Hike to Strong's Creek

A couple of weeks ago, I took these adorable children up a trail that began at Marquardt Park.
The matching hats and water bottle holders were given to them by Paula at a super fun birthday party for Heidi the night before.

The only other adult besides me was an amazing 17-year-old who is visiting Heidi (her auntie) from Texas for several weeks. I was seriously impressed by this girl who is getting ready for her senior year and has already secured a full-ride scholarship from the U of U in the Pre-Med program. She's going to go to Guatemala for a week next year on a medical service mission. She rode on an elevator with Princess Di at a Canadian resort when she was 4-years-old. When I asked her what she likes to do, she said, "Read and learn." Okay, seriously, if I can somehow raise a daughter who is beautiful, responsible, polite, intelligent, and accomplished who likes to "read and learn" as hobbies, I will be very happy about that.

So, we hiked and hiked along a beautiful trail. Luckily, Paula's 12-year-old knew where to go because I didn't. About 3/4 of the way up, my kids wanted to turn back because they were hot and tired and their feet hurt.
The resting spot where my kids insisted they were too tired to go on, with Melissa, our fearless leader standing in back.

The idea behind our weekly hiking club is that, if we can keep the kids hiking through the whiny years, they will like to hike by the time they get older instead of being sulky teens who adamantly refuse to participate. I kept telling my kids, "You will feel so rewarded for sticking with it when we get to the top."

Sure enough, we eventually made it to this bridge.
Note that Soph is hanging from the railing and her feet are not touching the ground/creek below. Also note E-Man's position at the rail which hits him right at the waist.

As the kids ran around splashing in the creek, they truly did feel rewarded and said things like, "We never ever want to leave this place!" Then, as I sat there watching them play, E-Man suddenly had a horrible accident right before my eyes. I was just a couple of feet away as I watched him flip over the railing and hit head first on a large boulder about 5-feet below (refer to photo above and see flat boulder where girl in green is standing to see just how far he fell).

It was so terrible to witness. It seemed like he was falling in slow motion, yet, I couldn't get there in time. And, all the while I was screaming. Quick as lightning, I pulled him out of the stream and laid him down on the bridge. He was crying and blood was streaming across his face. My greatest concern was his forehead since I saw it take the brunt of the headfirst fall onto solid rock!!!

Kate (said future pre-med student) silently slipped off her sock and dipped it into the stream since we didn't have a thing to wipe the blood away with (note to self: Take first aid kit hiking). Once we got the blood wiped away, we could see that his nose and upper lip were only scratched. A nasty bruise and goose egg were forming on his forehead, but I was calming down and thinking, "My kids have had worse bumps than that from jumping on the bed."

We had been hiking for about an hour, but, luckily, we had passed a parking lot about 20 minutes down the trail. I picked up E-Man and carried him all the way, since the adrenaline gave me superhuman strength. Thanks to my handy cell phone, Paula met us at the parking lot and drove us to our car.
Not feeling so great after the big fall.

I felt sure that we were headed straight to the ER, but by the time we got to the parking lot, E-Man was already laughing and acting like a normal happy kid.
Still managing a smile as we wait for Paula the rescue vehicle driver to arrive.

I decided to hold off and watch him for a few hours, and, can you believe he was O.K.? I have no idea how we evaded a broken bone, stitches or a concussion. I feel like his guardian angel cushioned the fall.
At home, after a nice bath, all bandaged up.

It was a full hour after the incident that I was preparing the kids' lunch when I noticed my hands were still shaking. It was THAT bad of a fall. We are so grateful that the injuries were minor this time.