I’ve always liked hiking. Fact: It’s hard to hike in Chicago. Sure, there’s extremely tall buildings – Hancock, Sears (I’m sticking with that name) and Aon to name a few, plus it’s one of my favorite city skylines – but the natural topography is so very flat. Another fact: This is the result of Chicago’s origin as a lake bottom. Yes, boys and girls, this blog is both fun and educational!
Being surrounded by flatness for so long, when I travel it’s always a smile-inducing occasion to be around mountains. One year, while visiting Milan, I headed north to Stresa and Lago Maggiore, taking in the gorgeous views of the Western Alps. The Blue Mountains were on the agenda in NSW, Australia and a visit to Mount Washington in New Hampshire was a must-see.
Now that I’ve lived in a mountain-y state long enough to have unpacked boxes and hung pictures, it felt like it was time to climb. With Camelback relatively nearby, I did some research and learned there are two trail options – Echo Canyon and Cholla. Echo Canyon is described as the shorter of the two hikes, but with steeper inclines and a difficulty level considered extreme. Cholla is rated moderate to extreme. Given that neither trail was listed as ‘super easy’, I opted for Cholla.
Although there were good intentions of starting early because of late-morning heat projections, I didn’t actually get to the trail until it was somewhat toasty. But, an adventurous spirit (and inexperienced belief that my small water bottle would provide enough hydration to the top) spurred me on.
Up, up, up I went, taking in the views while keeping a look out for loose rocks and slithering snakes – I saw several of the first, none of the latter. My breathing became ragged relatively quickly. For someone who considered herself fairly fit in Chicago, long walks and barre classes didn’t exactly prepare me for scaling this behemoth. As I climbed, so did the temperatures. Onward and upward, while gulping in air and gulping down water.
Did I make it to the top? No. Did I make it to the middle? Honestly, I have no idea. At some point (when trying to once again catch my breath), I decided that continuing on might lead to dehydration or heat stroke. So, I paused to imprint the gorgeous sights into my brain and headed back down. I can’t claim making it to the apex, but I also didn’t get eaten by a snake. #wincolumn
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