Thursday, June 14, 2012

First hike of the season: The Pinnacle

Today I finally decided to get up and do something exercise worthy after work. Monday a work friend and I were supposed to take a hike after work, but it ended up being a rainy afternoon so I settled for a nap and catching up on True Blood. I also checked out the pilot episode of Bunheads, a lot of potential and very Gilmore Girls-esque. Anyways it ended up raining most afternoons this week so when J texted and asked if I wanted to go hiking I jumped at it. We intended to jut do the mild 3-mile hike up to Slayton Cabin since I had to work, but because I picked up a lunch shift I didn't get out until almost 3pm and realized that I didn't have any extra clothing or shoes for the expedition. Instead of driving across town to change and then drive all the way back to work I took J home with me and we made our way to Pinnacle Meadows. My intention was to just walk up to the Meadows and maybe the Vista if I could, but once we passed those check points and I realized that the stabbing pain in my lungs really wasn't going to kill me I decided that we could make it all the way to the summit.




View from the top. 


Being the first hike of the season I kept a good pace, only stopping a few times to rest and have a sip of water. J, the experienced and slightly more fit hiker, was patient with me the entire time. It didn't help that after eight hours of working on my feet left my calf muscles feeling tired and strained, but if there's anything I learned from the boys on Sherwood this semester it's to work through the pain. Which is exactly what I did and once I got going I didn't noticed my legs. Of course I was deeply distracted by how winded and out of shape I am.


J and me all red faced and awkward. 

The summit was beautiful of course even on a hazy day. An older couple was lounging on the rocks behind us and quietly eavesdropped on our conversation about the other peaks we could see in the surround Lamoille and Washington counties. I shared my summer goal of hiking from the Pinnacle along to the Worcester Range to Elmore Mountain in a day and the female counterpart of the couple kept interrupting to ask me to point out Elmore Mountain to her. It was cute in a get glasses soon Ma'am kind of way. Sitting on the summit also gave me a chance to cool down and finish my water bottle. Hiking the mile and a half from the Meadows left me winded and red faced in a bad way. Still it was a fun time and nice for me to finally meet some new people now that I'm back at home.



Mount Mansfield in the hazy distance.