Hiking Mountains

Having visitors from the United States is always a good excuse to play tourist in our own region of France.  After a tough team meeting on Tuesday, we jumped in the car with our visiting friends and headed into the Chartreuse Mountains.

About an hour from our house we parked along the side of the road next to several other cars.  It was the perfect day for a hike, and this was a hike that Jordan had been looking forward to for months.

Map in hand, we started up a trail, but the men quickly decided that we should be going a different direction.  We turned around and soon found clear trail markers.

Or so we thought.

As we began, we marveled at the steep ascend on the rocky terrain.  But we continued:  onward and upward, leaving enough space between each other for the falling rocks.

We continued up this steep and challenging path, following trail markers, for about an hour before I finally said, "Are we sure this is going to even out somewhere?"  I didn't want to complain, but I was definitely anxious about the trek down.  While we were following the red and white markers, we hadn't seen any other hikers, and it was only getting more difficult.  Once again, the men pulled out the map.  And once again, they concluded that we should have been going in a different direction.

We turned around and surfed [or slid] our way back down the mountain - fortunately with nothing more than a few scrapes and bruises and with lots of laughter.

We did eventually find the right trail - not far from our original starting point.  It, too, was steep, but it was a dirt path, clearly carved out for the benefit of hikers.

We're guessing that the first path we followed was actually a boundary line between two national forests rather than a trail.  Though there's no real way of knowing.

As we laughed over our adventure, Jordan said to our friends, "You know, I think this gives you a good picture of our life in France."  Living outside of our passport country, functioning in our second language, we always wonder if we're on the right trail.  

Oh, we're certain that this is where God wants us to be, but we're never certain if we are crossing inappropriate [cultural] boundaries.  Things are always more challenging to us in this foreign land and language so it's hard to know if there's a better, more effective or efficient way of doing things or not.    

So we just keep going.  Climbing up.  Trying not to fall.  Laughing - sometimes in order to prevent us from crying.  Hoping that we're heading in the right direction with an amazing view at the top.

Dan and Esther - thanks for coming to visit!