Sunday, February 12, 2012
This trip report is dedicated in loving memory of my mom, Kathryn J. Langstraat.
I’ve long been a believer of enjoying life and living it to the fullest. That’s why I’m out exploring the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountains just about every chance I get (and creating all of these trip reports some of you enjoy reading). You never know just how much longer you actually have on this Earth, so I always try to make the most out of my free time! I was sadly reminded of that fact this very weekend.
Friday morning at work I received a call from my dad. My mom had arrived at work and suffered a heart attack. She was rushed to the hospital and was being kept alive on a ventilator. We were told that her brain was without oxygen for too long and that she was probably brain dead. They ran a few tests to check for brain activity throughout the weekend and early in the following week, but she never recovered. She was taken off of the ventilator on Tuesday afternoon and peacefully passed away on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 6:00am in the morning with my dad, sister and myself by her side.
On Saturday, as I was exploring Coyote Buttes South, my dad booked me a flight to Chicago from Flagstaff, since it was the closest airport to Page, for bright and early Monday morning. I was hoping for the best news from the test results, but feared the worst.
My mom’s sudden death was rough on me since I had not seen her in about three and a half years because I did not want to return to Illinois. She was supposed to come out here this year with my dad in their brand new RV, and I was looking forward to the visit. I really hope she knew how much I loved her, even though I never said it much.
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After a good nights sleep at hotel in Page, Arizona we were back on the road to the Wire Pass trailhead. The weather forecast was calling for rain and possibly snow for much of the day, but that did not deter us. I’ve driven the House Rock Valley Road in my Jeep just after a storm when it was wet before, so I really wasn’t worried. It turned out that the road was still dry the whole way. We were the first ones to arrive at the trailhead for the day, but just as we were getting ready to start hiking a low four-door sedan pulled into the parking lot. I bet he was hoping that the road remianed dry all day…
When I was here last November with Amanda we mainly explored the area just around The Wave since it was our first time here. This trip I was looking forward to visiting more of the Coyote Buttes North area including photographing Melody Arch and exploring up on top of Top Rock.
Near the end of our initial hike to The Wave, Jackson climbs the sand hill as the sun peeks through an opening in the clouds.
Almost There by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
There were a lot of clouds in the sky throughout the day, but they were moving fast with plenty of openings for the sun to peek through, so the light was constantly changing. I seem to have trouble keeping my shadow out of the photos here, so I embraced it with this one.
Can’t Escape My Shadow by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
I took an obligatory photo from within ‘The Passage’ even though it may not be my favorite photo from this spot.
Passage Lines by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
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