Don't give up...

We went on a hike today. It has been on out "to do" list for a few years now. I was excited to finally go on this hike. I've seen pictures of it and heard about it. We got there and immediately thought about turning around, giving up before we even started. Why? Parking was $10, we didn't know that. We decided to pay and go ahead with it. Going from the parking lot to the trail we went up a steep hill. Once at the top, where the trail was just starting, I was out of breath, my heart was racing and I felt dizzy. Again, I thought about giving up. I told my husband I didn't feel good. The 100 degree weather didn't help. The view was anything BUT amazing. The road was rough and bumpy. It was so hot and there was no shade. My husband and I both had our doubts.

Still, we kept going. Eventually we crossed the stream and the view started getting better. It was still rough and bumpy and not a fun hike.

The more we went the better it got. The view got better too.

Instead of walking on the boring, not exciting at all, road we started walking in the water. We started enjoying it more and more. We even came across a "slide" the kids went down. (For the record I went down it on our way back. It was totally worth getting soaked for! Plus being wet felt great with the sun beating down on us on that dumb road again!)

The more we went the more I loved it! I have been to Zion Nation Park 15 to 20 times in my life. We love going there and hiking the Narrows. By this point I was singing this hikes praises and claiming I love it more then the Narrows (which I LOVE). We stopped to take a break and eat a snack and I realized how late it was getting. We were going to be watching my friends kids in a few hours and we still needed to finish the hike, hike back out and drive home. We thought about turning around. We decided to give it a few more minutes.

As we continued we kept an eye on the time and kept debating when we needed to turn around. We came across a couple that was hiking down so I asked them, how much further is it because we are thinking about turning around. The lady told me, "It's not far at all, maybe 100 feet! Keep going. It's worth it!" So we kept going... It was worth it! The slot canyon was surreal. It was unlike anything I have ever seen before.

On our way back I kept thinking, I almost gave up. I almost didn't get to see that. Why, because the beginning was so rough. It was rough enough that I had my doubts, is this really going to be worth it? Do I really want to do it? It was hard at the beginning, not only was it rough, but I didn't know what lied ahead, I didn't know how far it would be, I didn't know if the entire hike would suck or if it would ever get enjoyable.

Once I got to the end (or where we ended because we really did need to turn around to get home in time) I knew without a doubt it was worth it. The hard part at the beginning was worth it. I would hike it again in a heartbeat! My kids are begging to go back! Even my husband told me, "I wondered at first if this was going to be worth it!" As we hiked out we passed a family going up who told us they were thinking about turning around. My husband told them, "Keep going! Don't stop until you get to the slot canyon! It IS worth it!"

I thought a lot about Hilary Week's song, Beautiful Heartbreak.  This is exactly how I felt!
(Full lyrics here)
"...Every fear, every doubt, all the pain I went through
Was the price that I paid to see this view
Now that I'm here I would never trade....

I never dreamed my heart would make it
And I thought about turning around
But Heaven has shown me miracles
I never would have seen from the ground"