I was trying to find some profound saying that would relate to Jon and the memorial for this year. Larry, Jon's friend and organizer of the memorial, picked a different route this year. This year we biked to the Ipsut Creek campground and then hiked up the Carbon river to a giant boulder where Jon's family had spread his ashes before the great mountain that had taken his life. This rock was a kind of natural memorial to Jon. With that thought I searched for this poem by one of my favorite poets, Pablo Neruda. The stone above the Carbon river at the base of the Carbon glacier of Mt. Rainier will be there years in to the future beyond the black ink written on its granite face and beyond the memories of family and friends.
Silence is intensified into a stone: broken circles are closed: the trembling world, wars, birds, houses, cities, trains, woods, the wave that repeats the sea's questions, the unending passage of dawn, all arrive at stone, sky nut: a substantial witness.
The dusty stone on the road knows Pedro, and his father before, knows the water from which he was born: it is the mute word of earth: it says nothing because it's the heir of the silence before, of the motionless ocean, of the empty land.
The stone was there before the wind, before the man, before the dawn: its first movement was the first music of the river.— Pablo Neruda " Stones of the Sky"
5 of us showed up for today's ride. Larry, Dave, Dave's wife Jeanie, Paul, and myself. I can't think of a better way to spend a beautiful sunny autumn day. It was a day to remember Jon Cahill. Also for us it was a journey through a river flood plain completely transformed by last year's November storm. So just as the mountain took Jon from his family and changed their lives forever, the flood transformed this river valley. Its a testament to the incredible power and unpredictability of nature.
The flooding toppled giant old growth trees into a torrent of glacial till colored whitewater. The river created new channels one of which was the road from the Carbon river Mt. Rainier entrance to Ipsut Creek campground. Now route was a scoured out boulder channel and the road...well most of it doesn't exist anymore. Now in its place is a trail carved along new banks and across boulders and wooden bridges. The casual road ride we had expected was anything but. I was glad I brought my full suspension mt. bike. The other riders were on their "Town" bikes with very little suspension. Surfing through sand and bouncing over boulders was not in the description of this year's ride. Five miles later we arrived at the campground lacking winnebagos, family tents, and day hiker vehicles. In fact we saw very few people through out the day. A rare occurrence on Mt. Rainier.
We parked our bikes at the trail head and started out on our 3.5 mile hike to Jon's memorial rock. The trail followed its old route but then detoured over log bridges, through islands of forest surrounded by braided channels of boulders and river. Toppled trees lay everywhere. In some places heaved together by the force of the current. Giant log jams. The trail now follows the other side of the river up along the base of a giant granite cliff lined with old growth trees. The cliff and trees towered above us and when I look at the photos we look so insignificant next to these giant mammoths of history.
We came to the suspension bridge which still exists. It just lacks trail access from the other side of the river. Paul decided to rock the bridge. Then the three of us walked to the other side where I noticed a sign that suggested that only one person walk the bridge at a time. Oh well, it seemed pretty sturdy. Then we crossed back over and continued up the trail through bright green moss covered forest floor that glowed in the shade. Then up along the open cliff where dark stone sent heat reflecting back upward. Suddenly it became quite warm on that last section of the climb. Everywhere rock reflected the heat. Ahead of us was the Carbon Glacier. Its sides the color of pencil lead. We could hear boulders rolling down from the constantly moving glacier. A sign warned us to stay off the glacier and around it because of the rock fall.
Larry had directions to the "Rock". We came up the hill and there was a large rock sitting near the base of the scoured glacier carved sides. Larry said " I think that's it". So we boulder hopped downward to the largest rock in the area. There at its base was the black ink writing of Jon's family. "I love you dad. climbhl. Matt". So we sat down and enjoyed the view and ate our lunch. This was the perfect spot for Jon's ashes. The rock was just part of the glacier floor and yet it definitely stood out against all the other stones. As we were sitting there we heard what sounded like a mini jack hammer. It was a flying grasshopper. It flitted around and then came to rest on a rock near us. Larry said it was Jon coming to visit us. I said something like a Chinese teacher giving some profound words of wisdom to his pupil "Grasshopper, now you must learn to fly" or some silly thing like that. We all laughed. Larry said it would be just like Jon to come back as a grasshopper.
When we left the grasshopper followed us up the slope. Who knows, maybe it was Jon. Now it was time to leave. Paul, Dave, and Jeanie all had to be some place at 4pm so they flew down the trail. Jeanie was given the impression that the road ride was only about 3 miles and the hike only 3 miles round trip. Well, just a little longer than expected but they would make it out by four. Larry and I hiked down together. We didn't have any place we needed to be so we took our time. On the way down we say multi-colored mushrooms and strange looking fungi (no, we weren't on drugs). I have to say though the best site of the day was the 25 mph sign tilted sideways over the boulder channel that used to be the road. Just up road from it was a sign that said "No Parking". Hmm, there wasn't a shoulder to park on and I definitely don't think there was anyway we were going to ride in excess of 25 mph down that boulder channel.
From there it was more sand surfing and boulder hopping and then we were back at our cars. Great day and great company. I think Larry has found the perfect day for this annual ride.
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