Hiking for the Descent

We hike mountains in the winter. It is cold and there is snow up to our waists. Taking turns breaking the trail, we climb around cliffs and through thick trees and brush. We are weighed down by our heavy skis an plastic boots we have strapped to our backs. Usually we hike for hours, but it takes seconds to come down.

One of my favorite places to hike is right behind my house. I think it is called Barton Mountain. We start at the bottom, or as far up as our four wheelers will make it, which isn’t very far. Than we start hiking.

Two of my friends and I started hiking one morning in March. It was a warmer day, about 25 degrees F. Most of the recent snow had been shaken off the trees by the wind. When we got off the packed trail to head upwards, the snow was well over our waists. The sky was blue and some birds were singing. The bare trees swayed in the wind, but we couldn’t feel the wind down where we were. I had my pair of skis in one hand and my poles in the other. I was wearing my heavy plastic ski boots because I think that is just as easy as carrying them on my back. We pushed off the trail in a straight line, one behind the other. The person in front had it the worst. He had to break the trail by pushing through the untouched snow. The other two behind him just followed in the trail he made, leaving behind a little canyon in the snow everywhere we went. This was always so much work, and half way through every hike we always questioned what we were doing. We always knew though, that in the end, it was worth it.

Eventually, the path started getting steeper. This only made things harder. A ways into the steep section the trail turns into boulders and cliffs that we have to weave our way up through. We made it as far as we could, and took a break on the edge of a small cliff. I waited while my friends changed their boots in the snow, occasionally letting out a swear or two when they got snow on their feet. I looked down the steep slope. There were not many trees in this section, mostly just rocks and cliffs. Then the trees started, and the brush and more rocks and cliffs. The cliffs flattened out to a steep and bumpy area of dips and small hills and trees. The blue sky was easily visible through the trees.

My friends were ready. We decided who would go first. I looked over the edge of the cliffs, and jumped forward as far as I could. Everything seems to slows down when you’re flying through the air. Hopefully you are going fast enough to land on top of the snow, because if you don’t, you will be stuck. It takes a large amount of struggling and sweating to dig yourself out. I was flying over cliffs and jumping boulders, cruising right along. I could hear my friends behind me. I whipped over the last cliff, and flew through the trees, my body coming within inches of the solid wooden obstacles I wove between. We went all the way back down, our skis spending more time in the air than in the snow. We didn’t slow down, carving between trees and rocks. Before we knew it, we were back where we started, at the bottom of Barton Mountain.

Hard work is very beneficial. Working hard is something everyone should do, whether it in the workplace, in school, or just for fun. If you hard work, what comes after is almost always some sort of reward for your effort, so always work hard.