Four mile trail to Yosemite is a challenging yet breath taking hike up to Glacier Point of Yosemite National Park. It is called four mile trail but it is actually 4,6 miles for one way.
I and my friend found going up was very tough. Not to mention carrying water and snacks was another burden. However, none of those could prevent us from keeping going because the view and the scene were awe-inspiring. The higher we got to, the more tired yet excited we were. After about 30 minutes, we started to take breaks more often. Adding to the tiredness and the soreness, seeing other people going down happily was both motivating and confusing. Motivating because they made it, so can we. Confusing because how they could be that happy after a long journey and because we had not got there yet to feel it.
Hiking a bit more, we started to greet the hikers and to cheer them up for getting there. Then there was an old man who crossed by and when my friend asked him how far from the point we were to the Glacier Point, he shake his head and asked: “Do you guys have water?” — Us: “Yes”/ Him: “How many bottles?” — Us: “3”/Him: “Let me give you one more, you guys are still pretty far to the top, you guys are only one fourth of the whole journey”. We looked at each other with confusing faces and thought “What do you mean?! We have made it so far and you are saying that this is only one tiny part?? That must not be true”. We still thanked him for the bottle of water even though it was already opened because that was so nice of him.
Regardless of that warning, we actually got more firm about the goal of making it to the top and of not giving up in the middle. Some parts of the hike were very scary, steep, and slippery. I am afraid of height so I got a sorta mix of fear and of excitement. It was as if we do not watch out for every step we could die by falling down from the edge, there was no border to protect. Far away and around are magnificent and giant rocks. Down below are trees and slope. The amazing scene definitely outweighs the fear and bone weariness, it was so worth it.
Nevertheless, that voice of the old man was still somewhere back in our minds, especially whenever it got challenging. It reminds me of moments in life when people around you have doubt on you that you might not make it and that what you are doing seems crazy and out of their minds. Those people might not be completely strangers and random to us, they could be our family, our friends and our beloved whom we care about. How tough? That is usually when we question ourselves whether we should move on with what we believe or whether we should listen to them because they experienced it and they should know better than us. Then comes a strong and powerful voice of “No, I don’t think so, I think I can do it”, that is when we get enough courage to go against convention and expertise. Now, to get there, it might not be that easy and simple. Lots of doubts, confusion, and figuring out in between. Although it might be easier and clearer to some people who always have a strong belief in themselves, it all takes us courage to reach it and to get through it.
I and my friend took that warning as a bottom line to keep us going and to leave behind all the NOs, maybe to prove that we are right rather than they are wrong, or maybe not about right and wrong at all but how brave we are. The great thing is none of us knows for sure, it might seems scary to take a step yet once we do it, it feels so much better. The warning is just there as an integral part to strengthen ourselves of how much willing we are for the journey, it just makes it more meaningful. It is there so that at the end we can proudly say “Yes, I did it!! We made it!”. It is there to prove that our will is sometimes way bigger than our capability.
After all, getting to the top, we learnt that the journey matters more than the destination and going down was too easy that we miss the going up part and the nerve of whether we can make it. We all need to go up to go down, isn’t it?
