Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. ~Miriam Beard
Ridiculously difficult does not even begin to describe today. I feel silly for all of the times at home I’ve ever come home from class or from a series of meetings and thought to myself, “Wow, what a rough day.”
Today began with about 650 feet of near vertical climbing. It wasn’t so steep that ropes and carabiners and harnesses were necessary, but it was upward climbing nonetheless and slipping backward and falling would have been debilitating if not fatal I’m guessing.
Although it was tiring, it was a really fun leg of the hike because I constantly had to think about where to place my feet, pulling myself up, and keeping balance. It was much more mentally engaging than walking along at a slight incline.
Little did I know, right after climbing up the cliff-side I had six more hours of hiking to do over a slight incline. Out of the seven and a half hours of hiking we did today, the last two hours were absolutely brutal because they seemed never ending. Boredom had officially kicked in and I had literally nothing else to think about.
For the first time throughout the hike I used my iPod to listen to music for motivation. The first twenty to thirty minutes the music was incredibly motivating and did a great job putting me in an optimistic mood. But after that, even music didn’t rid me of boredom.
Arriving at Millennium Camp was like having a ice cold glass of lemonade on the hottest of summer days. We made it just before sunset at 6 PM and were immediately given a dinner of spaghetti and meat sauce. Carb-loading at its finest for sure.
Because Arnold said we were only allowed to carry our water bottles in our packs, I had to almost completely unpack my backpack. Arnold carried my camera and the bottle of champagne and Coke for me and several small items for Rakhi and Aaron as well.
We all went to sleep at 10 PM when we should have really been asleep by 7. The little sleep I did get was restless because I was overwhelmed with anxiety for the final leg of the hike that would bring us to the summit.
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