Carne Mountain to High Pass (page 3)

Carne Mtn. in the distance

So I gingerly started up the trail, trying to get a sense of whether or not my back was going to hold up to the weight of the pack for two weeks. It was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to be a speed demon, but that was OK. As I get older, it's less important to me to go fast. I'm beginning to grow comfortable with my 'maturity.' I spend more time now looking at the little things that I never used to even see before as I blitzed by.  I stop, dawdle, and take pictures.  I immerse myself, where I used to skim over the top. It's pretty cool, actually. I have a new sense of wonder at how all these little pieces fit together into the big picture

A short way up the trail, I stopped to talk with a pleasant middle-aged couple on horseback. C & G caught up with me shortly and remarked on how I'd left ten-minutes ahead of them but had only waited five minutes until they joined the conversation with the horse folks. The point being how quickly they'd made up the difference. When they first started hiking with me they were fresh-out-of-the-city rookies with no leg muscles or wind in their lungs. For the past few years they'd been weight-lifting and were now justifiably proud of their improved physical selves.

So I figured they'd have no problem keeping up, especially since I wasn't exactly burning up the trail. Usually when I hike with others I like to maintain a little lead out front. I need that space cushion and constantly monitor the progress of the rest of the party in order to maintain it. Call it anal or jerky, but that's how I am. So, up the trail I went, with the gym rats following at their new, improved super-pace.

After awhile I realized they were no longer behind me, at least not within sight. I sighed, knowing I was probably going to get a lecture on not keeping the group together. It turned out that as I was lumbering along, thinking they were right behind me, they were actually falling further behind because they had taken a closed section of trail instead of the detour route around a washout. Oops.