Maggie’s first hike
Posted on July 25, 2006 - Filed Under Uncategorized
Friends of our’s from birthing class, Molly and Jarod, contacted us a week or so ago and asked if we’d like to get together. While it is certainly flattering to receive such an invitation, it’s kind of sad that we’re leaving soon. Anyway, they suggested we go for a hike. With the ladies both having given birth a relatively short time ago, I searched the Carolina Mountain Club’s hike finder database for an easy trail less than five miles long. I proposed three and we ended up deciding on Graveyard Fields. We decided on doing the hike this past Saturday and to meet for breakfast first at the Corner Kitchen. (Breakfast was good, by the way; the pancakes were the best I’ve had in quite awhile and I’m never really a big pancake guy.)
We got there at about 10:15am. There were already a good number of cars there. It’s apparently a VERY popular trail. In fact, there were so many cars that it was kind of hard to find a parking spot, so I used the truck characteristics of the RAV to go over a curb and into some grass (not very Leave No Trace, I know). This was going to be my first chance to use our newly purchased Ergo Carrier. All three of us really like it. Anyhow, we got on the trail and it was indeed good and popular. During the entire hike, I would guess we saw between two and three dozen people and at least three dogs, all within the span of a 1.5 mile one way trail.
The “payoff” is the waterfall at the end (I don’t like thinking of it like that, mostly because I agree with something I read once which said that waterfalls are the pornography of nature…people seem to think that the spectacle of a waterfall, as awesome as it might be, is the point of being out there or all that is worth seeing…it’s been my experience that a grove of trees or some wildly growing grass is just as much nature, and therefore just as special, as a waterfall). It starts high up and falls probably more than 100 feet. The water then travels down large bodies of rock, not ever forming another waterfall per se. It’s really very beautiful. We hung out there for a while and headed back.
One of the most enjoyable things about the hike was the conversation. It’s not very often that people get deep and personal on the first occasion of spending time together. Granted, we did spend some significant time together at birthing class but that was in a group. This was the first time we and they have spent any time one on one and the depth of the conversation was very satisfying. Just another reason for us to be sad about leaving…we really think we’d enjoy hanging out with them and hope they feel the same way. Alas, life is not a rippleless pond; it is, in fact, a very active ocean.
Needless to say, we had a very good Saturday morning. The one downside is that Erin fell in the creek on the return crossing. I was standing right there but could not react with my normal cat-like reflexes because I was the one with the baby. Thankfully, she wasn’t hurt. Maggie really seemed to enjoy the walk; she was actively observant on the way in and slept during the return. And I was so happy to hear Erin say that she missed being out in the woods; I know I love doing it and to hear her say that bodes well for how much time we will spend hiking and camping in the future.Â
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it looks like maggie is going to be the outdoor type i think it is really good for her to learn to enjoy what GOD has created