End of the Trail Oddities, Vol II

I was looking at some old posts tonight and stumbled upon a story from a few years ago where some kids offered me a bottle rocket at the end of the Glade Trail. (Feel free to read it here.) I had forgotten about that strange encounter, but I may be able to top it with what I was offered Sunday.

Darren and I were enjoying some snow up on the Hood and decided to take a trip down the glade. At the end of the trail where it meets the road we found a group of 3 guys which were, to my estimation, in their late 20s. They were trying free their Cherokee from a snowbank. Both front wheels were buried halfway up the snowbank and one of the rears had spun so much it was 6 inches lower than its pair. I didn't feel like being friendly and I figured that whatever trouble they were in was of their own doing, so I started to walk by on the other side of the road. Another snowboarder, whom we had met on the trail, was interested in helping and announced to everyone that what was needed was a shovel and asked if anyone had one.

Well, I just happen to take the back-country pretty seriously, and even if I'm cruising lift-assisted trails at a resort, I carry a pack with snowshoes and a shovel. Unable to ignore a request for a piece of equipment that I rarely use myself, I offered my shovel to the rescue effort. After a few minutes of digging, we put every able body in a pushing location and, without too much grunting, freed the vehicle from the clutches of the snow.

As we were packing up to go, one of the guys from the Cherokee produced a pipe and offered to let us join their "session" as payment for our help. We declined.

Here's a vid of Josh and me on the Glade from back in December: