Okay the I've been hit by the Subway post!
Let me just state. I am not a hiker. I don't train for hiking I don't usually hike, I am NOT a hiker. Give me an easy, follow this trail, a few short hills to get over and I'm good.
My lil' Sis, her husband, her SIL and BIL, her MIL and a close friend convinced me and my husband that we needed to go on this hike with them called the, "SUBWAY". My husband was STOKED... he was all for it! Over excited if one asks me, but they don't.
Let me tell you, I found every excuse NOT to go, but in the end the peer pressure got to me and I decided to go. Here is how THIS website explained it, and their pictures are MUCH better than mine. Just remember, everything pictured there I SAW in real life! You can be jealous now... well to a point.
Harder Optional Route:
For the hardcore the "Subway" can be completed in the reverse direction of what is described here. This will require 6 to 8 hours and a vehicle shuttle. If you do the route in the reverse direction I suggest you have a climber along who can lead traditional 5.8 rated routes.
Willing participants will battle climbing down boulders, ledges and waterfalls that bar the way. The route contains several short swims through chilly pools and miles of wading in ankle deep water. The route passes through several narrow slots and near a collection of dinosaur tracks from the Jurassic Period.
Ummm the "climbing down boulders" = aka repelling. I've never repelled before.
This hike is 9 1/2 miles, it took us 8 hours from start to finish. We repelled 3 times, and swam through ICE COLD freezing water, like can't stop your stupid looking face this-is-so-cold-my-heart-has-just-stopped water.
At the beginning of the hike I was good. I enjoyed the scenery and talked everybody's ear off. (partly because I was scared out of my mind...because on the way to the hike they filled me in with the repelling and 8 HOURS worth of hiking and 9 1/2 miles!!!) They nicknamed me SID the SLOTH! (okay, it was funny, I grant you that)
We took a lunch break about half way through the hike, we had already walked straight down "boulders" so my calves were burning, repelled, and swam so I had permanent "RT", and I had probably peed in nature already about 10 times, I guess I felt the need to mark my territory??? Which resulted in my thighs burning...if you don't get why you don't need to know. When I saw that sun after the freezing cold narrow canyon water... I felt like a kid at Christmas!!! I lazed on the rock like a lizard basking in the sun.
At that point, 4 hours into the hike, I was done. I was exhausted. Here are those pictures... these were all taken within that first 4 hours... like when I had energy to hold a camera to take pictures. I don't own really OLD clothes that I don't care about... so my husband provided my wardrobe... you know you love it!
As you can see I'm smiling... so this was early on.
When we continued on after lunch it was just walking down this semi dried up river bed full of rocks and boulders to jump over, climb down, and slip on. My ankles were feeling it! Plus no more shade... we were out in the desert sun, and my body had warmed up and THEN some! I was sweating to the point that I took of my T-shirt and soaked it in water and carried it around my neck to wipe down my face, arms, and neck every 5 minutes because it was so hot!
When we finally got to the end I was seeing things, I'm not going to lie. I was past the point of exhaustion and I had been completely silent for the last two hours of it! If you know me, that TELLS you how tired I was. Hallucinations had become my friend and pain had passed to the point that "feeling numb" was an understatement. When we finally reached the path that was the last mile of our hike, our leader smiled ever so slightly and said, "This is the last part, it's grueling but you can do it" then she pointed up--as I cranked my neck back to look at the tallest mountain ridge, which to my mind could battle the tallest skyscraper or Mount Everest, I looked at her and laughed, "no really" she said, "I'm not joking this time". That hike was STRAIGHT up people. Straight UP!!! 400 ft. up and was the only way out.
I begged to have someone call in an emergency helicopter but conveniently nobody had brought their cell phones, something about the water ruining them or something!!!
I did it... I lived, and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It it right up there with having my first child natural!
But, like having a child, it was rewarding! And I look back on it and I think 'I could do that again' (I think, not do) and 'that wasn't so bad'. The beauty that lies in those canyons is incredible! The feeling of accomplishing that up hill 400 ft. hike at the end was euphoric!
No there were no pictures to journal it, because like I said, I could barely think straight.
For those of you who think you know where I live now... don't get your hopes up, I had to drive to Zions National Park... well I didn't, MountainSport Man did, but still.
As for that night of the hike and the following day... my eyelids hurt, I had to kick my legs out in front of me just to walk, and it even hurt to cry. I was SOOOOOOO sore! So SORE! Every time I sat down for even a minute, to get back up was like a 10 minute preparation! My brother thought it was fun to poke me where I was sore and MSM was to sore himself to massage anything to get comfortable. IB Profin was my best friend, and I'm not ashamed to say that!
So if you are ever over my way and you spend a couple of days here. Or you make your way to Zions National Park... hike the SUBWAY. It's not so bad ;)
Love,
P.S. no my kids did not go with us!
P.S.S. TysDaddy is writing the male perspective on Real World today about social networking... it's a good read!
