be careful what you wish for

for the past month or so i have been dying to go hiking. only problem is, every time me and a friend plan to hike, something came up where they couldn't go anymore. well,FINALLY,yesterday me and my friend ashley were able to go.

the night before our hike we decided we would meet in seattle at 9 am. so, i leave my house at 815 and stop at a gas station to fill up my tank, where i proceed to LOCK my KEYS in my CAR.

i haven't done this for about a year or so,and the last time i did someone suggested i keep a spare key in my wallet, because you take your wallet everywhere with you. which i do,except for when i'm at a gas station. my spare key was locked in my car,with my purse.

so after about 4 phone calls to locksmiths who wanted me to pay $75 and wait 45 minutes to unlock my car(yeah,right) i found a cheaper,faster locksmith, and was on my way to seattle.

i haven't been hiking on an actual mountain in probably 3 or 4 years. ashley, however, is basically an expert hiker and goes ALL the time. she suggested we go to mount si, near north bend. and me, not knowing any better, agreed.

mount si, which looks like a man sleeping on his back(do you see it???):


there are two hiking trails on mt si. "little si",which is a 2 mile trail, and "big si" which is a 4 mile trail. moi, feeling good and worthy because i've been walking for miles up and down the hills of tacoma for the past month, thought it would be the best idea EVER to hike the 4 mile trail. i quickly got a RUDE awakening.

me and ashley are hiking along, and i was doing ok at first,but then i got pretty tired and wanted to sit down for a couple seconds. i didn't see any signs anywhere, but had assumed we had walked about a mile and a half at that point(it had been about a half hour). a little bit later,i ask to stop again. a couple minutes after we restart we pass a sign...we had gone exactly ONE HALF mile. i was like "are you kidding me????" i can walk, even jog a half mile on regular land no problem. but a half mile on the mountain was KILLER(for me).i literally thought i was gonna die of exhaustion right there on mount si.

as i previously mentioned, ashley is a mountain hiking beast so after 1.5 miles i told her to go ahead and i would meet her when she was on her way down. (unfortunately, we were on a time restriction so she wanted to go fast so she could make it to the top,and i felt bad that she had to keep waiting for me). this turned out to be a great idea on my part because before, i was ready to hit 2 miles and head back down. buuuut i kept going and made it to about 3.25 miles before i met ashley, turned around, and headed down.

a couple pictures of the trail...it doesn't look steep at all but when i was complaining to ash about how steep it was, other hikers who overheard agreed with me! so i know it wasn't just me!



all we could see was trees...everywhere!:




ashley liked to run ahead and then take pictures of me suffering. i'm the little black dot that's far,far away.


i didn't make it to the top, but ashley did and took some pictures/video for me:




if we were ghosts haunting mount si, this is what we would look like:


yea! we're in nature!


it was muddy from previous rain so we got kind of dirty...


this is the one piece of park history i saw on my hike. i thought this sign was funny because it says "this smooth flaky bark was exposed and scarred by that fire we had back in 1910", like everyone who sees that tree is gonna remember the fire. "oh yeah, i remember the fire of 1910...i was sitting at home watching american idol when my sister texted me telling me about it..."


previously mentioned burned tree:


going downhill was my favorite part, not because it was 234987 times easier than going uphill,but because of all the funny conversations we heard/had on the way down.*disclaimer: these convos may not actually be funny to you, i'm just writing them down so i remember them*

***
2 super fit old men are walking in front of me, one in front of the other.

man in front says to man behind him: "you know, if you're obese or very overweight,you shouldn't attempt to climb this mountain. for example,if we were on mount rainier, i wouldn't be following you"

man behind:"...you're not following me..."

man in front:"well i mean, i'm following ahead of you."

***
a group of girls are chatting about high school and sports when one says: "i didn't really like any sports in high school. the only one i actually enjoyed was square dancing"

***
me,yelling to ashley who's about 15 feet ahead of me:"hey ash,what was the name of those beaver things we saw at mt. ranier?? you know...those mt rainier beavers..."

man from a couple passing us going in the other direction:"marmots! those are marmots!they are so cute!"

woman from couple passing us says under her breath:"those things are NOT cute"

***
me and ash have been walking in silence for a couple of minutes.
me:"you know what would be really good right now? bacon."

***
ash:"you know what i want to get?? the vibrum 5 fingers..."
me:"whoa whoa whoa...is this something you should be talking about in the middle of a busy mountain trail with children around?"
ash:"shoes,andi. they're shoes."
me:"oooooh. ok, continue."
***
i hope i didn't make it sound like i had a terrible time. i actually had tons of fun. i want to go again soon! i asked for a challenge, and i got one. BIG time. my body will be reminding me of this excursion for a good two days or so.

all i wanted to do after the hike was lay down and not move for about a week...but i had another adventure in store for me that day...