Last Saturday I joined 14 guys on a hike up and down Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas. It was great. The weather was just warm enough for hiking without a jacket or fleece, and just windy enough to keep us from overheating. Even on top of the mountain, where it’s usually cold and windy this time of year, the weather was pleasant. Sitting on the big flat rock at the summit, out of the wind and in the sun, was very nice. In fact, it was just right for taking a nap. The only thing that kept me from stretching out and sleeping was the fact I had to hike another four miles back down the mountain.
Pete and Tony were the first two men in our group to reach the top, and they made it in two hours. The group I was hiking with made it in 2-1/2 hours, which is pretty typical for me. We had several other hikers who arrived on top after we did; the last one up took only three hours.
Personally, it was my best Guadalupe hike in – well, maybe - ever. My legs and knees felt great and I didn’t get fatigued until well into the second hour. I had better wind capacity and knee strength than I’ve had in years. I don’t know what made the difference except that lately I’ve been doing more core-strength workouts and running more consistently. I was pleased. As I was hiking I could imagine many more trips up the mountain in the future.
This was our largest group of hikers so far, and 7 of the 14 were with us for the first time. I only mention that because this group of men, in a variety of combinations, has made the hike up Guadalupe Peak many times … maybe as many as 15 times, but I lost count awhile ago.
I often get the question: “Why do you keep doing the same thing? Why keep hiking the same mountain over and over?”
Well, it makes no sense to have a men’s class without some sort of field trip, and hiking Guadalupe Peak is the best day-trip we’ve found. It’s doable for most people, yet it’s very challenging (it’s a 3,000′ climb ending at 8,749′ elevation, an 8.4-mile round trip). And it’s the closest mountain range to Midland by several hours.
But the real reason we keep doing this is simple – it’s because men make friends outside. Going through hardship together makes us brothers. Having a shared story of survival binds our hearts together. Men need outside experiences to become friends.
Oddly enough, the hike reminded me of a book I read recently - Steve Martin’s autobiography, titled: Born Standing Up. He wrote, “I did stand-up comedy for eighteen years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four were spent in wild success.”
Steve’s success as a stand-up comic seemed sudden and spontaneous and inevitable back in the late 1970s. He seemed to come out of nowhere and was funny in a way no one else had ever been. Yet he makes it clear in his book that he worked a long time to earn his spontaneous, instant, and overnight success.
Friendship among guys works the same way. It often takes a long time to find instant success. Most of us men aren’t as good as women are at nurturing and cultivating friendships; we have to find things to do together. I know from experience that when I plan one of these hikes I’ll get to know some of the guys better than ever before, and I may even sow the seeds of a life-long brother. But I don’t know which guys I’ll end up with on the trail, or who will talk the most, or who will share my PB&J sandwich on top. Unlike the rest of my planned-out life, I cannot plan friendships. But I can plan friend-producing trips, and I know that many of my closest friends and allies have come from our hours together on the trail.
Friday morning, the day before our hike, I was reading in my Daily Bible about the time when Saul became king of Israel. In the beginning, Saul was just a young Hebrew man who took care of his father’s donkeys. But after he became king, the story says, he went back home “accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched.” (I Samuel 10:26) I wrote in the margin of my Bible: “Before this, Saul was alone; he didn’t have any guys. Now, God has given him valiant men.”
That’s how I felt Saturday evening as I rode in the bus back to Midland with my hiking buddies. I once was mostly alone – at least, in my provincial spiritual world – but now God has surrounded me with these men. Before, I didn’t have any guys; now, God has surrounded me with valiant men.
I am a fortunate guy.
