“The Proposal”

 

 

Since we met we enjoyed various hikes mostly of the one to four mile variety. Being that we both loved the “Mountain Life” fairly early on we had talked about going on a trek into the Pecos wilderness. Karen had ridden her horse up into the Pecos baldy area a couple of years previous and had always wanted to go back. Chip was raised in those mountains and had been up in the area a few times but it had been over twenty years and he’d always dreamed of going back. So it was the natural progression for us to plan a longer excursion up into the area. After talking about it a few times we decided to just do it, so we looked at various dates to figure out when would be a good time to go. We settled on the week following Labor Day and the planning began.

 

After working out logistics prepping all our gear and procuring all our supplies, our departure day finally arrived. We started out from the Jack’s Creek trailhead and began our trek through the Pecos wilderness. By the time we reached Hamilton Mesa the skies had darkened and we thought it best to cover our packs and don our rain gear and none too soon for the skies opened up. It being Memorial Day we crossed paths with a number of backpackers and horses carrying riders clad in yellow slickers heading down from their holiday weekend excursion. After a five-hour assault on the mountain we crested a small bluff and were rewarded with our first glimpse of Pecos Baldy Lake below us.  We exchanged a triumphant embrace and got on about choosing a desirable campsite. Our spot was secluded in a stand of spruce trees overlooking the lake. We spent the rest of our daylight setting up camp gathering firewood, water and preparing our meal. Exhausted and euphoric after a hard days ascent of 3000 feet in elevation we crawled into our shelter under the stars and drifted contentedly off to sleep.

 

Little did Karen know what was to transpire the next morning. After a good nights sleep we awoke to clear blue sky and beautiful morning. After breakfast we began breaking down camp and I knew that this was it! I had been thinking about asking her to marry me for a while now and knew that this was the perfect spot for the proposal, because she’d told me that she had always wanted to get married up in the wilderness. As I was breaking down the tent and on my knees I called Karen over, she came around the tree and I saw the “Oh shit” look on her face. She promptly plopped herself down on my knee in an attempt to diffuse her apprehension for what she suspected was about to ensue. As she sat on my knee I offered her my turned down closed hand and with some trepidation she set her hand under mine. I slowly opened my hand and told her that I had been thinking about this a lot and told her I wanted her to spend the rest of her life with me. Since Karen had sat herself down on my knee my vision of the perfect proposal was derailed so instead of my rehearsed spiel I wryly commented, “I was going to ask you to marry me.” Karen paused for a moment and wide eyed she quietly said “ok.” After a long embrace she said “well?” I replied, “Yeah?” “You said you were going to ask. Are you?” So then I launched into my rehearsed prose. Happily she accepted with a resounding “Yes.”

 

To be continued…