Joni: (texting Lisa) "what should we do? we could hike Tablerock."
Joni: (immediately upon sending text, thinking) "please say no, please say no..."
Lisa: (upon reading Joni's text, thinking) "how do I get out of this, I don't want to go, its so hard, and hot.."
Lisa: (texting Joni) "sure! Let's do it."
Joni: (reading text from Lisa, thinking) "crap!"
Joni, Abby, Andy, and Lisa and Tyler go hike Tablerock on Friday.
Joni and Andy only got about 3 hours sleep the night before.
Joni kept reminding Andy to prepare, get food ready, Etc.
Abby didn't really want to go. Didn't feel good that day, wanted to go shopping instead. She decided to buck up and go anyway.
I asked Joni to make sure Andy wears shorts and eats breakfast before they leave.
Lisa and Tyler pick them up at 7 am.
Tablerock is a very strenuous hike. My family once took my brother-in-law on it. He is an extremely experienced hiker. Currently he is in Iceland hiking. He couldn't believe how hard it was, and how unprepared he thought we were. He said most experienced hikers would consider it a two-day hike. He insisted they all eat cookies and sugar to avoid altitude sickness. Not only is it an extremely long hike, but it is, in some parts, almost straight up, or straight down depending on which way you're going.
Friday morning arrives.
Andy had 2 pops for breakfast, filled 2 ziploc bags with fish crackers, and pronounced himself ready. He did wear shorts without any prodding from Joni, and was quite offended that I thought she would have to tell him. As he said, "you must not think I have any common sense."
It took them 5 hours.
Just to get to the top.
Andy, being a bit short in the common sense department, has to beg water off of everyone. He didn't bring any. He is sweating buckets. He tries to take shortcuts and instead of doing the switchbacks goes straight up the mountain. I'm told that it's a good thing I didn't see him do it. They all thought we'd have a funeral to plan before Andy got off the mountain.
Joni, being short on sleep, experienced extreme vertigo. She had to look straight at her feet only, crept along, hugging the mountain at times and refused to move. She started to wonder how freaked out she would have to get before they called a helicopter to come and pluck her off the top. When the breeze would gust she felt like the entire valley was swelling up and down, just like the waves of the ocean.
She would most likely still be up there if Tyler hadn't given her his walking stick and helped her along.
Abby was probably one of the smartest people in the group. She went on most of the hike, but then decided she couldn't do the last most difficult part. She stayed back and rested and waited for them to ascend and descend. She felt very badly that she didn't do the whole thing. I'm thinking Abby was one of the few who actually used a little bit of intelligence that day.
The very tired, very sore, hiking group got home about 13 hours after starting.
Walking looked painful.
Toenails may come off.
Sunburns hurt.
Blisters and rashes ached.
Joni's foot had a blister so large it looked like she had a sixth toe.
They all looked like they had so much fun.
I'm really sorry I didn't go with them......NOT!
Pictures from Lisa and Tyler, probably the only 2 who really enjoyed the day.
4 comments:
I've heard how hard that hike is. Has Emily told you about the time she and David took my family? I wasn't there, but my mom had black and blue toes for months afterward and they descended it in the pitch black darkness with sounds of, what they were sure were big animals all around them. They sang hymns to keep them away and to keep their own spirits up! Hooray for your crew! I've hiked with no water before and remember glaring at people that passed who were just casually drinking one of their many bottles! Not fun!
Funny how we grow up a little... maybe don't excercise as much as we used to yet still expect ourselves to do what we did as teenagers. David and I thought about doing this hike on Labor day this year.... maybe not. Anyone up for the mesa falls or craters of the moon? (David will be tiling. I want something I can do with the kids)
I didn't know you had a blog! You're such a hip lady. This account of hiking table-rock is good to hear -in case I ever decide to do it.
More like Abby was ashamed she couldn't make it all the way up...
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