Byron is an avid mountain biker. Okay, that would be relatively speaking because there are trails and jumps that he just doesn't want anything to do with. Let's just say that he is a mountain bike enthusiast. He has had a hard time finding a riding partner though because he likes to pedal uphill as well as downhill and most guys just want to be dropped off at the top of the mountain and enjoy the adrenaline rush of diving through trees and jumping off rocks as they hurtle down a 3-inch wide trail that would be too small for a deer to follow with any reliability. However, Byron also doesn't like to head into the great wild by himself either - especially when we hear about mountain lions or rattlesnakes, but that is another story. So, Byron decided that with 3 boys, one of them might someday like to ride with him. I pointed out that Robert might like it if he actually got to go on one of those neat trails. So we went as a family up to the mountains the week before this picture was taken and started at the bottom of a fairly easy trail. I hiked around with the babies and Byron took Robert up as far as Robert felt he could go. Byron was pleasantly surprised with Robert's performance and we decided to make this a summer habit. Sooooo, the very next weekend, we consulted the guidebook and Byron found a trail that he had always wanted to do. The book said it was not easy, but not super difficult either. It was a gravity run through a giant sequoia forest (in fact, at one point, the trail goes right through one of the giant trees). Robert was game to go so we packed up, measured the distance on a map and decided about how long it would take and everything was happy and sunny as I dropped the guys off at the top. We decided it would take them about 1.5 hours to make it to the bottom. In fact, Byron was worried that he and Robert would have to wait while I took the car down around the road to the bottom. I was a little nervous when Byron couldn't find the trail head (did I mention the 3-inch wide ant - I mean bike trails?). However, they found it (or thought they did) and off they went. In the meantime, the babies and I set out to have an adventure of our own ...
Here they are at the top of the trail ... happy to be here. They wanted to get out and hike at the top, but I promised them a better hike at the bottom. Aren't kids great? They totally believed me - sight unseen!
I knew things were going to go wrong after I had driven about 2 miles along the road and suddenly got a view of the side of the mountain the guys were heading down. I wish I had stopped to take a picture. My heart did stop. The mountain side is nearly shear - I mean the pine trees and sequoias are all growing at nearly right angles to their roots just to find up (and I am only slightly exaggerating). So, I take a deep breath and pray all the way down the mountain - and mentally tacked another hour onto the expected arrival time. When we got to the bottom of the trail (I only had to stop an ask for directions once - of course that might have been because there was only one little station for who knows how many miles), there was a group of four very fit-looking men just coming off the trail. I asked them how it was and if they had seen Byron and Robert. I told them I had dropped them off at about 4pm. Those guys just gave me a pitying look and informed me that this was one of the most technically difficult train they had every seen and that they had been on the trail since before noon (it was about 5:30 then). I just felt a bit of a confirmation of that "awwww crap" feeling I had when I saw the mountain from the road. However, there wasn't much I could do and the babies were waiting for the adventure I promised - ha ha. The end of this particular trail is a fast running creek. Very shallow, but about 6 feet across. So much for our hiking up from the bottom as far as we could. (what really sucks is that I found out later that there is a little bridge over that creek about a mile farther downstream from where the trail ends). The kids were disappointed, but they managed to spend nearly 30 minutes finding sticks to throw into the top of the little waterfall and follow them as far as they could (about 10 feet) until they disappeared down another little waterfall. They would have loved to jump right in, but it was very very very cold water and I did not bring anyting resembling towels. 
I even tried to get a little group picture. I think I tried to do this 400 times. This is the best one I got. Very cute, but ....
By the time I got this picture and gave up on the enterprise, I was frustrated and worried and it was after 6pm. Remember, I was expecting Byron and Robert at about 5:30. On top of that, with the wet area, we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes which effectively ended my enjoyment of that particular spot. We got back in the car and ate our snacks and colored and read for a little while and then I decided to drive back to the top to see if Byron and Robert had found it too technical early on and decided to climb out and come down by the road. I did this more to be doing something and to quiet the babies who were justifiably tired of just sitting in their car seats than any real belief that Byron and Robert had come out at the top. The mountain bikers I met told me it didn't get really bad until the half-way mark. Just before I left a man with a little boy showed up waiting for his wife who had pedalled up the road to get to the top and was expected out at any moment (he had done the trail earlier in the day ... the true mountain biker). I left a message with him if Byron happened out while I was making my loop and off I went not tremendously comforted by the man's parting assurance that his wife was an EMT and would certainly stop if needed ... like I needed to be thinking along those lines!
I made record time to the top of the mountain and back down. In fact, Byron is still upset and convinced I warped the roters on the brakes. I didn't of course, they were just a little hot. I was a good wife and cleaned up the extra brake dust before he got too close a look ... but that was later. As I came back down the very steep mountain, noticing how dark it was getting and wondering how late it had to be before I called our friend who is a deputy sheriff for that particular county, I realized that if something had happended to them I would have absolutely NO idea. I couldn't leave the babies to hike up myself (even if I could follow that stupid 3 inch trail). Even if we had brought radios, I would have had to have some serious radio equipment because were separated by more than two miles - no cell coverage of course. I have decided that I need to get GPS ankle monitors - like the ones they put on people who are on house arrest. That way I can just follow them on the computer and know exactly where they end up! As it turns out, they made it down without any bodily damage (Byron was more concerned with Robert's tendency to ride with one pedal down where it could hit rocks ...). There were 4-6 foot jumps they walked down and 6 different creek crossings - one of which Byron had to "tightrope" walk across a tree and another where it was just easier to wade across. However, Robert kept up and they met me on their way back up the mountain along the road - they pedaled nearly 2 miles up too! Byron said that he was glad he got to see the trail and he never wants to see it again (at least not with a 12 yr old). Robert thought it was awesome (at least he did once he got to warm his wet feet and eat something) and he really liked telling everyone at church how the trail had nearly killed him - and it was a blast.
I am just thankful that the Lord looked out for my guys. We haven't tried another trail yet, but we will. I still want the GPS ankle braclets, but I cannot afford them and the state won't let me borrow them - stingy!
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