a surprising number of our family hikes have been spearheaded by the youngest member of our troop. when you combine his near indefatigable stamina with the ambitious end-visions he gets in his head (e.g. i want to hike to the tippy top of a mountain), the boy is the driving force of many of our family adventures. he is also the motivating factor that oftentimes gets us to the end as there isn't a member among us that doesn't feel some level of shame at being outdone by an ever-chatting five year old.