If you’ve hiked with me longer than a few years, you know by now that people come and go. Everybody’s lives takes twists and turns and people who we come to know suddenly move to a different city and we rarely see or hear from them again. So we get used to people leaving after a while.
However, it is very unusual for people to continue hiking with us for over ten years. It’s a very low percentage of the group who stay active by regularly hiking. Soo (pronounced Sue) is one of those hikers who is committed to coming out every week for the exercise, the fun, and to hang out and socialize.
I remember when Soo first started coming out on hikes with me. She was excited to try new things and was always happy to be out and being challenged. From the very beginning, Soo seemed pretty confident when scrambling. However, over time she has developed into one of the best scramblers that I know.
Even though she climbs everything with seemingly no effort, Soo has no need to prove to anybody that she can make it past an obstacle. She’ll do it if she wants and if she wants to go around it, she will. Unlike so many other people, she has no need to impress anybody else. Similarly, Soo is not easily impressed by anybody. She is simply out to scramble and have fun.
One of the things that helps to make people good scramblers is helping others. Soo is always around to help anybody who needs it. Whether its technical help, or just encouragement, Soo will quietly help. Most of the time, she does it without anybody else knowing about it; except those she is helping. That’s just part of being a teacher.
Yes, Soo is a teacher and she takes pride in her work. She has gone out of her way to earn a doctorate degree to be prepared to help her students. She obviously is able to meaningfully connect to her students, because they seek out her guidance beyond class and many times she becomes a personal friend of her students after they leave her class. Many of her students have made it to well known universities and institutions. Soo frequently expresses genuine pride in being able to be part of that.
Soo, on her first hike with VegasHikers.
There was a time, when I thought we were not going to see Soo again. She has her family to care for and she needed to stay away from hiking for a while. I thought we would not be likely to see her again. But she came back and now we see her regularly and weekly.
Soo’s family is very important to her. She is a strong mom, who is very proud of her children’s achievements. But she is unlikely to go on and on about her kids and remains objective. She’s not private about them, but won’t be in your face about them, either.
Until I started looking, I never realized that Soo is a bit camera shy. Trying to find a good picture is a bit difficult. She’s one of those consistent forces that operates in the background. But if she’s not there, you’ll know it.
Soo is going to reach her 600th milestone in or around September 28, 2025. We’ll have a small celebration after the hike.