The Hike With A Purpose

I could hardly get out of bed this morning after my alarm went off! I am so sore!!! On Saturday Rick and I went on a 5 mile hike on Mount Si (2.5 up and 2.5 down). It was the most gorgeous hike, but also the most strenuous and exhausting hike!! I took some pretty amazing pictures that I will post once I get them downloaded from my camera.

Something really cool happened on the hike that I wanted to share. Saturday started out with a fun picnic that I packed for Rick and I. We ate our picnic at this beautiful park right next to Mount Si. After we ate we drove to the trail to start our hike. It is four miles to the top of this mountain (most of it uphill with lots of stones everywhere). After about .5 miles (notice the period before the five, which means half a mile!), I was ready to turn back. I guess I am more out of shape than I thought I was!! Rick convinced me that I could make it at least a mile, so I was determined to make it ONE mile. After we hit the one mile marker I thought I would have to camp out at this point b/c I had no energy to walk all the way back down!! I sat on a rock and drank a bottle of water, and after a 5 a minute break my energy was restored. Rick said he would really like to make it half way up the mountain, which was at 2 miles, and that he believed we could do it! I didn't have as much faith as he did, but after the little break I was ready to give it a try. Well I did it....I made it to the two mile marker!!!! I was really proud of myself. So proud that I actually went another half mile!! As I said before this hike was intense...people actually train before hiking all the way to the top!!

Okay...so here is the really cool part of the story. On our way back down from the two and a half miles we hiked up, Rick and I ran into two guys that were hiking on the trail, and one of them was sitting on a rock keeled over in pain. Rick stopped and asked if everything was okay. The injured man said that he had pulled his hamstring and his muscles in his legs were all locked up. We offered him water and Rick helped this man all the way down the mountain (which was a lot harder to hike down than up b/c of all of the fallen rocks everywhere). You are probably wondering why the injured man's friend did not help him down the mountain (okay so maybe you weren't wondering, but I sure was that day!!).

The man's friends name was John and I started talking to him as we walked down the mountain. It turns out John asked Don (injured man) to go on the hike with him that morning and Don thought the hike was only a one mile, so he decided to run up the mountain. John warned Don that it was a long way up, and to pace himself, but Don continued to run. To get to the point...John didn't have much sympathy for Don and therefore wasn't much help. Rick helped Don down the mountain and also got the opportunity to talk to him about a lot of things including church and God. And at the end of the trip Don and Rick exchanged cell phone numbers. Don was so thankful to Rick for his help and care. We are hoping to get together with Don and his family sometime. I'm glad that we hiked up to the two mile point b/c I believe God really used Rick to help this man down the mountain, and to open the door for great conversation!

As for my soreness today....I took some Advil. I am determined now to get in shape so that I can hike the 4 miles to the top of Mount Si. I think I will try it in two weeks. I'll keep you posted.