Adventure is Therapy

After a divorce, I was lonely and depressed. I forced myself to go to a singles group, but it wasn't great. I did meet a man who was very helpful. He suggested that I meet people by becoming involved in activities. So, at 44, I went white water rafting for the first time and I loved it. The same man then suggested the Sierra Club outings activities as a good place to meet people.

The next thing I knew, I was taking a Mountain Wilderness 10 week class. I told myself that I wasn't "actually" going to backpack. 4 weekend outings were part of the class and I thought I could at least do the car camp. Then I got talked into the rock climbing weekend. This was followed by a short overnight back pack, and then "Snow Camp." Yes, I did them all, and then I decided to train as a outings leader. Through that process I met my partner and husband of 24 years. We have had many adventures together, including ocean kayaking.

Pretty soon my 50th birthday crept up on me. I was determined to not act old, but I was concerned that some of the things I wanted to do were only going to get harder. So during my 50th year we hiked to the bottom of Grand Canyon and back in December. In July we hiked to the top of Mt Whitney (14,500 feet). We had such a great time we did it again the next year. My March picture commemorates these adventures.