The Highlands

Saturday we took off by bus for our hike through the highlands. I have my trusty pair of clubbing-to-hiking books purchased in the eighth grade, and so was adequately equipped for the journey. However, as the rain soaked countryside grew more slippery and steep, my companions began to slip. Heather, in new sneakers, was the most exciting. Her falls were dramatic and hysterical, and during one she was laughing before she even collapsed into another bank. The grasses were too long and slippery for her smooth shoes to grasp in any way, and she was unfortunately stomach-sick, terrified the entire journey down. The mud also reached its sticky mouth up to claim her shoe entirely, twice, contaminating new sneakers with brown wet filth on the inside and out.
The view from the top, where we lunched, as a gorgeous vista of rolling deep green mountains, interrupted only by the occasional grisly tree and a large smooth lake that disappeared between the mountains to the west. We had joyous luck with weather, only trudging through showers instead of scrambling suicidaly through a downpour.