TAKE A HIKE

There were times when I was young…when I got on my parent’s nerves… when I did things they did not like… when they wanted me out of their hair they might tell me, “Go take a hike” Of course that meant to stop bugging them…to let them be…to go away… to read a book, watch TV or go outside and play. Now that I am older (perhaps a little wiser) and not so child-like I find a different meaning in the words…”Go take a hike.” The other day Deborah and I took a hike…as hiking goes it was small scale in the Pisgah Nations Forest along the Moore Cove Waterfall trail. It’s only a mile and a half hike from the trail head to the waterfall and back. which means we only took our walking sticks and water…no need for a back pack. On a hike up a mountainside…ending at the Moore Cove waterfall… we walked among trees so tall and mushrooms and ferns so small. Up stairs, atop boardwalks and on paths carved out over the years this hike in the woods offered treats for our eyes, our noses, our ears. We like to take our time on hikes…to enjoy the things if we walked fast we might miss and since we’ve taken this hike before…to stop and reminisce. As we slowly and gently climbed the stairs…and maneuvered over fallen logs… we met other hikers…individuals and families with their children an their dogs. It’s funny how we noticed …in fact we found this striking… how the people we met along the way were in various stages of hiking. The children all ran ahead…not bothering to look around at all… their goal was not to hike but to get to the waterfall. Their parents walked a little slower with their main goal to make sure their children were safe all the way to the waterfall And then there was Deborah and I…with no one to watch and so much to see we were the slowest hikers of them all. The waterfall was magnificent…cascading high above and sheltered from the sun but for us the journey to reach that waterfall was filled with just as much fun. I’m glad we’re older now…able to slow down when we walk and find so many things we like We’ve changed a lot since those days our parents use to tell us…Hey kids, Go take a hike.