter landing… But, I’m now getting ahead of myself.

Because it had been a while since a winter walking trip had taken place, it was time to trek. It was a good time. The temperature was cool enough to keep us from overheating. There was so much snow and it had a slight crusty layer on top—due to the slightly warmer weather of late. The snowmobiler parties were minimal. Things were good. Conditions were pretty much perfect.

We picked our path and began our journey. We had reached the treeline and were not that far from our start when we heard the rotors of a helicopter moving low. My first thought was that it was on a practice flight. We do have a helicopter school in town. So, it wouldn’t really be surprising to have one flyby. However, it seemed to follow the canyon road to our position. Then, the helo began to turn North. Nope, not North. It was circling.

Earlier, as Aurora and I had donned our gear and walked away from the car, there was a scream (or yell). Or something like that. The human sound seemed to be either a call for help or a cry of fun. It was hard to tell. It was off in the woods, from a different direction than our planned route. I was nervous at first because I wasn’t sure if the scream needed help or not. But, since it was not repeated, I figured it was out of fun and under control.

The circling helicopter landed near where the scream had originated. My daughter and I were several hundred meters away from the landing zone. Given the terrain, my guess was that the bird had put down on the nearby road. In my military mind, this said “emergency”. I was transfixed. My daughter tried to get me to move on, but I just couldn’t.

“What could we do to be of any help?”

“What?”

“What could we do to be of any help?” Aurora asked again.

“I don’t know… I just can’t… Standing by is not what I do.” Then I told her about how there was a time when Erich and I spotted a house fire and ran down the canyon to lend a hand. But, that’s a story for a different time.

So, we kept up the hike. Within a few dozen yards of where we just had been, the two of us settled down for our cooking break. During that time the helicopter had shut down and I had heard something like, “…rotor…” being yelled out from the area where the chopper had landed. In the cold, sound travels easier. It’s a science thing.

In preparation for this meal, I had not properly thought out what to bring for food. So, for this trip, we had something simple. A meat stick snack and a couple of string cheese sticks. Aurora chopped up the beef and I set up the portable oven. This trip I wanted to try something new: A miniature cast-iron skillet. It was the perfect size for the portable stove. I used one military fuel bar. It was just the right size to fit the stove and burn just long enough to heat up the pan and cook the food.

We dropped the slices of meat onto the skillet. As they cooked, their greases oozed out. My daughter was slicing up the string cheese. This was dropped on top. It all cooked up nicely. The meat kinda caramelized on the bottom. The cheeses melted and even crisped (burned a little) as they cooked in the pan. It was delicious! Even the crisped-up cheese was super yummified (I know what I wrote) by the whole cooking experience. So good.

By the time we had finished and cleaned up and were on our way back down the slope, the helicopter was back in the air. I figured that they had dealt with whatever situation (emergency or training) they had and were about to complete their mission. They shot toward town—in the direction of the hospital. This made me certain that there had been a medical emergency. It would explain it all: The helicopter followed the road up the canyon because whoever called for help told emergency services what mile marker they were at. Then, as soon as the helicopter loaded up the ‘victim’ they were off to the hospital. Nope.

The helicopter turned around and did a couple of flybys. Eventually, it left.

As did Aurora and I.

It was a good day.

At least for us.