I spent most of this past decade’s New Year’s Eves in New York City. And, while there were some standouts—swilling Champagne with favorite friends, attending a dinner party at which half of the guests got food poisoning–most of these big nights ranged from uneventful to downright disappointing. But last year changed that–a good friend of mine invited me to travel to Costa Rica with her family and we celebrated the new year from there. Confession: I was in bed by 11 PM. But still, what a nice change from hanging out in a bar, drinking too much, and fighting to find a cab at the end of the night.
This year, that same friend and I agreed that getting away from civilization was a good way to wind down one year and start the next so we began planning another trip. On the 29th we met two other girls at a cabin we rented just outside of Rainier Park for a few days of snowshoeing, home cooking, and, as it turned out, reading by the fire. (I’m almost finished with The Tiger’s Wife, which I strongly recommend.) On the 30th and 31st we snowshoed around two different areas of the park–Reflection Lakes and Paradise. The Reflection Lakes trail was well-marked and wound through the woods to a snow covered lake; the Paradise trail went straight up the side of the mountain toward the stunning, ice covered peak, which we could see due to the unbelievably clear day. We kept talking about what an amazing way that was to end one year, and what good feelings we had about 2012. We managed to stay up until midnight and rang in the New Year with a glass of Prosecco and a game of Bananagrams.
The starting point for the Paradise loop we snowshoed:
The next morning, I was still trying to come up with some solid resolutions for the year. We had a slow start that day and were talking about our options for starting off the new year, namely hiking, skiing, or snowshoeing. That was when we heard the police sirens. At around 10:45AM a couple of police cruisers sped by, noticeably breaking the silence. A few minutes later more followed. As we were checking out of the cabin the woman working there speculated at first that there had been an accident, then joked that maybe there was a fugitive on the loose. After spending a couple of blissed out days on the mountain that idea seemed pretty laughable.
I guess that’s why news of what really happened at the park that day shook me up so much. When we drove from the cabins we were staying at–just two miles from the Southwest entrance of the park–to Ashford to pick up some gear we learned that the park was closed, that a ranger had been shot. As more details came out it was revealed that the ranger who was shot and killed was a 34-year-old woman who’d been working at the same part of the park we’d been visiting. Our tires had been checked the previous day at the same stop the man who eventually shot the ranger sped past. He escaped and is now thought to be near Reflection Lakes, where were were snowshoeing. I’m of course glad that we weren’t there–that our travel plans didn’t shift by a day or two and put us in harm’s way–but more than anything I’ve been thinking about what a tragic loss of life this was. About how nice and helpful the rangers we encountered were during the previous days, and how truly sad to have lost one of them in such a gruesome and unexpected way.
I still have much hope for 2012 and will be posting news and resolutions as they come, but for me the year is starting on a somber note, one in which I’m reflecting on how fortunate I’ve been in my life–so many opportunities, so much love from friends and family. My thoughts go out to the family of the lost ranger, Margaret Anderson. May we all remember how precious and short life is, and how important it is to live each day well.
