rijaca wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 10:57 am
You left your nine year old on the shoulder while you went to the summit?
We used to climb peaks all the time without our parents when we were that age. I even used to solo mountains at that age. When I was 12 and my oldest brother was 10, we used to take our four year old youngest brother on backpacking trips without our parents. Since my brother was four, he didn't have to pay for the bus.
We used to take our old packs or gym bags and if we could scrounge up 35 cents we could ride the bus (bus 34 or 36 depending on starting point-I still remember) from West Valley (Utah) to the Salt Palace where they didn't care if kids fished change out of the water fountains. It was usually pennies, nickles, and occasionally dimes, but sometimes we would get really lucky and find a quarter. We were always able to gather enough change from the fountains that we could buy some basic foods (bread, crackers, and occasionally cookies) and from there either walk all the way to Ensign Peak where we could hike or backpack over the hills to Rudys Flat, or we would catch a bus from downtown to places like the University of Utah Medical Center where we could hike or backpack up Dry Creek, or hike up places like Mount Van Cott, Avenues Twin Peaks, or Black Mountain. Using the bus to the zoo we could climb Mount Wire/Big Beacon. Using the Fort Union bus route we could get to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon and climb peaks such as Storm Mountain (I was always afraid to hitch hike alone until I was 13, so I didn't start hitching up Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons until then). We would also climb peaks such as Granduer Peak (west route) using the bus system. We never got lost either and always knew our way around.
All of this done without our parents.
I guess the world's a different place now days because parents would probably get in a lot of trouble for that now. Even so we were probably safer in the mountains than at home because we lived in a bad neighborhood (by Utah standards at least).
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.