31 Things I Learned in 2009...Day 3

What I learned: YOU CAN BE STANDING ON A SCARY LEDGE, BUT YOU ARE PERFECTLY SAFE

How I learned it: One morning Charles and I had made some plans that had fallen through so we decided to grab breakfast from the Native Bagel in Wellsboro and go hike the path at Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon/Leonard Harrison State Park. Since I am game to try just about anything, I was ready. I put on my heavy boots, long johns, big coat and hat and was ready for our hike. We took Kiwi because she just loves these kinds of outings. Charles explained to me that the path was a series of switch back trails that lead down to the canyon falls. He also explained that it was a 2 mile hike to the bottom, which he estimated would take us about 1 hour down and 1 hour (2 more miles) back up. If you know me, or have seen a photo of me, you know that "Jen" and "physically fit" do not usually go together so I was a little nervous about making it-or worse yet, make it to the bottom and not be able to make it back up! I told Charles, and he being the kind husband that he is said we would only go as far as I was comfortable with. Off we went! It was GLORIOUS! The views were magnificent! I took tons of photos which let me take many mini breaks as we went down. After about 30 minutes my knees were NOT happy at the steep declines and I had to go slow. What made it worse was that our hike was during the fall and the leaves were falling and it had recently rained...which made the ground slippery. I slipped a couple of times and was going VERY slow! What my sweet husband failed to mention was that the pathway was supremely narrow at spots and with the huge drop offs it was pretty spooky at times. Kiwi was fearless, never considering the heights she just trotted along. Charles has vertigo so I was pretty much on my own walking those tiny spots along the path. I have never had any fear of heights, but at one point I became truly and utterly frozen in fear. I was standing on a 14-16" ledge, looking down about a 150' drop. I couldn't move forward and I couldn't move back. I couldn't even take baby steps-I was stuck. I called to Charles to help, but knew that if he looked down, he would be a goner too. He came right over and reached out to put my hands on a root and quietly talked me through the steps to move me back to a safer spot. I stood there for a few moments knowing that I was not going to "conquer" the rest of the hike and decided to head back up. But I realized that I had learned something...no matter how high, how narrow, how scary my "ledge" might be, I know that I am perfectly safe because I am wearing sturdy shoes, there is always a root to grab a hold of to make me feel secure and there will be someone there to help guide me when I call out for help.