Well, I did it! I finally hiked Camelback Mountain. And while there are many stories to tell and lessons learned, there is one story that stands out among them all. As I started up the mountain, the first half is a trail with a pretty good incline. The second half you are not hiking, you are climbing. Climbing rocks.
In the middle is the saddle. Many people stop at the saddle and don’t continue. While I was sitting at the saddle contemplating whether or not to continue, two couples rounded the corner and when the ladies saw the next part, they said, “No way.”
Their husbands tried to convince them but they were content to just sit and wait. It was at this time that I shared my new mantra, “I didn’t come to Camelback Mountain to climb half a mountain.” When I started the second leg, they were still resting and resisting. I climbed for about 10 minutes, then rested for about 5. At one point, this foursome caught up to me. The ladies said that my idea of “slow and steady” and stopping when needed spurred them on.
We climbed the rest of the way together; sharing, groaning, laughing, etc. When we reached the summit, we were all elated. I decided to leave them be and go around taking pictures from all directions. It was then that I found this perfectly sloped rock tucked out of sight. I laid against it and promptly fell asleep in the Arizona sun.
What I can only imagine was a few minutes later, I heard another young couple celebrating reaching the top. It was then I heard the young girl say, “The best line from Camelback today was, ‘I can’t believe we left Nancy up there’!”
Apparently the foursome started hiking down the mountain and at some point realized they left their new friend, a.k.a. me, and this girl overheard them say this.
I asked the girl how long ago she heard this exchange and when she said only 5 minutes ago, I sprung up and decided to race down the mountain to catch the foursome and share with them how funny it was that I heard what they said.
It took me until the saddle to catch up to them but when I did, I got right behind them and said, “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU LEFT ME!!!” They turned around and looked absolutely devastated. It was then that I told them about the girl at the top who thought the best line of the day came from them.
They apologized profusely which I told them was unnecessary and that I got a good laugh out of this girl thinking my “friends” actually left me.
We hiked the rest of the way down together!
At the “saddle” contemplating the next leg.
Nice…beautiful…hope all is well with you!
We found your blog and our story!! Thanks for your encouragement! Our hike up Camelback was one of the highlights of our trip. It was a pleasure to meet you and reach our goal together–hiking all the way to the top! Best of luck to you on your future climbs and endeavors!
Your chance meeting friends,
2 of the 4 (Jill and Dale)that left you behind!