The nine hikers that started out on a Friday night had endured cold, wet, bad trails, fatigue, heat exhaustion and a mid-hike change in personnel. That gave the Wildcat trail a 2 point advantage.
Six hikers went on to challenge the second half of the trail and enjoyed beautiful vistas, powerful scenery, relaxing breaks in soft pine forests, and a chance to bond together as a team to finish strong. That evened out the score at 2-2.
Perhaps we could tie ... but there was one more part of this adventure that I have not yet mentioned. Two hikers bid adieu and headed for home, leaving 4. One was from Columbus and three were from Dayton. Free will was lacking, perhaps by the fact that me, Barb and Laura were all in one car. But I think we all were in agreement as we headed north on Rt 13 towards Columbus that we needed to celebrate in style and to be completely honest, I think we were all hungry.
I don't remember who suggested it first, but we ended up in German Village in Columbus at Schmidt's Sausage Haus und Restaurant -- an authentic German eatery tucked away downtown. Rick and I attacked the buffet and beyond that I don't remember much. Steaming plates of sausages, potatoes, sauerkraut, and other delicacies pretty much clouded my senses. After two days of dehydrated food, and, for me at least, stolen food, it does not take much hiking background for anyone to imagine that a restaurant of any kind is a sensory overload and something akin to an otherworldly experience.
I actually did not stuff down as much as I could have, but every bite was delicious and the celebratory tone added to the fun. Think about it ... we went out into the woods with nothing more than we could carry and not only lived through it, but took on the challenges as they came our way and fought back. Sure we have good gear and lots of experience, so perhaps I am being melodramatic, but any time you can shake off the protection of all of our modern conveniences and pretty much effortlessly continue to live in relative comfort with just what you can carry in your pack, along with hiking 15 miles, I believe you have earned a celebration.
To be able to walk out of the woods and within an hour be dining on authentic German cuisine shows me that we have style. No rush to get home to shower. No aches or pains. No worries about our hair or the dirt on our clothes ... just 4 friends having fun that by the way, just spent the last 48 hours in the woods. That is pretty good karma.
Next month I will be out for 10 days. I assume within that span we may go 3 or 4 days at a stretch living out of our packs. I can only imagine how we will celebrate every victory, every bit of trail magic, and our eventual return to civilization. That is part of the hiking experience, the contrast to our daily lives.
So I think we earned at least one point. That puts the final score at Wildcat 4, Hikers 5.
We won!
No comments:
Post a Comment