1 . The Sierra Nevada range is incomparable in scale and magnificence. There’s no better way to see it than to appreciate every spectacular view with your own hard _______. My husband, Will, our kids (Herbie, 5 and Artley, 11) and I planned to _______ the northern half of the John Muir trail in two weeks, which _______ along the backbone of the High Sierra, past lakes, and through dusty pine forests.

We set _______ before we started: this would be tough, but worth it. To get our kids more _______, we let them have the map and decide when to stop and rest. In this way, they felt empowered. This _______ also resulted in Herbie nearly standing on a 4-foot snake on our first day, though. _______, it was early morning and the snake was half asleep.

For two weeks, the boys enjoyed the _______. They built dams and bridges across streams, climbed and swam. Sometimes, they refused to carry their packs and _______ about feet hurting. But these moments were far outweighed by extraordinary bursts of ________ and enthusiasm — particularly when we’d been slogging (艰难前行) uphill for hours and a mountain top finally came into view, our kids even decided we needed to ________.

By the time we finished, we had ________ countless mosquitoes, suffered foot pain and had terrible sleep. But we were right to be ________ about our kids’ abilities. Through the ________, they will, I hope, understand what they are truly capable of, how perseverance leads to bigger ________ later on, and what it feels like to be encouraged and supported so that they can achieve something great.