One More Step: Mount Rainier Carbon River

I went hiking in Mount Rainier National Park a couple weeks ago. I wasn’t in a good place. Physically, I was in a good place, a great one even. Mentally and emotionally I was in a dark place. I was dealing with a lot of uncertainties and inner turmoil. To be honest, I just wanted to crawl back into my hotel bed and curl up with Netflix all day long. But, I’m on a mission. So I went to the park and started hiking.

Mount Rainier, Carbon River Area

The northwest corner of the park known as Carbon River. I checked out this area since severe winter weather was forecast in the most popular areas of the park. I stopped for a quick chat with the rangers and decided to hike to Ranger Falls and maybe even on to Green Lake. The trip out to ranger falls was four miles. Over 3 miles were on an abandoned road that is now only open to hikers and bikers. The last mile is on the Green River spur trail and that’s when the climb begins.

Not far onto the spur trail I realized that I wasn’t loving this. It was hard. I was tired. I was sad. I just wanted to be lazy and this was work. No matter what, I had more work ahead of me. Even if I gave up at the first thought of hardship I was still over three miles from my car. As I continued climbing I decided to stop thinking about the whole trip. How much further? How long will it take? How deep into the park am I? Instead, I decided to just think about the next step. My inner dialogue was, “Look at how far you’ve come. I bet you can take one more step.” STEP. “You’re already here. Take one more step.” STEP. “Somewhere ahead of you is a waterfall. Another step will get you closer.” STEP.

I took one more step, the forest opened, and I was greeted by a site that took my breath away. Ranger Falls was grander than I had imagined and the view was worth every step it took to get there.

One More Step

I hiked on to Green Lake and for a total of 13 miles that day. I’ve decided to make “One More Step” not just my hiking mantra, but also my life mantra. I don’t always know where I’m going or how far away the goal is, but I can take one more step. Other times I know exactly how far away the goal is and it seems like an impossible distance. But I can take one more step. I don’t need to have every answer to all of life’s problems, I just need to take another step. Then another. And another. And another. But each one is just one step. At some point, when I least expect it, the forest will open and the reward will be worth all the steps.