RE: Climbing mountains

[Karen Watters Cole]

Now see, Ed, I couldn’t have climbed those mountains, not on testosterone alone, anyway.   I did climb Mt Fuji when I was young, a last family trip before I left home for college.  It was beautiful and inspiring on the way up but disappointing at the summit, to discover a small temple and half a dozen noodle shops.  I think the god they prayed to was called Commerce.  You don’t see it climbing up, but there is an unpaved truck route for vendors.  A couple of young men going up at the same time were carrying their 10 speeds so that they could ride the other side down.    Mt Fuji is supposed to be a spiritual experience, of course, so travelers are accommodated.  There are rest houses every 1000 meters for hikers, and we spent the night in one of them, sharing tatami space with about 20 people, eating a very simple peasant rice bowl.  The last 100 m was small loose lava rock, difficult to keep your footing, but since it was August it was mostly a physical education event than a death-defying experience.  Still, it was the only time I have ever stood on earth and looked at a large airplane flying below me, putting mankind in a different perspective.     Nowadays, hormones in check, I am content to live at 785 feet and an hour’s drive from Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood, who looks like a close relative of Mt. Fuji, and see her profile when the clouds give way, or as the locals say, “the mountain is out today”, or when it is especially crisp, “It’s a three mountain day” when Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood and Mt. Bachelor can all be seen at once.    As Brad acknowledged, in my childhood I was taught to look up for inspiration, even if the discovery is not always what I anticipated.  Now in middle age I can still look up for inspiration here in the Pacific Northwest.  I miss the wide enduring sunsets of the Oklahoma plains, I miss the warm Gulf waters off Galveston Island, I miss the gentle foothills of the Great Smokies, and the crisp ocean breezes and S. California sun, but here with mountain peaks in my daily horizon, it helps me to see Mt. Hood perched elegantly as a focal point, so that I know which way she is no matter where I am.     Regards, Karen