Getting started

It's like learning to hike or quitting a bad habit. Getting used to the digital age.


At my age, hrumppff!





I know more about hiking than anything else - at least here in Washington. I've been at it since 1980, every weekend of the year, rain or shine, sometimes more often. Aging hasn't stopped me.





As for hiking today - out of the question. Karen isn't on the trail today. Instead she is in the process of spring cleaning and taking a break - if you could call it that - figuring out how to use a blog. Or whether or not she wants or needs to use a blog.





Why monte cristo ghost? For now I'll just say that a ghost led me there and in getting lost I found my way out again. That is really a long story and whether or not it is a good story remains to be seen.





Before the mountains found me (as I like to say) I had never hiked and a man I loved long ago drove me to the mountain road that led to the ghost town by that name. From the end of the asphalt the 4-mile road to Monte Cristo was rough and closed for the season by snow. We didn't get there. Later we tried again. That time the road was closed by floods. That same year he died in a car wreck and we never got to Monte Cristo.





A year later I went back in another attempt to get to Monte Cristo; this time with a friend. I wanted to finish the trip to Monte Cristo that was denied twice. This time I got there. And in a way I've been there ever since.





Stephan was the name of the man who died in the car accident and though he never set foot in the mountains or Monte Cristo he was the man who led me there.That was a long time ago. Then, I had no hiking boots. I wore high heels or tennis shoes. Today I wear tennis shoes or hiking boots. I haven't worn high heels for years - it's hard to hike in high heels.





Stephan left me in Monte Cristo and that was where I finally began to find myself.





monte cristo ghost




















monte cristo ghost