December 7, 2019
Trails:
Friday hiking day, yeah!!! Pat and I plan to hike Sandwich Dome. Driving to the mountain we take a wrong turn (blah) and find ourselves going many miles the wrong way. We finally find Bennett Street, which will take us to the trailhead. But it is not plowed and there is a foot of consolidated snow with ice on top. A truck has gone before us but his tires are wider apart than Pat’s and we are sliding all over the place, her car beeping very loudly, continually alerting us that we are slipping and sliding…yeah…we know. Pat expertly maneuvers us to the end of the road and the trailhead. She attempts to turn the car around so we’ll be able to get out and we get stuck. Yup…really stuck. Our wheels are spinning and we aren’t moving. I put my gloves and hat on and push while Pat tries to rock the car out of the ever-deepening hole. No luck. We take out our snowshoes and start shoveling ourselves out…yup…snowshoes (isn’t that what they’re for?) I drive, Pat pushes and we get out. But we are both clear that we are not going to leave our car there all day and worry about whether we will be able to get out after hiking. We slip-slide our way out of Bennett Street and sit in our car looking at our map of the White mountains trying to find a trail we haven’t done. Crawford Ridgepole Trail becomes our new destination and we drive to the trailhead.
Up the Cotton Mountain Trail to the Crawford Ridgepole Trail to the Prescott Trail. It is cold and blustery and I am having a hard time keeping my temperature up. I am feeling frustrated, perhaps because the day is not turning out anything like I had pictured. I am talking my feelings out while we hike up and down rolling hills — (which is NOT my favorite — I like to go up and then come down…a peakbagger at heart).
At one point I say, “I don’t know where my life is going. I’m feeling lost.” Immediately, I see a heart-shaped rock on the trail in front of me. A bit later another heart made of snow, then another. The hike is short, and we head to a cafe for hot cider.
Pat and I may have been lost and stuck. And I may feel like I don’t know where my life is going. But our hike reminded me that it is temporary. We won’t always be lost or stuck. Love walks with us; with all of us. Eventually, we will always find our way.