Jr. JdF

Where to begin? On Friday, I set out with 30 other hikers to a grand beach where we stopped for our comfort-food lunches and played on the overhanging rope swing that was tied to a tree at the top of a cliff edge. It didn't quite fit my "safety first" guidelines, but I tried it out anyways, because it brought back memories of the first time I'd visited the Island.  After lunch it took us all about another hour to get ourselves back together and hike to our destination point, 6k away.

Not only was it a beautiful day to hike, it was a beautiful day to play follow-the-leader. My sister, Tor, was awarded job as "bear bell" (as written, the man who wards off bears with his bell) and lead our group through the deep evergreen forests. This basically meant big sister (aka: me) couldn't go ahead of her at any cost, and even though Tor never mentioned this, I know she was feeling quite dominant over me that day.

Our hike was sunny. We all got a little colour, but that was better than mosquitoes, which we saw none of. The sun actually didn't think about disappearing until about ten o'clock and it was glorious. The sunset was pink and yellow haze, and it seemed to vanish around the corner of the cliffs in the distance. Quite a sight!

 It was a refreshing starter hike to this adventurous summer and some newbies also joined us for a first-time experience. It was a great crowd, who ranged from age 5-50-ish and all together we were a loud and rowdy bunch, climbing trees, hunting for crabs, rock-jumping up the river and for the older folks, walking around with a mug of the hot brew and talking about family matter. I myself was a mixture of these two groups. Chasing crabs with their speedy crawling ability, I impressed the little boys, who, by the way, were convinced I had the magic touch to finding "crab kingdoms" under the rocks. On the other I was drawn to taking it slow and sitting back, snapping pictures and enjoying small talk with the more mature adventurers. All-in-all, it was a fabulous group of friends, new and old, and I gathered some great memories, in pictures and in my heart.

I was quick to notice every familiar thing about this hike because once upon a time I, myself, at a younger age walked down the same path. "Hey that tree is familiar! Look! I think I've seen these rocks before. Oh, there's that creek again..." It was like watching a movie for the second time, I saw the big image because it was hard to forget and remembered the little, tiny parts that really stuck to me. It was also a funny hike because I realized it was my 2-year anniversary of meeting my Island friends. Oh the good old sea-folk...