Forgetfulness can be Dangerous

Memory, or lack of it, can be a dangerous thing. For several years I have wanted to ride my bike from Cottonwood Lake to Blackfoot Meadows. A couple weeks ago Eloise, Hermione, and I decided to put this plan into execution. However, Wilbur had a repair job to do on the Blackfoot Meadows end, so we changed plans to ride the opposite way. No big deal I thought.

I had ridden to Blackfoot Meadows. I had ridden to Cottonwood Lake. They are both nice rides. Between Blackfoot meadows and Cottonwood Lake was the unknown. It took us 30 minutes to ride to Black foot Meadows. It took us 45 minutes to ride down from Cottonwood Lake. It took us three hours to ride, or should I say push our bikes, in between the two. We had a sweltering, mosquito infested, uphill, and difficult ride in between. Hermione reminded me that the reason I had always wanted to ride the opposite way was that Cottonwood Lake is a thousand feet higher than Blackfoot Meadows. We noticed this as we pushed our bikes up switchbacks and on top of a mountain. Being on top of the mountain made us a little more nervous when were heard thunder. And, we did not ride down a mountain to the lake. The lake was just about on top of the mountain.

After the ride, I talked to Colin Jenkins who had told me he had ridden this route. “Oh,” he said, “I’ve never ridden between B.F. meadows and Cottonwood Lake. I hiked it with the Boy Scouts.” Inattentiveness and memory loss can be a dangerous thing.