About five or six weeks ago my son Kris and I drove to Wallace, Idaho to hike, or should I say walk, the Pulaski trail alongside Placer Creek. It’s a steady slog uphill for two miles and ends at the Nicholson Mine tunnel where Edward Pulaski and his fire crew took shelter from the devastating 1910 forest fire. It’s a nice hike and obviously well used as we encountered quite a few other adventurers along the way.

These hills are well known for gold, silver, and lead mining over the past 150 years. About halfway up the trail there is an 8” steel pipe emerging vertically out of the ground next to the trail. It is an air vent for a mine tunnel somewhere below the surface we were walking on. 

After we got back home Kris sent me a few photos of our trip. One showed me as I was climbing over a 24-30-inch diameter log that lay across the trail. Fifteen or twenty years ago I would have simply jumped over it or maybe stepped onto it and jumped off the other side. But oh no, not now. It is evident aging is catching up to me now. I simply turned sideways, put my hands on the log and gingerly stepped over it with my right leg then the left. Oh, how times have changed. 

There two things I can say about this adventure. I made it without many stops or complaints, and the cold beer at the brew pub was a welcome ending even though the food was not great.

Ken Kaiyala
9-14-2023