Man vs. Wild

Heidi and I have recently taken a renewed interest in hiking. In past years, we would occasionally go hiking, but we never really kept at it because traveling to Camelback Mountain, or Squaw Peak was always too much of a trek. Now that we have discovered the trails at the nearby White Tank Mountains, our love for wilderness recreation has been reborn.

On our first hike, we decided to try one of the intermediate trails. The total hike was somewhere around 4 miles round trip, and took us about 2.5 hours. I wouldn't say that it was a difficult hike, but it was relatively challenging for two people who have not been hiking in years. On the way down, I thought it might be nice to view the scenery rather than watch my step, and I ended up spraining my ankle.

Prior to our most recent hike, we visited Sports Authority and loaded ourselves up with the right hiking equipment (ankle-supporting, waterproof hiking boots and Camelback water packs). We planned to go hiking on President's Day.

It rained on President's Day.

We were bummed because we were both looking forward to hiking on our day off. We stayed home and watched a movie that afternoon (we watched "Pride and Prejudice" as it happens -- a great film). At about 4:00, we looked to the West and saw blue skies. That was an invitation from God to enjoy his creation by hiking through it. So we headed out.

We took the waterfall trail hoping that the day's rain would make it possible for us to actually see water running over the falls. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Once we got to the top and saw the waterfall canyon, we turned to head back down the mountain. As we were making our way back, I noticed a very dark, ominous cloud come blowing in over the mountain. By about 1/4 of the way back down, we were beginning to be pelted by hail. After the hail came the rain. After the rain came more rain.

By the time we made it back to the car, Heidi, Bella (our dog), and I were soaked to the bone. It was the most fun I have had in a very long time. Heidi, who absolutely HATES being wet and cold, even agreed that it was fun hiking through the rain.

I think that watching that show on the Discovery Channel called "Man vs. Wild" has given us both a sense of adventure when it comes to braving the elements on our own. Please, no comments about how not-a-big-deal it is to hike in the rain. We are starting with rainstorms and working our way up to the Amazon. Baby steps...baby steps.