Lessons Learned From An (Unnecessarily Long) Epic Hike
“Your soul knows the geography of your destiny.”
– John O’Donohue
Have you ever had the experience of doing an activity — but having the sense that something else…something bigger was going on?
That happened to me recently — on a rather epic hike with my friend, Lynne.
“It’s just a two-hour hike,” she says to me, over morning coffee at her place.
I had stayed the night in their guest room and had finally sauntered upstairs for a late & leisurely breakfast on the back patio.
Eleven hours later, we staggered (literally) back to the patio for beer and burgers. And let me tell you, was that burger ever good!
Technically, Lynne was right. If one parked at the correct trail head on Sumas Mountain (near Abbotsford, BC), then yes…the hike to Chadsey Lake would be a mere two hours. In fact (we later learned), one could even park closer than that to the lake…just a short 20-minute stroll through the woods for a refreshing swim in a cool mountain lake on a scorching July day.
But, as you may have guessed, WE didn’t park at either of those places. Oh no, we parked at the very bottom of the mountain. Our first clue should have been that the sign at our trail head didn’t even mention Chadsey Lake. Minor detail…that turned into a very large, nine-hour detail…
