Hiking Hawaii

Recently, my daughter who is almost 15 and my wife and I were hiking in a tropical rainforest in the state of Hawaii on a trail. It is a very popular spot so there were many other hikers there. However, my wife is 55 and I 62 and I was having some pain in my right foot and ankle. So, I wasn't able to go as fast as an almost 15 year old in good shape up this steep trail in about 85 degrees Fahrenheit with about 95% humidity. So I asked my daughter, "Please stay with us!" But of course the 14 year old just moved on ahead. Now this would have been fine except we didn't see her again for 3 hours and had not agreement with her regarding her doing this. So after 1/2 when my wife tired out from not being used to the steepness or the pain in her knees from the uphill climb through the tropical rainforest she started to worry because our daughter hadn't told us anything about not seeing us for this length of time. Then we came to a fence with a gate and then another trail in another direction. I didn't think she would naturally go through the gate because she is more of a city girl than a country hiking girl even though I was raised as someone who could go almost anywhere and survive with a knife and a blanket. That's just the way my father raised me because his father was a hunter all over the western states from about 1910 until he passed away around 1970. So my Dad raised me to never get lost in any forest or if I did how to survive it.

So, the word that most describes my daughter in a forest would be oblivious of anything but taking pictures in artistic ways because she is a very excellent artist.

So, after my wife and I started to worry I checked out several different trails and worried my daughter might have fallen off one of the cliffs nearby while taking a picture because there were no guardrails on the edges of the rain forest cliffs overlooking the waterfalls and pools below. So, after checking 2 or three different trails I realized that I was getting winded and though somehow my daughter had gotten past me and gone down. When I reached the bottom and the road and parking lot I and my wife contacted the Ranger to say we were worried about my daughter's location and health. He began to question other returning hikers given our description of her. But since she hadn't returned I just reloaded my backpack and realized I had to go up the last trail about 3 miles as since she wasn't here that was the most likely place she was if she hadn't fallen off a cliff while taking a picture of the amazing waterfalls and pools below. So, I reloaded my pack feeling kind of strange and trying to stay centered and praying a lot for my daughter and wife.

So, as I ascended several miles up the trail I was also worried because the sun was close to setting and I knew from past experience just how awful it is after nightfall on a rough rocky uneven trail in the dark. But still I had to push ahead. So I left my wife with the ranger and pushed on ahead talking to all the returning hikers and asking them if they had seen her. Soon, after about 20 different groups of people I found a man and his wife or girlfriend and they had seen her. They were either form China or Japan. The man spoke excellent English but because of the way he searched for words I knew it wasn't his first language. He told me he had seen her and had been told to watch for her by another passing hiker who knew about this problem. He said he had told her we were looking for her and when my daughter talked to the man and his girlfriend or wife she had been taking a digital video with her camera so when they showed up the conversation was recorded. He had been very skillful in the way he talked to her because he wasn't sure of her state of mind. He just said that her parents were looking for her.

Within about 1 hour of this time as the sun was setting almost,  I   found her. She said she had had a really amazing experience. At this point I realized that scolding her wouldn't be helpful at that time and said instead that her mother was really freaked out that she had disappeared for so long without having any agreement in this direction between us all. She said she just thought we were coming up the trail behind her for those 3 hours or more. I realized that she had no real idea what I or her mother or even she was capable of. The perils of being 14 and not knowing enough really about anything to make really good decisions.

The day appeared to be a spiritual awakening for my daughter. She said, "I've never been allowed to have this much time alone before and I had a really amazing experience alone in the amazing rainforest, Dad. On the way back down she wanted to climb a Banyan tree so I helped her up into it and took pictures of her climbing it. I realized that even though she had scared the hell out of her mother and I, this had been one of the most important days in a spiritually freeing way in her life thus far.

Life is a paradox for us all. My wife and I are just glad to get our daughter back. All's well that ends well.