And so it begins.
THE hike. I thought the
hike Paul and I took in Arches National Park to Delicate Arch was the toughest
thing I’ve ever done. I literally
thought I was going to die before I got to this particular arch. But I survived Utah to hike again—in
Maui. This time, however, I am not
in as good shape as I was in Utah.
I also have had a lot of pain in my hip joints and my lower back. Not to mention the fact that I have
considerable more weight on me.
(working on that issue, though)
Let me just say, without
Paul and the Lord, I would NEVER have made it up those two miles and back
again. Many times I had to sit
down and rest. Yes, and I even
cried! This was tough!!
The bamboo forest.
In the bamboo forest Paul made me a walking stick from a downed bamboo
shoot. It helped a lot, but it
also messed up my thumb from pressing down on it so hard.
We went on ahead of Tim’s family because I knew it would
take me longer to get there than it would them. The trail was so narrow in some places we could only
go single file. We’d go up, then
we’d have to go down and around just to go up again. (Look closely in the middle of this picture. Yes, that's me. Sitting down, again.)
Maryann said later that she kept looking for us along the
trail as she came up. The look on
her face when she got to the falls and we were sitting there waiting for them
was priceless. I had to take my
shoes off and cool my aching feet and toes in the cold water. Honestly, my toes felt like they were
going to fall off; they hurt that badly. But this was what was waiting for us at the top. Was it worth it? I think so.
Maryann and Ethan. (She RAN up the trail!) That's ok. I made it, too. (just barely)
We saw this on the way down. Yes, I'd say it was a glorious end to a glorious day.
