E X P A N S I O N: A "glorious day" that was "sweet, sweet, sweet" on Flatiron Mountain

Dr. Cuskelly was kind enough to show me around in the back country a bit this morning. We drove about 25 miles northwest out of town on FS road 567, which later turns into FS road 68 toward the Yaak valley. The hike up Flatiron Mountain is probably close to 2 miles and maybe 1500 vertical (keep in mind I'm not too great with estimating distance or height). We got out of the gloom in Libby (which was socked in an inversion this morning), got some fresh air in our lungs, and had what Dr. Cuskelly repeatedly declared to be "a glorious day" with turns that were "sweet, sweet, sweet!". It was!

The Trailhead:

Dr. Cuskelly: My apologies for not getting a face shot.
We had a great time hiking, visiting, and getting to know one another. He is originally from Washington, but moved to Alaska after high school. He spent some time living in the back country there and said he got into medicine when he started volunteering at the local fire station so that he could have a weekly shower as his shack in the woods was without plumbing! One thing lead to another and he found himself in the Alaska WWAMI program. He did his Family Medicine Residency in Ogden, Utah and said that he always knew he wanted to be a rural doctor. He originally thought he'd go back to Alaska, but realized that he didn't want to raise his twin sons and daughter that far in the back country. A rural rotation in his third year of residency brought him to Libby. He hit it off with the doctors here, was offered a job, and the rest is history: he's been here ever since.

We talked a lot about having a love for the outdoors, medicine, and trying to balance your life between the two. He acknowledged the difficulty of doing that and advised me that whatever I decide to do, I should always remember to consider what I want my lifestyle to be. "Medicine is a seductive mistress," he concluded, "no matter what field you end up going into, you have to be careful or you'll find yourself totally consumed by her."

Hiking up:
Dr. Cuskelly lead the way, with occasional breaks long enough to say something like, "Do you mind if we go at a slow pace?"..."I only got 4 hours of sleep last night because I was playing music; I'm really hurtin' today"..."I'm really dragging today, but I'm glad I got off my ass!"..."I'm getting too old for this". I interpreted some of these comments to mean he may have had a little too much fun last night (I'm sure you know what I mean). It was a good thing for me, though, because his pace was just right for an out-of-shape, been living at sea level girl suffering from short-leg syndrome. Honestly, now I'm a little nervous to go hiking with him when he's not hurtin'.