12.6 miles

is the total distance of our Mt. Wilson loop. with a 4200 ft. elevation gain. it really felt like 26 miles. i'm just trying to be honest here, the mountain felt like it was growing taller with every step i took... said hike totally kicked my ass, or rather just took out my legs. whole. i came home, i showered, i put on the most comfy pjs i own, i rolled into bed (with my wet hair still wrapped in the towel) and i surrendered. i was completely and utterly out of commission for the rest of my Sunday. i dont feel tired, if i can walk on my hands i would, because my legs are rendered useless. totally jello. i have been literally stuck on this bed since 7:48pm. yesterday.

you see, some time in March i felt bold, felt the need to prove things to myself and accepted a challenge an invitation to summit Mt. Whitney... oh, you know, only the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states, peaking at a looming 14,505 ft., 22 miles RT, failure rates calculated at 2 out of 3 people... but this never-gone-camping in her life, (wannabe) ballet dancing, yoga obsessed-crazy girl said, "ok, i accept! let's do it!" i love hiking but usually 3 miles, 5 miles, 7 miles, 9 miles. aint no thang.  this is a challenge, probably driven by my natural quiet competitiveness, the want to explore the edge of my comfort zone and maybe even surprise myself?  Mt. Wilson did not scare me, i still am hopeful that i have both the mental and physical strength to summit!

this was the first of our training hikes. let's repeat those stats: 12.6 miles, 4200 ft. elevation gain, summit at 5710 ft. atop Mt. Wilson.  you can follow along the trail here. my little cousins, J and C, are my hiking companions for this impending Mt. Whitney trip along with 3 of J's friends who are all Fire academy medics. (talk about a comforting thought on a trip of this caliber). i am the eldest of the bunch, not to mention the only female. (talk about pressure!)

all smiles about 2 miles in.

hazy early morning start.

a beautiful canopy

starting off, we jibber jabbered along as we trekked through Chantry Flats, enjoying the beauty that surrounds us.  i particularly enjoyed the rustling of cool water in the creek and seeing the 50 ft. Sturtevant Falls from the top.  it did not take long for us to realize that this was a very difficult hike. what it lacked in elevation, it made up in GRUELING. NEVER. ENDING. STEEP. INCLINES. i felt like i was doing a billion lunges. we've been slowly increasing our pack weights as we trekked along the shorter hikes and today's was my heaviest, weighing in at 18 whopping LBs. so that was an added challenge. we learned quick that we needed to put pride aside. yes, we want to summit. yes, we made a commitment. but we do not want all that machismo to mask the signs of heat exhaustion or worse altitude sickness (AMS). the last thing we want to do is be stuck in the middle of the woods, having to figure out how to haul a 140 lb man and his pack down the mountain. we had set simple rules for ourselves:

1. no need to be macho here, we're all human. put your pride aside. if you need a break, say it. if you need help, ask for it. you know your body best. you are responsible for recognizing your own body's scream for help.  
2. stay fueled up. drink water before you're thirsty. dehydration is no joke. snack if you need it, have a full meal even!
3. answer when you are called out to. it is very disheartening to call out to someone and have no response, especially when you feel YOUR legs trembling terribly and just want to make sure everyone else is A-OKAY.. (misery does love company)
4. continue to motivate one another. push one another, sometimes literally. it is seriously ALL mental. the pain is very physical but PAIN IS ONLY TEMPORARY.

Mt. Wilson observatory.

seriously? only halfway!?

lunch.

relatively simple, right? well it got us through. we made it to the observatory and ate lunch sitting above the clouds while simultaneously looking down on the San Gabriel Valley. the descend was personally much tougher for me, specifically my knees and ankles. i would stop and stretch and literally watch my leg muscles quiver. we threw in some light trail running to make use of gravity on the way down. i am proud that never once did i curse myself for taking this challenge. but i did have some rather random thoughts probably bc it was much more silent. i knew mentally i was breaking down when my thoughts went a little something like this around mile 10 or so: "ooo lichen. the bestie just mentioned to me that lichen grows on sloths bc they move so slowly.. i wonder in observing their surroundings, do sloths think to themselves 'wow that bird/insect/zipliner moves amazingly fast' or do they live woefully wondering what they did in their past life to be so unfortunately slow?" you get my point. random.

orchid x lily hybrid?

gorgeous views.

my rafiki sick.

the lesson learned today? thank goodness for training hikes. so many things to improve on, to prep for, weaknesses to iron out, strengths surfaced and driven in. one down, five to go before the real deal. i'm keeping my eyes on the prize: toned hiker legs and awesome dirt tans hahaha. jk. its definitely all about the (mental/physical) journey and not the destination. if i dont make it, i dont make it. but i will try damnit. like the Chinese Philospher Lao Tzu said, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." and we've started ours: Mt. Wilson. Check!

for those of you planning to enjoy the great outdoors this summer, i highly recommend the EVERYTRAIL website. i had downloaded the app on my iphone and the map/GPS tracker really helped to keep us from straying off course.  i also love reading the detailed posts of MODERN HIKER for local hikes. both sites put me at ease about what to expect even though the trails seem ever-changing. enjoy yourself a taste of feeling far and remote from the cityscape and be safe out there!