July 6th
This summer the unspoken theme in most of our activities was being in nature. Justin, Nathan, Hyrum and I began with morning "hikes" during the month of June to prepare for the real hikes ahead that we wanted to do. We went on hikes (a very loose use of the word) to the Nature Park, Eagle Park, Beaver Dick Park, and even the adventurous, difficult hike around Hibbard Elementary. Really, the idea was to just be out and walking and we accomplished that.
Our hike up and around R Mountain was our first real hike. I had never been up R Mountain but LeRoy, Derek and Justin had done it numerous times with different scout groups. They were positive that Nathan and Hyrum could handle it.
The beginning was more strenuous than I expected and I wondered if LeRoy's back would be paying
for this trip for the next few days.
Our half way up stop shows the angle we were walking. For Hyrum's little legs this was a big hike! And you can see in Nathan's face that it was already wearing him out.
Once at the top the fun really began. We had made it past the uphill battle and the top rim was all about rock climbing and sight seeing. The valley below us was beautiful all the way around.
The lava rock formations surrounding the entire rim provided plenty of daring climbs and more
than enough panic moments for me.
I was so proud of myself for maintaining my adventurous side with only a few sharp reprimands in Nathan's direction.
Derek and Justin had been on this mountain many times before so they took off with Sierra to do their own exploring.
Nathan found a rock that he said was his GPS so we let him lead the way for a while.
Hyrum wanted to be just like Nathan so he found a similar ipod looking rock. I had to hide my laugh and take him seriously when he informed me that his PBS said to go another direction.
LeRoy, Vivien, Nathan, Hyrum and I stayed together the last half of the rim. Then LeRoy got a phone call. Seriously? On top of the mountain? Of course, he answered it. I kept trying to get his attention to make sure we were going the right direction and he would just nod (I don't think he was even listening to me). I hadn't even been up on this mountain but I was pretty sure we were off the trail, especially when I could see people over on what looked more like the rim and we were down on the rocky side. When LeRoy got off his phone he looked around like he was surprised at his surroundings but without saying anything to Vivien and I he just kept leading the way. He didn't really give us time to catch up to him so between Vivien and I we slowly and carefully crossed the slippery, near vertical rocks the best we could. In some places we had to do a crab crawl to cross.
The picture doesn't show at all how scary this was, especially worrying about Nathan losing his footing and me carrying Hyrum in many spots. Still, it was a little terrifying. Finally, LeRoy realized that we weren't keeping up with him and when we started working together with the little boys we were able to move faster. We weren't trying to hurry to get off the mountain but we were trying to beat a rainstorm that we could see coming. We had definitely taken the long route but we finally made it back to the rim. We could see down the mountain that the others were already headed to the van, probably assuming that we were waiting for them.
Again, LeRoy took off, this time with Hyrum. LeRoy doesn't do anything slow and isn't the best at recognizing the little legs struggling to keep up with him so Hyrum was having a hard time. At one point he fell and hit his head on the rocks as LeRoy grabbed him to break his fall. Nathan and I were too far behind them to help so I had to let it go, hoping that Hyrum would still like hiking by the time we were done.
When we got back to the van I asked the boys how they liked their real hike, praising them for doing such a hard thing and having a positive attitude about it. Nathan spoke up, and Hyrum readily agreed, that they would do it again but next time they would follow Derek, not Dad. Poor LeRoy. He is such a go-getter that sometimes he forgets to enjoy the journey and see that the others with him are finding joy in it as well. It was still good to have him with us but he did pay for it in pain later.
By the time we got home all frustrations from the trip were gone and all we remember now is the fun that we had, the rocks that we daringly stood at the edge of and the fact that we did it! Even Nathan and Hyrum climbed to the top of R Mountain! From a distance it may not look very intimidating but it was perfect for our first family hike.
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