It is hard to believe, but this semester is coming to a close soon. Thanksgiving is this week. Last week, thinking about it, it felt like a big surprise. “Are you ready for Thanksgiving?” came the question from a friend at co-op. Absolutely not.
One of the vistas on the trail
The most excitement last week came to us on the hike. My son went back on the trail to help a friend connect with his mom, and the both of them took an extra hour on the trail. The group had finished the hike. We were all waiting at the trailhead next to the parking lot, not knowing what we should do.
I drove back to the ranger station in Greenbrier to sound the alarm that two teenage boys and a mother were missing, but there was no ranger in sight. The phone did not work, either. There is an emergency phone on the outside of the ranger station, but it had no dial tone.
Porters Creek Trail Sign – we will never forget this trail
Through some miracle, I had one bar on my cell phone so I dialed my husband. He was not worried but said he would make his way to Greenbrier in about one hour. It was only 3:20pm and my husband was not concerned. He figured one of the boys sprained an ankle and it took them longer to hike back.
By the time I drove back to the trailhead, the three of them had reappeared from the trail, remorseful for having caused everybody stress. They were fine. They had miscommunicated and thought the mom was back on the trail, when, in fact, she had hiked ahead of them.
After such an emotional roller coaster, I felt I had lost a couple of years in just 80 minutes. But all is well when it ends well.
