Hiking |

Devils Head Trails.

What an experience. Driving farther/up into the mountains that have been a huge part of our view while in Colorado. I have gazed with wonder at the rain, the haze, the beauty of these rocks.

We started our Labor Day with donuts for the kids and a quick shopping trip for the Hubby and me to the outlet mall we have been passing for a week. ( BTW, we bought a few things at the Gap and further realized we are not name brand people, nor comfortable in Suburbia – but that is for another post.)

After lunch and half way up the road to the hiking trail, I had a panic attack. Yep, that happened. I was driving. “Honey, its no problem for me to drive, it is your day off. Go ahead and nap on the way.”

Off road, narrow road, busy road, UP HILL, in a mini van…

No cell signal. No sight of our friends, whom we were following, up these twists and turns.

I have had only one other big, while driving, panic attack before. Almost 9 years ago. In the middle of a blizzard, heading to a funeral, 8 months pregnant. Emotions were high.

Yesterday, I finally found a place to pull over, get out of the vehicle, walk to a fence post, and hang on for dear life. Bless my husband. He admitted later that he wasn’t the best help. He kept telling me that my actions weren’t helping and to get in the van. I made him hold me till I could breathe again.

5 min later, he was driving and I was shaking in the front seat, up the rest of the road to Devils Head.

I was super upset with myself. Been looking forward to hiking since we had arrived in Colorado. I wanted the challenge of different terrain, while enjoying the beauty of the mountains and forest. Why was I freaking out about a road/drive?!

But isn’t that life? We look forward to a challenge, a change, and when it comes, it usually comes with an ‘extra’ we didn’t foresee or plan for. Blah. No matter how strong we are, we all have our moments of weakness where we allow fear to overwhelm us.

The Bible tells us 365 times… DO NOT FEAR. It all works out. Time passes, pain lessens. But then fear doesn’t listen to reason. It attacks. Reminds us that we are human and can not do all things on our own. No matter how tough we think we are. We have to let ‘someone’ else take the wheel.

We had a great time. It was beautiful. The drive down was fine. We took a different road, one a little less traveled because of its twists and turns. Had way better views. Hubby drove. I took deep breathes. Glad we have this memory. Really.

FYI – click on a group of photos to enlarge 🙂