This was my first peak of my first 6 pack challenge and actually the first time I've ever done a physical challenge. I've hiked before, but I've never done anything this strenuous in my life! But I made it through with the company and motivation of my best friend Kelley. We started at 7:15 am at Chantry Flats and hiked via the sturtevant falls and Winter creek trail. The majority of the hike was very peaceful and serene, especially near the running water. The trees covered us from the sun most of the way also, until we hit those grueling switchbacks where we were in full sun the whole way.  We made it to the peak at 12:30 which was the time we were shooting for so that was great, but boy we were beat!  Wow, those switchbacks though! That was enough of a challenge on their own but what was really messing with our morale was the intense amount of bugs swarming around us the whole time! We had not thought to bring any kind of bug repellent so it was just us against those pesky little things the entire hike. The most difficult and frustrating part about it was that any time we wanted to take a small break to catch our breath we were inundated with hundreds (felt like thousands) of gnats. I'm pretty sure I swallowed at least ten. Needless to say, our breaks were very short and filled with expletives. But we made it! To the top! Time to refuel, rest a bit and find someone with bug spray. Luckily we found someone who had some spray with him and let us drench ourselves with it for our trip down. We started our descent around 1:30 and had estimated we would be back to my car around 5pm. This was not the case. The way down started out great, our spirits were returned in full and we were making good time until two things happened. One, I rolled my ankle! Luckily it wasn't too bad…just enough to slow us down a decent amount out of precaution mainly. And two, I chose the lower Winter Creek trail instead of the Upper because the lower trail was one mile less than the upper. Because of my ankle, this route was definitely a mistake for me. It required so much water crossing which I had to be extra careful with and the “gentle incline” at the end made me feel like I would never make it to the parking lot. So with those two hiccups…we made it back to the car by 6pm. Feeling ragged, rundown, slightly defeated… I spent the car ride home wondering if I would continue with the challenge. Maybe I'm not ready for this…why put my body through it? But after a couple days of contemplation and so much encouragement from friends and family…I'm sticking with it and hitting Ontario next month! In the mean time I'm going to be working on getting my body more prepared and stocking up on bug spray!

Happy Hiking!