Shooting Stars

I had the most unbelievable experience the other night (Friday, September 26th). Megan, Tammi’s assistant, has an Irish friend named Rob from the Presbyterian Church who is trying to get his certification as a hiking guide. In order to do so, he has to take a certain number of groups on hikes all around Ireland. We decided that he could take some of us at different times throughout the semester.
So the first opportunity was a night hike through the Wicklow Mountains. Once we got to the top of one of them, we’d be able to see the lights of Dublin and the surrounding cities. Only Meg and three other people could fit in the car, though. Not being the type to miss out on ANY possible Irish opportunities, I volunteered. So did Izzy and Elisha (yes, with a broken arm. I swear there is no stopping this kid).
And so it began. It was still twilight as we drove to the trail head and began our trek. As the gentle slope upward carried us farther and farther into the wilds of Ireland, I began to get excited. I’d never done anything like this before. Soon, we left the path and began zigzagging straight up through thick heather to a place where we would be able to meet the trail again. For those of you who don’t know, heather is prickly. Really prickly. Before long my socks were covered with prickers and my ankles were hurting from having to take such high steps to find firm footing, but I still didn’t regret coming. It’s only through climbing that you get to the top.
It was growing darker and darker. Soon I was trusting entirely in the person in front of me to make sure that I didn’t step in a hole or something (there were lots of them). Rob kept promising that we were going to find the path again soon, and yet it seemed like the top of the mountain never got any closer.
It was as dark as a clear night can get by the time that we found the path again and made our way to the top. It was absolutely worth every step that I took to get there.
Absolutely worth it.
The top was mostly flat, but there was a heap of big boulders in the center with an old trigonometry tower on top (that’s a triangle-shaped pillar that they used to judge the heights of the surrounding mountains a long time ago). We all climbed up and sat down to eat the snacks that we’d brought with us and just look. Let me just tell you – an apple eaten high in the mountains of Ireland tastes better than a normal apple.
All around us were spread the lights of County Wicklow and the surrounding area. Way to the left, the brightest area, was Dublin. Besides that we could see the towns of Wicklow, Greystones (home sweet home!), and others. Still, the glittering stars in the valley below did almost nothing to dim the majesty above. From there we could see the edge of the Milky Way, and it was like peering into heaven through a tiny keyhole. Elisha and Izzy both saw shooting stars. I kept missing them, which is the story of my life in that respect. \\
We started the trek back down along this boardwalk called the Wicklow Way that winds down the mountain. We even saw a deer with a huge rack of antlers, its eyes glowing yellow in the blackness.
And it was on the way down that I saw my first shooting star.
By the time we all arrived back at Coolnagrenia we were shivering and tired, but we’d just had the adventure of a lifetime. I think that by the next morning none of us could believe it’d really happened.