Onward and Upward: My First Hike

Today was my first ever hike. My feet hurt!! I, and a group of friends, went hiking at Cedar Run/White Oak Trail in Shenandoah National Park. It was ridiculously scenic and beautiful. I would have taken loads of pictures, except I forgot to charge my camera and it died IMMEDIATELY. I think I took like 2 photos. I will post them. I think this day was destined for greatness, which is why so many things occurred to make it go wrong:

1. Backpack

I bought a backpack for this trip. It is a KELTY, and it has a little pouch inside of it that I am supposed to be able to fill with water (eliminating the need for a water bottle). This piece of junked leaked! I filled it up with water (to the 2L mark, as instructed), put it on my back and noticed that I was wet. So I'm thinking...maybe I filled it up too much, so I let like half a liter out, and then just lay it on the floor. There I watched a small pool of water form beneath it. Ever so quickly. So I decided to abandon that and instead grabbed my KPMG (I only agree with definition 1, I knew like 3 black people there, and 1 homosexual) basketball bag and headed out.

2. Trader Joe's

The Evite I read said to meetup at Trader Joe's at 8am. I was there, but no one else was. So I decided to call my friend "Checkers" and asked her what was up. Meeting place changed. E-mail sent to kking4@nd.edu. ...
Really? I'll let that one pass, as it IS my facebook login, but clearly...I'm no longer a student at the University of Notre Dame. WE ARE ND! (I had to do it...)

3. The Bubblies

You know what I'm talking about. The new meeting place was someone's house and I had to use the restroom badly. But I don't know this guy...not enough to destroy the ambiance of his bathroom. But desperate times... Luckily, it wasn't as serious a situation as I had anticipated, and was only a 3 - 4 minute mild detour to the bathroom. However, I was filled with concern up to that point, which of course only made the bubblies roil with increased fury. Is this TMI?

4. The KPMG Bag

Sometimes the solution can just be a new problem. Bringing this bag was a mistake, or at least...I almost convinced myself that it was. So I'm hiking, and then I start to think about the rope straps on this bag, and how they are going to dig into my shoulders, and chafe, and just otherwise wreak havoc on my trip. I start internally freaking out, imagining how horrible the hike will be. I was kicking myself, and calling myself a dummy when suddenly I realize: THERE'S ALMOST NOTHING IN THIS BAG! Straps dig when bags are heavy. My bag wasn't heavy at all. I calmed down, and didn't spare another thought for the KPMG bag.

5. Checkers' foot

Checkers got a blister immediately. And it was bad. I mean, it was bleeding. I don't know if she knew it was bleeding, but I could see crimson spreading and staining the white of her ankle gym sock. It was sad. I felt horrible walking behind her knowing she was in pain, and so I prayed for it...for a while. Not a long while, maybe 5 minutes or so. However, prayer for someone's peace, comfort, and overall deliverance is something of a bummer. See how I turned someone else's anguish into one of MY problems, in MY list? Now that is some kind of selfish magic.

6. The Longest Goodbye

Yep, we've seen "The Longest Goodbye" on lists before. I've decided I'll use this term whenever something tragic and unexpected occurs to keep you from making it home. This issue was fraught with anger, attitudes, and other uncool, "beef-like" emotions. Long story short, I left my keys in Checkers car; Checkers was 15 minutes ahead of me in finishing the trail and decided to get an early start to her parents house and unknowingly drove off with the aforementioned keys; we were unable to reach Checkers because we were in the WILDERNESS with no cell phone reception for a long time while driving out of the park; Checkers got pretty far away; we finally reached her and made plans for a meetup-and-drop-off; two hours passed, at which point I became frantic, irrational, and evil inside; speeding tickets were obtained; regret was born; harsh words spoken; tears cried: Foolishness. At the end of the day there was sadness. Awwww....

Despite the minor issues #1 - 5, and the major issue of #6, I had an awesome time:

1. I completed my first ever hike: Pride!!

This is the terrain I walked on. Often with MORE rocks.

They lied to me. They said it was just a long walk. It was not a long walk. I had to actively watch my every step so as not to fall and break my body. I could see myself having to be airlifted out of that joint. It was so hard! After a while, you just become so tired, and you can't walk up the mountains anymore...but yet we kept moving. I was a little disgruntled at points. Why isn't there a such thing as "walker's high?!" Why are runners the only ones who get to experience a burst of euphoria? Not fair. FAIL.

I don't know if I climbed THIS waterfall (but I might have)

2. I climbed up a waterfall.

I climbed it fast too! I mean, I was afraid...but I just didn't look down, and tried to climb up as fast as I could. There were moments when I made some unfortunate foothold decisions, but the only consequences were a branch in the face, or a little mud in my hand. No biggie.

3. It was like an adventure.

There were snakes! And bugs! Holes in the ground! Slippery rocks! I felt like Indiana-a Jones. Oh yeah!

4. The company was great.

I liked the people I was with. There were funny conversations, deep conversations, religious/philosophical conversations. When you're walking for 5 hours, you find things to talk about.

5. It was just really beautiful out there.

I've never been so IN nature. It was the kind of place where you could just sit on a log and pray and meditate with the sound of rushing water and wildlife all around you. It's like I could really appreciate the Earth as God's creation. It was pretty awesome. When I wasn't thinking of it from a spiritual point-of-view, I noted that it was also super romantic. I need a boyfriend to go on that hike with.


6. I was happy.

That's all I've got today. I liked the hike. I have to clean my apartment. It's beyond "that point." It may be the point of no return, which means I'll stay in bed all day. BUT NO! I shall persevere.