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Writer's pictureLiz

Snyder Family Hikes: That Time We Got Lost and Hiked Down the Wrong Mountain

Military leaders talk often about the concept of resiliency. What it is, what it does and how to attain it. Often, the concept is applied not only to service members, but also their families, since dependents face hardships and frustrations on a regular basis.


Paul and I are committed to helping our three children develop a healthy amount of personal resiliency too. One of the "Snyder Family Rules" that gets quoted often in our house is "Snyders do Hard things."


During a recent family hike, we were quoting this rule ALOT. Because, well, it was a pretty tough hike for a variety of reason....not the least of which was the fact that we got lost, went down a mountain and then had to climb back up in order to backtrack to the correct trail.


Our poor kids.

Our poor feet.

Our poor lungs.


But hey, think of all the resiliency we developed!!! (Perhaps another Snyder rule should be something like, "Snyder's always look for the silver lining" : )


The day began with some disappointment. The hike we'd planned on was rained out - so we pivoted and decided to drive about 40 mins from home to a trail that seemed like a good alternative. The morning was foggy and chilly, but my optimism prevailed -- I promised my family clear skies and fantastic views if only we persisted.

The upside to fog is that it leaves water droplets covering the wildflowers and making them irresistible to me : ) After the first steep accent of the hike, we ridge walked for about an hour, all the while watching the dramatic shifts in cloud cover. We'd get a peek of mountains and valleys for a second or two before the clouds would close and we'd be left in the grey in-between.

Soon, however, the kids began to weary of drippy flowers and fast moving condensation. While I didn't mind all the amazing photo backdrops, I did begin to pray in earnest that our choice to hike would be rewarded with clearer skies and worthwhile views. At a certain point Paul turned on some dance music, which helped lift the moods (and who knew that Jack had such sweet moves!)

Finally, we reached the last leg of the hike before climbing to the craggy peak of McHugh mountain. If you took some time, stood and observed the landscape, you'd notice all the tell-tale signs of mammoth glaciers and their movements thousands and thousands of years ago. In fact, the peak of McHugh looks like it was spared the shearing nature of a moving glacier leaving it looking like a pointed crown at the top of a sloped mountain (see the above picture where Meg is running...the peak is visible in the top right hand side of the frame.) So very cool. Once we reached the boulders of the the peak, we spent some time exploring. Paul also scared the kids half to death with his rock climbing antics, and I think my Mother might have died a little inside as she Facetimed with me from the top...but overall it was lovely. The clouds cleared and the views of the Turnagain Arm and surrounding mountains were worth the effort. Phew.

After a few final pictures, a chance encounter with a marmot and some careful maneuvering, we made it back down from the rocky peak. I managed to catch a glimpse of a herd of dall sheep, some with fully curled horns! They raced down the slope before I could get my iphone out and photo app opened, however. Ah well. We then began the trek back down along the ridge. My phone had died at this point and Paul's was on it's last few bars. We didn't think much of that and just enjoyed the now clear views of Anchorage and beyond.

OK....so all that was awesome. But we were ready to be done and on our way home. After all, we'd already climbed over two thousand feet across five miles.


And then the mishap happened :( You see, due to the fog, we hadn't been able to see our surroundings and remember landmarks during the trip up. So on the way back, with phones out of battery, we had only our sketchy memories of the trail to help us. This didn't seem like much of a problem until we came to a fork in the trail. Oh dear. After a quick conference where we all revealed totally different memories of the initial hike, we decided on a trail and made our way down the mountain.


I'm sure you can guess the end of this story. By the time we reached the bottom and rounded a hill, it became apparent that we had chosen poorly. No parking lot greeted us. Faced with the options of bushwacking through some really heavy foliage for an unknown period of time, or retracing our step back up the mountain, we made the later choice. Bears were about (we'd seen scat) and our batteries were dead. Sigh. Sometimes doing the responsible thing means hiking up a mountain when exhausted.


But here's the thing: we did it. There were tears. There were moments of almost freak-outs, but in the end, all three of the kids (along with their parents) made it back up and over that mountain.


That's resiliency. (But also a lesson in why you should always bring an external battery so you can look up a trail when your memory fails : )

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