After our climb of Mt. Washington, we headed to the western edge of Massachusetts for Mt. Greylock.  We were going to take the Appalachian Trail up to the summit instead of just driving up to it.  Its located by some small town and it took a while just to figure out where the trail begins.  We found a place to park on the side of the road and found the Appalachian trail markers.  We headed into the woods…

The trail starts out fairly flat, then gets steeper.

and steeper

and steeper!

Of course, there’s no rock climbing involved, but after climbing Mt. Washington we were already tired.  We reached the top of the steep trail and decided we couldn’t push any further since night time was setting in and we weren’t prepared to camp out overnight.  We took a break next to a cliff and my dad took my picture.

Many of the establishments around the area boasted of having 100 mile views.  When you reach the tops of the mountains, you can see why.

We headed back down the easy way.  Letting gravity do most of the work by running and jumping down the slope of the mountain.  Even though I didn’t reach my goal this time, I know I’ll come back for it (probably by driving up it).

Adrenaline.

My clothes are soaked and the sun has disappeared behind the mountains.  Its cold and damp and I’m cold and damp.  I stand on my shoes as I remove my clothes.  After all, I don’t want to get pebbles in my boots.  My cheap, ruddy boots to go on my blistered achy feet.  As I’m doing this, I’m looking everywhere.  I do this as quickly as possible.  They might be coming.  At any moment, they might appear on one the trails that intersect here.  I can’t stay here long.  Especially since the sun is going down.  Its 7 oclock and I’m 6 miles from where I started.  It took me 3 hours to get here.  I’m on some mountain in the Appalachians.  I chose this one because it would go really high up.  I wanted to see the great views.

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Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft (1,917 m). It is famous for its dangerously erratic weather, and long held the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth’s surface, 231 mph (372 km/h) (or 103 m/s), on the afternoon of April 12, 1934.^[4] It was known as Agiocochook, or “Home of the Great Spirit”, before European settlers arrived.^[5]

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Now we’re getting serious.  14,440 ft.  Nearly 3 miles above sea level.  This would be the most difficult climb of my summer.  The toll it took on my body prevented me from getting New Mexico’s high point.  I almost didn’t make it back. 

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This was my first highpeak of my summer 2010 trip.  I started my trip from the Mexican border.  I drove the entire length of Texas from the southern tip in Edinburg all the way to the panhandle in Oklahoma.  This was going to be my first of 5 high peaks of the summer. 

This time, I was going solo.

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December, 2009.

My first attempt at my lifetime goal of 50 peaks of the 50 states begins in my current homestate of Texas.  Along the New Mexican border, Guadalupe Peak and its surrounding mountain ranges literally jump out of the ground.  On the approach, things are relatively flat, then boom.  Mountains.

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I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  People are often in shock.  “You’re going out there alone?” they ask.

The answer is yes.  Not always by choice.  For the most part, trekking out into the wilderness to reach a point, then turn back around seems like a waste of time for most people.  But its not always the goal, but the journey that is most sought out. 

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