Wilderness Training is based on the experiences of a wilderness leader’s near-fatal, exhilarating, and insightful lessons learned while in the backwoods. This pulse-pounding story of survival uses a fresh approach to reveal inspiring parallels between the physical and spiritual benefits of hiking. What gives you traction on the slick roads of life? Looking at your individual mountains from the valley floor will always cause a loss of clarity. When you are characterized by always doing your best that is more than enough. Discover what defines you. When standing before the impossible, do you crumble or continue forward? Will it be a conscious decision to cut corners that will lead you to the path of least resistance or will you believe for His divine intervention? Will you let the fog of pain obliterate your sense of His presence in your life? It’s not just about the destination. The journey is intended to be enjoyed. Allow this to capture your heart and to shape the direction for your life, finding hope and joy in ordinary, everyday events.

As I reach another switchback I’m graced with an encouraging glimpse of the dignified, high peaks rising with towering ambition far ahead. It looks as though I’m more than half way up this beautiful mountain; I estimate the elevation at 6,500 feet. I’m excited, and feeling very alive, pacing myself to maintain a reserve of energy on the back burner, waiting for the even more strenuous climb to come; the last leg of the climb is always the hardest. It’s almost as though the pinnacle has called out the challenge: come-and-get-me-if-you-can. I’m dialed-in and ready to meet that challenge so I power forward, and disregard my complaining knees. Suddenly, the outer edge of the trail gives way under the pressure of my step, propelling me painfully down the side of the mountain. Large waves of the rockslide that I have created begin to overtake me. I slide on my abdomen, head first, when one of my trekking poles catches the edge of a protruding rock spinning me a full 180, now I am sliding feet first. A large boulder flips me onto my back; I am struggling to gain purchase. Purchase of anything, I don’t care, anything to stop me from hurtling over the mountains edge into the valley far below. It’s a long way down and I’m approaching the edge with what seems to be terminal velocity. The mountainside is loose sand and pebbled shale, absolutely nothing is solid except the occasional jutting large and very sharp rock, deeply entrenched studded outcrops, but too far away from my frantic grasps. I spot a felled tree, oh please let that stop me, I prepare to grab hold of it but I’m too fast, I have such intense momentum that I smack agonizingly sideways into the end of the log … I can’t breathe, the air is knocked out of me! … then I am sailing, flung into the atmosphere, I’m actually catapulted over the downed tree and land in an excruciatingly, bone-jarring, slide. My bloody rag-doll body is scattering more rock and debris. I’m choking on the dust cloud that my landing has created, worsening my shortness of breath. I’m utterly engulfed with pain, I can’t be distracted! I am approaching the edge at a thundering, terrorizing rate, reaching impossibly, willing my body to lengthen; I must grab that tree stump. I miss. I continue to scramble, I’m mute with fear and adrenalin. It wouldn’t have mattered if I did cry out; I’m alone, breaking a cardinal hiking rule. I am struggling to clear my mind; normal thought process is hammered, my perception is completely bulldozed. I’m now only a few feet from the edge, reflexively digging my heels deep into the slack ground beneath me, when miraculously they catch. My “brakes” work, I’m at least temporarily spared from a horrible, pain- ridden, fall to certain death. But then...

Marybeth Haydon is an avid, passionate hiker and has earned her certificate as a Wilderness Leader. Her exciting Wilderness Training series includes The Novice, The Intermediate and The Expert. Marybeth lives with her family in Northern California where she is at work on her next novel.