Met up with two friends, Emily and Matthew, early in the morning at my house then headed out for the trailhead. We began our journey at 7:30am. I was extremely nervous and felt ill-prepared for this challenge. In the first few miles we came across another 6-packer group… Stacy and Monty. We kept passing eachoher up most of the way. Wished each other well each time.

We stopped at the camp.. the halfway point.. and had snack. Then continued the journey. About 3/4 of the way up I began to have major doubts… my hamstrings and calfs burned. I felt defeated. But continue we must. My hip adductor started hurting and no amount of stretching helped.

About 2 miles from summit folks on their way down began with encouraging remarks, “just 3/4 mile left!” Excuse me kind people… but you are all liars!

WE MADE IT! we summited at 12:30. We did not come across Stacy and Monty at the summit and I hope they made it. We were quite thankful for the bathrooms at the summit. Ate lunch and had our Summit beers at a calm, shady bench.

Before we headed back down I Facetimed my boyfriend quickly to share the joy and beautiful views.

Back down!

Reached the trailhead at 5pm. With sausage fingers so extreme. We added the times to our trail log entry and headed to dinner.

Lessons learned:

Buy a roller for my muscles after hikes (I used emily’s And it was a god send! I would not have been able to move after this adventure)

More training! More long distance

I may have overestimated my abilities… and I might be crazy to attempt Cucamonga in 3 weeks.

Sometimes sheer willpower is incredibly powerful (it’s the only reason I made it)