The last day of Sept. 2016 is the day we prepared for. I had bought a 3 dollar steak a few days prior and tried my hand at making jerkey in the oven.
They were not the best, but there were certainly good!!!
So, we packed up some gluten free trail snacks, water bottles, and jerky and set off in an adventure. We stopped at a local department store to get some bear spray, just to have to be safe. When we told the man working we were hiking Rooster Rock he said, that is a tough trail and looked at us like there was no way we could do it.
At 10am, we arrived. John had his hunting pack on to continue getting season ready. I had my camera packed up and we began.
The initial trail is inviting and so beautiful. It is covered in a canopy of Vine Maples, Pine Trees, wild ferns, and Maples. There was moss carpeting everything. It is indescribable!
But as you get through the first 20 feet, you then begin the ascent. I am talking an ASCENT too. Now, keep in mind, I am plus size. I am not to my goal weight yet. I am not physically where I want to be but I have been consistently working out for over a year and eating healthy, clean foods. So, this was not going to be an easy feat for me. Not in the slightest.
This trail is 1.6 miles one way to the junction of Trout Creek Trail. From there, you can continue on to the Rooster Rock pillars. The trail elevation starts at 1300 feet and ends at 3567 feet. So in essence, you are on an uphill climb constantly. I remember John and I both saying it would be nice to have a small spot of flat to stand on for a while.But no such luck.
We paced ourselves. We took many of many of breaks to stop and catch my breath. We sat down a few times to rest and eat some carbs and protein and drink up some water. Another couple passed us and went on. We were not in a hurry and we were enjoying God's creation.
There were spots you could see the road and river below and they were so far down. There were spots you could see how high you were by looking across at the mountain across the road. We were, in fact, going up higher and higher, yet, the mountain top above us seemed to keep getting further and further away.
The saddest part about this trip is that there were so many dense trees that we could not really see a view the whole time. And that was challenging on my mind.
So let me pause here and let you know about what was on my mind. I am struggling with losing this weight and work very hard to do so but to no avail. I suffer from depression and anxiety. I have found that when I have a high, like doing something amazing or something I have not been able to do before, I have an instant low, real low. SO, while we were up probably around 3000 feet on this mountain, my low hit. I wanted to cry. I didn't see any change in the trail ahead, just up. No view, no rocks, nothing but up. I tried to explain to my husband that I was feeling very defeated, very disappointed, and very much a failure. He explained to me that even if we turned around at our first stopping point,(probably around 2000ft) that would have been a HUGE accomplishment. He didn't realize this trail was going to be so hard and he was super proud of me that I was doing so well. He couldn't understand how I could be sad. I decided to push on. My man is one in a million!
So we kept on and on our second sitting break eating some jerky, the couple passed going back down. They said the junction was literally right around the corner. They also said the trail from there on was straight up pretty much and about a half mile more.
We talked, rested, and decided to make it to the junction.
And that we did! We decided that this was enough of an accomplishment. The lack of views were trying on my husband too. He loves to walk aimlessly through the woods but to hike like this, he wants to see rewards. Come to find out, there are views from the top, but for today, we stopped here and turned around.
The downhill decent, though much easier on the heart, the lungs, and the majority of the body soon began to wear on the toes, knees, and feet. We made it down safely but our toes were dying.
All in all, this was a great adventure to me. I still have little lies coming in saying I am a failure, I should have pushed through, but later that day, I know we made the right choice. My knees were in bad shape that night. I think I might want to try it again when I am smaller in size so that my knees wont have so much weight on them. But for now, I am proud! I accomplished almost 3000 feet of elevation hiking and there is no way I could have done that a year ago.
I am proud that I have stuck with my Beachbody workouts, my Shakeology, my Jesus, and my family! I am headed in the right direction. And this hike is proof. Amazing! I am ready for my next hike by the way!!! And I will try to start posting more again. Things have definitely changed in our lives since I last wrote! If you have questions or need anything, just ask!!! <3 you all blog readers !
