Mount Timp

At the beginning of the summer I said to Spencer, "I need a thing.  You know, something that I go do that has nothing to do with our house."  It had to be something cheap (read free) and something that I could do alone or with the family.  I decided that hiking could be my thing.  As a stay-at-home mom with a very busy husband, I don't get out much.  There has to be a real reason for it.  I couldn't just say, "I know, I'll hike more this summer.  It will be my thing." I needed an end goal.  Mount Timponogas became that end goal.  Having lived on both sides of that mountain I have always wanted to climb to the top.  Now was my chance.  I had my thing. 
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I knew it was a long hike so I planned to do a lot of hiking during the summer to get myself ready.  This was a good idea, but in reality I could only manage one to two hour hikes regularly and a few three to four hour hikes.  I probably should have planned hikes by distance rather than how long they took me.

 We started the trail at 6am.  It was beautiful and lush.  We followed a stream and eight waterfalls all the way up to the lake just below the peak. I couldn't believe the flowers.  I'm sure Spencer got sick of me going on and on about the flowers.

 We hiked for a couple of hours and came to this little beauty.  We had to make it to the top of the green part and than around the tall part in the middle.  My description here is very technical, no?

Four hours of hiking up, up, up and the top of the mountain came into view.  This is the point where I thought that maybe reaching the top wasn't my goal anymore.  Maybe all along I just wanted to climb part of the mountain.  I didn't turn around. I kept going....



....all the way to the top.  My left knee is still hurting like crazy and I have a bit of a sunburn, but I am so glad I did it.  It was a wonderful experience.  It was long and hard and I almost cried, but I made it. Yay! 
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I think my next thing should involve chocolate or something.