The glass may be full, but...

I may try that.

There are people with thick skins who can take rejection after rejection and just keep plugging away. But I can count on one hand the women who have gone out with me in my adult life, and none have gone out with me more than three times. And to tell you the truth, it's damn hard to ask someone out, or to ask for a phone number, when 95% of the time they say No, 4% of the time they say Yes but then phone and cancel, and the three or four (in an entire life time!) who have actually gone out with me dumped me after 1, 2, or 3 dates.

Maybe those people you're talking about walk past each other because they've been rejected so many times they've just plain lost hope, and it hurts too much to be rejected again.

 

I like that one.

In just under 3 weeks I'll be getting out of Spokane for a week. Then a bit later I'll be getting out for two weeks. Then later another week. Four weeks total of hiking in the mountains of British Columbia.

Spokane is about as big a city as I could live in. I'd have more opportunity to meet people in a bigger city, but the people I'd meet would want to live in the big city. And they still would not want me.

 

British Columbia is the most spectacularly beautiful place I've ever seen in my entire life. And I've seen Scotland, including the view from the top of Ben Nevis on a clear day; I've seen New Zealand, including Fiordland; I've been to Kenya and Belize and Costa Rica; I've been to the Copper Canyon in Mexico, as well as Oaxaca; and nothing holds a candle to B.C. But since I don't like cold-weather sports, the season there is limited. (Though I did spend three weeks snowshoeing there a year and a half ago, which was amazing, but cold.)

I do not know your part of the province. I was planning on a bear-watching trip there this month, but the guide never got back to me to make plans, so it didn't happen.

Places I have been:

1. Mountain Trek, at Ainsworth, B.C. (www.hiking.com) A weight-loss and fitness spa. No hiking experience necessary. They teach you all about hiking, from how to prevent blisters on your feet to how to use hiking poles. They work the bejesus out of you on 1500 calories a day. Great place, but it's a long drive to any of the trailheads, so more time than I like is spent in a vehicle. Still, highly recommended. Tell them I sent you. It won't get you a discount, but they'll probably say, "That screwball???"

2. Selkirk Mountain Experience. (selkirkexperience.com) Fabulous, beautiful chalet near Durrand Glacier. You'll fly in by helicopter from Revelstoke, B.C. The owners, Reudi and Nicoline Beglinger run it, along with their teen-age daughters, Charlotta and Florina. The hiking begins at the front door and the food is fabulous (and not limited). If you really think you cannot survive a week without a flush toilet, you probably won't want to go there, but you'll be missing the experience of a lifetime. (And the outhouse is immaculate.) But be aware: the hiking is intense. They offer a hard hike and an easy hike every day, but even the easy hikes are strenuous. They offer skiing in the winter, but you MUST be an extremely advanced skier. Most highly recommended of all. Tell them I sent you. It won't get you a discount, but they'll probably say, "That nut job???"

3. Purcell Mountain Lodge (purcellmountainlodge.com) More luxurious than the above, with indoor toilets and showers, and a wider variety of hiking opportunities for people who want easier hikes, though they have some intense ones aslo. Twice as expensive as #2 above. Not run by the owners, but very nice staff and fabulous food. You'll fly in by helicopter from Golden, B.C. Highly recommended. Tell them I sent you. It won't get you a discount, but they'll probably say, "Who? Oh, yeah, him."

I'll also be doing some hiking from Mount Engadine Lodge, a 30 minute (???) drive on a well-maintained gravel road from Canmore, B.C. Beautiful lodge, excellent food. I have not hiked there before, so I don't know what the hiking's like.

I've hiked around Lake Louise, Jasper, and Banff, all fabulous hiking, but I won't be going there this year. And I'll be hiking in Glacier park, on the Canadian side, with a private guide.

Each of these places is driving distance from my home, though for the return from Jasper I split it into two days. Eight hours is doable, but not fun. Revelstoke is 7 hours from me, Golden and Canmore are each about six.

B.C. is the reason I moved to Spokane. I considered moving to Nelson, B.C., but travel from there is very problematic, with the nearest international airport six hours away, and the local airport in Castlegar ("Cancelgar") often socked in.

 

I have no reason to hide the places I go, and nobody particularly needs to know when I'm going.

The best way to get an idea of location would be to type the place names into Google Earth:

Revelstoke, B.C.; Golden, B.C.; Banff, AB.; Lake Louise, AB; Jasper, AB. Or if you have an atlas, find British Columbia. At the southeast corner there's a triangular bit that juts into Alberta. I mostly hike in that bit, plus a little into Alberta from there. I've never been in the western part of B.C. I considered a lodge there, until more research showed that they were more into motor sports. Once I get off the helicopter, I don't want motors until it's time to leave on the helicopter. No "helihiking" for me!!!

My glass is mostly full of water. The sewer gas is the being alone. The air is that my health is slowly declining. Getting old is the pits.

 

No, I didn't consider Kelowna. I had never heard of Kelowna. I hear the Okanagan is very pretty. It was actually fortunate that I came to Spokane, though, because there's a very good medical establishment here, and I had a serious heart problem when I arrived, which eventually required surgery. Spokane has an excellent electrocardiologist.

I do not do heli-hiking, but I like the wilderness lodges where access is by helicopter and the hiking begins at the front door: no driving to trailheads. I do not do backpacking. My back is not strong enough to carry camping gear. I carry a day pack and that's hard enough. If you like the looks of either Mt. Engadine Lodge or Purcell Mountain Lodge, PM me and I'll tell you the dates I'll be at both places. Note that they are not cheap. If you want to go there at the same time as me it will be fun to see you. You'd probably find my hiking pace awfully slow, however. I always pay extra for a private guide because the old folks want to stop all the time and I want to keep going, but I cannot keep up with the young athletic folks. In Glacier I'll have a two-room cabin with my guide, so that probably would not work out.

I never hike alone. I consider that reckless. But since I am alone, as you well know, I pay for a guide. In addition to being another person so that I'm not alone, the guide knows the trails, is trained in emergency procedures, and carries the emergency gear so that I don't have to.