hiking

On one overcast day, Iwan spent the morning and early afternoon thinking about where our next excursion would take place. I will never know for sure what he was thinking or feeling but I had a hunch that he was deliberating over a possible hike. Perhaps this delay in a decision was caused by a fear of the dark gray clouds that had been hovering over the town the past week. By mid afternoon however, he had made up his mind and we were in the car, on our way to a plateau of some sort just behind his grandfather's farm.

It was a windy and narrow road and we slowly made it to the base of the hill to park. It was an enormous cliff - beautifully covered in foliage like sweet frosting and the face of the cliff dangerously austere and imposing. The clouds had temporarily cleared and the cold blue of the sky created a dramatic backdrop for the jagged cliff. 

We began our trek up a stairwell that was quite slippery from the rain the night before. Iwan, being that he was in better shape than I was and also not wearing the shoes I was wearing, eagerly climbed the steps and I slowly followed a few feet behind. I definitely was not dressed for this occasion and thought how foolish I was that I had decided to wear slacks and a sweater.

It was awfully quiet and Iwan and I did very little talking. The sporadic sun rays and the strange glow of the leaves made it seem like an enchanted forest one reads about in the books. If there had been fairies or elves, I know I would have seen one or two of them. About half way up I grew a bit tired and forced myself to imagine how majestic of a feeling it would be looking down on the valley once we got to the top. It was enough motivation for me. 

When we got to the top, the wind howled and blew and we could see in the distance the dark clouds it was pushing towards us. I decided to ignore it for a few minutes and take in some of the beauty that was before me. Iwan had seen this many times before and slowly began to walk down the trail that would lead us to where the two sides of the cliff tapered into a sharp point. I naturally followed. Midway through, the winds became stronger and droplets of water began to hit us. A storm was on its way. He walked faster with each step and I tried to keep up with him as best as my picture happy fingers would let me. He then shouted that there may be a lightning storm and we would likely be struck if we didn't get off the plateau. We both panicked a little and looked for a trail down.

We eventually made it back down and lived to see another day. We had come down the most slippery trail Iwan could have possibly found and we slid, jumped and maneuvered around fallen trunks, giant slugs, cows, and mud. We could have died if one of us had slipped. Or at least been hurt really bad. 

It felt good driving back home and I was glad we had had this adventure. Most memories I have seem to be replayed in black and white but I can distinctly remember the smells, the colors, and the sense of fear we had on this trip.