On my annual trip to Colorado, I did something that I have never done before: I climbed a 14,000 ft mountain.
When I was first asked if I wanted to climb a mountain to spread Epilepsy awareness, I was all for it. I had visited Colorado for a month and not once had hiked any of Colorado’s 53 14ers, and it was something on my bucket list.
Since I go on annual hiking trips with my grandparents, I felt like I had enough hiking experience to go.
But when I heard that the trail was four miles long, both my brother and I started to get cocky.
“I’ve hiked quite a bit, and I hiked a lot more than a four-mile round trip just last year!” I kept thinking. “I can hike this easily. Piece of cake.”
I was wrong.
When the night before came, I was anxious and still very cocky. My uncle, brother, and I all started our day at 4:00 in the morning and began our two-hour drive to Mt. Sherman.
After the long ride of restless sleep, we parked our car on a road along the side of a mountain! Just from the bottom, we already had a spectacular view.
By 7:30, all of our group members had shown up and were ready to go. We walked down the road for a while, then found the trailhead and started our hike.
This was about when I decided to start showing off. Instead of going my regular pace and taking my time, like I normally do, I began hiking fast enough to be near the front of the line.
The first hour or so was like any hike. I looked at flowers, saw some scenery, and started thinking to myself “you’re at the front of the line, that’s got to impress somebody!”
Then we went above treeline. And things got harder.
I don’t know about when I got tired, but I know I got tired quickly. But most people get tired at some point in a hike. It’s normal. So I kept going.
About ten minutes later, my breathing got more labored, and shorter. I have been tired during lots of hikes, but I had never had to work so hard to breathe. I decided I needed a rest.
My brother and I, now far from catching up to the leaders at the front, needed frequent breaks. The flowers didn’t cross my mind anymore; I wasn’t lost in thought. All I could think about was my breathing. I started to lose motivation and thought about giving up.
After many breaks, we finally got near the summit! It was about 400 yards away, and I knew that we would make it.
But then out of nowhere, these huge gusts of wind started blowing my brother and me all over the place. It must have been hilarious to see two kids get blown every which way from an outside view, but I was freaking out! It got to the point where it was unbearable. But I was so close.
The thing that stopped me from summiting was the fact that I thought I couldn’t do it.
My brother and I walked back all the way down, never reaching the summit. My legs hurt, my lungs felt like they would pop, but that didn’t really bother me.
What bothered me was that I knew I could do it. If I had changed my mindset, I knew I could have climbed all the way to the top.
The mistake I made was to change the way I thought when things got tough.
I underestimated the hike. It was the hardest four miles I have done in my life. Though the mileage was short, we climbed up almost 2100 vertical feet.
But I also underestimated myself. The peak wouldn’t have been any harder to reach than where we had stopped. And yet I didn’t make it; that was on me.
I didn’t know what it took to climb a mountain. And now I do, and it is much harder than I expected.
The next time things are harder than I anticipated, I’ll try to see that as me having to work harder as well. Besides, it can’t be harder than climbing a mountain!
