Confounding Expectations

The most difficult part about training is motivating Duane. That, and it's January and raining often and neither of us really like hiking in the rain. But today was a beautiful day, so we decided to do a short hike up Mission Peak with our friend Deb. It was perfect hiking weather for Mission Peak - sunny but not too hot. I'm sure that the expected shortness of today's hike was added incentive for Duane.

We didn't expect to summit today. Deb brought a new friend, Donna, who is focusing on weight loss and who has successfully lost over 100 lbs., with several more to go. Today was her first hike. Deb chose the Stanford Avenue side of Mission Peak because of its series of benches along the way, giving Donna chance to rest if she needed it. We figured we would make the second bench and turn around, totally at Donna's option. This was Donna's day.

Since this was to be a short hike, we took our young son as well. We haven't yet taken him on any really long hikes. His attention span isn't yet sufficiently long that we can get through a hike without hearing "When are we going to be done?" or "Can we go home now?" We also haven't been certain that he has the stamina to do longer hikes, even though he is turning out to be quite the athlete. We expected today to be short enough that stamina wouldn't be a problem. Neither of us packed full food and water in our day packs, and didn't require our son to carry his hydration fanny pack either.

All our expectations were confounded.

We got to the first bench and kept going. We got to the second bench and kept going. Donna was doing great and decided she would keep on hiking. We got to the third bench and Donna decided to keep going. At this point we were trying to remember if there was a fourth bench...

Meanwhile, our son found sufficient distractions that he never noticed that the hike kept on going. Ladybugs were plentiful and he collected them in a plastic baggie along the way. There were also plenty of rocks to climb on or throw, and lots of gophers and cows to look at. The biggest problem surprisingly turned out to be that he didn't want to make a "nature" stop behind a tree.

There was a fourth bench and Donna kept going. At this point, we were happily Donna's cheering section. Not that we hadn't been previously, but it was becoming abundantly clear that Donna might actually make it to the top. No pressure, just fun. I was really enjoying Donna's perseverence and success!

Fortunately, it was not a hot day and we still had enough water and electrolyte for a longer hike even though we didn't pack as much as we would have.

We reached the valley just before the summit and stopped at the outhouse where the Stanford Avenue and Ohlone College trails converged. We decided to take the less direct, less steep way to the top, around the back of Mission Peak. We pressed on. Donna, however, was finally beginning to lose steam. When the final slope to the summit came in to view, Donna decided that she had had enough and was going to leave the summit for another day. She did great! She far exceeded everyone's expectations, probably including her own. There is no question that she will conquer Mission Peak, maybe the next time she tries it.

But here we were with our son, just a few hundred feet from the summit. We decided to split up and take our son to the summit, while Deb and Donna hiked back down the mountain. We hiked up the final slope, while our son clambered over rocks like a mountain goat. I envied his abundance of energy!

Since we had forgotten our camera and didn't take our cell phones, this photo was taken by fellow hikers who had also just summitted, on their cell phone. Many thanks to them for emailing us this photo!

Our son is in his first year of Cub Scouts. It turns out that there is a hiking belt loop that can be achieved. He got it in style today!