John’s family has a tradition to hike the crazy hills behind his grandparent’s home on the 4th of July.  I had only participated in the hike one other time.  Oh man, I totally forgot how hard a hike it was.  Someone drives you the few miles to a trail head and then you just start hiking up the hills.  All the running I had been doing did not prepare me for hiking this mountain.  Of course I think the high altitude was messing with my breathing.

The family has a rule that you have to be 8 to hike it. I can totally see why.  Curtis joined John and I on the hike.  He was such a crazy little hiker.  He didn’t find any of it to be hard.  He would run up the mountain and back down parts and then back up.  At one point he was even carrying a log that he thought was a great hiking stick.  He was amazing.

Some years the number of people to hike is small but this year it was a pretty good group of cousins.  It was fun spending time with them.  Jennie kept catching and kissing horny toads.  Curtis even caught one.

When you get to the top the view is amazing.  It really is spectacular to be surrounded by the beautiful mountains.  It was a perfect way to start the 4th of July.

I always think going up is the hard part but on this hike going down is quite difficult.  There is no real trail heading down the mountain.  You are just bush-whacking it the whole time.  My sneakers were a little small so my poor big toes were hurting.  (I ended up losing both big toe nails, although one was from running a half marathon two months earlier).

The hike ends at the Flat (John’s grandparent’s back yard).  By the time you reach flat ground your legs don’t even know how to walk.  It is quite exhilarating though when you are all done.

While we hiked the aunts went and bought donuts.  They had them waiting for us when we returned.

Even though the hike is super hard I can’t wait to do it again.  There is something about forcing yourself to do something hard so you can feel the satisfaction of it all when it is done that is super addicting.