Realization.

 I tend to put myself in situations where things could get really bad.  I don't know if you have seen my posting of the two lovely rattlesnakes I ran into this weekend while hiking but I'm going to talk about it on here.  The pictures I have changed on this blog are pictures from where we went hiking.  A beautiful park called McDowell Mountains regional park which is 45 min Northeast of where we live.  It's the most beautiful place I have been around the Phoenix area. Miles and miles of hiking trails and you feel like your in the middle of nowhere.  Hiking at dusk is a must in this desert because of the heat, once the sun is low in the sky the temperatures cool off.  Well that's the time of day snakes like to come out from their homes and say hello.  I've been hiking in multiple states, multiple parks, and I am aware of my dangers in each location.  I've seen bears but they were in the far distance.  I've heard coyotes that sound very close but again are in the distance.  I don't hike with protection, I don't have a gun or a knife, neither do the people I hike with.  I had no protection against one of the world's deadliest snakes all I could do was freeze and feel my entire body start to shake.  When they are shaking their rattle it means you better back up or I'm going to bite your sorry ass.  So that's what I did I walked away from it and tried to walk around it.  Thank God I looked down because there was another one right in my path. 

 I honestly have never in my life been this scared.  The only other time when I thought my life was in real danger was when I went whitewater rafting down the New River through some major class five rapids with gigantic boulders two feet away from my skull.  We eventually had to walk back past the snakes because it was the only way out.  We were in a dried up river bed and were completely surrounded by thick brush. Cody was so calm and smart about the situation, I don't know what I would have done if I were alone.  I probably would have ran back up the trail and called the police and had me helicoptered out! But we got through it and we made it back to the car where I continued to freak out until I was safe and sound at home. 

 (I did not take this, Cody did and the zoom was on)

 I guess what I learned from this experience is that you can either keep doing what you love or you can stop doing what you love because of the dangers.  There was a moment when the thought ran through my head "I am never ever hiking again, this is stupid I could have died" but I immediately regretted that thought. I have big dreams of hiking in Yosemite, dreams of hiking in Alaska and even in New Zealand.  I'm going to be hiking in areas where Grizzles live and where Wolves live.  I sometimes forget that I am in their territory, it's not my home it belongs to them and I need to understand that there is a potential that I could seriously be harmed.  I would rather die doing what I love than sit around on my ass doing something I don't love. It's the moments when I'm hiking that shape the person I want to become.  When you put yourself miles and miles away from civilization you really start to see what matters. The best times in my life have been hiking just with Cody alone on a long trail.  You really get to know someone when it's just the two of you and hours of walking to a location you have never been. You build trust and appreciation for that other person.  Get out on a trail with your loved one and I guarantee you will learn more things about them then you thought you could ever know.