More backpacking, the titanium hip is golden :D

[Burnham]

We had, for reasons beyond understanding, never hiked up in the Mt. Adams Wilderness in all our years living just a few hours south of there. Not a mistake to make, friends . Lovely 5 day's trip up to and above timberline...this is a BIG mountain, well over 12,000 feet above sea level, huge meadows, moraines, and lava flows less than 3,500 years old.

I handled my 44 pound pack as well or better than I did a decade ago; prosthetic hip functions fine, but the real deal is the multi-year atrophy of musculature has been mostly rebuilt, so I'm feeling strong and confident again. I'll never fearlessly hop boulders across a major glacial river as I did at 25 or 35, but I am able to get there by hook and crook now at nearly 60, which is more than enough reward.

Some pics, my friends. Those few of the peak on the far horizon are of Mt. Rainier...over 14,000 feet, the biggie in the PNW. About 100 air miles north .

 

[MasterBlaster]

That is so awesome, B! All I have to hike are swamps and bayou's... tell Jasper hi for me!

What is that weird pile of gravel stuff???

 

[pantheraba]

Wow...vistas and views that we surely don't get in Georgia. Rainier looks awesome...I saw it from Seattle when I visited my daughter last year...an imposing, beautiful structure.

I am glad to see how well you can get around now. Good stuff for (almost) 60.

 

[rskybiz]

Enjoying a blessed life, glad to see it!

 

[Burnham]

That's outwash of glacial material that gets transported by snow melt rivers off the mountain over the centuries, Butch...called moraines; boulders the size of houses down to grains of sand.

 

[MasterBlaster]

 

[Mrs.B]

Nice, B. Beautiful area you have for a back yard.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Beautiful pics, the air must be sweet.

 

[SoonerFan]

 

[Tucker943]

Most look at Rainier and smile. I look at it remember some serious pain...... Beautiful none the less.

 

[cory]

I love snow in the mountains in the summer, it blows my mind

 

[Tucker943]

Tooke me time to get my mind around it the first time I saw it. Would have been somewhere in Colorado. Don't remember where but I remember being in awe. I did go quad riding in the rockies in the snow during the summer once.

 

[FJR]

It is so good to hear everything is going well with the new hip, B. I remember when you were deciding on whether to do the surgery or not, and now it sounds like things couldn't be better. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Tucker943]

I thoroughly believe B's generation is far tougher then my own. When my generation starts needing new hips (which due to laziness isn't likely), I believe they will lay down and die.

 

[Bermy]

Lovely pictures! My hubby looked at them and remarked you had a big tent...then said right, when are we going hiking!
(this after an overnight expedition in our 'pocket cruiser' dinghy)
We love looking at everyone's forays into the wilderness. :-)

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Beautiful pictures Burnam... Loving see you hiking with that smile.

 

[Paul B]

Good stuff Burnham, glad to see you getting out there.

 

[bonner1040]

Awesome!

mobile...

 

[stig]

Terrific!
The old mutt is still packing his own food in, I see.
Good for him.

 

[gf beranek]

I love the mountains! That's got to be up over 14,000. Pretty thin air for this old timer.

 

[stig]

Yup. Us coast dwellers sure get wheezy when we got up that high.

 

[gf beranek]

I'm no mountain climber, but I sure love the mountains. It refreshes my life every time I go to the alpine forests and see craggy peaks capped in snow.

 

[flushcut]

It's kind of funny I remember reading about some forest service guy really going back and forth about having implant surgery. I wonder how he ever made out?

 

[Burnham]

I sure did have the second, third, and fourth thoughts about commiting to it, didn't I. I really appreciate all the support and encouragement my TH friends gave then, and now.

 

[Burnham]

Lovely pictures! My hubby looked at them and remarked you had a big tent...then said right, when are we going hiking!
(this after an overnight expedition in our 'pocket cruiser' dinghy)
We love looking at everyone's forays into the wilderness. :-)

Not so big, pretty much a standard 2 person mountaineering tent, an Expedition Tiros by Sierra Designs. Been out of production for many a year now, but it's been a good one.

Terrific!
The old mutt is still packing his own food in, I see.
Good for him.

He's doing quite well for 10 and a half. Loves a snowfield on a warm summer afternoon .