Climbing Pinnacle

This morning, the kiddos and I climbed Pinnacle mountain. OK, OK, so it doesn't really qualify as a true mountain, but for us? It was as good as the real thing. It's only 1.5 miles round trip to get up and down the mountain, but it felt like much farther when we were only 2/3 of the way to the top. There was some whining and complaining, but overall, the kiddos did really well.

In fact, Benjamin and his friend did so well, I hardly saw them at all, going up or down. They were always just far enough ahead to be on the bare edges of my vision, but still well within earshot. His friend has already climbed it a few times, so I knew they could make it. And even though there is definitely some very real danger out there (lots of steep rocks and careful climbing required), I was glad to see him be independent and confident enough to tackle it without me. It's nice to give him some independence and see him take it, and I love that he enjoyed the  hike. He actually asked about doing the other trail (there are more trails than that one out there), so I guess we'll be going back out there soon enough. But maybe not when it is 90+ degrees out.

Alyssa had a little more trouble with the hike, but that was to be expected. I spent the last half of the uphill essentially hauling her uphill. I'm thinking my right arm is gonna be sore as hell tomorrow. But even though she said several times that she couldn't do it and she wanted to stop, she never really actually stopped. The older kiddos were always up ahead of her, and she wanted to be in on the action. So we had a few whining sessions, but in the end, she made it all the way up. I'm totally proud of both of them.

And I could totally tell how much the tennis and running is paying off as we did the hike. The last time I climbed Pinnacle, I think I either in high school or college, and was not in what I would call stellar shape. I remember my legs feeling like they were going to fall off by the time we got back down to the parking lot. You know the jelly legs you get where you aren't sure you're quads will hold you another step because they are shaking so hard? Yeah, those kind of jelly legs.

Today was a different story. I essentially hauled a preschooler up a large part of the mountain, as well as back down (carrying her a small portion of the way back down), and carried a backpack stuffed with a cooler of water and other assorted goodies for the trip. Hardly a hint of jelly legs, and aside from the rank stench emanating from my person, I can hardly tell I worked out. Sweeeet.

Heh. Now that I've written that, let's see how long it takes for DOMS to set in. I'll probably be in agony tomorrow morning. Oh well. We had our adventure today, and we had a great time. That's enough for me.