Once the kids had parked their bikes and entered Grampa's house, Jeff and I kept running together. He wanted to get his weekly total up to 40 miles, so he jogged another 2 miles with me. I love running with my husband! It's such a treat when he slows down enough to run with me, and since he had just spent 10 miles chasing down our now-speedy big kids on bikes, he was perfectly happy to ease up and jog with me.
When Jeff hit 12 miles, he peeled off and went inside for his dad's pancakes while I kept running. I traveled on many old favorite roads throughout Grandview and felt rather nostalgic for the next 40 minutes. I put in a lot of miles on the streets of Grandview during the seven years we lived there. After my run and some family socialization at the G-view White house, we all went home to prep for adventure number two of the day: our HIKE.
We drove the 80 minutes to Ahtanum State Forest to check out a trail we passed by during our camping trip there last weekend. Grampa Dan carpooled to the trail with us and patiently listened to HP7 with us (we were in chapter 9). When we arrived at Whites Ridge trailhead, we sunscreened and bug sprayed everyone up, used the vault toilet, took a group picture at the sign, and then set out on the trail in a nice long line.
The first half mile of the trail was steep and straight UP. The kids walked agonizingly slowly and stopped often. I wondered how far we would make it if they were already struggling that early on. Jeff and I shared a private goal to hike out a bare minimum of a mile and a half, or 3 miles round-trip. It took us over 20 minutes to cover the first half mile! Then the trail gave us a downhill break and eased up on the prolonged climbs, gently rolling along through a variety of scenery, from dense undergrowth to sparser managed forest land. The temperature was just about perfect and the breeze was refreshing. The mosquitoes were miraculously minimal. We drank in the sweet scent of sun-warmed pine while the dry trail dust coated our legs and feet as we hiked along.
Grampa Dan found each kid a good walking stick. Amber did not understand how to use a walking stick, and she slowed down to an agonizing inchworm pace as she alternately stabbed the ground with her stick, dragged it behind her, and pushed it in front of herself like a wheelbarrow. At last we convinced Amber to give up her tall walking stick, and we were able to take more than four steps per minute again. Jay and Rose eventually tired of carrying their walking sticks as well, and cast them aside.
At first Rose lagged back. She does not like hills at ALL. They bring out the grizzly bear in her, and she begged for water, to slow down, to rest, to turn back towards the car, and to stop all within the first 15 minutes of the hike. Once the trail leveled out somewhat, she stopped complaining and joined the front runners, Jeff and Jay.
Jay took the lead after the first big hill and maintained it for the rest of the hike. He is quite fit and found the mental space to weather our long hike without complaining. Earlier that morning, when we were getting ready to drive out to the trailhead, Jay said he was too tired and could not do a hike that day after his long week of swim team practice, a late night swim meet, and his ten mile bike ride that morning. I told him to relax and visualize himself resting and regaining his strength during the 80 minute drive to the trail. I don't know if that helped him, but he did great on the trail, only admitting to feeling worn out during the last half mile of the hike. Jay is such a patient soul.
Amber was back and forth and everywhere along our line. She had the energy to complete the hike, but her attention span and interest in walking forward along the trail fluctuated drastically as we walked. She picked flowers and climbed tree stumps and touched everything and jumped, skipped, ran, and trudged. Eventually she drifted to the back of the line and stayed there with me while everyone moved on ahead and out of sight. Amber and I hiked alone together for about 15 minutes until we found everyone else waiting for us at our turnaround point. We made it out 2.5 miles!
Jay and Rose were rarin' to go back to the van, so I handed the camera to Jeff in exchange for the car keys, and set off back down the trail with Jay and Rose at an ambitiously quick power walk. At first Jay and Rose said they wanted to run back to the van, but they quickly decided to walk briskly instead. Immediately I wished I still had the camera since we weren't running, but it was also nice to just walk and not photograph during the second half of the hike. Jay set a solid pace and every few minutes, Rose and I jogged to catch back up to him. We talked and walked and walked and talked, and at last we arrived back at the van to slurp the bottles of warm Gatorade that were waiting for us. It was so pleasant, hiking through the peaceful woods with my big kids. It is rare to have that type of quiet quality un-distracted time with them and I loved it.
Jeff, Amber, and Grampa Dan hiked the return journey more slowly at Amber's pace. Jeff said he carried Amber for about 3/4 of a mile total on their way back to the car. Not bad for a 4 year old! They arrived back at the van only 10-15 minutes after Jay, Rose, and I did. Dan, Rose, Amber, and I hiked down to the rushing Ahtanum Creek for a quick foot-soak-rinse. The water was pure snow melt, about as cold as it could possibly get without turning to ice. It HURT to put my soft, hot, puffy post-hike feet into that icy stream, but eventually my feet numbed and it felt wonderful.
Amber removed her boots and put her socks into one boot for safekeeping like usual. After deciding that the water was too cold to stand in, Amber returned to shore and began using her boot as a bucket, filling it with water and dumping it out. Her socks went floating downstream in the strong current. We were helpless to retrieve them from our positions on rocks in the middle of the creek--the creek bed was covered in sharp painful rocks that prevented any kind of sudden lunging or dashing. Offering a silent apology to Mother Nature, we watched Amber's mismatched socks float away and out of sight. Then we put our shoes back onto our wet refreshed feet and hiked back up the hill to the parking area. Rose was getting shriek-y and about snapped Amber's head off with her raw decibel power when Amber took Rose's sock and dipped it in the water. It was time to go home.
On our way home, we took Grampa Dan to our new favorite ice cream place: La Michoacana in west Yakima. I got kiwi cream and it was cool green-and-white delight. Then, HOME, all tired and salty, by 4:30pm. We spent the short remainder of the day relaxing with books and computers.
Totals:
Jeff: run--12 miles, hike 5 miles
Shaina: run 8 miles, hike 5 miles
Jay and Rose: bike 10 miles, hike 5 miles
Amber: bike 2 miles, hike 4.25 miles
It was a nice tiring nature-ific Saturday.
Obligatory trailhead group picture...we did it in two shifts, because our group selfie was less than ideal.
Our ill-fated selfie attempt cracks me UP.
A quick rewind to the morning bike riding and running:
Rose, Jay, and Jeff cruising along the bike path.
Ok, back to the hike:
A quick rewind to the morning bike riding and running:
Ok, back to the hike:
Hiking UP
It is really hard to hold hands on a single-file trail, but Amber relishes doing hard things.
Rose and Grampa Dan.
Sun-dappled forest makes me swoon.
Dan was amused at how Rose pasted on a smile for this picture ten seconds after she had been complaining about the steep hill of the trail.
This trail had a somewhat Montana-ish feel to it.
We tried to encourage the girls not to pick flowers, but they couldn't resist the Queen Anne's Lace and I stuck a cluster of the white flowers into each of their ponytails. They felt beautiful.
The evergreens all had pale green fingertips--the new growth of the year.
Water break
Amber stopped on a log and Jeff and Jay kept hiking. Amber looked like a little wood nymph in pink boots, perched on her log, waiting for the rest of us to catch up to her.
It took me a while to persuade her to get up and come with me. I let her take a picture of me with my camera, and that perked her up and she trotted off down the trail willingly afterwards.
Texture! Rich color! Sweet sap smell!
These girls and their poses.
I gave Amber two sort-of-short morale-boosting "backpack rides." Amber listed all of the things that she had inside her: "I'm your backpack, Mommy! I have marshmallows, rope, chocolate, ...etc. inside me."
Rose and I had quite the dusty toes and ankles.
Sitting on a log in the stream.
Ice cream!
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