Saturday, August 6, 2011

How Come I Am So Much Buffer Than You?

I didn't have rehearsal this morning, so I said to Kurtis, "Wanna go hiking since I don't have rehearsal Saturday?"  "Okay.  That sounds like fun."  He replied.  So we got up, got ready, and headed out the door at 9:30 this morning.  That's actually pretty early for us Joneses.  We like sleeping.  At least, Kurtis and I do.  The kids haven't figured out the joys of sleeping til 10, yet. 
We decided that we should attempt to finish the hike up Adam's Canyon again.  We did it last year, but Kurtis only made it like half way.  Maybe less.  Hiking with our family is always an adventure.  Kaleb is terribly afraid of heights so whenever we got to a spot where there was a drop off, or it was steep, he would freak out and not want to go, or want to sit on his behind and slide down.  Neither of those options were going to fly with his parents today.  We were determined.  I'm not very good at knowing how to calm him down enough to get him to go down the hill on his own, so I just pulled him along.  I would say, "It's okay.  I've got you." or "Let's hold hands.  We'll go down together."  I have never had this over-powering fear of heights.  I was always the one who ran to the edge of the cliff and looked over the edge.  I was the one freaking out my cousin because he thought I wasn't going to stop, and that I was going to go over the edge.  It never even occurred to me that I would go over the edge.  But Kaleb is cautious, and slow.  I going slow, but I do mind when he is paralyzed with fear.  Kurtis, on the other hand, is much more patient.  Always saying things like, "Here's my hand.  It's like a tree.  Hold on to the tree." or "I will catch you if you fall.  I'm right here.  I can catch you."  After a little while, Kaleb stopped being so afraid and wanted to do it by himself. 
The website I looked at (actually both websites I looked at) said this hike is a 3.5 mile hike that should take two hours both ways.  It took us four.  And this time, we didn't make it to the top, either.  Kurtis is very much out of shape and wimped out on us about 3/4 of the way to the top.  He took Kaleb back down to a camping area and said he would wait for us there.  Zach, Riley, and I got almost to the top, and I determined that with his broken elbow, it was too steep to keep climbing.  We are going to have to come back and do it again when Zach isn't in a cast any more.
On the way down, I finally got tired of Kaleb's super extreme slowness and crying about going down steep areas, so I had him put on my back pack, and I piggy backed him down the rest of the mountain.  I did it for probably 45 minutes, and I went so much faster than I would have if I hadn't done that.  When we were almost back to the beginning of the trail, I turned to Kurtis and said, "How come I'm so much buffer than you?"  He laughed, and said, "Come on.  Hit me right here."  Our own little joke, but for those of you who don't get it, and want to click here.
After we were done hiking (at around 2:00 p.m.), we decided to go eat somewhere yummy.  We chose Jason's Deli.  I went to the restroom as soon as we got there, and looked at myself in the mirror.  My face was so red!  I thought, "No wonder people were looking at me like I was some sort of freak!"  Kurtis told me I looked like I ran there with a bunch of rabid pit bulls chasing me.  All through lunch, I kept asking if my face was still red.  After about half an hour, Kurtis told me the red was going away, and that now I looked like I ran in from the car with a couple of chihuahuas chasing you instead of pit bulls.

 Here is one of Kaleb's freaking out moments.

 Kurtis led us in the wrong direction, and we found this!  It was beautiful, but we turned around and I led us the right way.

 The hike takes us along a river.  It's a lot cooler by the river.

 This is a moment when Kaleb decided he wanted to do it by himself. :D

 There are lots of little waterfalls all along the way up.  It's so beautiful.

 After we left Dad and Kaleb in the dust.

This is where we decided to stop.  To keep going, you cross the creek behind them.

 That is why we decided it wasn't safe for Zach to keep going.

 The rest of the way up was pretty dang steep.  I personally, wouldn't call this hike "Moderate".

 Riley kept telling me not to move, and I couldn't figure out why.  He didn't want me to scare this bug away!

 This beetle was on Zach's backpack.  

Here we are, heading home! :D

1 comment:

Michele said...

Looks like fun. :) Makes me miss the mountains.