This month for our visiting teaching visit, my friends Heather Patin, Heather Long, & I got together with Heather's friend Amy for a little hike. Heather Long suggested we check out the Dam at Lake Hodges, which I had driven by hundreds of times, but never walked up to before. We walked up to the base of it and explored around the little "rooms" underneath the dam. I was surprised to find open arched doorways that led into different open areas under the dam. There was a lot of graffiti, which brightened the place up. We walked through reeds and across trickling streams, trying to avoid the stinging nettles. We climbed up the far hillside to where we could see steps descending from the hillside down onto the top of the dam. We walked across the dam, only to encounter a security guard who seemed very concerned for our safety (I was pretty nervous there for a while that she was going to call in a rescue team to get us down [which would have been entirely unnecessary], or else call someone in to give us a fine or a ticket or something). We made our way back down, apologized to the security guard (and informed her that there were no "no trespassing" or warning signs along the base of the dam or the hillside where we climbed up to get on the dam, and went on our way, glad that she didn't do anything other than tell us it was trespassing and that we should have known better because it was so dangerous. It was a lot of fun -- a 1-time adventure to that location for me. The other part of it that I especially enjoyed was learned just how adventurous Heather P. & Heather L. are -- they were totally up for the challenge and didn't worry about getting a little dirty. And Amy conquered her fear of hights and made it to the top (and back down again) just fine. It was lots of fun! We're all looking forward to making it a monthly tradition to take a hike or explore a new local location.
This month for our visiting teaching visit, my friends Heather Patin, Heather Long, & I got together with Heather's friend Amy for a little hike. Heather Long suggested we check out the Dam at Lake Hodges, which I had driven by hundreds of times, but never walked up to before. We walked up to the base of it and explored around the little "rooms" underneath the dam. I was surprised to find open arched doorways that led into different open areas under the dam. There was a lot of graffiti, which brightened the place up. We walked through reeds and across trickling streams, trying to avoid the stinging nettles. We climbed up the far hillside to where we could see steps descending from the hillside down onto the top of the dam. We walked across the dam, only to encounter a security guard who seemed very concerned for our safety (I was pretty nervous there for a while that she was going to call in a rescue team to get us down [which would have been entirely unnecessary], or else call someone in to give us a fine or a ticket or something). We made our way back down, apologized to the security guard (and informed her that there were no "no trespassing" or warning signs along the base of the dam or the hillside where we climbed up to get on the dam, and went on our way, glad that she didn't do anything other than tell us it was trespassing and that we should have known better because it was so dangerous. It was a lot of fun -- a 1-time adventure to that location for me. The other part of it that I especially enjoyed was learned just how adventurous Heather P. & Heather L. are -- they were totally up for the challenge and didn't worry about getting a little dirty. And Amy conquered her fear of hights and made it to the top (and back down again) just fine. It was lots of fun! We're all looking forward to making it a monthly tradition to take a hike or explore a new local location.
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