Surface or Destination?

 We didn't know what we were getting into. We knew we wanted to hike. We knew we wanted to go up Mount Greylock, elevation 3,491 feet.
Our plan was to drive nearly to the top and then to hike around and have a little picnic. The problem was that the park hadn't opened all of the trails yet.

 
 So we decided on a three mile trail that would lead us up to the mountaintop. The trail was on the map, offered as a suggestion by the park ranger. No one and nowhere did it say the hike was in a river bed. Sometimes, the trail would follow a footpath through the woods, but most of the hiking was along or in, a mostly, but not quite, dry riverbed.

 It was rocky. It was muddy. It was slippery. It was dangerous. And it was UPHILL. All the way. The entire 3,491 feet!

 But we knew where we wanted to go. We used the map. We took suggestions from other hikers. And we lifted our eyes from the trial of the trail.

 Great beauty surrounded us. A peaceful alpine lake curved through a marshy mountain of moss.

Hope led us to our destination. Cool breezes blew across our sweat streaked faces as we gazed on the vast beauty laid out before us.

I know where I want to go. I have a plan of what the path should be like. I have a map and the encouragement of other hikers. Sometimes the road is paved and easy, and sometimes it is rocky, slimy , and dangerous. The road only leads up, all the way. But the hope of a view beyond compare will keep this hiker going.