Last weekend’s hike

My Facebook Caption: Taking the family to Iowa Hill

Lester and I decided to take the brats to Iowa Hill for a hike. We had decided we would do a little hike where I could show Ben these really cool mining caves that the locals were sweet enough to guide us to the last time I was there.

 

We put together some lunch and headed out. The road up there is a puke inducing one lane road and I guess I forgot to remind Lester of that before we embarked on our trip.  I’m not sure how many trips we will make up there because the road wasn’t one he would probably like to drive too often.  The other side of this trail is the opposite of this on every level.  The other side is full sun, well traveled and manicured. The road to get there is short with not a single curve.  The opposite reasons are reasons why this is my favorite trail.  Getting there is scary and nauseating, the trail is dark and scary at places with no one usually out there but the wild animals and our doggie tour guide.  It’s more technical because of the lack of weeding and cutting back.  The poison oak is a little out of control, but I didn’t mind it at all…I mean, except for the part where it came up to the back of my knees!

 

We started out battling getting through the blackberry bushes and looking for the cave that I knew was out there.  Within a few minutes it was clear that we would need to already reapply the bug spray we put on at the car 15 minutes ago.

I had mentioned that this was a “bug spray” trail, but until you’re out there do you realize that you almost need 100% deet to keep the bugs at bay.

The caves were easier than I thought to find and Ben seemed to really get a kick out of the first one. The second one was a little harder to get to. On the way down I took point and noticed a snake on a stump. It was a small black and yellow one (garter snake). Alyx has the same fear I had of snakes before I finally let Lester’s daughter get me over it with her Ball Python snake a couple of years ago.   She stopped dead in her tracks and was ready to turn around and head home.

 

 

the mouth of a mine

 

 

 The trip to the river was 3.7 miles and everyone held up pretty good.  The girls bitched and complained the whole time, but that was something I was expecting. We haven’t been on a single hike or trail run that they smile, laugh and sing, ‘we love mom because she makes us go out in the woods and hike and run with her’.

Ben was having a great time and I got a kick out of watching him explore all the cool things that I think make the trail magical.  The butterflies looped up and around his head and he would point them out and tell me something educational about that certain butterfly.  I would stop and point out the beautiful wild flowers that line certain parts of the trail.

 

About half way down the trail is my favorite part of the trail. It’s usually where I drop my pack and just look at the beauty of where I have ended up.  The water falls through the moss lined rocks. It’s so quiet with just the sound of the water.  The perfect reminder of why I love doing what I do.

 

I knew we still had about two and a half miles to go and I asked if everyone was okay to keep going and Ben and I took the lead when no one said, ‘nope.’   The girls always want to turn around and head back, but I promised a spectacular lunch and guilted them by telling them that I really wanted this day with them to be a good one.   Alyx was still recovering from the snake situation, so I had to take that into consideration.

 

It wasn’t until the part where we could hear the river that Ben began to ask how long before we made it to the water. Looking at my watch, I said “15 minutes” and if we weren’t walking at the snails pace, we would have made it in that time.

 

 

Ben loved the “rock climbing part”, but Lester was on edge about him climbing up. “Dad! I can do it!”

He really felt like he was doing something special as he grabbed the rope and I held out my hand to him while Lester spotted him from behind.  The smile on his face when he came up was worth every moment of complaining I would have to hear coming back up this beast of a trail.

When we started back on the trail he was telling me about how he likes to rock climb and had done it at the Merrell Mud Run last year.

 

We made it to the river and started our lunch.  I wanted to put my feet in the river and managed to slip in. I was going to go swimming regardless, but it was a stupid rookie move for me to slip in.

 

 

 

Lester showing Ben a snake swimming in the water

 

On the way back up I was preparing for the volume of complaining from everyone.  We had a good pace going though. Lester and Ben actually pushed forward ahead of us a ways. The girls didn’t complain, and Shea even took the heavy backpack.  We would stop and take a few breaks, but the mosquitoes were so bad we had to keep moving.  Alyx was looking like me a couple of weeks ago where panic was about to set in.  Her and Shea did some running up the hill and I hung back (as always) and just took my time looking out at the canyon, spotting dogwood trees and just thinking about my life and the people in it.

 

At the top of the hill I caught up with Ben and was able to do the last half mile with him. I was expecting him to be tired and whiny. Nope, he was chatty and we talked about a bunch of stuff.  His little chat with me was my favorite part of the trip.

It was a big weekend for him and I didn’t want him to think I took it lightly. “You did almost a 10 mile bike ride, the farthest you’ve gone on a bike so far! You learned how to not only swim with your face in the water, but learned how to swim underwater AND touch the bottom of the pool! AND TODAY! look at you doing a 7 and half mile hike, the furthest you’ve gone so far!”  He recapped each event by telling me about each thing he did and what he liked.  He admitted that he was a little bit tired and I told him I was too. He said, “Yeah, but you do 10k runs with my dad!” and the amazement in his voice when I pointed out that he had just gone FURTHER than a 10k almost brought me to tears. “Whaaaattt?” I explained him the difference between metric and miles and he couldn’t wait to write that on his hiking rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back to the top and to the store, we sat down and had a well earned soda. I showed Ben the teepees in the back and the pictures from when that town was in full operation.

 

Lester and I knew the kids would pass out on the way back home, but we had no idea how cute it would be.

 

 

Lester’s Facebook Caption: “Bringing the family home from Iowa Hill

 

 

It was a good family hike.

 

*copied from Unlikely Runners