“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.”
Marcus Aurelius
June 16th is our 22nd wedding anniversary, and I felt really fortunate that Aimee and I got to start the day by getting into the Park and doing a hike together. The idea for today was to hike from Lupine Meadows Trailhead to Amphitheater Lake, and I was excited about it for three reasons: #1- this trail is the first hike I’ve done this year that has some legit elevation gain, #2 – I wanted to see what the snowpack looked like at higher elevations, and #3 – I learned how to spell amphitheater (turns out, it’s not ampitheter).
We made it to the Lupine Meadows Trailhead parking lot about 6:45 and saw a young bull moose on the road on the way in. He was just starting to regrow his antlers and had velvet covering the nubs. Apparently, in their prime, moose can grow their antlers at a rate of one pound per day! I truly never get tired of seeing these awesome animals around here.
It was the clearest start to a day that we’ve had around here in a while. There were some scattered clouds starting out, but we found the sun soon enough. The trail gradually climbed uphill to start and after about 1.8 miles the real climb began with a series of switchbacks heading up to the lake. Black bears are frequently seen in this area of the Park and this morning we saw one the distance near the Valley Trail junction.
About a half mile further up the trail, we heard and saw some rustling in the foliage just off the trail. We stopped and listened pausing to see what was there. After about a minute, with no further movement seen or heard, I told Aimee that it was most likely a squirrel and began to head up the trail. I rounded a corner and came face to face with something that was definitely not a squirrel. It was actually another black bear, blonde colored, on the trail 10 feet in front of me. It moved just off the trail and continued foraging for food while we waited. He couldn’t have been less interested in us, and after about 5 minutes, we were able to skirt past it and continue on. As an aside, because of the color, these are often mistaken for grizzly cubs, and indeed, many people on the trail asked if we had seen the grizzly.
We continued up the trail at a pretty good pace. The sun felt great and the yellow wildflowers were spectacular. Unfortunately, as we gained elevation, the weather seemed to be getting a little worse, and before long, we were essentially hiking in an cloud. Snow patches began to dot the trail and soon the trail turned to continuous snow, and for the last mile it was pure winter. By the time we got to Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes it was actually snowing. The lakes were still mostly frozen and the snowpack seemed persistently deep. With the record snowfall we had in the Tetons this year it will clearly be a while before I’ll be able to do any serious hiking at higher elevations.
Due to the less than ideal conditions, we didn’t spend too much time at all at the lakes, and headed back down pretty quickly. The return trip down the snow was pretty treacherous, and made for some comical slips for both Aimee and I. At one point my foot punched through the snow all the way up to my thigh reminding me of this. Luckily, we survived without injury and were relieved when we were able to hike again on dirt.
Since it was our anniversary today I thought I would look into what the Stoics thought about love and marriage and think about that during the hike. Honestly, what I found wasn’t all that cool. It’s not that the Stoics didn’t love, but it’s that they moderated their love and feelings. As always, they strove to be masters of their emotions. They wouldn’t allow even love to get the best of them.
This makes sense to me with respect to objects and situations . Don’t allow yourself to get too attached to things that don’t matter – material possessions, jobs, comfort, convenience, but I’m too much of a romantic to apply these same sets of ideals to love and relationships. I am attached. Always have been. Always will be.
What useful advice that I can take from their philosophy is to recognize that our time together will only be as long as the universe allows. It doesn’t matter how long we want it to last, and it will probably be shorter than we’d like. We don’t get to choose the length only the quality, so it’s incumbent on me (us) to make the most of the time we have together. And, as Marcus Aurelius says, “love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” Make the most of it. Love unconditionally. Give it your best. Commit. Then, when it’s time to let go, you can let go finding peace in the knowledge that you spent your time wisely and were all in.
Mileage – 10.18 miles
Time – 5 hours 0 minutes
BGAS – 1 moose, 2 black bear, 0 grizzlies
PS – a few on the way in, many on the way out
Dude talking really loudly, so everyone could hear his entire life story – 1
Happy Anniversary🥂!!! What an adventure on your special day—think you will remember this one.! Mom
Congrats. Aimee is the best thing that ever happened to you. This is one place we were both lucky. Your Mom is the best thing ever for me. Happy Father’s Day. Love you. Dad
Congratulations on your anniversary! What a cool hike to commemorate!! Share the Garmin stats. :))