I love to go hiking and make it a point to go once a week. In fact, California is known to have some of the most beautiful hiking trails in the country. You can literally find a new trail every day of the year if you wanted to. I recently got invited by a friend to go hiking over the weekend. She picked a canyon in a lovely area of the Pacific Palisades. It is known for its breathtaking views of the ocean.
The day of the hike, my friend drove us to the foot of the canyon. I reached for my water bottle and asked, "Do I need to bring this?" She shakes her head and says, "No, you'll totally be fine. I hike this trail every day." So, I opt to leave my water bottle in the car. We exit the vehicle and start walking towards the trail. Everything started off so well. We were laughing, sharing stories, having a great little hike. However, a few minutes in, the trail started to get a bit intense due to how steep it was. Our friendly chatter started to trail off just a bit. There were some intense spots in the beginning. I imagined there would be a little hill here, some flat land there and maybe a few other intense spots. But, nothing that I couldn't handle.
Well, 15 solid minutes later of continual uphill...AGONIZING climbing, I'm about to whistle for an oxygen tank. A gurny perhaps? It was one of those hills where you can only see so far ahead. You think you've climbed your way to outerspace until you realize there is another steep hill around the next bend. By the time to claw your way to Heaven, Opps... there is another steep hill...and then another...and then another...and another...
You could tell by my face I had never seen a canyon like this in my life. I take that back...Yes, I have. I've just been smart enough to not climb it. I've hiked some tough hills in my past, but not like this. Much to my displeasure a husband and wife were walking down the same path but in the opposite direction. The couple noticed the look of exhaustion on my face. The guy goes, "Ha! Hope you have a lot of endurance for the rest of the hike...You are just getting started." As my lungs were about to pop out of my chest I looked at my friend and go, "He's joking right? How high up exactly does this hill go?" She goes, "Oh, it takes about an hour and a half." Mind you...she hikes this every day and doesn't have a bead of sweat rolling off her forehead. It was at this moment I said a prayer to Jesus Christ begging him to perform a miracle on my lower extremities while I climb the "canyon of death." "WHY did I not bring my water bottle?!?!"
You could tell by my face I had never seen a canyon like this in my life. I take that back...Yes, I have. I've just been smart enough to not climb it. I've hiked some tough hills in my past, but not like this. Much to my displeasure a husband and wife were walking down the same path but in the opposite direction. The couple noticed the look of exhaustion on my face. The guy goes, "Ha! Hope you have a lot of endurance for the rest of the hike...You are just getting started." As my lungs were about to pop out of my chest I looked at my friend and go, "He's joking right? How high up exactly does this hill go?" She goes, "Oh, it takes about an hour and a half." Mind you...she hikes this every day and doesn't have a bead of sweat rolling off her forehead. It was at this moment I said a prayer to Jesus Christ begging him to perform a miracle on my lower extremities while I climb the "canyon of death." "WHY did I not bring my water bottle?!?!"
Somehow I managed to make my way to the top of the canyon where I was about ready to rip off every article of clothing on my body as I was sweating from head to toe.
Oh, and don't get me started on the die-hard yogi's who glided up the hill with precision and poise as if they were reindeer on Santa's sleigh just so they could conduct a yoga class on top of the canyon. Naturally, they took the hard way up and didn't even seem to break a sweat.
I was pleasantly surprised to see how EASY the other half of the canyon was which lead us down to the other side. Besides us and Santa's yogi's, I don't recall anyone else hiking up the same side as we did. Most people walked up the easy side and then down the difficult side. Makes good sense to me!
Oh, and don't get me started on the die-hard yogi's who glided up the hill with precision and poise as if they were reindeer on Santa's sleigh just so they could conduct a yoga class on top of the canyon. Naturally, they took the hard way up and didn't even seem to break a sweat.
I was pleasantly surprised to see how EASY the other half of the canyon was which lead us down to the other side. Besides us and Santa's yogi's, I don't recall anyone else hiking up the same side as we did. Most people walked up the easy side and then down the difficult side. Makes good sense to me!
After all was said and done, I am glad I did it. I endured a challenging work-out. A special thank you goes out to my friend for the delightful experience. I guess I can mark this one off my bucket list as I will never be returning...well, at least any time soon. Okay...let's be honest...NEVER again!
LMBO!!!!!!!!! OMGosh Molly! WAY TO GO! WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT! One thing I love so much about your blog is reading about everything you do! I admire you for getting out there and doing so many things and trying new things! For this situation though, I would have died! After beating up my friend - in a Christian way. I can just picture you going up that hill. I'd be right there with you. However I'd probably be the friend stuck at the middle of hill, trying to think of reasons why I 'can't go on,' crying because I couldn't feel my legs. or my spleen hurt. I'd get creative.
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