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[at-l] long distance hiking with teenagers....continued

Jim:
	I've been following this topic on and off, very interesting...

	Here is a little story about me (39) and my niece, Sandi (20) ...I 
don't have any children...my niece's father left my sister when Sandi was 9, 
so I was the adult male she grew up with.... 
	When I visited Sandi and my sister, we would drive past Mt. Moriah 
which is north of here...and Sandi would always say, "Uncle Doug, are we 
going to climb that mountain some day?" And I'd say, "Yes indeed...some day 
Sandi" (she loved the attempted alliteration). That went on for years, but 
we haven't yet climbed that mountain. Sandi now says that the mere concept 
of climbing the mountain was very important....maybe more important than if 
we had actually climbed it...something about hoping and wishing for things 
developed within her by driving past that unconquered mountain....
	In myself, I can trace the same feeling back to the TV image of 
Francis Chichester (later Sir) sailing back into Plymouth harbour following 
his solo circumnavigation of the world in 1967 (when I was 10). That still 
burns in me, and partially drove me, I'm sure, to see the Malaysian jungle 
and the Australian Outback (among other places)....
	Financially rich folk (I've known a few) often complain that they 
don't have anything to hope for...some of those without a lot of money at 
least think they will find happiness through money...hope drives them in a 
way that it can't drive rich folk...
	I'd suggest you are doing wonders by the simple act of just talking 
about such a trip....

	And, the doctors I know say that children should carry nothing on 
their backs. Not even 5 pounds. I would never let my niece or nephew carry 
anything when we hiked (mostly to the beach!)....probably an extremist view, 
but they are both taller than me now and they let me know it.....

	good luck,

Doug

	
	
	
-- 
       Doug Gibbons, Port aux Basques, Newfoundland       
       
       http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ae050/Profile.html

       A happy heart goes on forever.
       (Winter's Tale [Shakespeare])
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