In the movie Cannibal! The Musical, a bunch of guys are lost in the snow without food and they are wondering what they are going to do. When one of them gleefully shouts, “I know!” And starts singing the “Let’s build a snowman” song. One of the other guys finally shoots him and eats him (illustrating why it’s best to hike alone.) But the singer had the right idea, because it’s important to keep your attitude up when things look bleak.
Once I was hiking on a reroute in the North Cascades. It was rainy and cold and all I had for shoes were sandals. It was almost dark but I had to keep hiking because I was on a ridge and there was nowhere to put up my tent. I also had miscalculated the miles and was about out of food. Finally I found a place to camp.
The next morning I woke up to snow. It would snow and then I would drop down in elevation and it would rain and then I would go back up and more snow. The trail was so muddy and steep in one place I kept slipping and sliding down the hill; I was covered in mud. I only had about 400 calories to go the next 30-40 miles. My feet were cold. The reroute wasn’t well marked and I began to have the sinking feeling that I had missed a turn. I never stopped singing and smiling that day; if I had known how to tap dance I would have done that too because a bad attitude + a bad situation can quickly send life into a tailspin.
I was belting out show tunes as happily and enthusiastically as I could when I met another hiker. He looked at me covered in mud, in my trash bag skirt, my sandals, and my chrome umbrella and scowled, “What’s with the umbrella!?”
Why did he scowl? I think I would have laughed.
I didn’t find my umbrella to be much use in Washington. Seems it rains more from the plants than it does from the sky.
He scowled because he was cold, wet and only had a baseball hat to keep the rain and snow off of his head. He was scowling because it was a day if you weren’t trying to keep yourself happy you wouldn’t be.
You would be amazed at the number of people who find sandals, trash bag skirts and umbrellas as something to scowl at even if you aren’t cheerful and singing show tunes.
One guy said to me sardonically, “Where are you going? Trash bag heaven?” and looked disgusted.
On this day, I was glad I had my umbrella.
A fine moment in movie history, and one of my favorites.