26 Jul Take a Hike!

A wise woman once sang, 

“Always gonna be an uphill battle

Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose

Ain’t about how fast I get there

Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side

It’s the climbbbbbbb!” 

Ok, so maybe Miley Cyrus wasn’t literally talking about hiking, but I totally felt this song while I was hiking this weekend. I came to the sudden realization that this internship is half over and I still hadn’t done many of hikes in the area! So during my weekend, I did three hikes totaling about 20 miles in two days! 

My first hike was to Big Stump. I hiked through a historic logging area to the Mark Twain Stump, a stump of a sequoia tree that you can climb on top of. The trail was pretty empty, however, I was recognized! Despite having a hat, sunglasses, and totally different clothing from my work uniform, a couple from my talk the previous day recognized me and proceeded to ask me questions for 20 mins. Not going to lie, it was kind of awkward. But they were nice and eventually they left, so I spent some time climbing around the stump. 

I decided then to lengthen my hike and do the Sunset Trail. This was the first hike that I did all by myself so I was a little nervous, but also determined! This trail was very pretty and it had about 1000 feet in elevation change, so by the time I got back to the Visitor Center, I was pretty much dying. I felt very accomplished and like I could do anything, even all by myself! Although did get lost a couple times, I made it back eventually! 

The next day, I hiked the Mist Falls trail with Evelyn, another LHIP intern. This was a very beautiful hike!! The first part was really exposed and HOT. I didn’t realize before, but direct sunlight while hiking really saps away your energy. Eventually, we walked along the river (where we got attacked by mosquitos) and made it to Mist Falls! This hike was very long but definitely worth it! 

After these hikes, it felt like my feet were going to fall off so I might take a little break before I do intense hikes again! However, now I feel like an experienced hiker and more confident in my survival skills (lol). It feels good to know that despite how hard a hike is, it’s important to enjoy the journey and push through it!