Pre-dawn hike with the boys

When your five and seven year-olds tell you they want to get up in the dark and hike a mountain in the snow, well you just have to support that sort of ambition.  Jasper wanted to get up at 2:30AM (not that he understands what part of the night that is), but I pushed our start time back to a more sensible 5:30.

What could possibly inspire young kids to want to insist on getting up in the dark and hiking in 20˚F up a dark snow mountain?  I think it was a combination of things.  We had started in the dark when we hiked Huron this past summer, and that experience still lives large in Jasper’s memory.  Also, I have been trying to hike the ski hill before work once a week, which sets a precedent.  Most recently the boys have been watching Volcano Hunters on Amazon Prime, and in the last episode they watched the guys start their volcano hike in the dark.  Whatever it takes, I suppose.

The sun rose when we were a third of the way up the ski run.  It was beautiful light, and it was pretty special to be up there with my boys.  At one point we looked down to see a lone coyote crossing the ski run below us.

We didn’t make it all the way to the top, which is irrelevant.  Nevertheless we made it higher up the mountain than I had expected; next time we have a decent chance of topping out.  Jasper was a trooper; he doesn’t have proper snow boots at the moment (outgrew them), just some hiking shoes, and the snow was occasionally a foot deep.  Both of them had a great time, and it was some solid father-son bonding time.  I’m proud of them, and glad that I could accommodate their drive to get after it in a way that left them wanting to do it again soon.  I’m not sure that they’ll be capable of carrying their own skis to the top for a little while still, but maybe I’ll motivate to carry mine and theirs if they’re really into it.