With its dramatic peaks and old-
growth forests, Olympic National Park
covers nearly a million acres. Jean was
heading for one of Jack’s favourite spots,
just off Obstruction Point Road, a
13-kilometre dirt-and-gravel byway.
She drove in about five kilometres,
pulled her truck over and got out. She
grabbed her cellphone and the urn,
stashed her purse in the car and
entered the woods with Yoda.OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK features one
of the most diverse populations of wild-
flowers in the world, and Jean was on
a quest for blue alpine forget-me-nots.
Their beauty, Jack had once told Jean,moved him. When she didn’t see any
near the road, she walked deeper into
the woods until she spotted a blanket
of blue through the trees. Relieved, she
walked to the flowers and distributed
Jack’s ashes. She said a quiet blessing
and turned to leave.
Then she paused. Had she come in
this way or that? Where was the trail?
Jack would have laughed. He’d fre-
quently teased her about her terrible
sense of direction; he would tell her
that her internal GPS was off.
She saw a hill and headed toward it.
If she could make it to the top, she
could scan the horizon and maybe spot
Obstruction Point Road. Her shoes,CO
UR
TE
SY
OF
JE
AN
GE
ER
Jean Geer, months
before she and her
dog disappeared
in Olympic
National Park.rd.ca 41