Do you have a bucket list? I do. I got it from Backpacker Magazine in 2005. They listed ten of “America’s Hardest Day Hikes,” and I have completed half to date. Here are the ones I did with my friends to give you a perspective.
1 – the hardest – is 41 miles with 12,000 feet of elevation change circumnavigating around Mt. Hood, Oregon, along the Timberline Trail. After climbing it multiple times, how could I not circumnavigate it in a day? Done, and what a beatdown it was. I cramped up and was puking my guts up about 2 miles from the finish, but after a brief stop, I got up and completed it in just over 16 hours.
5 is a California climb in Palm Desert called “Cactus to Cloud.” You can take a gondola partway up to the summit of San Jacinto, or you can hike 23 miles and 13,400 feet straight up. I chose to hike up and take the Gondola down to save my sore knees.
7 is hiking the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim (one way). We did it in February to avoid the people, but it also meant we had to deal with snow on the North Rim. The snow closed access to the North Rim parking lot and caused us to post hole a lot as we hiked up and down the north side. We ended up doing Rim to Rim to Rim and came back. At 48 miles and 21,000 feet of elevation change, it took us 23 hours, and I survived on willpower alone as we walked out of the canyon in the dark, sore, tired, and once again puking.
8 is the Enchantment Lakes Traverse in Washington; only 18 miles and 11,000 feet of elevation change. So, I added a mountain climb up Dragon Tail Peak. I took my 14-year-old son on it too. He watched as I puked up lunch on the last mile, and he cried in agony at how long it took, but we made it up Asgard Pass and down past the beautiful lakes. Not one to let things be too easy, I turned around and did it again the next day with the Boy Scout Troop I led with one change that made all the difference. I took a friend’s advice and switched to only eating protein on the hike. I stopped puking.
9 was the Paintbrush Canyon-Cascade Canyon Loop around the Grand Teton Mountain in Wyoming; it was 19 miles and 8,000 feet of elevation change – no problems, except the grizzly cubs just below the trail on the last mile. The sow was above the path, and while a young city couple was standing there with their bear spray, I was not willing to walk between a momma bear and her cubs. So, we watched them for half an hour, standing twenty feet away. Eventually, she moved down, and we went on our way unharmed.
Do you see the reoccurring theme? When it comes to achieving a dream, the last mile is always the hardest. My wife always asks me afterward why I do it? The answer is the same – for bragging rights. No, it is the sense of accomplishment that I get afterward. Yes, it is miserable. While I am physically exhausted, my body wants to quit, but my mind knows it can push my body farther, and thus, I achieved something few others ever will. That is a bucket list worth sacrificing comfort and ease for.
I came to the NHLA because I also have a career bucket list. I dream about bringing more innovation to our industry. HCLT with preservatives and fire-retardant treatments, thermal modification, profiled decking, and structural Hardwood applications. I also want to help advance increased automation for sawmills and concentration yards. My final bucket list item is to enhance industry promotion so that others listen and understand when we tell our story. These are all projects we can start easily, just like hiking, anyone can do it. But completing them is challenging, especially when the economy gets hard and we are trying to climb out of record low prices. We must keep going; we can’t give up and say we will return to it later; we need to keep the momentum and complete it even though going the last mile will be the hardest and will cause some growing pains.
It is easy to develop a bucket list but harder to complete in good and bad economies. Let’s do it together. NHLA is here to help you create your Hardwood bucket list and do the work to complete it. Why KNOT tell us your Hardwood bucket list.
