Adventure Reading: "The Emperor's Soul" and Abandoned Mines in Gothic Basin

The birth of Adventure Reading came late in the summer of 2013 following a breakup. I was rediscovering all the delights of doing things alone, and my favorite among these were long walks and solo hikes through the mountains.

I'd always loved hiking, and now without a partner I could speed up when I wanted, rest when I wanted, and most importantly read when I wanted.

I could also set off from home when I wanted without waiting for anyone. By the time I reached the Mountain Loop Highway in the North Cascades, the day was still dawning.

The Place: Gothic Basin, Washington USA

Guide: Gothic Basin on WTA
Distance: 9.2 miles round trip
Elevation Gain: 2840 ft
My Rating: 4.5/5

On the hike to Gothic Basin, I forded streams still swollen with snowmelt. The waterfalls were out in force, and I took a break at one of these, a pleasant little fall in the sunlight.

I took out my book, a novella by Brandon Sanderson that I had just picked up from the library. It was slim and light enough that I was afraid a tree branch would sweep it out of the top pocket of my Camelbak and over a cliff. I hadn't lost a library book since the Mouse and the Motorcycle went missing in first grade. (It took a lot of chores to pay that one back, and I still don't know where it went!)

While I read, I realized how picturesque the whole thing looked with the sun shining on the pages and the water bubbling around my feet.

I pulled out my phone to take a picture, but its field of view couldn't come close to capturing the experience. I tried a photo-stitching app to take a panorama, which I'd never done before. It turned out all wonky, everything out of proportion and my arm casting a shadow on my book. But here it was, my first "adventure reading" photo.

Now well-rested, I continued onward and upward, scrambling over boulders. Soon, the land flattened out and opened up. I'd made it to Gothic Basin!

To protect the vegetation, I jumped from one rocky surface to the next around the basin. I followed trickles of water up to the snowfields at their source and wandered around the small Gothic and Foggy Lakes.

I heard the roar of a waterfall but couldn't see it, so I followed my ears down and around a ledge of rock. A fall would have meant death, but I was in a reckless mood.

And there it was, a long tumble of water that started just overhead. But right next to it was a beckoning black hole tunneling into the stone. An abandoned mine! It looked like a scene straight out of a Legend of Zelda game. I could almost hear the chime that signals you've found a secret.

I knew that the Monte Cristo area had been mined for gold and silver from 1889 to 1907, but I had not been expecting to find a mine here!

I hesitated for a moment. I wasn't equipped for exploring mines - I didn't even have my headlamp! And I had told no one where I was this weekend, so if I fell down a shaft or inhaled carbon monoxide or got crushed by rocks they wouldn't even know where to find my body.

So I made a deal with myself. I would go down the mine only until I couldn't see the light from the entrance anymore, then turn back.

I turned the flashlight on my phone on and headed into the dark. The mine was flooded with an icy, rust-colored water that rose just above my ankles. The white light of the entrance grew smaller and the sloshing of my footsteps and my excited breathing bounced back to me off the tunnel walls.

When I could no longer see the light, I stood still for a few quivering seconds. I loved the feeling of being inside a mountain, where men had toiled in the dark at the chance to earn a fortune.

I knew the day couldn't top that, so I found a comfortable outcropping of rock to spend the rest of it in relaxation. I reclined in my favorite position, with my feet sticking out into thin air, and settled into my book in earnest. My second adventure reading photo (the one at top) was much better.

The Book: "The Emperor's Soul" by Brandon Sanderson

Goodreads: The Emperor's Soul
Pages: 175
My Rating: 4/5
Blurb:

When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life. An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, a circumstance concealed only by the death of his wife. If the emperor does not emerge after his hundred-day mourning period, the rule of the Heritage Faction will be forfeit and the empire will fall into chaos.

Shai is given an impossible task: to create—to Forge—a new soul for the emperor in less than one hundred days. But her soul-Forgery is considered an abomination by her captors. She is confined to a tiny, dirty chamber, guarded by a man who hates her, spied upon by politicians, and trapped behind a door sealed in her own blood. Shai's only possible ally is the emperor's most loyal counselor, Gaotona, who struggles to understand her true talent.

Time is running out for Shai. Forging, while deducing the motivations of her captors, she needs a perfect plan to escape...

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors, mostly for his imaginative and in-depth magic systems, and this book was no different. It even won the Hugo award for Best Novella. "Forging" is the art of creating Chinese-style seals that can copy or change objects by modifying their history.

Shai is a delightful heroine, quick and clever and skilled with questionable morals. In forging a soul, she studies every facet of the emperor's past and uses her art to re-create everything that makes an individual who they are. I wondered how the choices I'd made recently would shape my future personality.

I read the entire novella on my mountain perch, the words like butter melting in the sun. At some point in the afternoon, a couple appeared and asked me to take their picture and then ate lunch nearby. In return, they offered to take my photo.

Aloneness feels like a natural state until someone else notices you in your isolation, then it's just uncomfortable. I posed stiffly, the view at my back while strangers looked at me through my phone screen.

I'm sure they were lovely people, but I wasn't feeling chatty and couldn't stifle my relief when they left and could go back to my book.

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Thanks for reading! I had a very busy/social day and am flying to California early tomorrow morning, so I haven't been able to read and comment today! It was hard enough to write this tonight, and I better get back to hanging out with my beep. All photos and words are mine (apart from the book blurb and quote). Even though this took place over 4 years ago, I still think about this hike frequently and fondly.
- Katie, @therovingreader

_{!steemitworldmap 48.025964 lat -121.443701 long A spectacular hike in the North Cascades leads to waterfalls, lakes, precipitous views, and secret mines. d3scr}

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“There was rarely an obvious branching point in a person's life. People changed slowly, over time. You didn't take one step then find yourself in a completely new location. You first took a little step off a path to avoid some rocks. For a while, you walked alongside the path, but then you wandered out a little way to step on softer soil. Then you stopped paying attention as you drifted farther and farther away. Finally, you found yourself in the wrong city, wondering why the signs on the roadway hadn't led you better.”
- Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul

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More "Adventure Reading"

• "Prince of Tides" on a Volcano
• "A Fire Upon the Deep" After I Fell Into Gem Lake
• "Bitter Fruit" at a Guatemalan Lakeside Oasis
• "Juntos" on the Indian's Nose
• "Moloka'i on Kauai's Pihea Trail
• "Light in August" On Cerro San Cristobal with a New Dog Friend
• "Winter" at an Incredibly Scenic Fire Lookout
• Plus more to come each Friday!

I'm hosting a contest about Adventure Reading! Head here to check out the details.