The plan began to form about two months before the backpacking trip. Cheryl-Annette
and I had been dating for nearly three years, and were both nearing the completion of our
graduate degrees. Mountains have been a recurring theme in our relationship, from backpacking
in Colorado and New Mexico, to Cheryl-Annette's three summers working atop a peak at the National
Solar Observatory, to the several Colorado ski trips. Thus, I figured that the backpacking trip
across the scenic Rocky Mountains would provide the ideal time and place to ask the big question.
Plus, as my mother later said, if she says, "Yes" after several days in the wilderness without
showers and eating dehydrated backpacking food, then she is probably a keeper. After talking it over
with the rest of the backpacking crew and Cheryl-Annette's sisters, the plan formed. On the last full
day of the trip, we would hike up towards the mountain formations known as the Window and the Pyramid,
and once we reached the scenic clearing near the top, I would ask the big question.
We left for Colorado, drove through the San Louis Valley, past South Fork and Creede, and finally reached
base camp. We stayed there for two days to acclimate to the altitude. The ring was safely stowed in a hidden
compartment in my sleeping bag, well protected and triple sealed in a protective box. We had all had a blast that
week, seeing the wonder and beauty of the Colorado wilderness. On the fifth day, we setup camp for the last two nights
on the trail. On the sixth day, we hiked up the valley towards the Window and the Pyramid formations. The view was
spectacular. That morning I had taken the ring from its protective hiding place and put it into my pocket.
It took us quite a while to get to the clearing. About halfway up, Daniel gave me a look of "you ready?", and I gave him a slight nod. Finally we reached a perfect clearing. Daniel, Michael-Anne, and I worked to place Cheryl-Annette and I just into the clearing, and have Daniel and Michael-Anne have all the cameras supposedly just to get a few pictures of us with the awesome backdrop. At this point, I had the ring hidden in my hand ready to ask the question...
Nothing is ever quite that simple though. Our story of just taking pictures worked a little too well. As soon as
Daniel tried to take the first picture, the batteries in the camera died. So, we had to replace the batteries. Take two.
Daniel then took the picture, and Cheryl-Annette immediately tried to go get the camera to take a picture of them with the
backdrop. Meanwhile I am trying to start to ask the question. Emphasis on trying. I start, "Cheryl.." as she starts to walk
away. Finally, I put both my hands on her shoulders and say, "Cheryl, hold on... there is something I want to ask you."
That got her attention enough to turn and listen.
I then held her hand, and placed the ring into it saying, "Cheryl-Annette, would you marry me?". She looked at me with a surprised smile, and whispered to me, "Sure". Now, the word "sure" may not seem like the most enthusiastic affirmative response, but when caught by surprise with such a question, and followed by a hug, it was as good as a loud "OF COURSE!" Daniel and Michael-Anne did a splendid job of capturing the whole thing with the cameras they conveniently had as they gave us some space to talk. We then all began the journey back down to camp. At the clear lake about halfway down, Cheryl-Annette and I took a few minutes to pray and take in the site and smells of the mountain forest.
After returning to camp, feasted on dehydrated beef stroganoff, fruit punch for our first dinner as an engaged couple. Romantic, eh? Well, it was really tasty backpacking food. The next day we made the trek out and all gorged on Pizza Hut and soaked our aching muscles in the hot tub.
Of course, I didn't want to bring a heavy, fancy, expensive ring into the wilderness, so the ring I proposed with
was a smaller gold ring with three small diamonds. Perhaps it was not super-traditional, but I called it the
proposal ring. Cheryl-Annette used this proposal ring as our engagement ring until we could go shopping
for the real engagement ring. So, within a few weeks we went ring shopping. We finally found the perfect engagement
ring and wedding band set in a catalog. We then choose the center diamond for the engagement ring, and when a jeweler
was at one of the stores, we had the stones set into the ring set.
All in all, I think the whole proposal process went quite well. I was able to surprise Cheryl-Annette with the question thanks to the help of her family and the entire backpacking crew, and we were able to find the perfect ring set. Take a look at her version of the proposal.