I hate heights. Watching someone in a movie climb to some inspiring summit makes my legs feel like jello. Standing on a chair to reach something makes me cry a little inside. But here I am climbing a mountain in the Adirondacks with a 30 lb bag on my back to practice for an upcoming hiking trip. I had already come close to tears once from a lack of snacks and had gotten more than my fair share of pathetic looks from both the 80 year old women and the five year old kid that had passed us. Talk about depressing. We are a few hundred feet from the top and the promise of canned tuna and a granola bar awaits me, when I see the smooth flat rocks above. Scrambling. I was under the impression only the pro’s had to scramble rocks. The trees around us have all disappeared so it is unbelievably windy and the view makes it very apparent now how high up we are. I immediately drop to all fours. I need as much surface area as I can get to make it up this monster of a mountain. My jacket is zipped to my chin, my hat is pulled down past my eyelids, partly to stave off the wind and partly to shut out the horrifying view. I claw at the smooth stone, looking for any craves to put my fingers into. My feet slip as they look for something solid to push against. My three trips to the gym did not prepare me for this. Suddenly something rushes past me and I glance up enough to see Ruby frolicking around, chasing her tail. Dumb dog. Obviously they have no sense of fear.
“Why are you going over there? It’s much easier this way.” Jon calls from far above.
I gather the courage to glance up a second time long enough to see that I am heading off the edge of the boulder I am. I sit up for a moment and look around. Kids are running up and down the boulders in t-shirts, laughing and chasing each other. An elderly couple hold hands and skip down the smooth surface. A toddler learns to walk and turns to wave to her parents. Jon is already to the top and is admiring the view.
“Gonna make it?” he laughs.
Gingerly, with as much dignity as I can muster, still on all fours, I finish climbing to the top and look back down. The monster I had just battled with is actually about 50 feet of slowly rising stone that could almost be considered handicap accessible. I ate my granola bar on the opposite side of the mountain in order to avoid all the pointing and laughing, but Jon and Ruby found me.