Spotlight on Hope: Climbing (Another) Mountain

contributed by Anne Fricke

Last year around this time, Freya climbed Mount Lassen (a 10,000+ foot volcano in Northern California). This year, her class went on another adventure, a backpacking trip to Mount Eddy. The mountain was a little smaller, but the camping trip was more challenging. Freya handled it all like a champ!

This was her first backpacking trip. We drove away from our school on the coast and parked at 6,800 feet. Being from sea level, the adjustment to the altitude takes a bit. We didn’t have time to adjust before having to pull on our backpacks and hike 3 miles in, with a 600-foot elevation gain, to camp. We set up our tents by a beautiful lake and enjoyed a lovely evening.

The next morning, we gathered some essentials (mostly snacks and water) and hiked up to the top of Mount Eddy at 9,025 feet. This was a 5-mile round trip hike that included about a mile each way of switch backs on rocky slopes. Freya fell a time or two but got right back up and kept on climbing!

She spent that afternoon wading into the lake, catching the frogs that live nearby, and playing several rounds of hide-and-seek tag with her classmates. The next day, with legs tired and sore from the climb, Freya managed to sling on her still-heavy backpack and hike the 3 miles out in only 1.5 hours. She fell a few times and again, got right back up and kept on hiking.

Almost every day this summer, Freya began her days with a 1 mile walk and closed out the evening with another 1-mile walk. Now that school has started, she makes time for a 10-minute walk on the treadmill before she goes off to school. She wants to participate in what her peers are doing, even though it’s not always easy for her. (Unless they are being loud and chaotic and she is overstimulated, then she is happy to sit quietly by the lake with her mom and simply enjoy the view.) While on this trip, Freya’s teacher and I spoke about just how incredibly determined Freya is with everything. She is up for the challenge and pushes herself to do all the things that she knows she can!

I am so grateful that Freya goes to a school that challenges and encourages her, where the teachers seem to know the right amount of softness and grit to help Freya participate in every activity her school mates do (except the biking field trips, but that’s a story for another day). I am grateful that for the second time I have been there to watch Freya climb a literal mountain, knowing all of the metaphorical ones she continues to climb.

Next year’s adventure is a multi-day backpacking trip along the Lost Coast of Northern California, where the camp is packed every morning, and we hike on to a new scenic adventure. I’ll keep you posted.

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