Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Grizzly Repellent Characters #3


As I have written at least once before, the magical thing about travel is that you have an increased opportunity to meet interesting and diverse people.  When I was young my travels usually brought me to the homes of other's parents and that meant good food and good stories. Now that I am a 'gray beard' I usually meet the odd ducks and adventurers, like us.


We passed this fellow at right in the photo above at the bottom of the highway.  He was trying to hitch a ride up the mountain on a cool Canada morning.  His funny bear hat drew my attention as well as his smile.  Hubby was not that comfortable about stopping for him and drove on by.  As the fates would have it we met him at the bottom of the Larch Valley hike just a little while later.  The park service had been seeing grizzlies in the area and had a sign at the bottom of this rather strenuous hike telling people that they had to hike in groups of four.  (I think since this was one of the most popular hikes in the area at this time of year that any grizzly would attack only because the crowds going up and down were driving him nuts!)

The young man asked if he could walk up with us.  Hubby commented that made us only three, but I argued that this tall young man counted easily as two if we encountered a grizzly.  Since there was no ranger in sight nor any sign indicating a fine, we started off as three.



To protect his privacy I will call him Sandy.  The first thing I learned from Sandy is that he taught CPR in Australia.  He went on to say that the CPR exercise really did not work, but the electronic defibrillator would be the tool that will save someone's life and then add CPR after that!  He told me if I ever had to use one to not worry about lack of training as these AEDs are well designed for success.  Of course both my husband and I were panting and had to stop every 10 minutes on this steep trail to catch our breath...so this was a little more than idle chatter for us.  He was such a sweetie, waiting for us so patiently each time we paused to take in the views.


The more we climbed, the more I learned about Sandy.  He recently was working as a bartender and left his job to travel around the world until the money ran out.  He was almost certain he could get his job back upon his return.  Then I later learned he actually was just a few hours short of a Ph.D. in biotech and had given that goal up because he realized he did not want to write grants for the rest of his life.  He also was not a rule freak and clearly the pharmaceutical industry was full of rules for its researchers.  Sandy was young and free and currently enjoying the life of a vagabond.  He had parents and siblings back in Australia that he spoke of fondly.  We talked about politics and science and nature on the way down the hill.


Since his camera battery had died I took a number of pictures of him in the larches (I will post something about this interesting conifer on my other blog).  I offered to tag him on FB and he gave me his name.  When I got home and brought up his profile, he had written on it that he liked men.  When I saw this it made me feel very odd and embarrased because I had asked him if he had a girlfriend waiting for him at the end of this sojourn.  We always see the world through our eyes and I can imagine how many times some little old lady sees this cute charmer and wants to fix him up with a young lady and asks if he has a wife or girlfriend.  So tedious, I am sure.


Sandy was on his way to do volunteer work in South America for some organization when we parted at the end of the day.  I would love to run into him again some day and see how his adventure unfolded.  (I'll bet you thought this post was going to be about a grizzly...;-))
 



16 comments:

  1. What an interesting person! Somehow, hikers just seem safer and friendlier than some other groups of folks.

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  2. This reminded me of when my aunt met a gay couple (friends of her niece - my cousin) who so clearly had eyes for only each other but she kept trying to set one or the other of them up with young women she knew.

    I'm sure in your case, had your threesome been a foursome it would have clicked sooner. He's a cutie, your "Sandy." As is that other guy. ;)

    I'm glad you enjoyed your hike.

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  3. Yes, we do see the world through our own eyes. I too have a tendency to open my mouth. What a magical hike. Thank you....I've really been enjoying this trip with you.

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  4. Travel is life changing, our view of the other people in the world are broadened and changed forever. Thanks for sharing these experiences with us.

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  5. I am prone to picking up hitchhikers (especially if they happen to be wearing bear hats), so I enjoyed this tale of yours. Of course after passing him by, you were bound to come face-to-face with him later!

    Your questions about a girlfriend are rather natural, but it's too bad that he couldn't feel free enough to just say, "Nah, I'm a gay guy." Our society is still too scary a place for that I guess.

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  6. Isn't it just more fun to hike in the woods on vacation rather than visit family?????? LOVE it.....ha

    SO--you met 'Sandy'.... That was neat --and I'm glad that no grizzly attacked the three of you since there was NOT a 4th person there... (I figured the grizzly would attack knowing that there were only 3!!! HA)

    We do live in our own world... I remember being embarrassed once when I asked my neighbor (in front of about 8 other neighbors) where they went to church. They said: "we DON'T go to church".... I said, "OH".... What else could I have said? In my little world, everyone goes to church.... Oh Well!!!!

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  7. I must read about and watch too many tv shows about murder and disappearances because I would have been afraid to pick up a hitchhiker. I'm paranoid about serial killers lurking in the woods. glad to hear that someone else gives strangers the benefit of the doubt.

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  8. Anonymous4:47 PM

    What a nice "extra" to bring home from your trip. I love a glance into another life, and it sounds like you do, too.

    I am glad that you didn't have to outrun a bear!

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  9. Have bag, will travel.
    It is interesting to meet strangers and find out a lot about them in a short time and you know you will forget them in as short a time again. But in the meantime you have been enriched by their company.

    I notice he told you a lot about himself, did you reciprocate?

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  10. I am saddened by JarieLyn's comment and I know she is far from alone in her attitude. Yes, there are some very bad people in the world. But there are so MANY, MANY more who are good and interesting, like Sandy. The extreme emphasis on every bad incident give people the impression they are always in danger and gives no sense of how rare those awful incidents actually are.

    I have hiked with groups of strangers and alone in many places and never run into one dangerous situation. I think I have some street smarts but mostly I find people worth getting to know, especially when traveling.

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  11. A great hike with interesting company, what more could one want.
    My family teases me that I haven't met a stranger that I didn't know their life story in the first five minutes. Sounds like your the same. It makes life interesting.

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  12. I am similar - being a one on one person - when I meet someone I usually know a lot about them in a short time. But you bet this One Woman is not going to be out hiking in the mountains. Enjoy reading about your travels.

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  13. love the mountain view, hiking is fun!

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  14. RYN: All I use is elements, and it's an old one too. There's so much about this program I can't use. Some experts have tried to show me how to do things, but my mush brain can't seem to comprehend.

    Thanks so much for the note. I wish you lived closer too. :)

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  15. I wish I could see his bear hat better. I love these kinds of chance encounters that enrich our lives. I will learn from it not to assume girlfriends. I would have done that too.

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  16. I'm endlessly fascinated by the folks we meet when we least expect it. Usually, it's far from home, when we're way out of our element. Some of my most interesting connections happened while I was travelling, and I, too, often wonder what became of them.

    I wish I could share the experience as richly as you can.

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