I realize that in my Strawberry Peak log I threw a bit of shade at my friend Cody, who is always down for an adventure but has never been much of a hiker. He was an absolute champ getting to the summit. But I took a bit of amusement in his agony.

Mea culpa, which is Latin for “my bad.”

Because we did Baden-Powell together, and the altitude plus calf cramps nearly destroyed me. Meanwhile, Cody had popped some Altitude RX (so had I, in fairness) and was like “I FEEL AWESOME.” I suppose I had it coming. To make myself better I’m taking full credit for turning him into a hiker.

The grade of the trail is not that hard and unlike a few of the other Six-Packs there is a lot of shade from trees. But it’s steady uphill without many breaks, and that wasn’t what my lungs or legs wanted today. VERY crowded at first — we got a late start and the early crowd was descending in pretty big groups by that point. So the going was slow. But this summit was GORGEOUS, making all the embarrassment and pain well worth it.

Still: Be nice to your friends. Even your weird friends.

5 down, 6 to go!