the day I thought my feet were going to fall off.

As I’ve mentioned before, I took a little hiatus after the marathon. Not intentional, but much too long. Well, with the college being closed and me having some extra time on my hands this past week, I figured why not cross off a few more peaks from my bucket list? And why not go with a co-worker who hikes just about every free moment she has?

Insert the story where she kicked my butt!

This hike was by far the most difficult that I’ve ever done. I don’t know if it’s because I was out of shape or what, but by the time we got off the mountain and had to hike the five or so miles out to the car, I was almost in tears. With every step I took, I thought my feet were going to break off or give out. No blisters just plain old tired. They worked hard to climb FOUR peaks that day: Gothics, Armstrong, Upper and Lower Wolfjaw.

I’ve never had to climb a slide like that found on Gothics. A lot has been wiped out from the hurricane, so that’s the mess you’ll see in some of the photographs. At the top, there were cables to hang on to because it was so steep and very little to cling on to.

Armstrong was tricky to get down; constantly stopping to think, “interesting” and most likely scoot down on your bottom. There was a ladder to help us at the steepest point.

Upper was pretty uneventful, great views but Lower, let me tell you. Climbing that last half mile up was hell! Tricky to get up, even trickier to get down when your legs feel like jello. But I’m glad I sucked it up for that last peak because I would have regretted leaving knowing it was that close. We hiked for about ten hours that day and covered 15.1 miles!

I slept like a baby that night, not moving until Tuesday morning when I realized how sore I was. But I like sore, knowing that I got a great workout and on muscles that I don’t always target.

Wanna know what I LOVE? People who read my blog, see my bucket list and think, “hey, I wanna do that too!” I’ve had one reader see an item that she wants to cross off, research it, and throw the idea out at me… and I accepted! This late summer/early fall, the two of us will be taking a road trip to………………..bungee jump! More details to follow soon!