Looking for level ground

Speakout

Posted

In early summer, 2016, our family went tent camping in Smoky Mountain National Park. After breakfast, our first morning in the Cade’s Cove campground, the three of us set out on the Indian Gap Trail. A park ranger had told us that six-mile hike would be an easy introduction to the park, loosening our legs for longer, more challenging hikes through the mountains.

The first mile or so on the trail, the ground was pretty level. Then we started going up ... and up ... and up. We tracked our progress on a trail map, eating snacks from our day packs. We guzzled water, especially as the day grew hotter and sweat began to roll. When we collapsed on some fallen logs for a leisurely lunch, we yanked off our wet socks and air-dried them in the sun while tending our blisters. Once it was time to get back on the trail again, 14-year-old Nathan had to pull his sore old parents to their feet.

An hour or so later, we spotted a sign in the distance. We high-fived and picked up our pace. We’d finally made it to the end of the trail! Visions of camp danced in our heads, even as we remarked how odd it was that the path had never really gone downhill.

When we reached the sign, we located ourselves on its map – the infamous “You are here.”  Instantly our spirits dropped through the soles of our hiking boots. We’d covered only half the trail. And we still had to climb higher up the mountain! How had we misread our paper map so badly?

We began to snicker. Then we cracked up, howling with laughter, bent over and holding our bellies.

Once we recovered our sanity, we struck out on the trail again, laboring uphill. Our feet were lead. Our throats were parched, but, needing to ration our remaining water, we could only chew gum to moisten our mouths.

We tried a short-cut on a steep downhill path. It eventually dead-ended. We had no choice but to re-climb it. I was panting, leaning on my hiking poles for life.

Despite what the ranger had told us, we later learned that the Indian Gap Trail wasn’t six miles long but eight, and rated not “easy” but “strenuous.” Seven and a half hours after we started, we reached the end.

Sometimes life just doesn’t go as planned, does it? And when we’re on an unfamiliar trail – as all of us are on now – we must be careful to pace ourselves as we go. Read the signs with care. Ration the essentials. Laugh when we want to cry.

We have to deal with the trail as it is, don’t we, rather than the trail as we’d like it be? 

As you consider the section of trail you’re on right now, are you on an uphill or a downhill? Are you needing to slow down, speed up, or keep steady? Are you taking wise shortcuts or headed for a dead end? 

I don’t know about you, but I’m still looking for level ground.