We had such a crazy adventure recently. Here's the story (It's a long one!):
We were invited by our friends to go tubing down the river this last Saturday and thought it would be fun to go. We found a babysitter for Kyla but couldn't find any tubes to rent so we ended up buying one at the last minute. We drove to Warm River and nobody knew where anyone was going. We thought our friends knew and they probably thought that we knew. The thing with floating a river is that you have to have one car at the ending point and a car at the beginning point and you have to be floating in a safe spot. We all ended up just driving a little past a campground after leaving one car there; the water was really calm and we saw some people tubing already so we drove another mile or two further hoping to get into the same calm water. Our friends mentioned that when they came last year they went down a path a little ways before getting in the water. We parked and saw a trail leading down the mountainside so we took it. The more we walked the less trail we had but we kept going until we got to the river bank. In the meantime **Lucy (all names are changed) ended up braking one of her sandals in the mud. We finally made it to the river and tried to get onto our tubes. As we got ready to float, one of the guys tubes sunk to the bottom when he tried sitting on it (which wasn't a surprise because of the size of tube he was using). So me and Marie had to share one tube. We got it all worked out and floated for about 1 min when I fell off our shared tube and went completely under the water. Sharing was out of the question now. One of us would have to walk. We couldn't walk back to the path we came from because walking upstream was impossible. We all decided to wade in the water for awhile and hoped that the rapids would calm down a bit. Well, it didn't. As we walked for the next hour the mountain side to the right grew steeper and higher. We eventually had to make a huge decision on what was to happen next since there was a drop off in the river and there was no way around it. The only thing left to do was to climb the steep mountain hoping it would lead us back to our car. It was all bushes, trees, weeds, grass, thistles, and thorns. By this point, Marie had lost both of her shoes down the river, the tube that we just bought popped, and Lucy still had only one shoe. We decided that we should to leave all the tubes behind because there was no possible way we'd be able to climb the mountain with them in our hands. Hyrum rushed up ahead of us to check out if the climb was going to be possible. While he was figuring out the best way to go, and within the first 2 minutes of climbing, pregnant Lucy slipped and fell backwards into a thorn bush/tree. It was at this point that I thought climbing was going to be impossible and was never going work. I thought, "If we ever make it even 1/2 way up this mountain and one of us falls, we will all fall and be seriously injured or killed." Luckily Lucy was alright except for her bleeding legs from the thorns. She didn't hit her head which is what we were all worried about. It looked worse than it actually was. At least that's what Lucy admitted anyway.
Lucy's brother John volunteered to scale the mountain up to the road so he could get the car and call for help if needed. Luckily he had been in the army in Iraq just a few months earlier so he was the most physically fit for the job. He brought a tube with him to mark his spot on the road so he knew where we were. After he left we started climbing. The only way we were able to get anywhere was to hold onto some sturdy weeds or branches and pull ourselves up. My feet slipped more times than I could count and I hung on for dear life. Marie was walking up the mountain barefoot not wanting to take anyone else's shoes. Lucy was climbing with one shoe and hauling herself and her baby-to-be around. Lucy's husband was behind her helping her. I was behind Lucy's husband, Marie behind me, and Hyrum behind everyone. All in all...very scary.
As I was climbing up the mountain I was thinking of what I needed to learn from this experience. Although much came to my mind, I couldn't help but think of the Pioneers and what a perfect way to celebrate Pioneer day. We were in our swimsuits, barefooted, and empty handed. Although the pioneers had at least decent clothes on our situation was, in a very small way, similar to theirs. They most likely had to climb mountains just like the one we did, except they had handcarts, covered wagons, oxen, children and babies. Not to mention they were hungry, sick, weak and tired. We only climbed a mountain for 2 hours; they climbed one for 12 or more. As I was thinking about this, I had more faith. I wanted to get up this mountain.
We did end up making it to the top. Well, not to the road, but there was a bike bath that lead right into the campsite we parked at. We walked another hour and finally saw our destination! We were so grateful we made it back before dark. We got to the car and drove to the place John was waiting for us at. He was actually on the phone with 911 as we pulled up and was seconds away from telling them they needed to send a rescue team. Through it all...I don't think I'll ever go tubing again. At least not for a long time.
This is what the bike path looked like. The mountain was 3 times as high and the water was not even close to being this calm.
Even though there were moments I was scared and didn't know what could happen, I knew Heavenly Father was with me. He helped me through it all. I know that I am becoming a better person from the lessons I have learned from this experience. Heavenly Father has a plan and purpose for each of us and I know that is true!
