Heidi had returned home to Hanover in the summer of 2016 after an unsuccessful bid to make the 2016 Olympic rowing team and was busy submitting medical school applications, rowing on the CT River, and coaching with the Upper Valley Rowing Foundation (UVRF). Meanwhile, Hunter was relocating to Hanover to begin his PhD in Arctic Fisheries at Dartmouth. A rowing enthusiast himself from his St. Hugh's Oxford boat club "bumping" days, Hunter reached out to UVRF and asked if he might find some housing in the community prior to the start of his apartment lease. And so it happened that UVRF president, Rowan Carroll, offered to host Hunter and invited Heidi to join for a dinner. Hunter will say that he nearly dropped the corn he had shucked when Heidi arrived. Heidi will say she was glad she remembered to change out of her sweaty rowing spandex for a summer dress. The next day, Hunter had asked for Heidi's number and, claiming his 1992 Volvo had him stranded, suggested some adventuring together. A hike up Cardigan Mt, a swim in the CT River, and an Indian dinner later (the first and last dinner that Heidi would cook for Hunter), and they had hit the ground running. The only trouble was that Heidi had decided to return to Princeton, NJ to continue training with the US rowing team with uncertain plans regarding medical school acceptances. Over the next few months, they continued the relationship long-distance, with Heidi meeting Hunter's family in Maryland for New Year's and Hunter visiting Heidi in Chula Vista, CA later that winter. When an acceptance letter to Dartmouth medical school arrived for Heidi in March, the stars seemed to align. And so began life in Hanover— barn-building for Heidi's horses & pasture management projects, rowing on the CT, med school & grad school, cross-country skiing with dogs, dog & housesitting, and great meals all prepared by Hunter.

Heidi's and Hunter's affinity for hiking together dated back to a completion of New Zealand's Tongariro Circuit with Heidi's sister, Liesel, in June, 2017. What began with tempestuous quarreling about winter weather conditions and projected high winds at the summit ended with a safely-completed journey in the reverse direction thereby avoiding the highest peaks until winds had died down the next day. Views of the snow-capped Mt. Doom were magnificent across the Red Crater. Next up in 2018 was Mt. Katahdin's "knife edge" in northern Maine which brought about some terse words and peaked anxieties. So, in September 2019 when Hunter suggested to Heidi that they complete the Presidential Traverse in the White Mountains, Heidi's skepticism piqued. The journey began with a stay at a dive motel at the base of Monroe and a 2-hr ascent up Monroe in the dark. At the top, winds were gusting at 30 mph, temperatures below freezing, views occluded entirely, and spirits... well, damp. The hike was projected to take another 12 hours. Hunter tried to ply a smile from Heidi by suggesting a 7 am chocolate break, but Heidi stubbornly refused as her hands had lost all circulation. They trudged onwards to Mt. Madison and then up to Mt. Adams. Heidi decided to start poking at Hunter, curious if he had any proposal intentions for this adventure. Her queries were flatly squashed, so she gave up hope.

Atop Mt. Adams, Hunter again asked Heidi if she wanted chocolate, this time kneeling down and pulling a bar of Lindt chocolate from his bag. Heidi rolled her eyes and said "yes, but only if you open it for me because my hands are too cold to take off my gloves." Hunter replied that she'd have to open it herself, and so Heidi fumbled with the packaging. She noticed a piece of bright blue tape on the bar that said "Gutte Aussichten" and thought to herself, "oh, that's sweet, Hunter's written me a motivational note for each peak of today's hike." "Gutte Aussichten" means "good prospects" in German and had been on a postcard that Heidi had sent Hunter 2 weeks after they had first met. Hunter had held onto that postcard throughout the long-distance phase of their relationship as a sign that things would work out. When Heidi finally noticed the leather pouch under the tape, she squealed, and, before Hunter could ask the question, was saying "Is this really happening? Yes, of course!" to which Hunter responded that he needed to ask the question. The question was asked, and happy kisses, as well as some tears, were shared atop that frozen, fog-enshrouded peak. The ring had been Hunter's great grandmother's via Ireland in the 1880s and had been sized up significantly so that it did fit! Heidi teased Hunter that she would tell any passerby on the hike that they were a newly engaged couple. Hunter then got his chance to roll his eyes. She proceeded to do this gleefully until Hunter warned her that they'd never complete the traverse before nightfall if she kept up the storytelling. Over the next 10 hours, clouds cleared to provide views of the beautiful White Mountains. Additional summits included Jefferson, Clay, Washington, Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, and Pierce. Despite bruised toes and sore knees, spirits remained buoyed by the morning. They descended to the trail head at dusk and drove toward the night's lodging, passing 3 moose grazing alongside the highway.