Pride before a fall

On Saturday Steve and I decided to meet some folks from Sitka Trail Works and join them to hike up to the summit of Mt. Verstovia. According to Tongas National Forest info. "the trail is 2.5 miles in length and takes about three hours to hike up one way. The trail ends near the summit of Mt. Verstovia with an elevation gain of 2,550 feet to Mt. Verstovia and a 3,300-foot gain if one continues on to Arrowhead Peak." I felt confident that this would be a fairly easy hike, it was only a couple miles and I did climb 7 fourteeners in Colorado last summer. Boy was I wrong.

Charles was our guide and he started out at a pace that I didn't think we would keep. I was wrong. After about an hour I was drenched in sweat, my legs were tired and even though our elevation was only a couple thousand feet above sea level I was winded. Upon reaching what the locals call "picnic rock" we all decided to continue on to the summit. I confessed that I couldn't continue with the pace we had been keeping, hoping that they would release me to go back down, but instead they promised to go slower. About an hour later we were on the summit. I don't have any pictures from the summit as it was shrouded by clouds.

The trip back down the mountain was when I really began to get humbled. It had begun to rain and the trail was wet and slippery. My thighs were so spent that with each step I wasn't sure if my legs would give out. The more it rained the slicker the trail got. My knee gave out once and I fell to the ground. I laughed it off but was beginning to get frustrated. I realized that my attitude about this hike was changing. It wasn't an easy hike, it was hard and I was struggling. I expected this to be a piece of cake and instead Mt. Verstivoa was kicking my butt.

We made it down safely and I was glad to be alive. I was also thankful for the reminder not to let pride get the best of me.

God always has a way of humbling me when I get prideful. I just hope next time I won't have so many bruises.