I love the way politicians these days have to defend what they consider their reckless youth. Their "young and irresponsible" acts seem fairly tame even to my old age of 38. Even so, I don't plan on running for office any time soon. Perish the thought that I might someday have to stand in front of a roomful of inquiring reporters demanding to know just what we thought we were up to on Mount Stuart back in '87. They would then, of course, want to know why the true story was covered up.

It was, in fact, covered up… because life got so damn full of similar nonsense in the following years that our memories began to turn into slush puppies. But every now and then, when I look out from Cathedral Gap, high on Mount Rainier, and see Stuart's granite profile 60 miles to the northeast, challenging the sunrise for beauty and grandeur, I am granted a moment of clarity in which to remember my idiocy.

What the heck were we thinking?!? Curtis Fawley and I were standing right smack on top of Mount Stuart as the sun went down. Our timing was spectacular for enjoying a 9,400-foot bird's-eye view of the Washington Cascades in evening splendor… but it was rather atrocious considering that we had no lights of any sort and no bivy gear...