HSS, Seattle

August 8th, 2009
-By Adhithya Rajakumar

For a long time, Subramaniya Bharathi shaaka (Bellevue, WA) was making plans for a Kishor get-together. After much thought, the decision was made: a hike in Cougar Mountain. The proposal was met with much rejoice from the Kishor, who had loved the outcome of their previous get-together—a hike at Rattlesnake Ledge.

We met together at the Lake Hills Library, the venue for Subramaniya Bharathi shaaka, on August 8th, 2009. We assembled at 7:30 AM (surprisingly, the kids were there before the shikshaks), and started our twenty-minute ride to Cougar Mountain, where we would meet the Kishor of Vivekananda shaaka, Maple Valley. Sometime later, the team was assembled: Devendra-ji, Aseem-ji, Anil-ji, and Kushal-ji were the adults; the kids were me (Adhithya), Hemant, Arun, Srikar, Athulya, Kanaadh, Geetal, Rama, and Kanishk. We excitedly formed into a circle and quickly introduced ourselves to each other. Then, with high spirits, enthusiasm, and a quick trip to the restroom, we were off!

Cougar Mountain is a great hiking area with an abundance of trails. We decided not to go straight to the top, but rather weave through inter-connected trails, and circle a portion of the mountain while viewing some scenery. From the beginning to the end, both sides of the trails were covered with lush, beautiful, scenic vegetation. We admired Mother Nature for a while, and then focused on not tripping over the intricate ground covered with roots and rocks. About forty-five minutes later, we reached a circular clearing where we decided to stop and eat our meals. Dishing out chips, sandwiches, grapes, strawberries, and juice, we were starting our feast when a racer ran right past us. “You better move!” he gasped as he ran past. “There are 159 more racers coming this way!”

We became confused. A race—in a hiking trail? Only later did we come to know that annually, a race was held here to help fund Cougar Mountain. We hurriedly gulped down our food and packed up. All the while, racers were jogging by, to whom we were cheering. “That’s right! You can do it! Go, go, go!” We decided that we should get going as well.

On our way back to the bottom, we crossed more racers. A few of the boys decided to run with the racers, and had great fun accompanying them. Soon, we reached the end of our hike. The day didn’t end there, though. We drove happily to the nearest Pizza Hut and piled hungrily into the empty restaurant (we turned out to be the only customers there). We were happily munching through slices of pizza when Devendra-ji grew concerned. He lost the key to the Lake Hills Library! What was more: Raksha Bandhan utsav was the next day! We were starting to panic when Geetal mentioned seeing a key in the parking lot at Cougar Mountain. Some of us rushed back and started searching for the key. We were just about to give up when I came smiling widely: “Guess who found the key?” Happily, we drove back to Pizza Hut—now a place of great sentimental value—and happily reunited with the others. From there, we each parted our own ways home, happy and satisfied with the bonding experience through the Kishore hike to Cougar Mountain. I’m sure all of us eagerly await the next Kishore activity soon.

Check out the photos here. http://picasaweb.google.com/devendra.ashtaputre/KishoreHike02#

Regards

Subramanya Bharti Shakha Team.