While at Sculpture in the Park, a dear girlfriend asked if I’d join her for an expedition on Mt. Baker. I said yes — without even looking up where the mountain was or what I was getting myself into.
Livingston Peak with Tala
Years ago, I’d followed a boyfriend in a whiteout up Mt. Rainier, blissfully unaware of what glaciated mountains really meant. Mt. Baker, as it turns out, has less elevation than Crazy Peak (which Raymond and I had just summited before the show) — but it starts 5,000 feet lower.
The guiding company recommended six months of training.
I had three weeks.
So, I traded studio time for trail time — stuffing a pack with 30 pounds and hiking daily with Tala up our mountain, summiting three local peaks to prepare.
Summers are short in the Rockies, and guiltlessly “training” was the perfect excuse to be outside — to swap bronze dust for wild air, deadlines for ridgelines, and to remember how saying yes can lead to the most extraordinary adventures.