The Hike

I finally made it. After 5 years and over 35 days of looking at Mt. Kernel, today was the day I made it to the top. I did not and could not have made it alone...in fact there were many times I would have been happy to quit but my friends wouldn't let me. Erin, Chris Mullenhour, Tyler Martin, Kaleb Spicer, Jake Ditmer, Kent VanFossen, Derick Latimer and Natalie Gossard were incredible teammates. WE hiked for 4 hours straight up and then straight down. It was seriously one of the most intense hikes of my life. We had a blast though. We talked a lot, we read Psalm 121 on the top, we took lots of pictures and all in all it was so worth it. Nothing could spoil it...

...until 20 minutes from the end of our hike, almost nearing the orphanage someone mentioned one of the other people that they THOUGHT were supposed to come with us but didn't. As we talked we quickly realized that him not being with us on the mountain may not have been the biggest worry. We may have left him in Tijuana (45 minutes away). It was true. Mitch Paulus was left behind.

My heart sank. As much as I was excited, I was that crushed because I SOOO wanted him to be there with me and I was responsible for leaving him. (he tried catching us as one of our Mexican friends, Balta, drove 100 miles and hour trying to catch us). I realized that my joys in life are really not joys without those that want the same for their life there too.

Mitch gave me a hard time for a while but after pampering him all night and stroking his ego with my words, he has given me reprieve. Actually, he has been more than generous and considers the conversation with Balta worth a ton.

I told him I'll hike it with him next year!