Up the Hill

Hello,

Yesterday, Leroy, three girls, and I went up the mountain for a hike to Donut falls. The friend who came along was here later than I expected. Then as we got ready it took longer to find this and that to get to the take off point. Everyone seemed pleased to go because we had had such a good time the day before, but help for forward movement was a bit slow.

Finally we were on the road. I did not take along as much for snacking because it had not been needed the day before.

On the way up the mountain road we had to stop because of road work. We are always glad roads are maintained, but sometimes hopeful that it will not inconvenience us, just someone else. After a wait long enough to have the girls tell Leroy he should turn off the car because it was wasting gas, sounds like people who have their grandmother’s philosophy, we got started again. While stopped, we put the windows down creating a pleasant breeze as we were sitting visiting and drinking in the mountain ambience.

Finally it was our turn to go. As we approached a curve I could see much smoke ahead. I thought maybe that was in the process of laying down blacktop, however as we went farther thick black smoke was visible with serious flames shooting up in the air. The cab of one of the worker straight trucks was on fire. The van in front of us stopped close to that burning vehicle. We all gasped, watching workers try to take some things out of it and getting a small fire extinguisher which looked much, much too small to be of any help. There was an explosive sound which might have been a tire exploding. Finally one of the workers signaled to the van in front of us to move well over to the side and proceed out of the way. The heat coming through the closed window felt as if a hot oven had been opened. A mile later we met a fire truck coming down the mountain. Great, help was on the way!

After that we missed the turn off for our hike. We went four more miles up the mountain when we found a place where we could inquire. I asked a person who was outside for directions. She did not know, but suggested I look at my phone. I did not tell her that I/we did not have a smart phone. Someday I suppose we will have to join the rest of the world. At any rate Leroy had gotten the route from the internet at home, but we failed to see the turn off. The young guy in the establishment was very kind to me and gave me clear instructions so we could get to the trailhead in good time. But first we had to stop at a toilet. Luckily Leroy spotted the building, but unluckily it was after he had driven past. Two of the girls and I got out used the facilities only to find that Leroy had driven farther away from us because there was a sign that said no parking. I personally thought it was not parking, but pausing. There were few cars on this road. I called him and suggested he back up, but he did not do that so we tromped the extra yards.

When we got to the parking area there was a line of cars parked at the side. Unfortunately the last spot had a no parking sign by it. We did stop the car, however while the rest of us were drinking water and applying bug spray, Leroy walked up ahead to find some parking spaces in the lot. He then came back got the car, loaded in the girls, while I walked off in a bit of a huff from all this fooling round.

The hike itself was great; at times a bit steep and at times close to the water. Just before the falls Leroy had to help all of us females down a steep slippery slope.

Then it was time to turn around and go back. We ate some nuts and drank all the available water before we headed back. We drove past the road work plus another spot in the city that had sprung up while we were gone. One of our granddaughters gets car sick and she was not feeling well coming down the mountain. All in all it was a long trip and all were almost beyond hunger and thirst and into grumpy when we got home. Hopefully years from now it will be a good memory.

Paula