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I am an avid hiker…I love hiking up 5000 ft mountains and camping on ridges overlooking fog ridden valleys in 20 degree weather, 40 mph winds and 6 inches of snow on the ground.  Well, that was one hiking trip where unexpected weather came rushing in…If we’d had known the conditions were going to be that bad, we would have stayed home.  But there’s something about being in the mountains and sleeping outside miles and miles away from any kind of civilization that is so relaxing and refreshing to me.

I have looked forward to the day where my boys are old enough to go with me and enjoy this experience with me; rinsing off in the icy cold mountain creeks, cooking dinner on my hiking burner, exploring ridgelines, enjoying Gods beauty…Untouched and rugged, like it was thousands of years ago.

Jack turned four a few months ago and I mentioned going hiking/camping with him and he talked about it for weeks.  The last time we “tried” to do this was in the back yard about two years ago.  I got our sleeping bags out, blew up our sleeping pads, set the tent up, got our snacks and books packed up and we proceeded to camp out in the backyard.  45 minutes later as we’re in our sleeping bags and I’m reading him a book before we go to sleep in the tent, Jack says,

“Daddy?”  “Let’s go inside and watch a show.”

“A show?” “We’re camping, Jack…There are no shows when you’re camping  – We’re pretending that we’re in the mountains,” I tell him…

“Daddy, we’re in the back yard.  The shows are inside.”  And he proceeds to get up leave the tent and walk to the house.

Since that was the last experience of “camping,” I wasn’t sure what to expect this time and I certainly didn’t want to get three hours away and him to have a melt down and have to drive home in the middle of the night.

Crowders mountain is a nice little hill about 30 minutes away outside of Gastonia.  I figured a nice little day hike would introduce him to the joys and wonders of hiking instead of an overnight trip.

He was thrilled and talked about it all week leading up to the day we would leave.  I had never been to Crowders before but the trails were clearly marked…The weather was absolutely perfect and was more breezy the higher we got.  Let me just say that my little man is a warrior.  I don’t know of any four-year olds that could hike 5 miles over 3 ½ hours…His determination astounds me.  He kept saying, “we gotta get to the top…we gotta get to the top.”  At one point, I hear the words that no father wants to hear when you’re hiking out in the middle of nowhere with no toilet paper…”Daddy, I gotta go poopy and potty…”  Oh, no I think to myself.  Can’t he hold hit?  Doesn’t his digestive track shut down like mine when he’s out in the middle of nowhere?  We look around for a rock formation that somewhat looks like a toilet and he proceeds to do his business – all the while, I am looking for a decent sized leaf to wipe him with.  He ends up tooting and pee’ing on his underwear…Which was fine by me – underwear and pants back on and we’re back in business.  We get to the overlook and sit down and eat our peanut butter sandwiches and look out over the wilderness seeing the Charlotte skyline miles away in the distance – we could barely make it out but was clearly visible.  Peanut butter sandwiches eaten, apple cores tossed over the side (some animal would gobble those right up) and we were headed back down the mountain. 

With about a mile left, Jack started whimpering a little and was telling me that his legs wouldn’t move anymore so he spent the next 20 minutes on my shoulders. I didn’t say he hiked the ENTIRE time…Just that he was a warrior…And he was…Up until the last mile.  I think his goal was just getting to the top.  I don’t think it crossed his mind that he would have to walk back down the mountain.  He was dead asleep 5 minutes after getting in the car.

What a joy to spend the day with my little man and how I want to cherish these times with him – Can’t wait for Wellesy to partake although I don’t think he’ll have quite the determination, grit and desire to reach the top as Jack did.  I’ll probably have to bribe him with a “cack-er” (cracker) or “bob-ooo” (bottle) as he calls them to get him to the top.  Good job Jack-Jack!  I’m so proud of you!

Taking one of our "water breaks"...

He had to wear his boots because daddy had his boots on, however mine weren't carpenter boots. These quickly gave him a blister...Thank goodness I brought his sneakers.

View at the top where we ate lunch.

Another pic from the overlook...

Behind us was about a 500 foot dropoff so I pretty much held Jack the whole time.

Winner!

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