We Can Do Difficult Things

Years ago Mark went on a hike to Bell Canyon with the scouts.  He wanted to go back up to the canyon so I decided that we would do it.  My new next door neighbors wanted to go on a hike, so I invited them to come along.  I was a bit nervous because I have never been there before, but I figured that it wasn't a very difficult hike because a group of 9 year old scouts went.  Boy was I wrong! 

Jerilyn heard that it was a difficult hike and asked me if I was trying to kill her.  That really wasn't my objective in this adventure! 

It was a rigorous hike and I was exhausted!  The kids ran ahead of Jerilyn and me (except for Paul, he was concerned about us and stuck with us- what a sweetheart!) The hike is 4 miles round trip (in and out hike) and after 2 hours of hiking, the kids were convinced that they were on the wrong trail because they figured that they would have traveled 2 miles in 2 hours, so they turned around and headed down to catch up with the slow pokes.  They were about 20 minutes ahead of us- we were terrible at following the rule about sticking together. 

A group of little girl scouts were heading up the trail and we asked if they had been to the waterfalls before.  The leader said yes, and that it is just about 30 minutes up the trail.  The kids were only 10 minutes away from the destination!  They were understandably upset, but decided that we were going to head back up the trail to the waterfall.  Seth was exhausted and didn't want to continue, but he stayed behind with me and Jerilyn and he caught his second wind.  Jerilyn found a walking stick for him to use and that seemed to help boost his spirits. 

We finally got to the waterfall and enjoyed the beautiful view.  The wind was really strong at the falls and it got a bit chilly.  I didn't climb down to get the best view of the falls because it was a steep climb down (and I knew that I had to climb back up to get back on the trail!) 

I am proud of myself for hanging in there and finishing the hike.  It is a difficult hike though, so I am surprised that so many youth groups go up there.  My only thought is that it teaches them that they can do hard things (being in great shape helps it not be so difficult, too!).  I am really glad that we went.  For me the waterfall view was just so-so, not making it worth the huge effort to get there. 

At the beginning of the hike

Jerilyn and Me

The entire group

Paul in front of the beautiful reservoir at the beginning of the hike 

The waterfall

It was super windy at the falls- check out Seth's hair!



More fun at the reservoir 

I'm not sure that I want to repeat that hike anytime soon.  The boys are ready to go back though!  I am super glad that it didn't really kill my neighbors, because I really like them!  It has been so nice to have friendly next door neighbors!  Yeah!