Tumbledown Mountain

For months we have had an overnight backpacking trip planned during our week in Maine. It has been a dream of ours to rough it out in the rustic mountains of Maine since before we even left on this trip. This past weekend was our great opportunity. Not heeding the warnings of virtually every Maine resident we spoke with, Stephanie, Rachel (friend from college), Jesse, and I headed to Tumbledown Mountain to see what we could climb.

The dirt road to the trailhead was full of holes and nearly impassable but Sedg (our van) was loyal and delivered us safely. We hopped out of the van with excitement in our steps and noisy chatter in the air. This mountain was ours to conquer. We headed up a break in the brush that appeared to be a path. It may not have been, we still don’t really know, but we knew we were headed upwards and this trail seemed worthy of our effort. At just over an hour into the hike we looked up and saw snow on the tops of the trees in the distance. This is what we had been warned about. Without snow shoes, the trails in Maine during the month of April tend be rather treacherous. After crossing a raging stream we marched on, ignoring the impracticality of the situation while enjoying the humor as we often found ourselves falling thigh-high deep in snow drifts. We reached the tree line of the mountain about two hours into the hike, observing the swirling clouds above our heads and feeling the temperature drop by about 20 degrees. As we climbed some large rocks to look out over a beautiful lake nestled in the mountains of Maine, we were nearly knocked over by the gale-force winds that were brewing at the top of the mountain. (Apparently when people in Maine tell you not to hike yet, they’re not just trying to keep their mountains to themselves. Point noted.) After not even reaching the true peak of the mountain we decided we had best turn back. Soaked and wet, we stopped for hot tea on the way down and then spent the rest of the afternoon lying in the woods of Maine talking over life issues for more than 3 hours. The sun finally came out as we were lying in the woods of Maine chatting instead of hiking. It was an incredible conversation about our struggles, what God is revealing to us, what we are learning, and about our dreams…one of those exchanges that you wish you could have the script to look back on and read years later because the sharing was so meaningful.

We never reached the summit of Tumbledown Mtn that day, nor did we sleep in the woods of Maine that night. We didn’t really accomplish any of the big goals we had set out with that morning, but God had other plans, more important plans for us. Instead we discussed life, climbed a tree together, and then had a picnic dinner of power bars and beef jerky on the top of our van. The perfect ending to a beautiful day. And in the process God reminded me of what life is really about…it’s not about always reaching the top: it’s about enjoying the journey of life, even when you are tumbling down.

Kelly