Last week.....around this time....I was climbing Mt. Washington.
A few months ago, I came up with this crazy idea. I would try to do get out of my box and try new things. I wanted to challenge myself, mentally and physically. Something was telling me that I needed to prove to myself that I can do things that are completely foreign to me.
Looking around online, I saw that REI had travel options. They have a ton of options too - anything from African Safaris to bike rides across Asia. I figured that I should I should probably stay in America, especially since I just got back from Italy. So, I was looking at the options in North America, and saw that they had winter adventures. Then I saw the Mt. Washington climb, and I was sold. I convinced a friend to go with me, and we booked our trip. I had three months to prepare.
Preparation (logistical preparation at least) comes pretty naturally to me. I am innately organized. I love planning and packing. I spent hundreds of dollars buying gear to keep me warm. I weighed down Pack and took him on a few hikes with me.
Physical preparation, on the other hand, does not come quite so naturally. That's all I have to say about that.
When the time finally came, my friend and I trekked up to New Hampshire to begin this crazy adventure. We drove 11 hours to Vermont and toured the Ben and Jerry's factory. Hey, if I'm going to drive all that way, I'm going to do some fun stuff too!
The next day, we drove over to New Hampshire (goal #13). We took the extra long route to maximize the possibility of seeing a moose.
We checked into the (crappy) hotel room and promptly left to find something fun to do. We went to the Visitor Center and the nice woman told us where we could go snowshoeing on a nearby trail, Georgiana Falls.
We strapped on snowshoes (goal #35) and explored this little trail. It was beautiful and snowy. This was the first time in my life that I had ever saw this type of snow. Now, I'm from the Midwest, so I grew up with snow. But this was different. This snow was pure and serene. And there was so much of it. The trail was pretty well packed, but the surrounding snow was probably about 6 inches deep. We were out for about 2 hours, and decided to head back when we realized that we had no idea where we were....or how much longer the trail ran.
After our snowshoeing trek, we had dinner and went back to the hotel to get ready for the next day. We would meet our guides and group.
Anxiety was setting in pretty well by this point. I couldn't believe that I was there, or that I had traveled all this way. I was nervous that I couldn't do it, even after buying all the gear, taking time off work, and packing so well. I hadn't slept well in days either. I didn't know what to expect, which is always difficult.
I went to bed. I didn't sleep. I simply waited for alarm to ring.
A few months ago, I came up with this crazy idea. I would try to do get out of my box and try new things. I wanted to challenge myself, mentally and physically. Something was telling me that I needed to prove to myself that I can do things that are completely foreign to me.
Looking around online, I saw that REI had travel options. They have a ton of options too - anything from African Safaris to bike rides across Asia. I figured that I should I should probably stay in America, especially since I just got back from Italy. So, I was looking at the options in North America, and saw that they had winter adventures. Then I saw the Mt. Washington climb, and I was sold. I convinced a friend to go with me, and we booked our trip. I had three months to prepare.
Preparation (logistical preparation at least) comes pretty naturally to me. I am innately organized. I love planning and packing. I spent hundreds of dollars buying gear to keep me warm. I weighed down Pack and took him on a few hikes with me.
Physical preparation, on the other hand, does not come quite so naturally. That's all I have to say about that.
When the time finally came, my friend and I trekked up to New Hampshire to begin this crazy adventure. We drove 11 hours to Vermont and toured the Ben and Jerry's factory. Hey, if I'm going to drive all that way, I'm going to do some fun stuff too!
The next day, we drove over to New Hampshire (goal #13). We took the extra long route to maximize the possibility of seeing a moose.
We checked into the (crappy) hotel room and promptly left to find something fun to do. We went to the Visitor Center and the nice woman told us where we could go snowshoeing on a nearby trail, Georgiana Falls.
We strapped on snowshoes (goal #35) and explored this little trail. It was beautiful and snowy. This was the first time in my life that I had ever saw this type of snow. Now, I'm from the Midwest, so I grew up with snow. But this was different. This snow was pure and serene. And there was so much of it. The trail was pretty well packed, but the surrounding snow was probably about 6 inches deep. We were out for about 2 hours, and decided to head back when we realized that we had no idea where we were....or how much longer the trail ran.
After our snowshoeing trek, we had dinner and went back to the hotel to get ready for the next day. We would meet our guides and group.
Anxiety was setting in pretty well by this point. I couldn't believe that I was there, or that I had traveled all this way. I was nervous that I couldn't do it, even after buying all the gear, taking time off work, and packing so well. I hadn't slept well in days either. I didn't know what to expect, which is always difficult.
I went to bed. I didn't sleep. I simply waited for alarm to ring.
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