The Last Four Days
Here is a very quick rundown of a very busy four days:

Saturday

After some relaxation/catching up with the family on Friday, We were up bright and early Saturday to start our voyage up the mountain. Yada, yada, yada; camp was set up by light of day, fire was lit in time for cold of night. (I have to keep this short or I'll never get caught up to the present day.) After some campfire hotdogs and s'mores, we called it a night. A very very cold night. It was damn cold. Not warm at all. The opposite of balmy.

Sunday

Sunday was an important day, and I don't want to dilute it with a summary:
It was freezing cold on the mountain last night. I started the evening in my sleeping bag wearing boxers and a tee. My brother Tank seemed to think this would be enough. It wasn't. After shivering for a while I grabbed my monkey pants and my fleece sweatshirt. Better, but still damn cold.

In the morning, the nieces started a small fire for warmth while Ojo cooked up some breakfast on a Coleman camping stove.
We got a late start up the mountain, finally getting on the trail at 10:15 a.m. Within minutes it was obvious to me that we were not prepared for this hike, and I was nervous about a few members of our party in particular.

My mom, bless her heart, seemed blissfully unaware of the perils to come. She was carrying some useless stuff --— and by useless I mean that there is no use for it on a 10 mile hike up a 7000+ ft. mountain. She seemed naively blase about the importance of carrying only what you need. Rebuking our requests for her to leave stuff behind, she insisted she would be fine. OK, the one extra pair of shoes isn't the only reason why she didn't make it up the mountain. I only use this as an example of how unprepared she, and we, were.

My brother Ojo and his wife, Moe, were attempting to carry their two kids up the mountain. Bad idea. A few years ago, before they had any kids, they made it pretty far up the mountain -- less than a mile from the crash site -- but not all the way. So I thought their chances were slim to make it with kids.

So I'm already thinking about, and preparing myself for, the chance that Ruthless, Moe and the kids were not going to make it. That left the siblings: Pippi, Tank, Sister, Ojo and me, and the nieces. When the decision was finally made that the others were going to turn back, I was absolutely shocked when Sister and the nieces decided that they would turn back too. Honestly, I thought Sister would outlast all of us, as she is probably in the best shape. So it never really even crossed my mind that she wouldn't make it. When the others stopped I was actually relieved, because I had been so worried about them. But when Sister stopped it really surprised me. I tried to tell her that it was OK, but she was definitely disappointed. (The rest of us later learned that Sister got almost no sleep the night before.)

As the four of us left the others behind, I was still in disbelief about Sister. "If she can't make it, I don't know how the rest of us will." As we rounded the corner it really hit me: The siblings aren't all going to make it to our brothers crash site. I was whimpering to myself, trying not to lose it entirely, as we continued up the trail.

A quick note about the trail: This trail winds up the mountain, around several peaks, through upland desert and into the ponderosa pine. At times the trail is wide, and at times it is almost nonexistent. And it was getting worse the higher we went. At some point we were to leave the trail -- a daunting thought in the back of my mind.

After more arduous hiking, Pippi, my oldest sibling, decided she couldn't go any farther. After the initial shock of Sister not making it, this didn't hit me as hard. I think by now I was accepting that it was very likely that none of us would make it all the way.

It was down to the three boys. Tank was carrying a cross for Billy, and I'm not talking figuratively. He had made a 5-foot high cross out of 4x4s. He had engraved Billy's name and birth and death date. Tank was also carrying 20 lbs. of cement. I'm not kidding. As crazy as this sounds given the hiking conditions, it didn't strike me as a show-stopper. Tank had spent many years in the army (thus the nickname) and had carried lots of stuff on lots of marches. Ojo was carrying a smallish metal detector. It struck me that one brother was hoping to leave something from the site, one was trying to take something back. I wasn't sure what I wanted. Just making it there would have been enough.

Not long after we left Pippi, we rounded a corner and saw what awaited us. It was getting late, and we were left with three choices: 1) Leave the trail and hike straight over a ridge (this is what Ojo and Moe tried a few years ago. They didn't make it.) 2) Hike all the way around the very long ridge. 3) Turn back. After some deliberation -- and soul searching -- we decided to head back down the mountain. The next decision to be made was what to do with the cross. Do we plant it a mile from the site, or do we bring it back down the mountain. We agreed that if it couldn't be at the actual site, we should carry it back down so the whole family can be together to place it.

So Ojo, Tank and I took turns carrying the cross and the cement. We caught up with Pippi who had been waiting for us and we headed back down the mountain.

We made it back to base camp at sunset. The others had found a beautiful spot about 200 yards from where we camped. It overlooks the valley below and the mountains beyond that.

We discussed the irony of hiking for over 8 hours up a mountain just to place the memorial a minute away from our tents. It was a painful joke. But nobody thought it was a bad idea to try, and as difficult as it was, we were glad that the whole family got to take part in placing the cross. After the 12-mile drive down the mountain from the campsite, we ate a hearty meal and called it a day.

Monday

As the rest of the family departed, I spend much of the day helping my mom look after the babies while my brother and his wife napped and packed. After the arduous hike, I was planning on a day to recuperate, so it worked out OK for all. After everyone else was gone, I hit the laundromat (big fiasco that I'm not going to get into right now), and headed back to the hotel for one last night of rest before moving on.

That's all for now. Now I turn my attention to birding and camping. The posts will continue as often as I can, but no promises. Thanks for all the comments so far.