You mentioned in the previous interview and the character with an angelic visitation. Have you had any others besides that? Yes, I've had two in my life. And so the first one I had was I went through I was going through a divorce. I think I mentioned that One of my earliest is my first divorce. I was, it was before I moved into my friend's teepee for the summer.

And so I was living in an unfinished house. And so the unfinished house had no windows in it, and the roof was mostly finished. And so even though it's kind of going through the spiritual awakening stuff, I was still going through a divorce. And so I was living in this unfinished house. I remember in June, the clouds roll and it starts raining. So I'm living in this house where the rains coming in through the roof, and I'm just like, really, really, really depressed.

You know, life's falling apart. There's a whole In my roof, and life couldn't be any more miserable, you know. And so a couple of my buddies, say, Come on, let's go on. Let's go on. Let's go on a backpacking trip and a climbing trip. Let's go climb Mount Olympus, which is in the middle of the Olympic National Park.

It's the highest peak in Washington State and the Olympic National Park. It's right square in the middle of the park. So it's not a technical climb, but it's definitely a slog to the top, you needed to rope up and stuff like that, that day or multi day I was gonna we're gonna be gone for like a week. And so we load up our gear, and we get down I think, like, 10 miles south of town or something. And we stopped for a second looking and we go, where's the food? You know, where's the food we're supposed to pack.

It was my job to put the food into the car. And, you know, I was so depressed I couldn't even remember to put the food in the car. So I had to drive back and get the flu and it's like, well, it didn't really matter cuz that's where I'm going to die. Anyway. That's kind of my frame of mind. And so, we take off on this journey we spent the first night at the parking lot at Mount St. Helens I've ever been to Mount St. Helens to the volcano that blew in the 1980s.

And Washington State knocked all the trees down. So it's announced a monument. And so we climbed Mount St. Helens, it's an easy hike up and you can look down in the crater. It's really cool. That night, we stayed in the parking lot. We just slept in the car.

And that night, I remember an electrical storm moved in and we were in, in the cloud had the lightning in it and it was exploding all around us like one of the most intense nature things I've ever been through. Yes, like we're in an electrical storm. And I thought, well, it doesn't really matter. I'm just gonna die anyway, right. And so that was and so the next day I'm really depressed still on this journey. And we get to Mount Olympus we get to the whole river valley and if you've ever been into the Olympic National Forest, the trees in there are enormous.

They're like 810 12 feet across as these old mammoths from from the time gone by. They're like these fairy tale trees and it's just a magical forest. And so we started the whole river trailhead, and we hike up one night, I think was 18 miles to before we begin hiking up the mountain so it was a like a long hike in and first night we stay in a hut and we go over what a Prusik knot our case you fall into a crevasse you can climb up your rope, you know, it says lots doesn't really matter, because I'm probably gonna die anyway. And so, and then the next day we get up really early. Like, I think well before it was laid out so we could get up and and climb up the mountain so. So we climb up Mount Olympus, we get about three quarters of the way to the top, and the fog rolls in and we can't see.

So we're in a whiteout situation and so we have to finish the remainder of our hike by reading instruments, which we did it by compass and that's just kind of I just The, in the dark in the back of the rope crew of three, you know, it's like and so we make it to the top the last hundred feet to the top of the mountain is it's 100 foot scramble. So you know it's not a technical climb but you had to just kind of scramble your way up and then write your name on the little book that's in the coffee can up there and so I was so bummed out and depressed that I didn't make the the last hundred feet just because I couldn't be bothered you know, it's like as I said, I just wasn't into it. And so we turn around go back down.

And as we're going down, cross this one ice field I posthole into a crevasse and so what that means is that my leg punched all the way through an ice bridge and I was up to my crotch and dangling with one foot over crevasse, you know. And so there's just all symbolic, you know, it's like whoa, where I my head was at and how I was feeling like okay, it's probably going to die and fall into the curve acid and so we get down off the mountain. successfully climbing the mountain and we're staying in this little hut. So they have these huts and in Olympic National Park where you can stay overnight. They're kind of they don't have doors on him or anything but they're just kind of open huts, we can toss a sleeping bag and so we're there. It's probably around late afternoon, we're just reading stories and eating trail mix, you know, and really tired after a long day sight.

And then it's getting close to sunset or dark and then we hear in the distance someone is approaching us. And so, you know, we watched this couple come up, it's actually it's not too but it's for people. And it's a there from they're an East German couple that had immigrated to Canada, right before the wall came down in 88. So they they were immigrants to Canada, they lived in Vancouver, BC and they were going to hike, go hike the mountain, right. The only thing was, is that they had walked from the done the 18 miles that day, from The the parking lot to where we were at. And they weren't dirty.

They looked like they just walked out of a fashion magazine. Yeah, supplies. They had like backpacks, but they looked like they were really light, you know, just like in the scene wasn't quite fitting. So there was a man who's probably in his 30s a woman in her 30s. And they had two kids. They had a 10 year old and a 12 year old girl.

Right? You guys just walked 18 miles looked fresh as can be. And now you're going to go hike this trail, hike this mountain tomorrow, just the four of you. It's like, I'm going you guys are nuts, you know, cuz we it took us two days to get up there. And we were like, exhausted, you know? Yeah.

And so and so we talked to them. And one thing I remember about this woman, so I just lost my family. And, you know, I was early in the dumps and depressing. Now up comes this German family that is like the perfect family in my mind. You know, and this woman is really attractive and I met right she just kind of like, my I just kind of fell for it, you know. And and so I started talking to in German, I don't really speak German, but I wanted to try it.

And so then they, they, we, you know, kind of acknowledge everything and they go up the trail probably went another 200 yards or so went around a small curve, there was steeper beans on each side, the Heather was really thick. And it's kind of on an incline before you hit where there's no trees anymore. You can't camp it's just all dirt and boulders and stuff. And so I remember going up there I'm thinking, you know, I don't know where they're gonna find a place to camp. I mean, you can get maybe squeeze one cannon there, but not too and not with like little kids and stuff. It's like, and so.

So they go on their way and it's getting kind of close to dark. And I thought, well, you know, they're probably having a hard time. Find a place to camp so I'll just come go up and invite him to come back with us. Yeah, they can. We can share the heart with them. There's a place they can put their Right here, that's fine.

So I go up there, walk up around the band. And I can't find them. They're not there. They are not there. There's no footprints. There's no place they could go because there's a real ravine on this side, there's a ravine on the other side.

There's no footprints anywhere. They would have not gone up to above the treeless area. Because it's steep. It's boulders, there's no place to camp like, so I'm going. Something's not right here. And I kind of got a little panicked and a little nervous.

And so I remember going back, hiking back into the heart hop in my sleeping bag. And I just I said to my buddies, I said, You know, I went up and checked on that German family, I couldn't find them anywhere. And I thought, you know, maybe we should go take a look, you know, just in case something bad didn't happen. And they both looked at me and said, What German family? Yeah, huh. It's like, wait a minute.

Once we were talking to you Know the three of us, so we were talking to them. And then I realized something was really weird. And so I kind of just let it drop, you know. And so the next morning we get up really early, and we go, we're going to head out and so I made one real quick stop back up to the the trailhead to see if they were still there or not. And so, again, I couldn't find him I couldn't find any sign of where they may have camp like, you know, where you'd see a depression where a tent may have been. And so I just kind of let it go.

Your friends have no recollection. Yeah, they Yeah, that was weird. That was so weird. So I thought I was kind of I don't I thought, you know, maybe my grief or someone's kind of losing it or something. But it was just, it was too bizarre. It's way too bizarre.

And so as we're going down the this trail we're going to hike 80 miles out in one day. And I just remember my depression lifted and and not only lift But it lifted to a point of euphoria to this point where I had gone through a personality change completely. So my personality that had been over the last five years of this marriage was really heavy and kind of serious. And all of a sudden, I felt joy and enthusiasm and excited for a living, brand new, brand new, brand new and so the only thing I could come up with is that these German people were like my guardian angels and helped me through this like major like personality transformation is like one of the most coolest things I've ever done. Sounds amazing. You better like a tumor on the brain.

So yeah, so that was a that was an incredible experience. I was like what I thought was a visitation from beyond the physical into the physical. So very cool. Very cool. Yeah.