When to Turn Back

When to Turn Back

After Commitment

We had another fun, family adventure this past weekend.

We got up on Saturday morning with little motivation, but I knew if we just stayed home we'd end up doing the normal: house work, outside chores, the same old thing we do every day.

So I said I'd like to go hiking. Near or far, I didn't care. I just knew it'd be better if we got out and did something fun. As we debated on where to go (our options are a little limited because our 1 year old still is not a fan of the car) I ended up wanting to try something more, something harder.

We normal drive 30-40 minutes before the baby starts yelling and crying and that is were we end up hiking, the same two places every time...

But I was feeling adventurous. I wanted to go the LONG drive to the HARD hike to a old cabin and mind shaft in the woods. We HAVE been to the cabin when my girls were little and it was a brutally steep hike straight up a mountain!

This is a picture of the cabin we were trying to make it to. I do have pictures of the inside (somewhere) from first time. Way cooler in person.

We found a alternative way to reach the cabin by driving a log road up the mountain in our truck and the hiking DOWN to the cabin instead. We decided to go for it, seeing how long the baby made it in the car. We packed toys and snacks and his sisters lovingly played with him a good chunk of the drive.

AND WE MADE IT! We made it to the top of the mountain, to the head of where we were supposed to plow off into the woods, no path, just a GPS to guide our way. Off, to our adventure!

We put the baby in the hiking backpack carriar, got our snacks/picnic food,  and prepared for a doozy of a trip.

Off we went!

First, we plowed through some brushy woodland, twigs snapping us in the face, then we reached the rocky incline that grew steeper downhill. My girls were slipping and falling behind me and my hubby was plowing ahead with the baby fussing in his ear.

After the rocks came the HILL... We were no longer were on a steep hill, we were basically going straight down the mountain. We joked about sledding down the hill it was so steep. We began zig zagging down the mountain to avoid falling.

We made it a third of the way to the cabin according to our GPS and all of it was STRAIGHT DOWN. We looked ahead and we had to evaluate going anything further.

My knees were jelly! My kids legs were shaking and the baby was crying. I'm an all in type of person. I will climb any hill to the very top always thinking "just one more hill" and eventually I will make it! We've plowed through horribly difficult hikes before because we just never quit, never turn back, and most of them have been wonderful adventures.

So we looked forward. We had 2/3 of the hike left to go and from everything we could see it was going to be STRAIGHT DOWN. Could we make it? YES, I knew we could. We could make it by shear determination and teamwork. Could we make it back UP that mile or so of mountain AFTER our legs had turned to jelly and we'd given it all we got, WHILE my husband carried our 23 lb son on his back???

We decided to turn back.

It stung a little. We like our adventures. We'd attempted a hard hike. It was a great opportunity... but we turned back.

We zig zagged (well, I did, the kids and hubby went straight up and made it up in the same time I did) back up the way we had come. A little defeated but knowing we had made the right choice.

We reached the top with relief! Our legs hadn't given out and we were happy to be back on the road. I put the baby to sleep and then we sat down to have our picnic in the sun dappled path of the trees.

Right after we made it back to the top.

Mama, commitments are important. Determination is important. I know we are strong and tough, but some times the best thing we can do is turn back. Some times we commit to more than we should and we need to cancel some of those. Some times we make a plan for our day that doesn't serve us well and we need to let it go. Know it's okay to turn back some times, to accept change, and try another way.

Much love,

-Joy