My heart pounded as my head raced with fear before I spotted Helen, my closest friend. As I parked my car, I waved to Helen and her mom before getting out and heading over to them. To calm my nerves, I talked with Helen's mom in her car for a bit before she left us in the parking lot to wait for our friend Joe to arrive. The clouded sky watched over us as we sat down on a bench. After an hour with no sign of Joe, Helen, and I decided it would be best to begin our journey without him, or we might never get started. 

Looking at the trail map, we contemplated what trail we should take to make it up to the tower. Should we take the tower trail, which is a straight shot to the tower, or should we take the blue path ranked the most challenging trail that also leads to the tower eventually? Not knowing what lies ahead, we chose to take the blue trail. Heading towards the entrance of the trail, Helen and I joked around laughing and having a good time. The trailhead was a narrow downhill climb that had roots and rocks reaching up from beneath the earth. One of them reached up, grabbing Helen's leg and causing her to twist her ankle. Walking it off, we continued on the trail before making it to our first obstacle. 

The sweat forming on the back of my neck went cold as I looked up at the first hill. Immediately we determined it to be at least a fifty percent incline. Taking the challenge, we bolted up the mountain, quickly losing our breath. Making it to the top, I hunched over, breathing heavily. My asthma began to constrict my airways as if it were mad at me for the exercise; however, this feeling went out of mind when I looked up and saw the current view. Shocked and in awe, I followed Helen to a better vantage point to take pictures before being startled by another hiker coming from the unknown that lies ahead. His cheery attitude gave me a false sense of hope for what was to happen next. We moved quickly, embarrassed, as I led our way back down the path coming up on our second obstacle, a downward cliff. Debating on whether or not we should turn back and deal with what we just encountered or attempt to make our way down this cliff, I began to climb down. Making small and slow movements, I eventually made it to the bottom. Helen threw our bags down to me before making the dangerous trek down herself. Proceeding on the trail, we soon made it to multiple uphill hikes. Taking a break on a rock, I began losing hope when another group stumbled upon us. Overhearing our conversation on figuring out where in the world we were, they informed us that we were nowhere near the tower. This information broke me. 

Discouraged and outraged, we continued on the trail, running into more hikers who made this trail seem like it was nothing. Dogs passed us with their owners, couples, and families smiling and laughing with each other. My heart broke as I began to doubt myself even more. 

Eventually, we came upon an entrance to another trail. A young man and his father overheard us, contemplating on what to do next and informed us that the tower wasn't much further if we went a different way. Relieved, we followed the father and his son as they guided us towards the tower. Making it to the top, I realized that this view could never compare to the ones from the way up. As we descended from the tower to my car, I began thinking to myself about how I need to focus more on the reward during the journey.