Hiking

Yeah . . . remember that whole new excuses thing?  Well, I came up with a lot of excuses and low and behold I did not do very well.

I'm all moved into my new house (all except the unpacking and a few other odds and ends), and now I need to get off my but and get back to not leading myself to an early grave.

Last week I actually did pretty well - I went for a walk on Friday night, Sunday morning and Monday night!  My Sunday walk was actually more of a hike than anything.  I left my house without water or my cell phone (bad idea) and with no clear plan.  I live in the shadow of an odd shaped bluff that many mistake for a volcano (not actually a volcano, in the picture below it's the hill underneath the moon).  When I bought my house I decided that I had to make it to the top of this peak.  I had attempted it once before, but it was getting dark and I had to turn back before I got stranded.

Well, last Sunday I woke up ridiculously early for a girl that has 1pm church.  So off I went and before I knew it I was at the beginning of the trail for this hike.  I had lots of time on my hand, so I figured I might as well see how far I can get.

The first part of the hike is not bad.  Rocky and a little steep at times, but nothing hard.  The first part of the hike takes you up between the faux volcano and the Airport Bluff (so named because it has the St. George airport on it.) - when you get to the top of this the trail splits, one going to the volcano and the other to the top of the Airport Bluff.  I chose to keep going - I knew it would be steep, but I'm not sure I really understood.  YIKES!!

I made it to the top without incident.  Towards the very top it wasn't really a hike anymore it was more of a "free form lava rock scramble."  I was scared, but by the time I got to that point I felt I had come too far to go back.

The view from the top was incredible!!  I could see Green Valley, Santa Clara and Ivins to the West, Snow Canyon and Highway 18 to the North, and Downtown St. George to the East.  It was great!  The hike down was scary and I actually fell at one point.  I have a huge bruise that I wish I could show off, but alas, it would be fairly inappropriate to show it to others.

Okay, so I'm going to start blogging again.  I'm planning on weighing-in in two weeks and then starting over on all tracking.   Wish me luck!

-M-