Hiking

We went hiking twice this weekend. Once each day. On Saturday it was quite a difficult hike. We wanted to hike up to Vivian Creek but we were not aware of what the trail was like. (At least I wasn't.) It was a very steep trail with about 50 other hiking "friends." We took our three girls and the dog with us. Usually when we are hiking the dog just does her own thing but with all the people we had to have her on a leash the whole time. This made it harder for me to help Ashling hike with the dog in the way. Also since this trail was so steep people kept stopping in the middle of the trail to rest. And each time someone came down the trail you had to move over for them to pass. Each time we stopped, (actually moving off the trail,) someone who passed had to talk to our kids, give us suggestions so we could keep hiking or give our kids something. I am usually okay with this but I have never taken the kids on this kind of trail.

Amazingly despite the tons and tons of whining they were able to hike up the trail at about the same rate as all of the other hiking buddies. This meant that we kept passing each other on the very narrow narrow trail and I kept imagining Ashling being bumped off the trail and tumbling for 20 feet before she stopped on the switchback below us. The dog was hyper because of the walk and all the other people and dogs around. She kept trying to get off lead and sometimes I was worried about her bumping Ashling off the trail too. We did not bring enough water for the warm day and the hard hike. Soon I noticed our water supply was depleating and realized that I had forgotten both a diaper and wipes. (Yes I was very not prepared.) Annika started to fuss and this made me more on edge. A group of people stopped in the middle of the trail again and we had to hike around them getting still closer to the steep edge. Now my nerves were shot. I looked up ahead and yet another group of people was stopped in the way of the very steep trail! I am sure we had stopped at least 50 times on the 1 mile trail! I had it and demanded that everyone turn around and go back down! We never made it to the meadow (Cam said we were only 300 yards from the top) and for the rest of the day my nerves were shot! I will never take my little kids on such a steep trail with that much exposure and the next time I will insist we turn around much sooner.

So Sunday afternoon we decided to try a different type of hike. We went to a dirt road with a gate over it. There were no other cars parked around there. There was some up and down but basically the trail went across the mountain. We were able to let Sierra run and the girls ran all over the place. We brought a ton of water, a pacifier and diapers. Although we hiked for about 3 hours and were all tired by the time we made it back to the car there was only a very little whinning and lots of giggling and laughing. Cameron and I were able to hold hands and enjoy watching our kids try to climb the steep snow patches. We stopped at a creek and they made a bridge while I nursed Annika. We even found a second bigger creek at the very end of the hike. Lesson learned... start hiking with something the kids can do and they will be much happier than if you go up a cliff!