Step By Step: Aversion Therapy

There was a time when I was accused of practising hiking aversion therapy on family and friends. Someone would ask to go hiking with (Uncle) Benno and I would pick out some enjoyable, little, hike. 'Enjoyable' and 'little' however, being very subjective. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm often resulted in less than enthusiastic interest in doing any more hikes, at least not with Uncle Benno. Now Wendy has taken on the practice; only she sets them up on the first hike.

Wendy has a group of students that have formed a hiking club - a way to work off their activity hours, a requirement for their IB diploma. She took a small group of them on a delightful little hike up a mountain here in Maseru. They had a wonderful time. It took six hours going as slow or as fast as the students wanted, and sprinkling in long relaxing breaks. Wendy and her hike must have gotten rave reviews as the interest in the next hike was off the chart with way more students interested than she could possibly take. If only they had known where she was taking them! Or, maybe she was just wanting to thin future ranks.

Wendy's crew, 28 students, and our goal,

... the peak left of center.

She picked Thaba Machache. A difficult eight to nine hour climb with significant elevation gain. I was along for technical support (technical support that was lacking as it turned out). We hit the trail at 8:00 a.m. The first ninety minutes or so we followed trails over pleasantly rolling terrain, past numerous little rural villages. Then the trail started up, ... and up, ... and up, over a rock and boulder strewn trail. The rest breaks began to almost equal the hiking time, including an extended break assisting one girl with leg cramps. Undetered, we continued on.

Weary walker, "Aren't we there yet?"

After the boulder strewn climbing there followed a short easy stretch. Then, it was onto a narrow little path, and up, up, up again. This was where the technical support became confused. At a critical saddle he led right, when the summit was left. It was disappointing to have not reached the real summit, after all the effort expended. However, in hindsight we may not have gotten everyone down if we had tackled the real summit. As it was, it was getting past 2:00 p.m. when we reached the top of a lower summit, and a few of the hikers didn't make it that far.

The summit we reached was the third bump in the distance.

Tired, ... with sore feet, at the top.

The trip out was the usual struggle to keep those "still going strong" connected with those "tired and weary". Pretty soon we were strung out with more than two kilometers between the front runners and the stragglers. Wendy tried to find a middle position and I brought up the rear. I had a number of very weary walkers with me. What had been an enjoyable stroll in, over rolling terrain and past quaint villages, seemed an interminal trudge out. One student started experiencing severe leg cramps and another simply ran out of blood sugar. Luckily someone still had most of a chocolate bar and by coaxing them to get some sugar into their systems and to drink the last of their water we were able to continue.

It was 6:30 p.m., and the sun had set, when we finally straggled out to the where the others were waiting. While some in my group were vowing never to go hiking with Mrs. Fath again, some of the earlier arrivers had found their second wind and were dancing to the beat of music blaring from one of the taxis.

Line dancing after almost ten hours on the trail.

Along on this trip was a guest hiker - an intrepid, 69 year old world trekker, whose trekking has included routes in the Himalayas and the Andes, as well as the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea. His comment on Wendy's little hike, "I have never been so knackered at the end of a day."

I told Wendy she owes it to her squad to take them on a gentle and enjoyable trip. They have earned something less daunting, and more enjoyable.