August 22

I wake at 4 am to the gentle sound of my cell phone alarm. I pick up the phone, squint at the screen, and slowly realize I cannot find the expected slider button to shut it off. The alarm, apparently not pleased at being ignored, grows louder and more frantic. There are guests in my house, whom I did not intend to wake. I am now as frantic as the phone. I quickly push the volume button to zero, but the alarm, undeterred, grows louder and louder. I cover the phone with my pillow and stare hopelessly at my wife. I can’t get it off. She looks at me like the idiot I am, and grabs the phone. She starts jabbing at the screaming screen and accidentally pushes the display’s emergency button. I have no idea what that button is supposed to do, but in addition to the ear piercing alarm, the phone is now also ringing. Clearly some emergency response team is trying to figure out what the hell is going on. So are we. I grab back the phone, strangle the power button, and hold the phone under my pillow like that screen in One Few Over the CooCoos Nest. At last, silence.

This ridiculous event reminds me why I am getting up at 4:00 am in the first place. I am flying to Salt Lake City to meet up with my son (Brian), brother-in-law (Mike) and nephew (Andrew). We will rent a car and drive 4 hours to the Wind River Range in Wyoming. We are going backpacking. For 6 days we will hike and fish between 9,000 to 11,0000 feet elevation in the wilderness. No cell service, no internet. The equivalent of pressing and holding the power button on our lives. Social silence. And I can’t wait

We meet up in Salt Lake where I have rented (ok my wife has rented for us) a mid-sized SUV. We are pointed to the lot and told to pick whichever car we want. We spend way too much time opening up trunks and playing Jenga with our luggage. Hmmm. Maybe we should try this car. No wait, this one looks slightly bigger. Andrew and Brian, though mostly Brian, have to cram into not quite big enough but damn we are going to make this work space for the four hour drive to Wind River. On the way we stop at our return-night hotel to pick up the stoves I had shipped. They can’t go on the airplane. We then head to Walmart for last minute food for the trip and white gas for the stoves. Our next stop is Trader Joe’s for cheese and sandwiches.

In Pindale Wyoming we pay for a burger dinner and steal most of the picnic tables to sort food. We cram what we can into our bear cannisters, the rest overflows into our Ursack bear bags. We drive into the national forest, a few miles short of our trailhead and set up camp. Black storm clouds wrap around us but seem unwilling to unload.

Tomorrow we will drive to the actual Ekhart trailhead and start walking.