Blue Mountain Missoula, Montana

Every day when I drive Chris to school Kathryn says "Mom do you want me to teach you how to climb a mountain?" Missoula is in a valley with beautiful mountains all around us. Wednesday our neighbor asked if Kathryn and I wanted to go for a hike with her and her 2 year old daughter and 5 year old son. A short mile loop in the Blue Mountains. Of course Kathryn and I jumped at the chance to do something fun. Stephanie (neighbor) brought M&M's to coax the children along the path. Although Kathryn did not need coaxing, she had been waiting for this day. We walked along the nature path stopping to look at all kinds of things, a tree that had a camel hump, a beautiful view of the valley, the black on the once burned trees, bugs, etc...
It was fun, but over too quickly for Kathryn. So we drove up the road and found another trail. This time Kathryn took off running far ahead of everyone. I'm picturing her disturbing a bear or mountain lion since there is literally no one around but us. It was a nice leisurly hike, but not really mountain climbing. Kathryn decided to teach us what mountain climbing really is by going off the trail and climbing up to the top of a knob, we all dutifully followed her. Let me say it was no easy task and I could feel my blood pumping through my veins and felt comfort knowing that my neighbor is a doctor. Kathryn did get tired since we were literally climbing and she decided I should carry her since the 2 year old was getting carried by her athletic and fit mother. So I added 30 pounds to my back and kept going. Our goal was to get to where the sun peaked over the top of the knob. Through rocks, branches, and fallen trees. Beat, beat, beat...
I felt good when we made it, like I really accomplished something. Then we had to hike back down watching our feet every step of the way and sliding on my butt at one point. I wonder why I'm not in better shape chasing this wild three year old around. We all slept good that night.