LaVerne & Shirley's Excellent Adventure!!

Here we are on one of our LaVerne & Shirley Hikes



I’m not exactly sure what possessed three very intelligent (or so I thought)
“60 something” ladies to hike the perimeter of Timothy Lake. Maybe it was the need to do it one more time before...you know… everything gives out. I heard the bladder is the first to go and I can’t imagine hiking anywhere with wet pants, let alone 13 miles around the lake. OK after yesterday I can imagine hiking with wet pants…I’ll get into that later.

We left Bethany at 8:00 AM sharp…back packs…food and water jugs and more than ready for this adventure. We met newly weds Thor and Christine and their 3 children at the lake and at exactly 10:05 we hit the trail with high expectations. Now different people have different reasons for hiking and I hike just because I love nature and gabbing with friends. When packing my fanny pack I crammed all the food it would hold and filled my 22 ounce water bottle. Heck yea 22 ounces is enough water…I was worried about not having enough food. That was my first mistake…and believe me when I say there were many more “mistakes” along the way.

#1….I already mentioned my thinking 13 miles would be a walk in the park. “We can do it”, was our chant. We started out dodging horse poop alone the way and I couldn’t help thinking, “I wish they would clean up after their animals”. With a frown and averted eyes I would step around the obnoxious odor. At approx the half way mark I was just barely missing the poop (feet too tired to step much out of the way) and I no longer required my rests to be “poop Free”.

#2….Oh if I could do it all over again…if only God would give me a do over…I would take more water. If only I had taken more water I would not be known by new friends Thor and Christine “as the woman who steals water”. Yes I admit it and as I write this I must admit that’s not one of my finest moments. Half-way through the hike my bottle is empty and with mouth dry…a headache and seeing water mirages…OK maybe I exaggerate some…we came upon a campsite and there on their picnic table is a HUGE bottle of water. I asked if I could have some of their water..nobody answered…and I was reasonable sure that if they would have been there they would have said yes.

#3….OK the wet pants thing. I think we were probably 8 miles or so into the hike and we had lost our fearless leaders but just as we turned the bend there they were in the lake with water up to their neck. OK so who said you needed a swim suit to jump in a lake….shorts and t-shirts worked very fine I might add. After a 30-45 minute water break we were continuing our hike with dripping pants but totally revived.

#4...I think mistake number four is not realizing exactly how far thirteen miles really is. Ardis put it in prospective for us at about the eight mile marker when she made here excellent observation, "do you realize 13 miles is like me walking from my house t o Woodburn". The hike, or should I say plodding, by that point was no longer fun. It was not a walk in the park. It was an extreme test of our character and heat indurance. I so totally wanted to whine at that point...but we plodded along with our blisters hurting...our hips grinding (at that age, yes our hips do grind) my wet pants rubbing my upper thighs sore...fly's so big they tried to carry me off...and horse poop on my shoes (too tired at this point to step over it) I was no longer interested in looking at the beautiful scenery, or chattiing for that matter. Thor tried endless times to point out to us the wild flowers...yes, yes big deal...for the 30th time the lake is beautiful..now how far is it agian to the car.

Thanks Thor and Christine for escorting three senior ladies on our excellent adventure. After Thor's 15th time of walking back to see what haooened to us he told us the car is just over the dam. Did I believe him? No I did not. He had tried that ploy many times with "just one more mile". We parted with hugs all around so I think we are still friends.