On Top of the World

Wednesday, Cecelia and I went on a hike. It was a trail that we had hiked several times before. I did not remember, however, how the trail went straight up! The pain and the agony was well worth it. We had a lovely view of the valley and the river. We rested when we reached the top and had a little lunch. The journey down was much faster. All was well until we were almost at the end of the trail. Suddenly there was a noise that we could not identify. There are cattle that are in that area because of open grazing. They began mooing in a kind of frantic way. We looked at each other and decided we would hurry a bit. Cecelia was telling me a story when suddenly there was a very low, long growling coming from the bushes about 10 to 12 feet away. She just kept talking until I asked "Do you hear that?" She said "yes" and just kept talking. We went as fast as we could to our cars. When we got there I asked her why she just kept talking. She was letting whatever it was know that we were there. What a relief to get to the car. We don't know what it was--bear, large cat, wolf--whatever--I am glad to be safe. We were going to hike that trail once a week all summer so that we could get in shape. We are now trying to think about somewhere in town without so much adventure. What do you think? Would everyone like to join us in another hike in the mountains? You know what they say about safety in numbers. Well the view was beautiful and it was soooo worth the scare.