Objective: Hike two miles up a staggered trail, almost vertical, basically room for only one foot over the other with a 55 year old mother and a 58 year old father.
Sunday.
6:20am- Eyes open. Too early. A minor jet lag from the flight last night. Time to sleep again.
8:20am- Eyes open. Either I go to the church I'm trying to avoid, or go for a supposed five hour, intense morning hike with my parents. Uh, yeah, I'll do the latter.
9:00am- Unshowered from flight, hair up in a crazed bun, and smothered in sunscreen. Eat an apple, but mother tells me I will starve if I don't eat more. Eat a PB&J.
9:23am- Dad hands me hiking sticks. Do I need these? Warns me that my running shoes do not have enough traction or ankle support. He hands me old hiking boots. So ugly, but in a cool, rustic kind of way. I'll take 'em.
10:00am- Arrive at destination. We are starting at 8000 in elevation. Parents are decked out in matching pants that zip off into shorts, hiking boots, hiking backpacks, hats, sunglasses, and sun-protecting sleeves. I am wearing a tank top with running shorts and my Audrey Hepburn sunglasses. I'm out of place.
10:16am- This is not bad at all. We're going up a paved road that eventually leads to gravel. So what? "That's it?" I ask. My parents laugh. "No, you'll see."
10:38am- My dad goes off the trail and up the mountain. It's almost a 90 degree slope. Are we allowed to do this?
10:40am- Already dying.
11:00am- I can hear my heart pumping in my head. I think the veins on my forehead are going to pop. Actually, I'm getting lightheaded. I didn't drink enough water last night. In fact, I didn't bring my own water with me. I'm freaking out.
11:13am- This isn't bad. I'm on my dad's heels, and my mom is far behind. My parents tell me I'm doing a great job keeping up. Of course I'm doing a great job-- I'm only 33 years younger than ya'll! It would be an embarrassment if I couldn't keep up.
11:54am- We stop on the side so that other hikers can come down. Hiking courtesy. But this old, white man just stops in front of us. "Ahn nyung ha sae yo," he says. I hate this, I think to myself as I smile. My parents try to correct his other limited Korean vocabulary. They eventually move on. But I end up talking with Jim about my internship in Cincinnati. He tells me I am a great speaker after I tell him I majored in English. I'm not sure if I'm flattered that he thinks I use eloquent diction, or offended that he expected me to be bad at English. I just tell him it was nice meeting him and raced after my parents.
12:30pm- My dad says 20 more minutes. "We're almost there!" he says. I don't complain because I'm in disbelief that my parents have so much endurance. I do not ask for rests, and I stay close behind my dad.
12:50pm- We are definitely not almost there. My mom says there is 10 more minutes. I know she's lying.
1:00pm- Sucks that she really did lie, but this isn't too bad! Mom stops to tell me to look at the beautiful flowers. "Ahh, umma, just hurry up, you're slowing us down!" She starts laughing and we continue on.
1:30pm- All I want is to go home. The faster we hike, the faster we go home. No time for admiring scenery. "10 minutes!" my dad says. Yeah. Whatever.
1:40pm- We pass by a small creek that eventually turns into a small waterfall. No time to rest. We gotta go. I can see the destination from here.
1:44pm- From this point on, it's really difficult to climb up. The last stretch is always the hardest. But I am not going to rest. Not only does that slow us down, but that means I'm too weak.
2:03pm- We made it! I can't believe it! Now we eat extremely healthy things, and I'm totally ready to go back down.
2:20pm- Uh oh. I need to go to the bathroom.
2:25pm- Pretty badly.
2:30pm- Mom keeps making me laugh, and the pressure from trying to balance going downhill, and then walking down too fast makes me really need to pee. She tells me to go hide behind a bush but no way am I going to risk getting seen by hikers. Also, I don't want to stop. Guys have it so much easier. I'm going to wait for the porta-potty mecca at the foot of the mountain.
2:45pm- Daddy is basically rushing next to me. Moral support. I swear I don't remember the paved road being this long.
3:00pm- Now that I'm almost at the Mecca, I guess I don't need to go that badly. But my legs want to give out. My thighs are in immense pain.
3:14pm- Arrive at the Mecca.
3:25pm- Sit in the car, close my eyes, and tell my parents they impress me. "We've never gone down the mountain that fast before!" they say.
Lesson Learned: Your parents are always better than you.
