Last weekend we went up to a camp in the mountains for a family "retreat". My good friend Julie had been a counselor up there in the (now distant =) past, so she knew the trails. While Ella and Amanda and Michael went on the intermediate ropes course (Ella's favorite part of the trip), I wanted to go on a hike.
There were two options: a short (15 minute for a grownup) hike over mostly flat ground, or a longer (1 mile) hike up to the top of the mountain. I had gotten enough sleep that night, or was feeling ambitious, and Julie told me that it would be alright, so we opted for the latter.
As with so many things in life (getting married, having children, getting your PhD, etc.) if I had known before I started what was entailed, I wouldn't have done it. Having done it, I'm glad we went. The first part of the hike was over a leaf covered trail, through the forest. As we got higher up, there were more and more rocks to climb over. I pulled Luke up the first part over his protestations. He talked almost the whole time! Julie pulled for much of the rest of the hike: the rocks got bigger, she had better shoes and more experience, and Luke tended not to sit down for her like he did for me. We told Luke he was a mountain man, and he responded, "No, I'm a hay riding man!" (he had just gotten off a hay ride with 5 college age counselors). Towards the end, he complained that, "We are running out of time!" He also mentioned numerous times that he wanted to go home. When we told him that we would see a big rock, every big rock became the top of the mountain, so that we could go home now.
Getting to the top was magical. There is nothing like coming out of the forest (dim, leafy, can only see a little ahead) onto the top of the mountain where you can see forever in the clear air. I suppose that's why they call it a mountain-top experience =). Lisa brought some chocolate called "bliss", which seems like a great name for chocolate at the top of the mountain. Luke did not go over the edge (mostly because we held tightly onto him while we were up there). My favorite part was going under an overhanging rock---this rock went about 2 stories in the air above us. I felt like I could see the permanence of the mountain, and seeing the rock peeking out from under the trees made me think of the mountain under my feet as well.
One of the best parts was that Luke got to go up before his sisters. Hopefully next year we'll drag them up, too (although, I hope not literally...).
There were two options: a short (15 minute for a grownup) hike over mostly flat ground, or a longer (1 mile) hike up to the top of the mountain. I had gotten enough sleep that night, or was feeling ambitious, and Julie told me that it would be alright, so we opted for the latter.
As with so many things in life (getting married, having children, getting your PhD, etc.) if I had known before I started what was entailed, I wouldn't have done it. Having done it, I'm glad we went. The first part of the hike was over a leaf covered trail, through the forest. As we got higher up, there were more and more rocks to climb over. I pulled Luke up the first part over his protestations. He talked almost the whole time! Julie pulled for much of the rest of the hike: the rocks got bigger, she had better shoes and more experience, and Luke tended not to sit down for her like he did for me. We told Luke he was a mountain man, and he responded, "No, I'm a hay riding man!" (he had just gotten off a hay ride with 5 college age counselors). Towards the end, he complained that, "We are running out of time!" He also mentioned numerous times that he wanted to go home. When we told him that we would see a big rock, every big rock became the top of the mountain, so that we could go home now.
Getting to the top was magical. There is nothing like coming out of the forest (dim, leafy, can only see a little ahead) onto the top of the mountain where you can see forever in the clear air. I suppose that's why they call it a mountain-top experience =). Lisa brought some chocolate called "bliss", which seems like a great name for chocolate at the top of the mountain. Luke did not go over the edge (mostly because we held tightly onto him while we were up there). My favorite part was going under an overhanging rock---this rock went about 2 stories in the air above us. I felt like I could see the permanence of the mountain, and seeing the rock peeking out from under the trees made me think of the mountain under my feet as well.
One of the best parts was that Luke got to go up before his sisters. Hopefully next year we'll drag them up, too (although, I hope not literally...).
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