Lindsey Grace: Hike!

Day 27

What a day! Really, really great day today! I did something I’ve never done; I hiked a mountain! I just don’t know what’s gotten into me lately but today was a cardio day and instead of running, I decided I wanted to hike instead. And why not hike a mountain? So Hunter and I decided to hike a pretty well-known little guy called Camelback. 2.3 miles round trip. 1300 foot climb.

I tried not to show it but I was pretty nervous driving up to it. I hate it that Hunter can always tell when I’m nervous. :) We got to the parking lot and it was full. I instantly felt my usual sense of worry. I mean c’mon, it was full and it was only like 6:30 in the morning! So we had to park a ways a way and walk to the beginning of the trail.

The trail starts with these wooden stairs someone make-shifted into the mountain. As we were walking up them, I instantly remembered why I’ve never hiked a mountain before. It’s because I’m not very good at hiking. We got an 1/8 of the mile in and my legs were not happy with me. Little did I know that the stairs were the easiest part!

Needless to say, we took it slow. The hike is split up into segments really; the beginning stairs and up over the first little plateau, the poles you have to hold onto to get up because the rock-face is so steep, and the last long straight up rocky climb to the top.

Thank goodness for Hunter. He never complained any time I had to stop and kept giving me tiny words of encouragement to keep me going. He stayed right behind me the whole time and helped me over questionable rocky places. He tried to take my mind off my burning legs by asking me questions and was my coach when I wanted to quit.

The last ¼ mile was the worst! I just kept thinking of how much I wanted it and how much I couldn’t let myself down. I wanted to quit about 12 times but somehow, some way I got to the top…and it was beautiful!

I felt such a great accomplishment for making it to the top. We stayed up there awhile and chatted and took pictures. It was so pretty and nice and windy.

Some things I picked up on while doing my first real hike:

People are literally CRAZY about hiking. We were getting passed by people who were on their 2nd and 3rd times up! After we got to the bottom, you couldn't pay me to turn around and go all the way back up again.....well maybe...
There were children, larger people, animals and the elderly who were all leaving me in the dust. Go you guys!
Hikers can be really nice. A lot of people we crossed going up and down we met with cheery little 'good morning!'s. I tried my best to smile but I guarantee a lot of them were met with a heaving, sweaty miserable groan by me.
Hikers also like to make little comments as you pass each other. Like, "Man, my knees sure can't handle that!" and "Tough one today!". I got pretty good at the hiker small-talk.
I saw a dog with 4 little hiking shoes on. Again...people get way too into this...
Going down, people are literally bounding down these rocks with crazy speed. CRAZY. SPEED. I could barely watch I was so afraid they would fall.
Everyone we passed had a camelback backpack (oddly coincidental), it's a backpack with water attached. Super cool.
Hiking is killer on your knees, climbing up rocks then trying to control your shaky legs down.....man...killer.
I didn't pack enough water. You need a lot of water.

Last but not least, I learned that I can actually do things that are hard. Things I've never done. That scare me. And I can overcome them! By the time we got to the bottom, our car was almost a mile a way and it heated up 20 degrees. That was the hard part. Thanks to Hunter for helping me along the way. It was awesome! :)

Today was also FREE DAY! So you better believe I came straight home and made Pumpkin Cookies. And ate Pizza. You can never go wrong with a good slice of pizza and a cool Root Beer in my book....Mmm...

These pictures are all sorts of out of order but Blogger won't let me fix them. Enjoy.

Hanging out at the top! :)