Memoir- The Hike
It was a chilly morning, the sun shot a beam of light as it rose above the mountains, the long highway began to turn, and so did we, crossing on to a different road,it was not an official exit off the highway, more of a path that led to the parking lot. Despite only being a few minutes from a busy road, we were in the deep woods. We all piled out of the car, gathering our hats and coats, as well as the snacks we would eat along the journey (none of which I liked). From the base of the mountain it didn’t see that tall, it was going to be an easy hike, up and down, and then we would go back to my brother’s apartment and play Mario Kart. I was wrong. Where I was standing, it was about 6,100 feet of elevation, and we would be climbing to about 9,000 feet above sea level. The original plan was to go on a short hike, to a local lake, called lake mira. But as we began our assent my brothers suggested that we go up to a different lake, twice as high. My mother reluctantly agreed, not knowing what she had gotten us into.
The beginning was the hardest, a sheer climb, the kind where you have to lean forward a ton just to stay balanced. At the top of the first “hill” we found a large boulder that I took on the task of climbing up. It wasn’t necessarily a hard climb, but my hands hurt for the rest of the trip… we got some cool pictures though.
The second part of the hike, was right before we reached the first lake, since the lake was dammed up, we did switchbacks with a MASSIVE stone wall looming over us, it was quite the scary experience. If that dam broke, we were in the direct line of fire of a wall of millions of gallons of water. But when we reached the top, it was an amazing view. A beautiful lake pushing up against a large cliff, was precariously hanging over a large section of the Utah valley. The trail ran against yet another large boulder, this one was hanging over the lake, it was like something you would see in a movie, and the midday sun shined above the trees and onto the lake lighting it up just the right amount, so you can see through the water crystal clear. At one point we tried to catch a fish, but I tripped and fell into the water, which is why I remained soaking wet for the remainder of the journey.
At over 7,500 feet up, our hands began to inflate like if you blew into one of those blue medical gloves.
8,000 feet up, we began to get a little dizzy, but pushed on.
At some points, we had to jump from rock to rock, to scale some inclines, and other times we had to get on our hands and knees to make sure we didn’t fall backwards. Finally, at 9,000 feet, we arrived at the lake. I mean pond. I mean puddle. My disappointment was enough to start an earthquake, tornado, and hurricane all at the same time. The “water source” might have been enough to quench the thirst of a herd of deer, but all those deer would die from the pure filth of the water, the last lake, was all lit up, really big, and was crystal clear, in this lake, you couldn’t see more then half an inch deep with all sorts of alien foliage growing throughout it. Despite my brother’s efforts, my mom insisted that we turned around immediately, and so we did.
