Marching Up Mt. Olympus (Chris/Kaden & Dad)

 On Wednesday, March 15, 2017, Chris sent out an invitation for a hike ...

Kadan and Dad (Grandpa) and I are hiking up the Mt. Olympus trail tomorrow. We will meet at Dad's house at 2:15 or at the trailhead on Wasatch Blvd. at 2:30. On the chance that any of you can come, you are all invited. Kadan and I will be hiking until about 5:00. Dad may turn back earlier if he needs to. The first part of the hike will be hot and exposed, and we will get up into the snow eventually. We probably won't make the summit in that time frame, but we will have a good time. There are usually rock climbers at Pete's rock near the trailhead, if Amy wants to come practice her rappelling skills. No catching allowed.

We will have awards for the fastest hiker, the best looking hiker, the oldest hiker, and the skinniest hiker. All winners will be able to attend Camden's percussion concert that evening at Riverview Junior High.

No one else was able to make it, so it was just the three guys going up (and down). There was a follow-up email with the pictures attached, but no other details of the day. Didn't the guys know there would be a blog post about it some day? A future hike to Timp in the summer would get a few more people involved.

Here's the recap Chris sent in his next email update ...

Kadan was off school for Spring Break and came up Wednesday. Thursday he and I drove to Salt Lake to go on a hike with Grandpa. We picked him up and then drove up to the Mt. Olympus trail, starting about 2:20. We planned to hike until about 5:00, so we would have time to get ready for Camden’s Percussion Concert that evening. It was a super nice day, and there were lots of other hikers. I left them after a while, and started running. I got about 3/4 of the way to the top, maybe 4/5 of the way. I was up pretty high and getting into the snow. I met one group coming down and they made it to the top, and said it was pretty slick. Their shoes and the lower part of their pants were wet, and I really didn’t want to run down with wet shoes. So I turned around and headed down, and met Kadan and Grandpa a short ways after the stream. I hiked with them for a while, and then explored the Bonneville Shore Line trail and took a loop on that to the bottom. 18,000 steps by the end of the day. 243 floors.

Before I found the emails memory**, I asked Chris about the photo and this was his present day (2020) recollection ... "I remember it was a fun hike, and very warm for March. It was one of my last strong Mountain runs before I got so weak in April and then diagnosed with cancer, with three surgeries over the summer. "

 ... and here's a picture of after the percussion concert (with a few more attendees). 

... not quite as physically demanding as hiking Mt. Olympus!

** The WestraWriteOn blog is a collection of correspondence between the Westra family from years past. Be sure to check it out too. Chris's entire letter from this week in 2017  is included here.