Anyone who knows me is aware that 1) I'm not a morning person and 2) I'm not the biggest fan of outdoor physical activities (running, swimming, anything that involves sweating, etc.) So it's absolutely crazy that my cousin Austin convinced me to go hiking with him 9am this morning at Sleeping Giant State Park. He's into all of that stuff, so I just figured why not? He's one of my best friends and it would be a fun experience. What Austin failed to tell me is that the trail we were going to take was extremely difficult and if you're not in shape, you'd probably die. Usually when I go to Sleeping Giant, I like to take the simple trail to the castle at the top, take a few pictures, and leave. Let's just say there was no castle. We took four different trails, and after an exhausting 45 minutes trailing behind him, we finally made it to one of the peaks on the mountain. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't breathtaking. The view was beautiful, and it was so great just being able to be so high up, away from everyone and anything. I could definitely see myself writing up there-if I made my way up again. As we made our way back down to walking level, I thought we were done. Since we had a little more time, Austin raved about the idea of going on the second part of the mountain on the "blue" trail. Since I already climbed one whole side, it'd be easy to climb the other right? Wrong. This side of the mountain was one giant, steep, hill. We climbed a big ass rock probably like eight feet tall just to get onto the "trail." The "trail" actually led us deep into the woods and there was no trail in sight. We even spotted some words on a rock that read "I am fearful of these poems to tell" in creepy letters and a message. (that would be the part in the scary movie where I die) Safe to say, I wanted no part of it. Finally though, we reached the second peak- but we still had to make our way back down again. We ended up passing a couple walking up and the girl reminded me of myself, distressed and annoyed. Her boyfriend laughed and said to us, "Oh damn, you guys are taking the dangerous trail down." Dangerous doesn't even cover it. I had to spend the entire way climbing down on my butt, which was both hilarious and terrifying. We stood on one of the rocks and noticed that with one step, you could fall off the cliff into the forest abyss. Lovely. All in all, we eventually made it to the bottom, and I nearly kissed the ground. Although I would probably never want to take that trail again, I am proud of myself for climbing a mountain twice-and all before 12pm. Maybe one day I'll go back up there to chill, because sweatiness and exhaustion aside, it's important to never turn down an adventure. What's the fun in life without a little risk?
