Schiehallion

This past Sunday I went with other postgraduates and staff to hike Schiehallion.  I am going to be honest with you, I have not been hiking in quite some time and the activities I had done over the last year were in Sacramento, not the highest of high elevations.  That being said, this hike punched me in the stomach... hard.  However, it turned out to be a great hike overall.  I took my sweet time getting up that path, stopping when I needed and enjoying the view all around.  Unfortunately, I did not make it all the way to the top as I had hoped I would.  As I continued on and got higher up, the clouds and fog rolled in and made visibility drop down to just a few feet.  As I got closer to the top, the foot path blended into the rocks more and more and I eventually lost sight of the trail ahead.  I am disappointed that I didn't make it, especially because I had found a good rhythm and was feeling so much better by that point of the day, but I know this was only the first hike of many to come.  Also, it is hard to be too disappointed when all day I was outside, it didn't rain, and I could just take in all the beauty this place had to offer; a day of mentally pushing myself when my physical self was trying to quit.  That is when one knows what they are made of and how strong of a person they are.  Awesome.

View as I was headed up

The ferns were turning orange for fall

It starts out easy enough to see...

Motivation 1 - if the mushroom could find a way to survive...

...Motivation 2 - and the flower could break through, I could get up this mountain

Then the clouds started to come in...

...and visibility went down...

...and I had to stop climbing up.  But, I was still smiling (and so thankful my AMAZING friends got me such a fantastic warm hat) when I went to head back down.