snow? in september?

on saturday, tim and i did something silly. we hiked mt. cheam again.

now maybe you don't know the tim and rebecca history of mt. cheam BUT in short: after we'd been dating for about a month, tim suggested we go on a hike - pretty much my first hike ever. he picked cheam because it was "easy". it's not. you drive an hour up a rocky, potholed mountain in 4-wheel drive then begin your hike staring up at the peak to which you are headed. and you stare at it the entire time you hike and it never seems to get any closer. it's discouraging. there are switchbacks. it's steep. at one point i told tim, "i don't need to go any further. i'm done." of course, we made it to the top. i was happy to have made it and learn that the gorgeous view is the reward. tim was sad because his new girlfriend did not like hiking. we came down. tim went on vacation for a week and didn't speak to me. thought about breaking up. who knew it was so important to him? but he decided he could be with someone who didn't like hiking. and we stayed together...as you know.

THEN (okay this isn't the "short" history...it's the whole history) we attempted mt. cheam again. (smartly, after we were married.) it was summer. there were more flies than i've ever seen before. 45 minutes in, i swallowed a fly. i don't know why i swallowed a fly. i guessed i'd die. and i freaked. we headed down the mountain.

SO here we were setting up a hiking date with our friends ryan and heidi to hike cheam once again. it was under clear terms that if it were cloudy and rainy - we would not go since there would be no view. but saturday morning came, it was cloudy and i asked tim to cancel and he said no. then ryan and heidi showed up at our place and we made jokes about it being cloudy and jokes about cancelling but still no cancellation. "it's our tradition to hike in the worst possible hiking weather ever!" ryan and tim told us. heidi and i were apparently along for the ride. shoot. and off we went.

as we bumped our way up cheam in 4wheel drive, it started to rain. "let's turn around!" the girls suggested. no way. then we find out that ryan hadn't thought to bring jackets. "we better not go without jackets!" i warned. no way. the higher the truck climbed, the rain turned to snow. "we're not hiking in the snow!" i said. of course we are!

this was the most miserable hike ever. part of me was very glad that ryan and heidi were with us because it was more fun with them BUT as we hiked, ryan confided in us that "if it was supposed to be just me and heidi - we wouldn't have come" and tim tells them that "if it was just me and rebecca planning to hike, we wouldn't have come". THEN WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?

but we made it to the top. sort of. it was some wicked blowing snow at the top and it's all shale as you scramble for the peak and then there's a cliff drop-off. so we were at the top. but not at the very peak-top. really - it was enough.

and i have never moved so fast down a mountain in my life. i ran halfway down. with 2 inches of snow on the path. at the bottom, tim says, "but now you'll have a story to tell."