Conquering Allouette Mountain
my trophy - the 16 km sign at the peak that rory ripped off a tree. shh.
Apparently, there's something about pushing yourself past your pre(mis)concieved limits that
All of us (ash_bridesmaid(rory), woeisme4ever (dustin), and i) sat in the Crown Victoria on our ride up to hike to the top of Allouette Mountain. Rory was preaching about bear and cougar safety as Dustin played with his new Zellers hiking boots beside me in the backseat. Mr. Stevens changed the station to opera and instead of focusing on the long hike I had ahead of me, i was concentrating on the drops of rain outside my window that looked like molten pewter.
It was a poetic moment.
Out of the car, and ten yards into the trail, I realize it was absolutely unavoidably the dreaded INCLINE trail I had previously hiked in my highschool P.E. years. This thing was deadly to the out-of-shape, as my sister would agree. 2 km long and at a steady angle of 45 degrees. I sit down, ready to cry.
I can't DO this.
Rory is staring at me in disbelief as I pull out my athsma puffer and take a good long puff for emphasis.
Do you wan't to go back?
Good enouragement is the best food for the physical. The incline is only 2km of the predicted 10 km and the sub-cieved 13-or-more-km trail I had ahead of me.
The rest of the hike was a blur of thigh pain and rain. Somehow I made it through eight solid hours of hiking.
Don't ask how. I'm not an athlete. Just stubborn, apparently.
After assuming we'd found the peak several times, we, because this is how the world works, stop to camp before the last rise before the peak of the mountain. Here, we failed to make a campfire out of wet sticks. Here, I rolled in pain for hours before Rory hiked to the peak with Dustin's cell phone to phone for advice for me. Here, I puked right outside the tent. Here, Rory made me mint tea by burning toilet paper. Here, we all slept in rivers inside our tents. Here, I wanted a goddamn helicopter to take me home. I thought I was going to die.
The next morning, we hiked to the peak.
Climbing rock face and basking in the fog that Rory has declared "screwed us out of a view" i realized that...
i did it.
the map
a then-undecided-team-mediocre
dustin taking a break about 3/4 of the way up the mountain
myself in a rainy defeat
incline trail that was actually a creak bed
before the jungle at the helicopter launch
camping in a river
rory and i looking alluring at the peak after a night of puking and no sleep
dustin right before or in close succession of his long leak off the peak of the mountain
dustin being absolutely peachy on the decent
the boys, looking accomplished
the moment we got down the mountain, the sun came out. we could have stayed another day
rory and i, back at 0.0
team mediocre victorious
I don't know what it is about hiking a mountain. I think it's the physical version of things we accomplish in day to day life. The satisfaction from seeing yourself pull through in such an obvious way is astounding.
All of a sudden, things that seemed important before pale in comparison on the peak of a mountain. Things look a lot clearer from that perspective.
As we decended that last 2km of incline trail, I said to Rory, "I think the best thing about this hike was that I realized that I really underestimate myself. I proved myself wrong this trip SO many times. I can really do pretty much anything."
scenery shots by woeisme4ever (Dustin) The first one spotted by me :D
first shortcut trail
the peak
fog comparison for team mediocre:
up the mountain and down the mountain, in that order
i can't remember what we were fighting about, but i'm pretty sure you won.