Staying in shape through exercise and vodka.

Barton talked me into a hike yesterday as we sat around the campers swilling IPA’s vodka and rum……..unfair tactics at happy hour! To clarify, I was shamed into the hike…. Barton: I’m gonna hike over outta Yarnell Az. Tomorrow….7.2 miles round trip!

Me, silently in my head: are you high Barton??

Karen and Judy stared at me until I broke……”wow Jim, that sounds great, I haven’t walked 7 miles Total since I quit my paper route in 1975″ “l can hardly wait”!

Barton announced that we’d leave the camp at 7 and be moving up the trail at 7:30 sharp! I slinked off to bed,a man who had truly tried to limit my walking in the last 44 years……I swore from 1970 to 1975…..as I humped newspapers over hill and over Dale…..Pittsburgh was chocked full of hills and all the Dales had giant bellies…..if a ball is not involved “I ain’t running nowhere ” or as Karen says “if you ever see me running, you run too, because someone behind me is trying to kill me”

F***ing Barton!I hate that in shape, healthy bastard.

I put on my brave face as we ascended the steps which would take me to certain death……I stopped for a short rest after the ten torturous steps…I could feel Barton eyeballing me , so I whipped out my phone and faked a photo opp ……Barton was already muttering under his breath………..”what a candy ass”

I was determined and after a hundred yards or so I took comfort in knowing I only had about 11,672 yards to go……fortunately it was 90% up hill….the return trip too.

At 200 yards I started to worry that I may have bit off more than I could chew..water…..hydration …that’s what I need

No I didn’t look like the Flashdance gal from 1983…but I thought the older fellas here might wanna be reminded of that scene from their youth….anyway…where was I?

At the 3/4 of a mile mark (~ 1,300 yards) I was thinking I

Need

This.

. then I remember…..I need water…I forgot to get a drink…..I laid flat in the trail and rifled thru my pack…………at last…the cool sweaty plastic felt good in my hand. I filled several last night and put them in the fridge next to two others.

Barton fidgeted with his phone taking pictures of the Jeep in the parking lot……we were still so close you could hear the engine pinging as it cooled…this walking is …bull shit.

As I took a giant pull off the water bottle ,I gulped the cool liquid down my throat…

And then it tried to make a 180 degree turn???? only a fraction of a second had passed as my brain started screaming WTF is this liquid fire in my mouth and neck hole!!!

Your brain really processes information at an alarming speed…….in the next millisecond my mind is screaming don’t vomit on Barton, DON’T VOMIT ON BARTON!!! don’t spit it out, don’t swallow it…whatever it is!!!…………..1\1,000,000 of a instant later….my brain is seeing Karen transferring vodka from the heavy glass bottle to a water bottle !!! Oh shit,!oh shit

I Have a giant pull of straight vodka in my first and second stages of the digestive track ,I’m retching and convulsing like the guy on Alien who has the critter hatch out his chest…….I’m desperately trying to will the vodka down my throat, it’s starting to leak out my nostrils, the burning is so intense that I’m expecting blood to start flowing out my snozz……Barton is looking at me like I am an alien……at this point I get that hitch in my throat that you get when you gulp water too fast or beer gets stuck in your throat…you can’t swallow and you can’t spit it out……it hurts like a sob.

I somehow manage to choke down the 8 oz mouthful of STRAIGHT VODKA!!!! And kept Barton at bay with a little story about how the water got stuck. After a few hundred yards my vision started to clear…….but I had a new found bounce in my step….maybe this hiking was ok after all,

until.

None of this happened…….I make fun…..a bit too much sometimes…let me be serious for a change.

What really happened was

The Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park is outside Yarnell Arizona. On June 30 2013 ,while fighting a lightning caused wild land fire ,19 of the crew perished when the fire changed direction and their position was over run.

As Jim discussed his desire to do the hike along the Memorial trail, I felt compelled to join him. Jim is a retired Fire Fighter of 28 years in Casper Wyoming but also has years of experience fighting wild land fires, I could tell that this place,this hike meant something special to Jim. Although I could not fathom Jim’s thoughts and emotions as a Fire Fighter,I could certainly respect them and I as a ordinary citizen had emotions as well.

Barton and I set off at 7:35 on a bright blue morning, accompanied by Cherokee the Chesapeake Bay retriever, a lizard or two and the occasional buzzard or hawk floating in the zone where the rocky hills started small valleys.

I’m sure Barton’s thoughts were more intense than mine as he has the connection thru the Brotherhood . I did my best to keep up …..because lagging behind, or not completing the hike….seemed disrespectful, and I felt nothing but respect for the sacrifice these young men made while trying to save the community of Yarnell and their fellow citizens.along the trail we stopped to read the plaques honoring each man….the details of their family life……wives…fiancé’s….children….brothers…and sisters…..mothers and fathers…it was moving to say the least. We’d silently move on as we finished reading each one, alone in our thoughts.

Early on the trail, the burnt out trees and shrubs gave a eerie feel but many had recovered 6 years later, the new growth out pacing the blackened stalks with hope for better . We met many hikers on the way, most with ties to fire fighting or perhaps first responders……all struck me with their straight back resolve to not just complete the hike for the sake of a hike but as a way to say thank you….

The view and emotion from the observation deck is very powerful as we gazed below to the site, 3/4 of a mile below, where the men had perished .

I/we go through our days without giving much thought to the folks who put themselves in harms way…..try and say thanks next time you have the opportunity.

Not all of us can be heroes like the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crewbut we all have the chance to be better husbands ,fathers, brothers and sons. Be aware that we all have impact on those around us……..most of us will never have chance to save someone from a burning building…but we all have opportunities every day be better people and as a byproduct help others be better today and in the future.