Mountaintop experience

During a lull in the patients a group of folks started walking / climbing the hill that the clinic was setup next to.

After the first group was well on their way, beyond where we could see them, a second group of four decided to join them. I was in the second group.

Not long after we had gotten on our way, we started to look back and see that we probably should have given this journey a bit more thought. When we reached a small plateau, we looked down and saw that we had made it quite far, but also that the path down would be a bit more difficult than any of us had considered.

Being in a situation when you realize you should not have begun, but couldn't simply turn away from is strange. It was beautiful from where we were, it would be much more beautiful higher up (plus we might encounter the first group in hopes that one of the local climbers would have a bit more insight as to how to come down).

We determined to continue onward. As we went on, we realized another thing as we panted...

No one brought water. At 6,000 + feet elevation at the base of the mountain, we could be in more trouble the more we climbed. We plodded on.

When we finally reached the next plateau (beyond the sight line of the base and our clinic), we finally saw the first group. We also were greeted cheerfully with hellos and requests for water! (Oops).

After a while we decided to take a group photo and begin the path down. Thankfully for technology, Jake had his iPhone and we could see where we were against a satellite view of the switchbacks that led to our portion of the mountain base.

Keeping the best climbers in the front, we found the safest route along the rocky path. After a time, the path became quite steep, so we alternated an adult holding the hand of a younger climber.

And thus, we slowly made our way back to the clinic.

Fun!