I consider myself fairly fit. I've been swimming twice a week for the past several weeks, riding a couple times a week and doing various farm chores requires a degree of fitness. Yesterday, however, made me feel like I've been a couch potato all my life!
Yesterday, Billy and I climbed Mt. Taranaki. He had done it last year and has been wanting to do it again and it was definitely something I've been wanting to achieve, especially over the last month as the mountain has been out and calling to me. So since the weather was still bone dry and Billy had the weekend off, we decided to go.
We arrived at the Visitors Centre and began our trek at 10am. We started on a boardwalk then zigzagged on a gravel road with an incline and it wasn't long before I was puffing a bit. The gravel was tricky to walk on and I became eager to get to something else. We rested on a bench before starting on the next section called the Puffer which is concrete but very steep and I soon missed the more gradual incline of the gravel section. Oh, the burn in the thighs! We reached a flatter section where there's a huge antennae, a long drop (the last toilet opportunity) and cabin where people can reserve to stay if they decide to make the climb in 2 days. After this point the climb was only different kinds of difficult. First was a section where we had to clamber over boulders between which was loose gravel that was unstable to walk on. Next was a stretch of steps, some with gravel in them, some with wood wrapped with chicken wire. While strenuous on the thighs, this was the easiest section for me because the ground beneath my feet wasn't shifting. Next. Came. The. SCREE! How to describe scree? Imagine a steep hill under a layer of sand (ash) under a layer of large pebbles with larger rocks covering some sections and then the boulders that may or may not stay put scattered here and there. Now imagine climbing this! Every step forward you slide back. How far do you slide back, who knows? I tried to find rocks jutting out from the actual earth on which to place my feet but there were many sections that had none. My achilles tendons were aching! This section of the climb was so tedious and seemed to go on FOR EVER! After this part we were back to boulder climbing on gloved-hands and feet. This part would have been probably the most fun if I hadn't been so spent from the prior 4 or so hours of climbing. Billy, throughout most of the adventure, stayed ahead of me and would stop to wait for me frequently. I'd clamber and climb and fight to get to him thinking "Yay! I can rest!" but just as I got close, he'd start up again! UUUHHHGGGG! Such a tease! This climbing section also felt endless. Between fatigue and the fact that you couldn't see the top, it was SO HARD. This was also the section where we passed the most people. Only THEY were going DOWN! Billy and I were actually the last going up! Finally we reached the edge of the crater! We then had to go down to cross the crater and go up the other side in order to reach the summit. Just reaching the crater was a huge achievement. But how could one go this far and not climb to the summit? We crossed the snow-filled crater and began the final climb. I had a new energy. We were almost there! This was the first time I actually went ahead of Billy. We reached the top to the sounds of three, Asian youths whooping and celebrating their achievement of reaching the highest point of Mt. Taranaki. There was also another group of climbers who were staying at a cabin on the other side. WE MADE IT! While the views were spectacular, I couldn't help but feeling slightly let down. I've decided that because people nowadays have the advantage of flying, we lose the awe of the views from mountain tops because we've seen them from the air. Imagine being an explorer of long ago, before airplanes, and how stunning views would be! For us, it was more about the accomplishment of making the climb. I'd also hoped to get photos that I could later zoom in on to find our farm but, between underestimating how close we are to town and the cloud cover, I just missed it.
We took pictures and had a snack of Ritz, salami, cheese and apple. We couldn't linger long as now time was not on our side. We were racing daylight. The youths left before us as we had the other climbers take our photo at the summit before the rest of us headed down. Climbing down was different and had it's own challenges. That loose gravel between boulders that was of little concern on the way up was now my worst enemy. Each placement of my foot was with such tentativeness for fear my foot would slip. I tended to prefer to climb over large, very stable boulders which took more time and more complete body effort but was at least I wasn't full of fear of slipping with every step. My feet would slip though, much more often than I'd like. Several times I'd set my foot down only to have it slide and my elbow, hip or buttocks would strike the rock over which I was climbing. I will look like a battered wife in a day or two.
You know that feeling of your heart sinking when you trip or slip and just know you're going to fall? I HATE THAT FEELING! I'd decided that if I lost a year of my life every time that happened, I'd be dead next week! Billy would laugh as I'd often (too often!) say, "There goes another year". Then we reach the scree again! There I lost about a century!!!
Ideally the best way to go down was to almost leap one foot at a time into the deepest scree, similar to running in deep snow. But I did say "ideally". If you landed in a shallow spot you could slide and fall back on your head or slide down avalanche style. Actually, descending the scree was basically riding down mimi avalanches. For someone who detests the feeling of falling (do people actually LIKE the feeling of falling? Skydivers, I guess.), this was pure torture. For Billy, this must have not been an issue as he about ran down! Finally we reached the top of the steps and, having taken a slightly different route down, we'd passed the Asian youths. There we emptied our shoes of ash, sand and scree. Again the steps were a welcomed easy section. And oh so short. More boulder climbing, then the cabin where we had a quick chat with two of the night's occupants. It was around 7 or 7:30 at this point and the sun was falling fast. Now down The Puffer. One word: OUCH! Going down this steep descent your feet slide to the tips of your shoes, cramming your toes. And then there are your knees. Pain like I've never felt. Down down down in mini shuffling steps on feet feeling like what I'd imagine those Chinese women of old felt with their bound feet. Now back on the gravel. Downhill, in the now dark. More mini steps to keep from sliding but still you slide. More years off my life. We did not remember this part being so long. Just when we'd think we were nearly back to the Welcome Centre we'd round a bend to find another long stretch of gravel. This went on and on. Now my muscles were beginning to lock up. My feet felt they would bust out of my shoes and my knees in agony. (Have I sold you on this adventure yet? LOL!) FINALLY we made it to our truck. We couldn't get our shoes off fast enough! We had been looking forward to a delicious, celebratory dinner (barefoot due to aching feet) but given our late return we were left with McDonald's, which buy the way, never tasted so good. Especially the coke!
"Do you hear that?" I asked Billy as he drove us home.
"No, what?" he said.
"My calves. They're screaming."
"Hahahaha! Oh, is that what that is? Like those screaming goats on youtube."
Showered off the layer of dust and sweat, a nice soak in the hot tub then dragged ourselves UP THE STAIRS to our bed!
I'm very proud of myself for making the climb. As we neared the bottom, Billy confessed he really didn't think I could do it. Glad he had kept THAT to himself. He says he'd like to make the climb every year. Not me! While I'm thoroughly pleased to have done it, for me, it's a bucket list thing. Once was definitely enough! Unless, of course, someone comes to visit and insists climbing Mt. Taranaki. Then I might be convinced to go it again...
