I wanted to share with you a few stories from my training, one particularly that I hope will make you smile and one that I know will touch you and remind you of why this is such an important journey we are joining in on.
To begin, as many of you know I was raised on a cattle farm in Arkansas and my nickname growing up was Elly May (the character played by Donna Douglas on The Beverly Hillbillies who was always showing up with new 'critters' and carried a chimp around on most of the episodes). A few things I have always had a special talent for, that I credit to my upbringing, is my ability to rescue and find homes for lost dogs, my knack for nursing back to health sick animals (sheep, calves, puppies, etc), and also doing a rather impressive impersonation of a recently weaned baby calf. Now for those of you who ain't farm folk there is a difference in a calf's call when it is just hungry and it's mama is close by and when it is hungry and it's mama is in the other pasture because it's weaning time. This particular weaning sound is sort of an mmmmm-bluuuuuuuur type of noise and I realized around the age of 16 that I could make that call as good as any baby bovine. I am sure you are wondering what any of this has to do with hiking, but just stay with me for a little bit longer. A few weekends ago I was on my second hike with the team in Pere Marquette (which is beautiful) and we were on our 6th mile or so out of 8. It was blistering hot and we were all exhausted. I was holding up alright, but I could tell that my energy had been zapped and I was no longer paying too much attention to the beautiful path, but rather, just getting one foot in front of the other until I could sit down in my air conditioned car. Suddenly, though, we all heard a loud mooing to our left. The particular trail we were one was quite wooded and you could barely see five feet past where you were standing due to all the trees and vines. (Don't worry the path wasn't that way, just to the sides). We all stopped hiking and looked around trying to find where this bellowing moo was coming from. I jokingly said, "I could do some of my cattle calls from the farm and see if I can get her to come closer." Without missing a beat my coach said, "Ya, ya I think you should do that" and motioned for me to begin. I don't know if it was the heat exhaustion that made my inhibitions so low that day or what, but without any hesitation I started doing the cattle calls I learned as a 4 year old girl carrying a bucket of grain and following my grandmother out into the hay pasture as we would herd all the cattle on our own two feet with a simple call of "Suk cow! Suk!" This cow, however, did not seem to be familiar with this particular call so she didn't come any closer but continued to rustle around in the bushes. That was when I decided to pull out my good ole' baby calf call and see what would happen. It wasn't 5 seconds after I starting mmmmm-bluuuring that she walked out of the woods and directly across from me with only about five feet between us!! All of my teammates were so excited and amazed as they clicked away with their cameras and iphones at this big mama cow who was now standing almost literally beside us in the middle of a hiking trail. She stared at me for a few moments with a look as if to say, "You are definitely not my baby" and then kept on walking, crossing our trail and heading up the mountain until we couldn't see her again for all the trees and vines. Finally, after 9 years of realizing my potential as an impersonator of a baby calf who was recently weaned, my talents were validated! Very few people that I have shared this particular talent with have had the level of appreciation that I think is necessary for such a fine tuned baby calf call, but now thanks to our hike in Pere Marquette, I can say that one particular Illinois cow and my TNT hiking team definitely do!
Another, more touching thing that happened on our hike in Pere Marquette was the "silent mile." The silent mile is exactly as it sounds, where the entire team hikes for a mile without talking to each other. It began with my coach's first training for a TNT hike, when she was only a participant. Her coach was a man and all the participants females, not to mention females who all became great friends, were very talkative, and had a particular interest in singing Disney songs at the top of their lungs on the trail. Needless to say, regardless of one's gender, that has potential for becoming slightly annoying. The coach finally declared that on each hike there would be one mile where no one was to talk, sing Disney songs, or say a word, but rather take a mile to breathe in nature, the experience, and think about all of the reasons for why individuals are doing this hike. Now, the silent mile is something that is practiced by all hiking team for TNT across the country. Before each silent mile someone on the team shares the story of why they are participating in the TNT hike and after the story is shared everyone hikes in silence to give honor to that story. Some pray, some meditate, some think about lost loved ones, or personal reasons for hiking. This particular time, a man who is helping with our training, shared about his brother-in-law who passed away from Leukemia. For some members of the team this story hit hard because it relates so closely to what they have been through. Tears were shed, hugs were given, and then thoughts were raised up in honor of this man who passed and his family who was left behind, as we continued to hike. It was a really beautiful expereince for me and I think the whole team. The silent mile is definitely a time when you feel you are bonding with the team even though no words are being said. You can hear the footsteps of each member, the breaths that get heavier as the incline increases, the wind as it winds between the trees, and the birds and bugs who are chattering to one another above and beside you. I am looking forward to more silent miles in the future and learning more about my team and the reasons for why this hike and all the events like it are so important to so many.
My last story is just to share about the wondrous Fort Collins, CO and the purely awesome hike that my dad and I did while we were there! Horsetooth Reservoir and Mountain sits right behind the city of Fort Collins and is a fantastic place for all types of recreational activities; hiking, kayaking, boating, fishing, trail running, mountain biking, etc! The hike to Horsetooth Mountain is about 6 miles in all and moderate intensity. The last portion involves minor bouldering to the top of the "horsetooth" and from there is an amazing view of Wyoming to the north, Pike's Peak to the south, and all of Fort Collins beneath you! I had a great time hiking with my dad and getting to take in a whole different type of nature from what we have in Missouri!
