The Great climb

  I had never gone out of my comfort zone with such a hard physical undertaking before me. As scared as I was going into this I never was going to let up. When you have to go 8366 feet up into the air in 9 hours you wouldn’t expect yourself to do it. Or for it to be fun. This towering mountain which once erupted in 1980 was more than a challenge to climb. On top of this, sleeping 3 hours was no fun either. I stood at the bottom of the trail with my counselor and 3 friends in pure darkness, with the sun starting to come up over the horizon.  To locals and experienced climbers, this hike might not have been anything special, but to me, it was jaw-dropping. Already on this daring trip, I’d hiked a peninsula and a mountain range. This time it felt more nerve-wracking. As tired as I was I knew what had to be done. I started walking. 

The steepness of the climb didn’t fully kick in at the beginning, but I still disillusioned by the whopping size of the mountain. By taking it one step at a time, at the start, everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly. I was anticipating more of an uphill hike. When you hear about scaling a mountain you would normally think of something more extreme. Also, it being a volcano made me wonder what the surface at the top would be like. For now, it was smooth sailing. We continued walking and eventually got to a point where there was a sign that read, you must have a permit to go beyond this point. 

I began to wonder if this was the part where the terrain would change or the uphill would kick into high gear. We kept walking, the terrain stayed the same for a little while longer. We made our way to what they called the fall peak of the mountain. The trail suddenly started to get stepper and we were then walking on ashes that were produced from the volcanic eruption in 1980. I started to realize that this was the turning point in the climb and from here on out it was going to be a challenge. As much as I feared falling I mainly feared my inability to achieve a task such as this. As I watched a kid behind me suddenly fall behind I kicked my hiking up into high gear. Climbing up a mountain with rocks and ash was very tough. At many points, I found myself inside of my own head. My lack of self-confidence was what was slowing me down. In certain situations what people don’t usually realize is that they may be physically equipped to handle it but they are in the wrong frame of mind. In this case, I was feeling this way.

I kept climbing. Seeing one of my friends keep falling behind made me feel timid. I was already feeling down even from the start. Not only was this hike tough, but I didn’t see the value of doing it. I was ignorant to the cool opportunity I had. I was very close-minded. As we made our way to the beyond the fall peak the rocks came in. It was so early that as we walked the sun was rising. It had been about 3 hours since we began the hike but still the top of the mountain was nowhere in sight. Simple steps suddenly began to turn into longer strides, and in some cases, climbing over many rocks was what we had to do. I wasn’t complaining out loud but in my, mind  I wondered why I chose to do something like this. What was I getting out of it? What is so cool about nature and interesting sites I kept wondering. We began to make way towards the ¾ checkpoint of the mountain. Our pace did slow down however more constant breaks took, and slower steps due to the deepness of the terrain. 

As we kept walking I even began to fall a bit behind. The depth of the terrain really got me, and I was fatigued from it. On top of my pace, my thoughts started to set in again. Wondering if I was good enough, or if this hike was worth it. As we made our way up the mountain we kept taking constant breaks. Suddenly we saw a group of people march down the mountain. “They told us don’t worry, it was worth it”. As everybody else in my group started to think highly of that comment, It didn’t mean much to me. I didn’t think it was going to be worth it. As we hiked up almost tho the peak my feet started killing me. It was just another issue in what I thought was a series of problems. My counselor was very energetic and she raced up once she saw the peak and started racing to the top. I trailed from behind with absolutely no energy. I then made it to the top. I stood up tall looked down and saw an amazing view. The crater of a volcano. I’d never seen anything like it. All of a sudden I got a sense of accomplishment. There was nothing like it. I still was debating whether it was worth it or not. But as I stood on the mountain top I realized something. At this very moment, I distinctly remember my counselor explaining the types of fun. Type 1: Fun at the moment you would do it again. Type 2: Not fun at the moment but you come to have enjoyed the experience. After this was said I quickly realized what I had accomplished and seen. I realized that in life you just have to come to enjoy the great opportunities you can get. I no longer was negative toward sightseeing, and most importantly I wasn’t ignorant of the beauty of this world. It was only one 9 hours’ time, but because of this climb, I became a better person. I widened my horizons and expanded my knowledge and interests. I never knew that this experience would do this much for me, and I still don’t know if this experience did something like this for somebody else on my trip. What I do know though is that it forever changed my attitude, my ignorance, and lack of experience, and I can now live my life with these great qualities.