Tom Rankin
Well-known member
I had to work (not run!) at a cross country track meet Saturday till 3:15. After that I headed for the mountains! I got to the (Balsam Lake Mountain) trail head around 5:00 and set out at 5:09. I was in a hurry because my wife had been up at the tower all day and I wanted to get up there as quickly as possible. It's 3.1 miles to the top and only about 1200' of elevation gain. Still I was moving right along. I only met 2 people (who had 3 dogs) about half way to the top. I even jogged a little on the down parts of the 'ascent'. 
I got to the turn off and checked my watch. Only 43 Minutes! I knew I still had the tough hill to climb, but I powered up as best I could. I got to the top and announced 'Honey! I'm home!'. This made Laurie smile, she later told me. I checked my watch. 1 Hour and 1 Minute! Wow, I was amazed!
There was still a young man there taking pictures of the fading light. After about 1/2 hour, one of the 3 dogs showed up at the summit! Now, we had a dilemma, walk the dog down in the fading light, keep him there at the top, or just hope he went back to the trailhead? Then it hit me that the young man could probably take the dog with him, since he was going the same way. I tried to encourage him to leave a little early, but he didn't want to leave with such a beautiful sunset to still be photographed. Can't say I blame him!
Eventually, he left with fido in tow. Whew!
The next morning, there were no dog sightings, so we assumed owner and pouch had met up.
Sunday was nice enough with some hazy skies in the morning and clouds building during the day. The forecast had said 'slight chance of rain in the afternoon'. HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! On the walk back down, it rained like the devil! We just barely got our rain gear on before all h@ll broke loose! Fortunately, we were almost back to the cars.
Another memorable weekend at BLM!
I got to the turn off and checked my watch. Only 43 Minutes! I knew I still had the tough hill to climb, but I powered up as best I could. I got to the top and announced 'Honey! I'm home!'. This made Laurie smile, she later told me. I checked my watch. 1 Hour and 1 Minute! Wow, I was amazed! There was still a young man there taking pictures of the fading light. After about 1/2 hour, one of the 3 dogs showed up at the summit!
Now, we had a dilemma, walk the dog down in the fading light, keep him there at the top, or just hope he went back to the trailhead? Then it hit me that the young man could probably take the dog with him, since he was going the same way. I tried to encourage him to leave a little early, but he didn't want to leave with such a beautiful sunset to still be photographed. Can't say I blame him! Eventually, he left with fido in tow. Whew!
The next morning, there were no dog sightings, so we assumed owner and pouch had met up.
Sunday was nice enough with some hazy skies in the morning and clouds building during the day. The forecast had said 'slight chance of rain in the afternoon'. HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! On the walk back down, it rained like the devil! We just barely got our rain gear on before all h@ll broke loose! Fortunately, we were almost back to the cars.
Another memorable weekend at BLM!
Last edited:
