A Beautiful Day for a Hike

Awhile back I joined a hiking group online. They schedule several hikes almost weekly. I haven’t had a chance to participate in any because of my busy schedule…until yesterday! It was the most perfect day for a hike too. The weather was cool but not too cold or windy. We met in the parking lot at the bottom of Big Cottonwood Canyon. I was a little hesitant at first, hiking with a bunch of strangers, so I wasn’t very loud when introducing myself. They took this as me being shy. Really, I just wanted to observe the company. There were all sorts in our group, ranging from grandmother age down to me…and maybe a bit younger. There were 12 of us total. At first I didn’t know how I was going to get along with this bunch but I decided to stick it out and see what came of it…afterall, I needed the exercise anyway!

So, when everyone had arrived, we headed up to the Mill B North trail just a few miles up the canyon. I was grateful it was this trail because I went up it a couple of times last year. In fact, these are some of my pics from late last year on the trail. It’s a beautiful hike and I knew what the terrain would be like so I felt fairly confident in myself. I knew however that it being my first hike of the season, it would be a bit of a struggle. It’s not just a super easy trail.

Anyway, as we began, I started in second place, following our leader. I quickly became tired and decided to drop more toward the back of the group. This turned out to be a good move as I felt more comfortable socializing back there. I started off by talking to the girl in front of me, finding out her story. She was quite friendly and it certainly made the hike a little more enjoyable.

As time went on, I became more and more exhausted. Who would have ever thought that I actually workout every day?? It was ridiculous! Anyway, after each little break I ended up near someone different and tried to converse with each of them. For most of the hike I was pretty certain that I was the only one there who was LDS. Not a bad thing at all but certainly weird to be the minority in Utah! It was so fun to meet new people though and to get to know a little bit about who they are. There were all very interesting and friendly in their own ways.

Finally as we were nearing the upper 3rd of the hike, I ended up near the guy closest to my age and the best looking….thankfully right? Really quickly let me explain that I didn’t go to the hike with any expectations. I figured I would meet a new group of people which is always great because you never know how that is going to connect you to other people. But, back to Mr. Fun as we will call him. He has both a fun name and a business name and not many people can say that. Anyway, he recently moved here from Ohio and as we conversed, I found out this family is also LDS. What a coincidence that the only guy near my age and somewhat good looking was the only other person of my same faith. He seemed pretty cool. We had a friendly chat, he took some pics and I told him to make sure and touch mine up and tag me on facebook. Actually, he offered to touch it up, maybe that’s a bad thing…I didn’t see it! Anyway, he eventually moved out further ahead of me and I stayed back with an older gentleman who was struggling.

We eventually made it to our destination which was a beautiful view of a waterfall. I was just grateful to stop forcing my body to climb another step. The way down was of course much easier and entertaining. I met a few more members of the group and got down to the bottom in a ridiculously good mood. I decided that I must have created quite the pool of endorphins because I was pretty happy. So, a successful outing, fun people, and maybe, maybe some kind of potential in the future. I will keep you posted with Mr. Fun…I’m not sure anything will come of it but I definitely wouldn’t mind getting to know him a little bit more. The end.