When the Uphill Hike Gets Tough

In my retirement years I’ve gathered some experience guiding children and youth on hikes.  Most often we’ve been in the mountains and almost always there have been challenges for the hikers wherever we’ve hiked.  Hiking often gives opportunities for life experiences — those experiences that influence us for many years.  A happy hiker finds that its a matter of putting one foot in front of the other to get to the destination.

Recently, I spent a week tending two darling granddaughters, Rose, an “almost 4-years old” and Evie, an “almost 6-years old”.  Our first day together we enthusiastically began a walk to a neighborhood trail in the nearby woods.  We had walked part of it a few months earlier with their father when we named it “Golf Ball Woods”.

Picture in your mind an open spot at the entrance of some woods at the edge of a subdivision of homes.   Someone had evidently used the trail head to hit a bucket of balls which we found from time to time along the trail.  This time the golf balls were fewer.  When we came to the fork in the trail the girls agreed to show me the trail leading to the right they had taken with their Daddy.

Our story begins . . . .

One bright summer morning after breakfast, Mommy, Daddy and Robbie  left on their trip.   GramME and her two darling granddaughters, Evie and Rose stayed home to make adventures.  They decided to go on a hike in Golf Ball Woods.  They had fun walking down the trail through the woods to the creek.  On the way back, Evie said,

“I’m too tired.  I don’t like walking up the hill.”

“See that tree up ahead,” GramME pointed out, “there is a flat rock in the trail just past it.  We’ll stop there and rest.”

“That’s a long way,” grouched Evie.

Imagining that there would soon be much complaining, GramME’s mind flashed back to a storybook the day before of Goldilocks’s adventure in the woods and she began to tell a story of “The Two Darling Girls and GramME” walking in the woods.  The girls walked the relatively steep trail up the hill without complaint, listening to their story.  They came to the flat rock and sat and drank their water.   They  noticed  little tiny bones in the rocks around them.  GramME turned their  thoughts to their cousins,

“Do you remember the collection of animal skulls and bones Mark and Eric collected at our reunion last summer?  Remember how they set them up for display along the trail to the lake?  We all enjoyed examining them.   Which one of these rocks shall we take to them?”

After choosing a rock they could easily carry they once more started their climb up the trail, refreshed and renewed.  They soon came to the fork in the trail.  Right would take them further into the forest.  Left would take them closer to home.  They took the trail to the left and were soon out of the woods and walking the sidewalks of the neighborhood.

“Oh, it’s hot!  We forgot our hats.  Whose going to remember to bring our hats next time?”

It was a slow hot walk back to the house watching for spots of shade.  On their way back to the house they were easily distracted once again by talking about the story they would write and the pictures they would draw of their hike in Golf Ball Woods.

Evie’s and Rose’s  illustrated storybook . . . .

Once upon a time two little girls and their grandmother packed snacks in GramME’s backpack  and filled their water bottles with water.  They put on their socks and shoes.  Off they went for a walk in Golf Ball Woods.

They walked through the neighborhood.  They looked at the many beautiful bright flowers of summer.

[That's it for the illustrations from Evie!  For now, our little storybook continues . . . .]

Along the sidewalk they walked.  They stopped, looked and listened for cars and crossed the empty streets together.

Evie said, “Are you sure this is the way?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” said GramME.

“I’m the leader,”  Evie called out.  Rose and GramME held hands and followed Evie.

Into the shady woods they walked.  They stepped over some fallen tree limbs and walked around others.

They came to a “T” in the trail and took the path to the right.  Down the smooth trail they walked.  Down the rocky trail they stepped.  Evie saw a frog.

Down, down they hiked.  They came to another “T” and took the trail to the right.

They looked for a path to the summer creek.  Carefully they helped each other down through the brush to the creek bank.  They helped each other step on rocks across the little stream to the shade  on the other side to eat their snacks.

Evie found a flat rock for a table and carried rocks to their table  to sit on.  They opened their snacks and began to eat.  They saw spiders and bugs.  They watched the bugs and spiders find their way back to their homes.

They explored the little summer creek.  They saw water striders on top of the water and minnows under the water.

They found a better way back to the trail.  Evie was the leader as they walked up the hill.   Evie knew it was going to be really hard.  They had hiked the trail with Daddy.  She didn’t like hiking up that trail.  Rose held GramME’s hand to help her walk up the hill.  Walking up the rocky trail was hard for their little legs.

They rested on a flat rock in the trail and found rocks with little tiny bones.  They chose one for their cousins, Mark and Eric.

GramME began to tell them a story of  “Two Darling Girls and their GramME.”

 Soon they were walking the flat trail out of the woods and into the hot  summer day of the neighborhood houses.

“Oh, oh!  We forgot our hats!,” exclaimed GramME.  “Who’s going to remind me to bring our hats next time?”

“I will,” sang out Evie, leading the way to the coolness of their house.

THE END.

 These little girls met the challenge of an uncomfortable and testy moment.  Maybe someday they’ll even pick up their copies of their storybook and add some more drawings.  In any case, they can look back to this experience knowing some skills to make an unpleasant experience not only pleasant but fun.   Often it is simply changing the subject of the moment from one of grouchy to one more pleasant by telling a story, singing a song, noticing interesting things around them or focusing on a goal, that makes the difference.  We can remind them when they forget  of what they did before and what they can do again.  We, too, can learn and remember.

Experiences like this make parenting and grand-parenting fun.  We are that we “might have joy.”