Priests take a hike and find lost glasses
Published: October 19, 2005
It must be a vision thing, sacredly speaking.
After scaling the southern slope of Mount Adams — twice — two Lower Valley brothers are living testimony to the power of prayer.
Of course, the fact that they have an inside track to a higher power might have helped a bit, too.
The brothers, John and Bill Shaw, also happen to be Catholic priests; the Rev. John Shaw of Toppenish is retired, and the Rev. Bill Shaw is pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in White Swan.
A little more than a month ago, a deacon from St. Mary’s, Andy Gonzalez, invited the Shaws to climb Mount Adams. John, who is 78, and Bill, who is 76, were game, so they started out on the trail in the Mount Adams Wilderness at 4 a.m.
But by the time they reached an area on the mountain called Lunch Counter — about two-thirds of the way up on the 12,281-foot climb — they were bushed.
“There’s no McDonald’s on Lunch Counter,” ruefully notes Bill Shaw, adding that he and his brother were hungry and tired and decided they’d had enough for one day.
So they headed back down the mountain, arriving at the trailhead 10 hours after their start.
However, there was one problem. John had accidentally left his eyeglasses on a rock along the trail.
So three days later, the Shaws ventured up again to see if they could retrieve the glasses. Only this time they did it without Gonzalez, their guide.
As they approached the Lunch Counter area, they began to realize how futile their search might be, hunting for a small pair of glasses in “nooks and crannies and rocks and snow,” recalls Bill Shaw.
Just about to give up and hike back down, they said a prayer to St. Anthony (the patron saint of lost items), looked down at the ground in front of them and there they were.
Now that they’ve proved they’re rugged climbers — two times — the Shaws are looking forward to hiking more mountain trails next summer.
And before that? John Shaw just might be in the market for an eyeglass cord.
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