Hike # 5: Things Don't Always Go As Planned

I was really looking forward to my Mother's Day Weekend hike! It would be # 5 and if I was lucky, I would also complete Hike # 6. At this point in my pursuit of 60 Hikes at 60, I was challenged by the increased distances I achieved on previous hikes and the increased speed was also a motivator.  I was sure that Hike # 5 would be my best time yet, and I was sure that I would make it an even 5 miles - my longest distance yet! That is why I choose the Crown Point Trail in Cascade.

Finding this hike on the Cascade Chamber of Commerce website, it was described as  2.5 miles of easy, level hiking along the edge of Cascade Lake. Because it also said "handicapped accessible", my 89 year old mother-in-law wanted to join me. In fact, she insisted! (As a German-American, she knows how to insist. I think she was trained in effective/persistent insisting.) Not wanting to disappoint her (after all it was Mother's Day weekend), I said "Sure. We'll take it easy and slow." So off we went...

without water, without walking sticks, without hats, (and in her case) without proper walking shoes or clothing layers. Yes, off we went - totally unprepared for the 85 degree weather and nothing but sunshine. See the trees in this picture? They were the only ones we saw!  By the time we walked 5 minutes - they were gone and we were in direct sunlight for an entire half mile. Thirty-five minutes later, we sat down at the first bench we found.

It was a lovely site... sitting on the bench - after walking at an agonizingly slow pace for 35 minutes ... traveling a mere half mile. But I had to let it go. My poor mother-in-law was hot, sweaty, and hardly able to talk because her throat was so parched. I realized that I had just put her health at risk and we had to turn back.

So... we did an about face, and headed back to the car. By the time we reached the car, we had walked 1 mile in 75 minutes. Not bad for a 89 year old woman, who had 2 hip replacements last year!

Lesson's learned:
1) be prepared (for me that means to remember to take water, my walking stick, and a hat)
2) make sure your walking partner is prepared
3) don't hike with my mother-in-law (No matter how much she insists that her loafers are real walking shoes, or that her shirt is just fine, or that she doesn't need water because it is too heavy or that she can make it because she walks 20 minutes a day on the treadmill, or that her German heritage makes her a natural born hiker. Just don't take her! Walk around the block in the neighborhood and save the hikes for someone else.)