Conquering a mountain... Part 3

After resting at the lake for a short time, we faced the descending dirt path and began our trek home.  The Lord really blessed us and transformed our hike from the I-regret-I-ever-suggested-this-idea-now-I-hate-myself trip into a positive and memorable experience.

 The path downhill was so much easier than our grueling scramble up the mountain where we had been fighting gravity with every uphill step.

It was such a pleasant surprise to discover how easy and enjoyable the walk down was. Instead of being my mocking enemy, gravity was now encouraging (friendly even!) and nudging me along.

We all enjoyed ourselves much more and found ourselves bantering and laughing. The surrounding hills echoed with our joyful noise.

Finally we were going home!

With this elation soothing my sore spirit (and sore muscles) we found much to be happy about. Once again the landscape was breathtaking and beautiful.

Halfway down the mountain we paused and gazed around us at the forest, flowers, and rolling landscape.

My spirit was full of gratitude that the Lord created such a lovely place.

I was so grateful to have a body that was healthy enough to even consider this hike. I was thankful for my legs and the privilege it is to be mobile and not constrained to a wheelchair.

We gathered as a family and had a little mountainside devotional about the priceless nature of God's creations. We prayed together to thank the Lord for blessing us with this beauty.

It was a special moment as we stood in silence to appreciate the forest around us.

We felt recharged and fully enjoyed the rest of our excursion..

Thankfully our lunch was still with the van, waiting for us on the pavement. All ended well as we enjoyed our picnic with gusto. We didn't even mind eating our feast in a parking lot instead of on a mountain lake shore.