Carlton's First Mountain
 
I picked my son up for a weekend of fun and bonding and chocolate chip cookies. The very first thing he said to me when we got into the car and on the road was, “Daddy, can we go hiking?” Him saying that made my little heart sing!! How could I refuse such a request from my little blond-haired wonder? I immediately agreed and started thinking of places that we could go. There are some really good trails in and around Little Rock, but I knew right away where we needed to be: Pinnacle Mountain. It was the first mountain that I ever hiked with him in a child-carrier pack when he was just a baby and he loved doing it as a toddler when he rode to the summit in comfort while I did all the work. I absolutely loved that time spent with him and I thought that maybe we could hike part of the way up, rest a little while after he got tired and then hike down for an easy morning in the woods. I was so wrong.

We got an early start on a Friday morning and the weather was perfect for being out hiking with a four-year-old: low humidity, sun shining, slight breeze, and the temperature was in the low 70’s. I didn’t come into town prepared for hiking, so I had on a pair of old-school athletic shoes, jeans and a cotton t-shirt: the epitome of an uber-hiker/climber… We picked up a 1 liter bottle of water at a store on the way to the parking area, because again, I figured he would get tired after a half mile or so and we would turn around so we wouldn’t need much water to keep us hydrated.

He started up the 1.5 mile trail to the peak at a blistering pace and I had to tell him that it was a long way to the “top” and to conserve energy. He stepped on every rock and jumped from one to the next with boundless energy. I tried to extol the hiking philosophy of never step on anything you can step over and never step over anything you can step around. I explained that this was to conserve energy for the hike and Carlton seemed to understand, shaking his head up and down knowingly. Understanding my point didn’t stop him from doing it again just two minutes later. There was no stopping him. I figured it wouldn’t last long. Wrong.
 

Carlton during a water break
   

The Pinnacle Mountain East Side Trail has markers on it numbered 1-10 to let one know what progress they are making. I thought that we would be headed back down the mountain by marker 5 or 6 at the most. Nope. Carlton stopped at markers 3, 5, and 7 for water breaks and sat down for a minute at marker 9 to catch his breath and pet a dog that was on the trail with its owner. I got more and more excited as we went up and was beaming with pride when we go to the last marker! He and I scrambled up out of the trees to the rocky high point of the peak and I was smiling ear to ear. He looked around as I pointed out the parking area, downtown Little Rock, the Arkansas River, and various other sites. After my short geography lesson he looked up at me and said, “OK, can we go down now?” I said sure, just after a couple of pictures. I snapped off a couple of him starring off into the distance like one would imagine Meriwether Lewis did as his party crested the Continental Divide and then had another hiker take a couple of the two of us together. I was so happy with and for my son. He was just four years old and he climbed that little peak like a mini-Edmond Hillary or a small blond Ed Viesters. As I stood there basking in the glow of my child’s accomplishment, he reached up, put his hand in mine and said, “Daddy, can we go down now, I am really high and I am afraid that I am going to fall down.” The poor little guy!
 

The King of the Mountain!!
 
We walked down into the trees and sat down on a couple of rocks near marker 10. We talked a little bit while sitting there and I told him that it was alright to be a little scarred. I told him that being scarred is natural and a lot of people climb because they are scared, but want to prove to themselves that they can get to the top anyway. He seemed to understand a little and asked if I go scarred sometimes. I told him, “All the time.” and he seemed accepting of that and we started down the trail to the parking area. Carlton just skipped and hopped and talked his way down the mountain and had so much energy that he ran full-throttle on the playground and the base of the mountain for twenty plus minutes.

I cannot express in words my pride and happiness that I was part of my son’s first summit and that he climbed it without complaint and he was so full of joy. It is a memory that I will carry with me fondly for all the rest of my days and I would not trade that time with him for all the gold in this world. I want for him to love nature and to love experiencing it through hiking, peak-bagging, camping, and exploring. I hope that this was just the beginning of that journey.
 

Carlton and Matt Talley on top of Pinnacle Mountain