Climb Every Mountain.

It has been a strange 36 hours for me. There is a group of us that have done a couple of hikes together. After a brief,  year long interruption due to my last pregnancy, we had planned to hit the trails yesterday. Although I have not done very much hiking, I love it. I love that it’s a challenge and then you push through and it’s over. I love  hanging out with friends outside away from all interruptions of life. I love the surroundings and I love the unknown of what you will find.

Finances do not allow a family vacation this year and this was to be our one little getaway this summer. I have been consistently working out for a few months, so I was pretty excited to hike hoping that I would feel physically great most of the day and enjoy the company and scenery. I stepped on the scale first thing in the morning to find that I had officially lost every pound put on during my pregnancy. Surely it would be a great day.

We had a 1.5 mile steep downward hike to reach the American River and some amazing sights. We had another 8 miles or so of hiking planned along the river and then would have to return and make it back up the mountain. Fortunately for us, our group includes one gentleman, affectionately named mountain man who finds our trails, makes sure we return home, and is the kind of guy who has multiple back up plans and everything you need and didn’t know you needed in his backpack. He sent a detailed email, to which I obeyed all the instructions EXCEPT the bring bug spray part. On the downward stretch of our hike, the mosquitos were RIDICULOUS and after confessing my sin of disobedience to the instructional email, I asked for bug spray. Problem momentarily solved. However, another problem was developing…on the way down the mountain, my knees, particularly the left one, started to really hurt along the outside of my leg. I ignored it because I was not going to be a whimp and it was not going to slow me down.

After reaching the bottom, we crossed a bridge and headed several miles down the trail, it was becoming increasingly clear that I had done something to my knee. When I realized I was no longer walking without limping, I suggested to my husband that maybe we should begin heading back to the car. Mainly, because I hold no aspirations of being airlifted out of a gorge.

So, we turned around. The rest of the group hiked on a bit and then turned back around as well. They stopped for lunch at an absolutely amazing spot. We decided to not stop, for fear I wouldn’t get back up again. So, I skipped the feet soaking, the lunch, the hanging out, and the views…incredibly disappointed. After a while, the rest of the group had finished lunch and caught up to us. I was in tears by this time. The pain was crazy. Every step down hill was agony and the knowledge of what was ahead of me was getting the best of me. Another member of our group had ace bandages and that did help some.

We made it back to the bridge and the bottom of the mountain. We had 1.5 miles and the mosquito forrest to trudge our way through. It was 3 pm. There was no choice. We had to go up.

I was fighting a lot of pain and the idea of continuing to walk on a knee that I was sure I had done something too was killing me. Yet, I was SO frustrated that this was getting the best of me and that I couldn’t just push through it. I am not sure I could have gone any slower. By this point, I couldn’t bend my knee. I was crying, tired, nauseas, faint~y, and irritated. We were going at a snails pace, Shawn was almost continually wiping down my arms and neck to keep the mosquitos off. It was miserable, to say the least. The rest of the group had gone ahead. We had no cell service and I seriously had no idea how I was ever going to make it to the top. It took us 3 hours to go that 1.5 miles. I was praying the whole way up that this was nothing serious and I would wake up pain free in the morning.

I was so relieved when we reached the top. Admittedly, I was humiliated and embarassed and thankful for the grace that the rest of the group was showing. We changed and headed out for dinner. We found a cute little downtown and stopped for pizza. After getting out of the car, my knee which I still couldn’t bend, hurt like crazy. Every step I took was sharp shooting pain.  I almost passed out and had to get back in the car. We ended up coming straight home.

I loaded up on pain killers, iced the knee, took a hot shower, and went to bed…all the while still praying that I would wake up pain free in the morning.

Morning came and I started to wake up and cringed…there was no onset of incredible pain like I was expecting. In fact, it was considerably less. Upon getting up and starting my day, I find that the only real thing I am suffering from is the itchiest arms in America {thank you mosquitos} and the realization of some new muscles in my legs that I never knew I had. I count 37 mosquito bites on my left arm from my elbow to my shoulder and stop, wondering if my 6 year old could play dot to dot on them…After the amount of pain my knee was causing me yesterday, I expected to be visiting Urgent Care today. Instead I went to my daughter’s last soccer game and had a talk with the pharmacist about the best anti itch cream.

I still hurt, but compared to yesterday…it’s nothin’.

So the morals of my story are this…

I do not like getting hurt.

Thank you God that it was nothing serious. Although with the drama of yesterday, it seems like I should have gone through some 12 hour ground breaking new surgery procedure to repair the damage done. At very least, to save face and validate the pain.

Stop obsessing, it is what it is.

I turned 40 this year..is this what getting old feels like?

On this hike, I burned 2695 calories burned and took 15,133 steps. Maybe it was all worth it.

Always do what Mountain Men say. They get their name for a reason.

…and YES I am going hiking again. I may have to find a new group of people who will take me in, but I’m going.

…and I love this man ~ he’s been my better half for almost seventeen years.