Scouting Little Devils Stairs – Death of Elizabeth II – Evening statistics
Since I have two hikes to lead on the weekend immediately following my impending trip to Colorado, I felt that I should scout at least one of them today. Accordingly I went to SNP to scout the Little Devils Stairs hike, although the hike’s name is actually somewhat misleading: hiking up the Little Devils Stairs Trail is an option for both long and moderate hikers. This precaution was taken because in rainy weather hiking along that trail is extremely inadvisable: it is very rocky, as its name implies (any trail with the word “Devil” in its name, as I have previously noted, will contain an abundance of rocks and boulders) and itinvolves multiple stream crossings.
I therefore scouted the main hike, since that is the route I will actually be leading. It is a mile less than it would have been had I taken the Little Devils Stairs option, but it is still a bit over 12 miles. Although it still wants two weeks to the equinox, the hike had a distinctly autumnal quality. The temperature on the mountains remained below 70 degrees all day and the beginning of the changes in the foliage’s coloration were starting to become apparent. In the lower elevations it is still uniformly green, but on the mountains one could see, here and there, various trees and shrubs whose leaves were beginning to turn yellow and red.
Today marks the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Although she was 96 years old, her death came rather suddenly. Just two days ago she was photographed smiling and ready to greet her 15th prime minister (the first being Winston Churchill). It is characteristic that even in her last days she determinedly fulfilled what she felt to be her royal duties. Her elder grandson shows some signs of similar dedication, which her younger grandson and her sons certainly do not. Various details, several of them rather sordid, about their private lives have enlivened the headlines. But she has always remained throughout the decades untouched by scandal.
It is strange to reflect that this remarkable woman, who seems the embodiment of what everyone expects in a constitutional monarch, was never expected to be queen at all. It was her father’s elder brother – feckless, weak-willed, fatuous Devid Edward – who came to the throne after the death of George V in 1936. But he was forced to abdicate before the end of the year and it was his younger brother who succeeded him as George VI. Elizabeth’s sister Margaret later related “When our father became king, I said to her, ‘Does that mean you’re going to be queen?’ She replied, ‘Yes, I suppose it does.’ She didn’t mention it again.” She was ten years old at the time, but already she was being trained for royal responsibilities; her father’s health declined precipitously during the 1940s, and she often took on the official functions in his place, well before his death in 1952. She continued to do so for seventy years afterwards: the longest reign of any British monarch.
At this point no official date has been set for the coronation of her son, now Charles III. It would appear that the British are not displaying any noticeable anxiety to inaugurate her successor.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 612,371,514; # of deaths worldwide: 6,511,201; # of cases U.S.: 96,957,304; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,074,780.