Okay, when our trip to Europe started, I didn’t expect to have any cause to write about iPhone Apps.  However, after the adventure our family had this past week, I needed to mention my new favourite iPhone app, LED Light for iPhone 4.

One of the main things Elizabeth wanted to do on this trip was to climb Croagh Patrick.  If you’ve never heard of Croagh Patrick, it is a mountain in Western Ireland that St. Patrick spent 40 days on at one point walking, praying and fasting. The mountain is just under 1/2 mile high.  Because of its history, Croagh Patrick remains a very holy site for many Catholics and the last Sunday in July is usually host to about 25,000 pilgrims (many of whom make the trek in bare feet or on their knees).  Well, we decided to make the hike in comfortable shoes along with a good supply of water and food.

Supposedly the hike takes the average person 2 hours to get up & 90 minutes to come down.  We got a bit of a late start, but since it doesn’t get dark here until around 10 pm, we had just enough time.  Well, we did get to the top, but that took us closer to 3 hours rather than two.  And actually, while I would not want to ever make that trip in my bare feet, it wasn’t that bad of a climb.  Although the last stretch up the hill was a bit rough.  In fact, as I was climbing up that final stretch, I started realizing that the trip down was probably going to be more challenging than the trip up…

I was right.  While there were a good number of people who ran up the mountain & then back down while we were climbing, we were not quite that agile.  Grace is not a word you would have used to describe our descent (the girls went on their butts for at least part of the trip…while I crawled backwards on all fours).  Once we got off the steepest part of the mountain it was nearly 10 pm, getting dark, and we still had at least another hour to go.

While the extra hour of the sun at the end of the day is great, one thing you do not see a lot of here is stars…it is usually too cloudy.

This means when it gets dark, it really gets dark. That’s when I remembered, my LED Light for iPhone 4 app.  If you’re wondering what this is…on the new iPhone 4, the camera now includes an LED flash.  Well, this app allows you to keep the flash on so you can use it as a flashlight.  Even with the light, all 5 of us fell at least once on the trip down the hill…the light wasn’t “that” bright.  But it did allow us to navigate some pretty tricky areas, and arrive at the bottom of the hill, all in one piece.

On the way down, we did get a bit stressed, (except for Liz who seemed to be having the time of her life), but we kept telling each other about how at some point in the future this will be a fun story to share with others.

So make sure to ask the kids about it when you see them!  (you can see pictures of our hike here)