"We're Going Anyway": What Breaking One Rule Taught Me in the Enchantments

The following is adapted from The Billionaire of Living by Michael Woodmansee.

I am not generally a rule-breaker, but sometimes you need to take your fate into your own hands, especially when the goal is worthwhile.

After returning from the Pacific Crest Trail, I planned a four-day trek through the Enchantment Lakes with Aaron, Angie, and Charles, my young backpacking partners from the previous year. In the twenty years since I first hiked the Enchantments, a strict quota system had been put in place. We needed a permit, so we drove three hours to Leavenworth and waited outside the ranger station before dawn to be first in line.

It didn't matter. The old first come, first served system had been replaced by a lottery, and we lost. Walking out of the ranger station, I turned to the kids and said, "Well, we're going anyway." If a ranger had issues with my choice along the way, I would accept my fate.

We hiked six miles to Colchuck Lake, where the kids befriended Nate, a young fisherman camped nearby with his grandfather Dan. At seventy-eight, Dan was attempting his fourteenth trip through the Enchantments. He mentioned his daughter worked at the ranger station, quite possibly running the very lottery we had lost that morning. I left the subject alone.

After twenty years of taking people into the mountains, I knew how a heavy pack could rob an older hiker of balance on unstable footing. I offered to carry Dan's pack up Aasgard Pass, a brutal 2,200-foot climb rising straight from the lakeshore. He declined. But declining my assistance did not change my concern.

The next morning, after the kids and I reached the pass, I dropped my pack and descended 900 feet to check on him. Dan had fallen among the sharp rocks, blood running from a wound on his elbow, one leg injured. This time he let me carry his pack. Two days later, above the rugged descent called Trauma Rib, I hustled back up to Lake Viviane and offered again. There was no debate that time.

In the mountains, you are dependent upon one another if anyone needs assistance. In four days, six strangers became one team, and we said goodbye with warm hugs at the trailhead. Dan later sent a note thanking me and calling me "an angel unaware." His leg had turned black and blue from knee to hip. I never brought up our lack of a permit, or the irony that by breaking a rule, I was able to help keep the father of a local ranger safe.

What did I learn? Take your kids on big adventures, real adventures where they sweat and labor and drink from streams. Trust your instincts, and never let someone else's opinion of what is safe for them override what you know. And every once in a while, break a rule, where you can defend your choice even if it bites.

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For more advice on trusting your instincts and embracing real adventure, you can find The Billionaire of Living on Amazon.

Born and raised in Mount Vernon, Washington, where he still lives, Mike Woodmansee was once described as “an entourage of one.” He has dedicated his life to adventure, physical challenge, developing himself as a person, and helping others as much as possible.

He has separately run, bicycled, and hiked more than 25,000 miles—enough to circumnavigate Earth several times.

Mike also helped create Best SELF, a summer enrichment program that served many thousands of children, including low-income and at-risk children, over seventeen years—something he considers his most significant accomplishment. A licensed CPA, he is an alumnus of the University of Washington.