Encouragement and Hikers (2009-July)

I love hikers. Most of them are kind of quiet, just trudging along their way... but I love the "happy" hikers. You know the ones that offer little bits of positivity and encouragement along the way... They are totally thinking outside themselves.

I just got back from a trip to Maui, where my friend, Olga, and I drove up 10,000 ft to the top of Haleakala. The tourist literature in Maui calls it a crater, but once your up there the rangers and info at the visitors center correct that. But whatever... Inside the depression there are volcanic cinder cones.

My friend and I determined that we would hike to the floor of the "not" crater. We took the sliding sands trail and made it about halfway to the floor before "recalculating" our destination. We decided to hike out around the rim of one of the cones instead. My friend was disappointed that we didn't do what we set out to do, but it was looking like we'd be there overnight if we kept walking down...

Well, walking around the mouth of one of these cones was really cool. It is huge, and the one we walked around was really colorful.

The hike was great... until we started to walk back up. It was gruelling. Eventually Olga walked on without me as I stopped for like the 3rd time to catch my breath. (maybe i whined a little... after all we got up at a quarter to 3 am!!) Anyway we eventually reunited, but I totally wanted to give up trying to climb out of the huge hole, and maybe just build a little hut and live out the rest of my days there... but, Olga said quit whining and come on... so i kept walking. Then clouds rolled in and it started to rain on us. (It felt nice)

That's when the happy hikers started to show up. They distracted me from my pain. They gave little encouragements. One couple said, "You guys are almost there, keep it up..." (Sweet, even though it was still forever to the top.) We asked another hiking family how far we were from the top after 45 minutes and they said,"You're close." I wouldn't go for their vague answers though... I pushed for a number in minutes... 20 more minutes. As we kept walking up and passing cheerful people who offered their kind words, I was thinking about these little positive comments made me feel like I could make it... and I reflected on another hike in Yosemite where I also felt like giving up... a steep hike in the snow. I remembered one of the hikers coming down from my target destination said, "it's totally worth it." That kept me going. (Along with some encouragement from a couple of people hiking with me.)

I want to be like those guys, reaching out, making a diffference, encouraging others to reach their goals. Plus, I'm glad for my friends who do this for me. I have deep respect for those of you who know me well enough to give me a little push when needed, because u know where I want to be. I don't mind u telling me to quit whining, or pointing out the peak I'm aiming for, if it helps keep me moving. No setting up camp here!!