Happy Mother's Day!
We're sending hugs to all the moms out there who have encouraged and supported us, whether that's meant putting up topropes, helping us identify birds at the crag, looking at our photos when we return, or— in the case of AAC Member Ammi Midstokke and her daughter Beverly— taking us on wild and formative adventures.
We asked Ammi to tell us a bit about her adventures with "B". Look for more stories from this dynamic duo in the 2018 Guidebook to Membership this summer!
Backpacker Beverly, 10, fueled by gluten-free cookies and fairy tales, looks at the morning view of Mt Hood as she works her way along the circumnavigation route.
"Every summer, I plan a particular adventure for my daughter and me. Just the two of us head out into the desert, the mountains, or perhaps to the coast to experience nature and each other. Once, we made a tour of the Playgrounds of the West, stopping at every playground we saw to test their play-ability. She was three. Another time, we got lost in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland in a snow storm and had to take refuge under a tree while thawing her feet against my torso. She was 2. That was the time I somersaulted with her in the hiking pack. She didn’t even drop her biscotti.
Now, our trips are longer and she can carry her own gear. She’s ten, a bean pole, and a veritable lexicon of pop songs. I love every minute of our adventures together and come home beaming with pride at her courage, her stoic ability to persevere, and her intuition about when it is time to tell me a story so I can schlepp all our kit up another canyon.
Last year we circumnavigated Mt Hood on the Timberline Trail. We did it in three days. And in three days, I learned more about my child than I learn in a year of packing lunches and shuttling to dance lessons. I also learned a thing or two about being a mother in the great outdoors…"
"I feel like one of my most important roles as a mother is sharing the experience of mountains with my daughter."
"Outside with my kid, I learn more about her than I ever could in our morning commutes to school. I never have time to understand why she likes Sia until I hear her sing lyrics for seven miles straight."
Ammi, in her element.