Hidden Valley

I love it when the doctor comes to town because I get to sit in with her, soak up her med school wisdom and get paid for it! Yesterday after I got home (early) David asked how I was feeling "physically". I thought nothing and reported no complaints. "You want to go hiking?" Man, what did I get myself into? Why didn't I just exaggerate some complaint of pregnancy? Well, because I try to be honest with my husband.

I hadn't gone hiking more than once with David and I felt very worn out. He's not loving all the sympathy weight and needing to get back out doing stuff, so I agreed to go hiking under the pretense that if there was any pain, cramping or difficulty the hike would be over. Then he tells me that we're going to hike Hidden Valley.

I'd seen Hidden Valley. From the road it looks like a straight shot up to the small, but apparently gorgeous level area about 628 feet up. My measurements may be wrong. We start going and it's easy enough. I actually think I was doing a little better than David as far as keeping going. Then the switchbacks start followed by the dizziness. Now, the higher up I got, the more dizzy I got and the last thing I wanted to do was fall the wrong direction and end up really hurt. I think we made it about halfway and turned around and hiked down. It was very good to get out on such a beautiful day.

As we were coming down we were noticing the mountains in the distance. I asked David how far they were and he said they were about 30 miles. Within minutes it was decided that we would drive up into the mountains. Most times when we talk about going somewhere or doing something, I'm on call and can't leave town or be out of range. Today on call starts so last night was the last night I had to go up into the mountains spontaneously without the ball & chain of the on-call phone in my pocket for a week.

The drive was long and tiring, but it was nice to feel the cool air and see all the gorgeous Aspens. There were several cows up there which I attempted to convince David were "wild cows" because by this time we were in the Manti-LaSal National Forest. He disagreed until we passed a cow on the side of the road and it kicked dirt on our car! If nothing else, it was a fun joke.

I was completely exhausted. This morning about 6:00 I woke up screaming with what seemed like the worst leg cramp in my life. Poor David had no idea what was going on, but he quickly learned and massaged it out. Still a little sore, but working up to a more regular hiking plan, maybe.