Photo from left to right: Elizabeth (me!), Linda (Head of Housekeeping for Samaritan Lodge), Kelly (SL Administrative Assistant), Becky (5th grade teacher and SL housekeeping volunteer for one month), Pat (Pastor and SL kitchen volunteer for one month), Natalie (SL Pastry Chef for Tanalian Dining Hall), Michael (Natalie's brother and SL Sous Chef for Tanalian Dining Hall), Christina and Dan (spouse/Doctor for Tanalian Bible Camp).
Tanalian Mountain. Difficulty: Strenuous. (http://www.nps.gov/lacl/planyourvisit/day-hikes.htm).
As Forest Gump would say: That's all I have to say about that! But, what would life be like without an attempt on the strenuous, if not the impossible. Doesn't the Bible say: "For with God, nothing is impossible?" And in order to prove the truth of that statement, you have to try the difficult, the strenuous, and the downright impossible.
On Saturday at 8:30 AM, five of our staff, two volunteers, the visiting Doctor for Tanalian Bible Camp, and the Doctor's wife, all gathered in front of the Bunker to begin our attempt on Tanalian Mountain. Some of our group just wanted to make it to a spot called Traveler's Rest, some wanted to get to a much higher spot called "The Knee", and the rest of us wanted to climb along the topmost ridge and ride the sky at the summit.
On our way to the trailhead, Spence (SL maintenance man and endurance runner) waved at us nonchalantly and said he would catch up with us in a bit -- after he had showered and gotten a bite to eat. He had decided that morning to take a shot at the trail record of 2 and 1/2 hours -- as he had nothing better to do with his day (!). Two hours later, he laced up his Soloman's, duck-taped a walkie talkie, SAT phone and bear spray together, and hit the 8.1 mile trail. He passed us coming and going and his final time was a stunning 2 hours, 29 minutes and 32 seconds.
The rest of us took our time, stopping for lunch and taking a few additional breaks as needed. Ok, taking a few hundred breaks as needed. Remember? Tanalian Mountain: Strenuous!
Just below "The Knee", we collapsed onto the springy tundra and inhaled out our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Kelly pulled out her phone and checked her pedometer. Four hours into our journey, she had walked over 10,000 steps! We had walked over 10,000 steps.
Kelly, Pat and Linda decided to start down the mountain after they reached The Knee and I never got the final step count. But I'm dying to know the final tally. Somehow I'll have to figure out how many more steps we took to reach the summit. It's bound to take a highly complicated mathematical formula. So, I will ask Michael (degree: Aeronautical Engineering) to run the equations and get back to you in my next post. Or perhaps I will ask Spence to take Kelly's pedometer on his romp up the mountain!
Anyway, over 20,000 steps later, our band of nine straggled back to the camp in three smaller groups -- clocking in at 5:30 PM, 6:00 PM, and 7:30 PM respectively. I'm proud to say I brought up the rear at the eleventh-hour mark, lagging behind Spence by a thumping eight and a half hours, and, even more humbling, behind our wounded veteran's best time by two additional hours!
As advertised, the trail to the top was strenuous...but, oh the glorious view. It was worth every strenuous step. And I have a lot more to say about that. But it's 11:15 PM and I'll save it for another day.
As advertised, the trail to the top was strenuous...but, oh the glorious view. It was worth every strenuous step. And I have a lot more to say about that. But it's 11:15 PM and I'll save it for another day.
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