WINTERING
Snake Valley, Utah

One of the oft heard comments about our pack trip was something like, "I don't see how you had the nerve to give up everything to take the risk of traveling a dangerous trail." This statement may have be simply spoken, as, "Boy do you have guts," or more elaborately phrased: "Granted your motivation was noble, but what about security." By the time we reached Green Island Lake, our security was three little red tents. Wherever they stood, as I have mentioned many times before, was home.

What lay ahead was the frightening part—returning to a life where most major decisions concerned money. How would I be able to afford to truck the horses out of the mountains before the snows came? Where to take them? Where would we live? The children go to school? How would we pay our bills?

My mother arrived to help us start working out our problems. I hiked back to Belden to meet her, which completely finished off my boots.

On the way I spent another half-hour looking for that lost dime, just in case Mom missed our rendezvous, and I needed to make another phone call. A fellow likes to have a little money in his pocket now and then for emergencies.

She was there, with grain and groceries. A spunky lady, my mother. Sixty-six years young at that time, she took it well that we were going to have to drive around on a steep and narrow dirt road and then ride the last three miles into camp, via horseback. My timing worked out well: just as we arrived at the trailhead, James came riding out with an empty packstring.

We spent the next few days fishing, and trying to regain lost weight on "goodies" that most people ate without a thought. To this day I cannot open a can of peaches without thinking how good just one slice can taste. Or of the richness of a breakfast roll, and the tang of a good potato salad. What luxury.

When it came time to return to reality, I marveled at every patch of grass we passed on our way to my mother's home in Oregon. Bernice was ecstatic over the ease that travelers can adjust a heater or air-conditioner. The girls had to be told many times to leave the hot water alone at coffee-stop restrooms.