Hiking Adventures with Underground Dude and Minnesota Gal

I enjoy hiking. I really do. Some might even call me a pretty earthy kind of dude. However, I have learned recently that preparation is key to a successful hiking trip. O.K. who am I kidding, my last hiking trip was absolutely delightful, but for an entirely different set of reasons than the usual giddiness that hiking brings out in me.

Words cannot even describe how delightful it was to have a former teammate from the college years and one of my closest friends find her way out west. We decided to go exploring one day, and I knew of a place that was rumored to have a spectacular view of the city, but had never actually been.

Lovely, what a delightful way to spend an afternoon; an afternoon spent driving up a mountain road and casually pulling over to check out the scenic views as we make our way to the top.

We should have probably been a bit more thorough with our research...

We make our way to the top end of the mountain road, and notice there is a fee to get into this so called mountain park...peculiar.

We gladly pay, very proud of ourselves, because the view will so be worth it. We park. We then step out of the vehicle...wait a minute...there is still clearly a lot of mountain ahead of us, and there is no view at all...

We notice a few trails and realize we were given a handy dandy trail guide by the gatekeeper to the park after we paid our fee. We open it up and the first thing we notice is:

"Easy Trail-1 1/2-3 hours"

MG: Oofta! (from Minnesota)

UD: That's the easy trail eh? (likes to pretend he's from Canada)

MG: I enjoy hiking...when I know I am going to be hiking. I guess we can try it out and see how far we make it. 

UD: I'm wearing dress shoes...

MG: I have these stylish sandals (holds foot out daintily admiring her sandals for their cuteness), but I should probably go with my flats. She proceeds to pull out a pair of slip on flimsy yet flowery flats from her purse and changes shoes.

As we make our way up the trail, there are others coming down the trail with the look and smell of victory. They clearly had made it to the top. A woman who was perspiring profusely was donning a hefty pack loaded with bottles of water on each side and sporting some pretty sturdy hiking boots, which totally clashed with the rest of her ensemble—just sayin. Her companion was a male utilizing two metal walking sticks that resembled ski-poles to which I thought to myself: how embarrassed was he when he got to the top and discovered there was no snow to be found? These folks were hardcore and the looks they gave us...oh the looks that we got! I am fairly certain I heard the ski-pole man scoff "noobs" as he passed by us on the trail. 

We were definitely the odd couple on the mountain that day:

• A dude in a fashionable pair of jeans (strictly aesthetic rather than practical) and dress shoes. 

• A Minnesota gal delicately trying to find her footing as we navigate the trail. 

• No water whatsoever...

About 5 minutes up the trail:

UD: OMG! OMG! STOP! STOP!

MG: What!? What is it?

UD: SNAKE! HUGE SNAKE! OMG SNAKE!

The snake proceeds to slither off the trail as Minnesota Gal glimpses the tail of the vile creature. 

MG: Ohhh my! My ankles are not protected; maybe we should head back. 

UD: I am really wishing I had one of those ski-poles right about now. I bet they make awesome weapons. 

So, we didn't make it to the top of the mountain, but it was a hiking trip of awesomeness I will never forget. As soon as we got back in the car hilarity ensued and we had ourselves a good laugh. And hey, the trip wasn't totally wasted either; there were some turnouts on the mountain road from time to time for the "noobs" to take pictures.