As the years climb, so does Pat Flanigan

For 79-year-old Pat Flanigan it was an opportunity to prove something to himself.

“It wasn’t like walking up a logging road in snowshoes,” Flanigan said. “It was cross country.”

When Flanigan was approached by friends Bumper Yanzik and Joe Avery about snowshoeing into Avery’s cabin in the high mountain areas south of Pine Creek, he didn’t quite know what to expect, but he knew it was going to be an adventure.

The nine-mile round trip isn’t a simple climb, it’s ridges and draws, steep inclines, steeper declines, and a little bit of everything in-between.

The cabin is near Lemonade Peak, along the West Fork of Big Creek on the St. Joe River side of Shoshone County.

Flanigan, Avery, Yanzik and photographer Ivan Spencer made the journey just a few weeks ago and while the beginning of February wasn’t the wildest part of North Idaho’s winter, when you get into the high mountain areas it doesn’t really matter.

For snowshoe enthusiasts, the trips into wherever you are going are universally regarded as the toughest part of the hike — that’s where you pack your trail and really cut the path that you plan on taking on your way back.

“The guy at the front has the toughest job because he’s the one walking through the most unpacked snow,” Avery said. “As everyone comes along the trip gets easier.”

Flanigan, who spends his fair share of time outdoors, is just a few weeks removed from turning 79, has two completely surgically replaced knees, and was really tested on the climb.

“I ended up rolling around in the snow a bit,” Flanigan said. “I looked like a snowman by the time we got there.”

Once they made it to the two-story cabin it was a couple of days relaxing and enjoying a taste of the simpler life.

“Bumper and Pat hunt a lot out in the area where my cabin is, so they’re familiar with the country out there,” Avery said. “Bumper has also snowshoed in there before.”

Before long it was time to make their way back down, but instead of the five-and-a-half hour trip up to the cabin, it was roughly three hours on the return — the difference between cutting a trail and already having one to follow.

For Flanigan, the trip was an opportunity to prove that he could still push himself — even with the replaced knees.

Once he got up there, he realized that pushing himself wasn’t the only reward, but also the stunning views.

“It’s really beautiful up there and I had a good time,” Flanigan said. “I’m glad that I didn’t miss the opportunity to go and I think I’ll even do it again if I get the chance.”

Avery chuckled when he talked about his steady trips to and from the cabin in the winter time.

He loves taking his friends — and really anyone that wants to try to make the trip — and every year he hears the same thing concerning his own age and that of the people that go with him.

But he always has the same response.

“We’re all kinda old, but we’re not that old.”