Rocks and Hard Places
Over the weekend, several of us (including mawiwa) traveled up to Madison, Wisconsin to visit a friend of ours that's going to leave for England in a few months. We wandered around Madison, took pictures, and ate at our favorite Madison restaurants. The last time we were up there, hankdmoose was with us too. Since we visited the same places as when hankdmoose was along, I kept picturing him everywhere, singing alternate lyrics to "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and joking around until mawiwa told us to go to sleep. Ah, good times. Several times I wished he'd been along to help inspire mayhem.
I did cause enough mayhem on my own. On Sunday we travelled up to Devil's Lake to hike around. On the way up, I sat in the very back of the van, and I got bored. When I get bored, I get into trouble. At one point, I plugged an air compressor into the rear-seat cigarrette lighter, and it started making a racket (much to the surprise of everyone else in the car).
I wish I had left the mayhem behind when we got to Devil's Lake. The very beginning of the trail begins with several hip-high boulders. The actual trail uses a small stone stairway to navigate through the boulders. But (as you can see from my icon), I love to climb stuff. I decided that I would scale the boulders and meet the rest of the group at the top of the boulder run.
The next thing I knew, the rest of my group was out of sight, but I was scaling these boulders having a great time. But when I reached the top, I had a tough choice to make. The path ahead of me was filled with some kind of ankle-high and knee-high foliage, but I thought the path picked up again on the other side of the foliage. Behind me were hundreds of feet of boulders that I would have to backtrack through. I saw leaves of 6, not 3. Not poison ivy. I took my chances and forged ahead, disturbing several dozen mosquitoes on my way through.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a path on the other side of the foliage. Instead, it was just a flat landing with several 6 to 8 foot rocks standing in my way. I had another choice. Climb the big boulders or go back through the evil foliage. Again, I took my chances and forged ahead.
The rocks only got bigger and scarier as I climbed. At every turn was a new, more menacing rock puzzle. I was never sure if I'd find a way past the next obstacle, but at this stage I had no choice. It was too dangerous to climb down the boulders I'd scaled. Turning around was no longer possible. Necessity drove me to do some crazy things, like climbing around the edge of a boulder with just my hands (and lousy footholds that would never have held me if I'd slipped).
Finally, I heard some voices above me and knew I had found the trail again. I climbed the final 20 feet and rejoiced when I reached the trail. But I had another problem. The rest of my group wasn't anywhere to be found. They could be further up the trail, or down the trail. Had they stopped to take a break? Or had they outpaced me? I took a chance and walked down, and ran into them about 5 minutes later. I was grateful to find them, and I didn't dare leave the trail again.
I did cause enough mayhem on my own. On Sunday we travelled up to Devil's Lake to hike around. On the way up, I sat in the very back of the van, and I got bored. When I get bored, I get into trouble. At one point, I plugged an air compressor into the rear-seat cigarrette lighter, and it started making a racket (much to the surprise of everyone else in the car).
I wish I had left the mayhem behind when we got to Devil's Lake. The very beginning of the trail begins with several hip-high boulders. The actual trail uses a small stone stairway to navigate through the boulders. But (as you can see from my icon), I love to climb stuff. I decided that I would scale the boulders and meet the rest of the group at the top of the boulder run.
The next thing I knew, the rest of my group was out of sight, but I was scaling these boulders having a great time. But when I reached the top, I had a tough choice to make. The path ahead of me was filled with some kind of ankle-high and knee-high foliage, but I thought the path picked up again on the other side of the foliage. Behind me were hundreds of feet of boulders that I would have to backtrack through. I saw leaves of 6, not 3. Not poison ivy. I took my chances and forged ahead, disturbing several dozen mosquitoes on my way through.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a path on the other side of the foliage. Instead, it was just a flat landing with several 6 to 8 foot rocks standing in my way. I had another choice. Climb the big boulders or go back through the evil foliage. Again, I took my chances and forged ahead.
The rocks only got bigger and scarier as I climbed. At every turn was a new, more menacing rock puzzle. I was never sure if I'd find a way past the next obstacle, but at this stage I had no choice. It was too dangerous to climb down the boulders I'd scaled. Turning around was no longer possible. Necessity drove me to do some crazy things, like climbing around the edge of a boulder with just my hands (and lousy footholds that would never have held me if I'd slipped).
Finally, I heard some voices above me and knew I had found the trail again. I climbed the final 20 feet and rejoiced when I reached the trail. But I had another problem. The rest of my group wasn't anywhere to be found. They could be further up the trail, or down the trail. Had they stopped to take a break? Or had they outpaced me? I took a chance and walked down, and ran into them about 5 minutes later. I was grateful to find them, and I didn't dare leave the trail again.