Yesterday, I told you about our climb to Wesser Bald and the fire tower look out. I have been to many overlooks but this was the best view for me by far. We gasped in amazement and “ooo’d” and “ahhh’d” for quite some time. Then when our eyes could not take in any more glory, we climbed back down and found a picnic spot where we ate quinoa salad and yogurt.

Our friends went on ahead and we stopped to take care of some “business.” We got back on the trail and began to be silly while we hiked. We sang for a while and then made up stories and told them to each other with a British accent. Sometimes we aren’t very grown up…and I prefer it that way.

Near the bottom we were feeling our trail legs wobble and we started singing song re-writes on the fly to describe this funny feeling. My favorite was Donavan’s Mellow Yellow to read: “they call me mellow jello”. Eventually we caught up to our friends.

We learned an important lesson at the moment we caught up with our friends: check the fitness level of your hiking companions for this sport. Our friend was hurting from the hike. His favorite sport used a different set of muscles. He just had surgery and his hip was mad at him. He can smoke me on a mountain bike trail even with that hip—literally leave me gasping for air and trying not to throw up, but hiking was different.

He wasn’t mad at us but found it irritating in a funny sort of way that we were singing and laughing about jello legs while they were struggling. We didn’t know that, of course, and were very sympathetic when we figured it out. We discussed how to compare preparedness levels ahead of time when crossing over to different activities. I could have suggested, for example, hiking poles to spread out the pressure and that would have helped him immensely. I’ll take better care of my friends next time.

All ended well with a great meal in downtown Bryson at the Cork and Bean followed by s’mores at the fire pit beside the cabin.

Pondering Your Path

Who could you get together with for at least a day hike?