Daddy Days: The mountain hike, or there and back again

Our family has been taking a half-week summer vacation in a cabin in the Hill Country for many years now.

There’s swimming, fishing, hiking and dark sky star gazing, and to top it all off there isn’t cell phone service. The hiking trail is about a mile long and climbs to a height of 1,800 feet above sea level. Which, to the boys, might as well be Mount Everest.

Several years ago, I was reading "The Hobbit" to the boys every day and we were in the middle of it while on vacation. While out hiking the trail, I made up a game that incorporated some of the elements of "The Hobbit," "The Lord of the Rings," and the "Chronicles of Prydain."

They might have to hide from goblins, or find a particular shaped rock, or deal with an ogre while navigating their way along the trail. Mostly it meant at some point I had to be a troll and chase them.

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It’s tradition to go on the hike early the first morning we’re at the cabin and we planned to continue the tradition this year. Even in August, it’s incredible how much cooler it feels in the mornings up in the hills than in the city. The weather only increased the boys’ excitement to hit the trail.

As we were getting ready to scale the mountain, I heard one of the boys say to a younger brother, “Today we go on the big hike and tomorrow we do the fun hike.” I asked what he meant and he said the fun hike is the “play hike” where, “you know, you chase us like a troll.”

Who knew simulated troll roars and chases could make such a difference.

We went on the first hike and everyone did great and enjoyed it as always. The boys really wanted to go on the play hike that evening but I made them wait until the next day. I wanted to string it out a little, but also was starting to think it had been oversold to the younger boys who hadn’t participated and thought I better come up with some ideas ahead of time.

The next day came, a Hill Country sunshine beauty, and we set off. As we started the journey and they stepped into imaginary traps, built shelters or angered mountain goblins, a funny thing happened. Partly because I had forgotten what sorts of things I had thought up for them before, but mostly because this game made a much bigger impression on them than I realized, they started getting ahead of me.

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If I pointed at a particular bush, one of them brushed against and said it turned them to stone. Before I could offer a solution or challenge to the rest, one of the older boys would yell, “I know where the antidote is!” Then he’d run off and get a small yellow flower from a weed because that is exactly what the antidote was the year before.

It really became part me narrating an adventure and part me trying to come up with new situations for which they didn’t already have solutions. They knew where the trolls come out, where red rocks are, and what areas the gwythaints (giant evil birds that look suspiciously like vultures) tend to be.

When we got to the wooden foot bridge on the downside of the “mountain,” the older boys informed the troop that “there’s always a troll under this bridge and we’re going to have to run. Every man for himself!”

As they crossed the bridge, the troll gave chase as always and they took off and made it safely to the end of their journey. Another successful play hike.

The troll may be getting a little slower each year, but with their imaginations running wild they haven’t looked back to notice.

Harris and his wife live in Pflugerville with their seven children. Please email comments or suggestions for future columns to [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Daddy Days: The mountain hike, or there and back again