Adventures on Black Cap Mountain

I was born in a dusty little desert town in Southern Oregon called Lakeview. From some of my earliest memories, I recall looking up at the range of mountains located beside the town. At six years of age, these mountains seemed huge and impressive. The truth is, they hardly qualified as mountains at all. They were more like very large hills. One in particular had a black volcanic basalt formation at its peak. Thus, it was always referred to as Black Cap Mountain. I often wondered what the view would look like from the top of that mountain.

Knowing it would be a tough task to obtain permission, I began to ask my mother if my friend and I could plan a little hiking expedition. The goal, of course, was to conquer the mountain so we could brag to all our friends about our brave adventure. I had to ask a half a gazillion times to get the answer I wanted, but my persistence finally paid off. My mother packed a nice lunch for me. As she handed me the lunch, she told me to take my wrist watch so I would be certain to return by 3 o’clock.

At about 11 o’clock in the morning, we set out on our journey, determined to return as the conquering heroes we imagined ourselves to be. The path that led to the top of the mountain was fraught with dozens of delightful distractions for little boys. We turned over many rocks to look for bugs. We found some sticks that served as our swords for slaying the dragon that lived on the mountain. We sat in the shade of a juniper tree to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Before long, we realized that we weren’t making much progress toward our goal. The black cap at the top of the mountain seemed just as far away as it did when we first set out on our quest. This was not a big concern for us because there were still plenty of places to explore right where we were. We continued our imaginary battles with the dragons and trolls and pretty much lost all track of the time.

When it finally occurred to me to check my watch to see how much time we had left before 3 o’clock, I was surprised to discover that it was almost 4 o’clock. Knowing we might be in a heap of trouble, we hurried down the mountain as fast as we could go. 20 minutes later, we were nearing the first road that ran along the base of the mountain. Just as we reached the road, my mother drove by in her car and stopped for us to get in. She told me she had been driving back and forth on the road for almost an hour, looking up the slopes of the mountain to see if she could spot us. The ride back home was very quiet. I studied my mother’s face to see if I could determine her mood. I was anxious to know if I was likely to spend the remainder of the month in the dungeon for my crimes. But, try as I might, I couldn’t discern what evil punishments she was plotting inside her head. All I knew was that something was brewing in her mind because she was not her usual cheerful self.

We dropped off my friend at his house and drove the short distance to our home. I tagged along behind my mother as we walked in the door. Now I would learn my fate. The air was thick with tension. She turned to me and said, “Would you come with me into the bedroom?” Expecting a good scolding, or perhaps worse, I went with her into the bedroom. She knelt beside the bed and motioned to me to do the same. Instead of unleashing a storm of anger upon me, she simply closed her eyes and began to offer an emotional prayer of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the safe return of her son. Hearing the relief and gratitude that came pouring out of her heart, made an indelible impression on mine. Realizing I had been the cause of her anxiety, I resolved to never do anything to cause her such pain again.

My resolution was short-lived I suppose. As a young and reckless boy, I still gave my mother plenty of reasons to worry. However, the knowledge of the depth of her love for me helped me try a little bit harder to become a son she could be proud of.

This photo shows me in the pool in front of our house in Lakeview. Black Cap Mountain, with its black rock formation on the top, is seen behind the house.