Look Up!

Fall weather is the best. The temperatures are cooler and all the trees and plants put their energy into one last dazzling show before winter. It’s the perfect time to hike.  As a kid, my dad took us on random hikes all the time.  Some were half hour jaunts at Red Rock Canyon, where we did more climbing than hiking. Some were long—half a day or more.  When we visited my grandparents in southern Utah, we’d hike trails in Zion National Park (heaven on Earth).

To some, hiking might seem the epitome of pointlessness.  Why work so hard to get up to a ridge, just to come down again? And your feet hurt! If you feel that way, maybe you just haven’t gone on the right hikes…or gone prepared with the right equipment and attitude.

Be Progressive

Sawtooth Lake--Iron Creek Trail, Idaho

I love hiking.  Once when I was a teen—with a young amazing body that could hike circles around this older body of mine—I got ahead of my dad and sister and was blazing the trail.  At first it was steep and rocky, but soon the path widened and became smoother and easier.  I was loving life.

Until I heard calls from my family and looked about to see where they were.  To my surprise, they were half way up the steep ridge behind me.  I didn’t understand, and looked at them in bewilderment.  They hadn’t passed me.  I was in the lead.  So how in the world were they above me on the trail?