The Quilatoa Loop: a 25 mile hiking trail set in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador that goes through remote villages, farm lands, creek beds, and cliff sides to ultimately reach a crater lake set at 12,840ft. My squad and I spent the last 3 days trekking across this trail and not only did the Lord reveal the beauty of his creation but he also taught me a lot about enjoying the journey.
As most of you know, I am an avid hiker. As both a Coloradan and a former Rocky Mountain National Park Ranger, I’ve always enjoyed not only feeling at peace in nature but also challenging myself when it comes to the outdoors. I love pushing my personal limits when it comes to hiking; that feeling of your body wanting to give up but your mind powering through and pushing yourself farther. Many people experience this same thing participating in sports, weight lifting at the gym, skiing, running, etc. But for me, it presents itself the most when I’m making my way up to the top of that mountain. So when I heard that as a squad of 30, we were going to spend 3 days hiking the Andes Mountains, I couldn’t be more thrilled. I thought, YES, this is finally my thing. This is one of the reasons why I chose an expedition route on the world race. I knew it wound’t be easy, especially when the elevation of hiking is between 9,000-12,800 ft, but I could’t wait to push my body again and see what I was made of. We had it all planned out to stop at a hostel each night that provided dinner and the following morning’s breakfast, so all I had to bring was my day pack with water, snacks and a change of clothes. Even better!
As we started the first day I went into all on hiking mode. For me it was easy, almost routine, to grab that map, lead the way, and not stop. It wasn’t more than 5 minutes into the hike that I realized my expectations for this hike were not going to be met. To start off, we were going down hill and although I was rearing to go, not all the rest of my squad members were quite as experienced or as enthusiastic about speed walking the trail as I was. They were enjoying their leisurely walk in awe of the majesty of the mountains around them, while I was full speed ahead ready to conquer the thing. I knew that I was going to have to change my mindset. I accepted that this 3 day trek was going to be slower and somewhat more leisurely than I had planned. I wanted so badly for my lungs to burn and my muscles to ache, but instead it felt like a lot more climbing the uphill and then stopping to wait for the others. After all this was a squad thing for us to do together, not a me thing. I struggled between pressing on like normal and also waiting for everyone else. It was truly a beautiful and great first day, but it also left me with a lot of questions. Why did I have to hold myself back for others? Why would God give me this passion and the skills to hike if I couldn’t use them at all on the World Race? Wasn’t this part of what I signed up for? And was I finding to much of my identity in these skills?
I woke up in the middle of the night in a daze and envisioned myself in the back of the group on that 2nd day. As soon as I was fully awake I realized that it wasn’t an original thought, but that God was trying to tell me something. So I asked, “Lord do you really want me to stay at the back when hiking today?” He answered, “Yup. What do you have to prove by being in the front?” Ugh, not what I wanted to hear, but He was right. There wasn’t any good reason for me to be in the front, so I guess it was worth a try.
As we started off our hike on the 2nd day, I just gazed at all of the beauty of the mountains, streams, cliffs, farm animals, and flowers around me. Wow. How blessed was I to get to experience these sights. How often to we get to be in a place as beautiful as this without any distractions or other tourists. How often to we get the time to just think and enjoy life in the present. I already was so thankful to be slowing down. I was able to have both light hearted and deep conversations with some of my squad mates and build those relationships. I laughed and goofed off taking funny pictures and telling funny stories. One of my favorite times of the day was about half way through when we hit a really steep part of the trail. Going up the side of the mountain I was able to encourage my other teammates who haven’t had much experience hiking and used little distractions to get ourselves up to the top. We started with an out-loud prayer walk, sang some military songs, counted out our steps until each break, and shared funny stories of past times when I didn’t think I could make it, but did. Throughout the whole day, not once did I feel frustrated.I felt thankful, humbled, and privileged to not only be hiking in Ecuador but to be able to do it with friends who I will have these memories with forever.
God had answered all my questions from that first day. Being in the back wasn’t actually holding myself back, it ended up being more of a challenge. It taught me how to enjoy life more and see his creation other than just staring at my feet and gaging how much I can push my body to it’s limit. It challenged me to slow down and enjoy the now. God showed me a whole new way to use my skills. He gave me my skills to help encourage others and to share my knowledge of hiking and how to power through the harder parts when you want to give up. I found a new kind of joy in enjoying the journey and walking (literally) alongside my friends rather than racing ahead. And guess what, I learned a lot more in these 3 days of hiking than I have in my 100s of other grueling, lung burning, muscle aching hikes of my past. It really is about the journey.
