As mentioned in a previous post, yesterday Scott, his mom, and I hiked to the very top of Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona.

My morning (6:30ish) started like this:

This picture was actually taken on the way back down the mountain, but at least it portrays the steepness, and scariness of this part of the hike. When I first attempted going up this I got half way up and got very scared and really felt like I could not go any further. On the other side (which is where I was trying to go up) the rock was very slick, and where I got stuck there was a large protruding portion of rock and it seemed like the only way around it was to basically throw yourself up and hope you don’t slip. Well, after a minor break down I eventually moved to the middle of the rock and used the pole to hoist myself up, one foot at a time.

The rest of the way up the mountain went like this: small flat’ish break, steep rocks that you had to crawl up, look up and down every two minutes to make sure no one is about to fall/step on you, occasional breathing/water breaks, more steep rocks that you had to crawl up, a few scared induced break downs, and finally this:

The view from the top was breathtaking, and definitely worth the extraneous hour and a half hike straight up the mountain.

Did I mention that Scott and I also found a little cave and wanted to take a photo in front of it, but ultimately covered up most of it with our bodies. Oops!

Iced non-fat latte, caesar salad, iced tea.

Dessert=brownie cookie and pumpkin chocolate muffin!

The rest of the day was spent tending to my sunburn neck (forgot the sunscreen and completely regretted it), eating dinner together, and going to see Shutter Island.

Ok, update on today’s little adventure coming soon!

-Chels xoxo