W
We charge up the final ascent of
the 13,041-foot Grand Traverse
Peak, about seven miles east of Vail,
Colorado. My new running partner,
Merle—a one-year-old blue Austra-
lian shepherd—seemed unfazed by
the previous eight miles we’d cov-
ered. I also felt strong, energized by
the clear Rocky Mountain air and
endless blue sky. It was Father’s Day
2017, and I was set to return home
to my four-year-old son, Axel; my
nine-year-old daughter, Lily; and my
wife, Susan, by noon. As I reached
the summit, I heard a short yelp but
assumed Merle would be seconds
behind me, as he had been all morn-
ing. I snapped a photo of the view for
my family, called out to the dog, then
tucked my phone in my pack and
headed back down the trail. Merle
was nowhere to be seen. “Merle!
Merle!” I called. “Where are you?” I
felt a tickle of panic in my throat as I
threaded my way down the ridge, still
seeing no signs of him. But he was
athletic and young and invincible. He
must be fine, I reasoned.
Then, several hundred feet farther
down, I saw his paw prints on a five-
foot-wide strip of snow at the top ofa steep chute. I followed them cau-
tiously until they disappeared entirely
off the edge. About 800 feet below,
the chute ended abruptly in a boul-
der field and a massive cliff. Below
that, I could see a wide, empty, snow-
covered basin. There was no sign of
Merle in the rock field or the basin.
I could still hear that last yelp in my
mind, and now I realized what it had
signaled. Merle was gone.84 february 2019
Reader’s Digest Drama in Real Life