Holiday highlight.... why?

One of the highlights of my holiday was one of the most exhausting days I have had for a while. We were staying at a place called Foxton and I made arrangements with my thirty-something year old son to go for a day tramp up Otaki Gorge area. He had to drive north, I had to drive south to meet him.

We tramped up to an area called Table Top, and on the way we had lunch at "Field Hut". It was a damp, drisly day as we walked up hill for 2 hours twenty minutes to the hut. After eating lunch the tramp continued up hill to an area in the mist we declared must have been "Table Top" and turned around and walked down. In all we must have walked for over five hours. The track was steep and difficult. We were clambering over rocks, squeezing through rutted areas and stepping up and over tree roots. There were times when I looked at the track ahead and thought, "How much more of this can I take?". I was begging for flat ground. My quads were burning. My son was passing comments that we were going slow.... because of me! I told him that I would come back and haunt him when he was sixty! We encountered a group coming down and I asked in desperation, "How long is it to the hut?". "We've been going about an hour", they replied. I hope they did not see in my face what I was thinking! It was not a nice word! As we returned to the car and were walking along flat ground toward the swing bridge, I could feel my hands numbing up, a sign that I was dehydrated. I had experienced similar sensations at the end of long runs. My legs were tired. My feet ached. I collapsed in our car and declared to my wife, "I need liquid!". But it was a great day! I loved it! Why? Why do we humans love pushing ourselves to the brink and then say "That was great!"? I have never worked that out, but I love doing it in all sorts of ways.

I loved the day because it was six hours of talking with my son. That is always special. But I loved it because it was hard. When we were choosing where we would tramp I had chosen a walk nearer Wellington so that my son did not have to drive as far. It was also an easier, well trodden walk. "No" my son said, "We want to do something with a bit of grunt to it!" and I was secretly pleased. Back near the van we saw a notice that said something like, "Field Hut- 31/2 - 4hrs". We were NOT going slow to do it in 2hrs 20 mins.!