Barbara B.'s Adventures: Summer Solstice

5:20pm - I'm still out in Canmore, but drove into the city quickly as I had a follow-up appointment with my gynecologist for my earlier this year incident. Everything's looking good there, so done deal :-). Then I asked her about what could possibly be done to minimize one's risk of getting ovarian cancer. My mom's oncologists recommended that I go for regular intravag scans, but my Dr. will call the main oncologist first to find out what they're thinking. Ovarian cancer can go from being absolutely non-existent to stage III in four weeks, so one would technically need to get checke every couple of weeks or so, which seems unrealistic. Currently there are no screening tests for it as there is for breast cancer (i.e., mammograms). Also, small cysts, etc., are completely normal and come and go, so one could worry about nothing. She'll call me back by the end of the month and let me know what they decide.

After dinner I'm off to Spray Valley to be at a pass for summer solstice. The plan is to watch the sunset, then come down with headlamps. Should be fun :-). I've only done one nighttime hike before and thoroughly enjoyed it. This area just opened on June 16th after it was closed for wildlife reasons (specifically grizlies going after calfs), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll at least get four people together.

1:50am - I didn't think I'd be out until 1am in Canmore, let alone on a quick and easy hike. We set out for West Wind Pass around 7pm, with buffet in tow. The 'summit' (pass) would be - and was - grand. We had views over Spray Valley all the way to Tent Ridge, and down towards Deadman's Flats and Wind Valley on the other side. At 10:15pm we were still sitting up by the firepit at the pass. It was beautiful. We had strawberries, cheese, crackers, chocolate-covered mini donuts, watermelon, and wine. Wine up there tastes sooo good. It may also aid in making one more fearless on a return hike. Light quickly turned to dusk, which quickly turned to complete darkness. We had headlamps, but it started raining and thundering. It wasn't long before we saw our breath, which fogged up the beams from the headlamps. My headlamp, which normally illuminates 90m in dry conditions, covered maybe 5m. Pitch black to the sides, some crackling here and some crackling there. Conditions like these bring out different things in you. We knew we had to just keep walking, and in so doing started singing (definitely need sound when I start singing!) - singing about the weirdest things - the trail, fogged up car windows, big bad bears, and anything that would be useful in warning animals that we're on our way through. It looked like Spray Lakes were still far below us, when all of a sudden we saw the reflection of the taillights in our headlamp beams. Can you say excited to be back on the Smith Dorrien? The ride back was interesting as well - very, very slow. We were soaked from head to toe, but what a way to celebrate summer solstice. It definitely ranks among my top unique experiences (including bushwhacking), and it went a long way of combating my fear of being out there (almost) alone.