In August of 1972, Tim Taylor, a 13 year old Boy Scout, hiked alone up a mountain peak in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He wasn’t technically alone, since his scout troop was down the mountain a ways, enjoying a rest on their 3-day camping trip.
When Tim noticed that his topographical map had no name for that particular peak, he wondered if any human had ever been up there. That’s all it took for him to lace on his hiking boots and go. Once he reached the summit, he marked his milestone by writing a note and folding it into a small metal film canister, tucking it near the base of a massive rock.
One month ago another hiker, maybe just the second person to reach that spot, found the rusted canister, now 40 years old. The note, “looking like it was written yesterday,” said:
“TIM TAYLOR CLIMBED TO THIS PEAK, AUGUST 17, 1972, AGE 13 YEARS. ANYONE FINDING THIS PLEASE WRITE…” In an effort to be thorough he also wrote, “HEIGHT OF PEAK: 12785.”
The 2012 hiking party (a grandfather, son, and grandson) searched for Tim Taylor, now age 53, for over a month. No one at the old address had heard of him, but an article posted on the front page of the local paper jogged the memory of former neighbors and friends, and they notified Tim, who was astounded.
“It’s been a fun week!” Taylor said during an interview. When asked if he’d recently thought about his 1972 note, he said he’d wondered about it, off and on, throughout the years.
Surely as a boy he thought a great deal about the little canister sitting on the mountaintop, sometimes covered with snow, other times baking in the sun. Had anyone found it? Had it blown away? Was it still closed tight? Was the note ok?
Tim had questions, but of course the only one with the answers was God. He had his eye on the canister throughout those years, just as he has his eye on each of us at all times. As my mom used to say, “God keeps the books.” In other words, he’s watching over all parts of his world and all of us, all at once, all the time.
So what about Tim Taylor? Today he’s a San Diego County Superior Court Judge, probably writing lots of notes. Though he isn’t ready to retire, I’ll bet when he does, he’ll be lacing up his hiking boots and heading for that unnamed mountain.
* “You [Lord] are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” (Psalm 32:7)