Sunrise Hike...

When I realized that the weekend of the Brighton Reunion was going to be the same weekend that marks one year from when I discovered my cancer... I immediately had a great big goal in mind. Up at Brighton they do a hike called the sunrise hike where you wake up at 3 AM and hike to the top of a mountain peak and watch the sunrise. It was one of my favorite hikes when I worked there and I used to gladly made the sacrifice to wake up at that awful hour to watch the sunrise. Once I realized they would be doing this hike at the reunion on the morning of July 31 (one year from discovering my lump) I really really wanted to do this. It just seemed like such a huge thing, to be able to make it to the top of this mountain peak exactly a year later and be there when the sun came up.

I knew that it would be a stretch... that only four months after finishing chemo I might not be up to hiking for three hours to see the sunrise. This was the main reason why I've been trying to push myself to exercise and get some energy back so that I would be able to do this hike. I didn't tell very many people about this goal because I didn't want others to know how completely disappointed I would be if it didn't happen.

I had asked around to some of my Brighton friends that I knew would be there if they were planning on doing the hike... so that I wouldn't be alone! Once I got sick I knew there was no way on earth that I would be able to do the hike. I was pretty sad about it, but I decided that just being able to be up at Brighton would be enough...

When I got up to camp my good friend Pebblez asked me if I was planning on doing the hike. I told her how I had been so sick and I knew that there was no way I would physically be able to do it. I told her how it was the one year anniversary of finding my cancer and how I really wanted to do this, but it wasn't going to happen. Well... Miss Pebblez is good friends with the Camp Director Floss (the head of Brighton Camp) as am I... and she went and talked to Floss and got special permission to take me on the four wheeler up to the saddle and then we would hike the rest of the way to the top. Someone even had to ride down the canyon that night to get extra gas for the four wheeler so that we could make the trip. Pebblez husband who was there even went the night before to make sure he could get the four wheeler around the fence on the road so that we could make the trip. I tell you... I have never been so touched that someone would do something like this for me. Really, I just cry whenever I think about it.

So that was that! This dream I have had all year of making it to the top of the mountain was going to come true. I was so excited... this hike was pretty much the highlight of the trip for me. I have always called this mountain Mount Majestic... but it is also called Clayton's Peak. I'm sure that I knew that, but I had forgotten that until the night before when they were announcing the leaving time and details of the hike. Clayton's Peak... this hike suddenly had even more meaning for me than before.

Here I am pointing at Clayton's Peak. If you look close towards the top of the mountain you see a little road. That's the saddle that we road the four wheeler to and we hiked the rest of the way to the top.

So Saturday morning I was up and ready by 4 AM to make the ride. Zazu and Pebblez (hubby and wife) woke up to take me on the ride. I asked Zazu if he was planning on doing this hike if it wasn't to ride me up and he said no. Isn't that so nice of him! Plus they have three adorable little kids they had to go home to that day and they still woke up at the crack of dawn to do this for me.

Here we are at the saddle (this pic was after the hike). It took us about 40 minutes from this point to make it to the top. It was hard... we were stopping every few minutes for me to catch my breath and straighten my shaky legs. At this point it is just rock scrambling and so it was a lot of lifting your legs and hoisting yourself over rocks. I have no muscle tone in my legs anymore to do such things so this was a big challenge. We took it slow though and I was able to make it.

See... a whole lot of rocks!

I made it!! Waiting for the sunrise. The valley you see below is Heber Valley.

Me and Miss Sunny! There were so many girls that I worked with who went on this hike with me. It was so nice to have them up here on the top with me.

Here are all the girls I worked with that made it to the top with me. Danza, Pebblez, Cookie, Kodak and me...

And here she is... in all of her beauty and wonder. The sun made her remarkable appearance and made the whole journey worth it! It was a beautiful sunrise! I have always loved seeing the sunrise better than seeing the sunset because in order to see a beautiful sunrise you have to work for it. You have to get up really early, and to really see it like this you have to be really high up. It was remarkable...

Me and my miracle worker Pebblez. I will never forget what she did for me. She pulled the strings and made it possible for me to do this hike. I'm so thankful for her and her selfless attitude. Her friendship and love. I love you Pebblez!!!

I was literally on top of the world! It was amazing! I loved being up there. We got there about 30 minutes before the rest of the hikers made it to the top. It gave me some time to soak it all in and reflect on what it took to get to this point... both the hike and just in my life. While we were riding up on the four wheeler I couldn't help but think about how similar an experience it was to what I went through with having cancer. I was sitting on the front of the four wheeler, being propelled forward in the dark and the wind. It was a little scary, to be honest, but I couldn't help but think of how similar that was to going through my trial. I am the one that had to ride in the front, do the chemo, go through all the scans and appointments. But I did not do it alone. I had a huge support group that pretty much carried me the whole way. This was never a trial that I had to face by myself, I was helped every step of the way.

Even when we got to the end when I had to hike up to the top, that was tough. I just don't have the muscle tone in my legs anymore to continuously lift up my leg and hoist myself onto rock after rock. It reminded me a lot of the last few months of chemo. I was so tired and exhausted but I knew that I had to just keep going until I was done, no matter how tired and sore I was.

What started as a cool goal I wanted to achieve on my year mark, turned into a very uplifting and spiritual experience for me. As I was sitting on the top of the mountain and we were all waiting for the sun to make it's appearance I got that tight feeling in my chest. You know the one you get when you are sitting in a fast and testimony meeting and you feel like you need to share you testimony. Yep, that's the one... it happened on the mountain. I felt a little dumb but I couldn't ignore the feeling. So I told the 20 or so other hikers up there about my experience and was able to bear my testimony to them. It was a wonderful and touching moment in my life. My faith and testimony were strengthened through this experience. It was confirmed to me again that Heavenly Father knows me. He knows the desires of my heart. He loves me and watches over me and my family. He is the one who carries me through the hard moments in life and rejoices with me in the wonderful ones. He loves me.

Thank you again to everyone who made this moment possible for me. I could never had made my journey through cancer alone or my journey to the peak alone. We are all in this big world together, helping each other out in whatever obstacles we are facing.

Life is beautiful...