Iron Bog Lake

Last Thursday I hiked to Iron Bog Lake in Idaho with my son, Dan, and his two sons, Clark and Justin. All three are such fine men. I enjoy being around them a lot. Our object in going to the lake was to catch fish. I caught none; the other three caught twenty. It was satisfying to see them catch those very nice fish which they released in short order.

I likely will not hike to Iron Bog lake again in this life. It is about two miles with a lot of very steep incline. This all reduced my comfort level considerably - even after Dan, Clark and Justin carried all of the food and water in their packs. I was "done in" enough that I did a lot of my fishing from a sitting position. Perhaps that explains to some degree the amount of success I had.

While we we there we heard loud gun shots from the opposite side of the lake. Looking in that direction we saw a horse flailing his legs in the air. Then there was another shot and the legs kicked some more. That seemed to end it. Clark walked to where the shooting took place after the people had left and he said that the horse's cranial matter was splattered all over. We speculated that the horse must have broken a leg bringing some riders into the lake, and there was no way to get him back out. (I'm glad I didn't break a leg although going down was as bad as going up in different ways involving different muscles. The steepest areas really jammed my toes against the front of my boots.)

I am glad I did it; I probably wouldn't do it again at my age. The other three were very kind and patient with me. They are three very wonderful men. Incidentally I have recovered quite fast for an eighty year old guy. I believe now that I will have no lasting ill effects.

While I was hiking, Clarine contacted some in-law grandchildren that live in the area and took them to lunch and had a good visit. We stayed at the Dan Hatches Wednesday and Thursday nights. They were hospitable to us to no end. We started home Friday morning. When we got to Blackfoot, I remembered that is where a longtime friend and erstwhile missionary companion, Gary Higginson, lived, so I drove to a phone booth, got his address and phone number. His phone was busy. I entered his address into the portable Garmin location finder that I play with and "Madam Garmin" vocally directed us right to Gary's house. Gary wasn't prepared for visitor's, but we had a good visit for nearly two hours. Clarine has a daughter-in-law that was raised in Blackfoot. Gary knows her and her people quite well. Gary has a son, Brent, that worked with Dan at Basic American Foods. Gary's wife, Beulah, was away attending the ceremony for a daughter receiving her PhD from BYU. So we missed seeing Beulah, but we are happy we stopped any way.

So the bottom line is that the stress and strain of the hike was offset by good family interaction and visiting with dear friends. Life is grand. gwh