Hike # 35 Continued... Part 2 - Lily Marsh Trail

It was awesome!!!

It was hard. It was fun. It was strenuous. It was a shared family experience. It was scary in some places. It was challenging. It was beautiful. It was also a one-mile snow hike that was steep, challenging, and so worth it! The difference between "easy" and "intermediate" is expansive and incredibly more rewarding.

We did it! We made it to the end of the Lily Marsh Trail and the beginning of Huckleberry Trail head. I had seen it in September  and now I had fun of seeing it in February. They were two very different experiences!


We had hiked just under 3 miles in the snow, up and down steep hills...

At the end of  the Lily Marsh Trail, we stopped. We pledged to make the next leg of the hike (a steep 1 mile climb that was rated strenuous) next summer. Next goal -Huckleberry Trail, to the top of the mountain! But for today - Lily Marsh was the prize.

As we turned around, I felt the air leave my lungs ... sort of like a balloon deflating. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the adrenaline leaving my body once I accomplished my goal. Maybe it was the realization that the steep hills we hiked up, now meant downhill slides or Olympic-style nose dives. Or that the downhill slopes now would become overwhelming  uphill climbs. Whatever the reason, the hike back was harder for me than the hike to my goal.

The hike back was made even harder as my toes grew numb, my lungs were weak, and my hips screamed louder  than ever before.  I confess that I did walk slower- much slower.

However, this "slow"  time allowed me to take in the beauty of all that surrounded me. I barely noticed the snow laden  trees as we hiked toward my goal, when we started the snow hike. But as I hiked backed, and as I hiked more "slowly", I was much more aware of my physical limitations,  as well as my physical  surroundings. I seemed to notice more. More snow. More "quite". More of how the snow laid on the branches of the trees, and more of how the those branches labored under the weight of the snow. The irony was that the snow was powder. How could something as light as powder weigh down the branches of a tree? How could something as light as my imagined insecurities, weigh down the momentum toward a goal? As I walked slower, my thoughts pondered bigger questions. I think I am on the right path. Challenge + Drive =  Quiet Insight

In the end, I hiked 5.79 miles in the snow. My reward? Beer tasting at a new micro-brewery - Broken Horn. It was a great 35th hike!