About once a year I like to take a solo trip. Time to myself to reset, recenter, and make sure I'm keeping these two feet that don't seem to stop solidly underneath me. This has been so much more important given all the changes I've had in life over the last three years or so.
This trip was spectacular.
It was just going to be a road trip. My longest solo ever but still, just a road trip. I had no agenda or itinerary planned but my feet, heart, and Jeep carried me further than I could have imagined.
I was called brave for doing it alone but I don't think you can be brave if you're not scared or afraid. Certainly passionate, capable, spirited, courageous, and maybe a little bad ass could all apply. I just wanted to see more of and connect with this big, beautiful world we live in.
Take this to heart, share it freely, find a way to get on out there and soak it all up. It's beautiful, soul-settling, and hella fun. 😎
Big thanks to National Park Service, Jeep, and Samsung for making this trip as amazing as it was and letting me capture every moment. This trip easily lands itself in the same book as my trip to Mt. Everest.
I'm always up for a road trip and this one did not disappoint!
I drove with a friend down to Slade, Kentucky. How'd we land there? Still not sure, but at least we stuck to not going north this time. Slade, Kentucky is near the Red River Gorge so we had plans for rock climbing and hiking and got plenty of both!
Our last trip somehow landed us on the North Shore of Lake Superior in November of 2020 where we ended up tent camping with snow on the ground and hiking a mile into our campsite. It was fantastic, full of laughs and amazing memories, but I wasn't ready for winter tent camping being newly back from Nepal and still working to get my core temperature back up (Seinfeld reference LOL)!
A little over 8 hours on the road, a stop for beer and food and we got to our cabin for the weekend where I promptly slipped into the hot tub with a glass of whiskey in hand. It was exactly what I needed.
We got up the next morning and went for our rock climbing session with Southeast Mountain Guides. We did their Via Ferrata course where they have iron rungs anchored in the rock...most of the time. They were technically closed for the season but had a guide available so they let us come on out.
Temps for the day were forecasted to hit 44 degrees. We showed up at 10am and it was in the 30s. I came determined to make it all the way through the black diamond level but on the first level my legs started shaking due to nerves. Yikes...I thought I'd maybe make it through the second course which our guide, Jarek, said was easier than the first then likely need to back out before it got too nerve wrecking. But here's how it went...
More than we anticipated on the first course...here's a few pics of Sarah.
Ice on course 1 had us second guessing our choices too...
Level 2 brought a little bit of a challenge but also a lot of laughs!
There was ice all over the place and we had to figure out how to get past it. I honestly wasn't sure how this was going to go and was about ready to back out...
But we figured it out! Could not have done this myself and thankful I had a climbing partner I totally trusted...
After this we got a little freaked out hearing the icicles crashing down around us as the sun started warming up the rocks. We went down and chatted with our guide to see about whether we could do Course 3 after the ice we caught on 2. He said it looked clear so we climbed back up.
Right out of the gate on this one I ran into a bunch of ice that I didn't think I could get past. Our guide didn't have much in the way of suggestions so I just started kicking the ice and was able to free enough of it to keep going. This one was actually pretty easy and took more crawling than I anticipated and but did get us out on the face of the rock more than the other courses did which was fun.
Being on the face of the rock didn't really get to me. It was maneuvering without rungs and taking an unplanned paths due to ice that had my nerves shaky. Kept talking myself out of quitting...glad I did :)
Course 4 was iced over so we had to skip it. Course 5 was tough and left no opportunity to pull out a phone and do video or pics. Here's me on the rock with all the ice climbing up to the suspension bridge that was also covered in ice. Sarah waited for me to try out the course to see how bad it was and let me know if I needed to duck falling icicles from above. I was game for it and wasn't ready to be done.
We made it through Course 5. By the end of this one my arms and legs were visibly shaking. I faced the decision of whether to do the expert, black diamond, level. Like I said, after Course 1 I would have bet I would never have finished course 5 but there I stood, facing the tightrope with everything tired out and ready to be done. Sarah opted to stop for the day but was supportive of me going for 6 if I wanted to.
I'm going to pause here and mention that I've been working on accepting my limits...I'm getting better at it, but I'm also getting better at knowing where my limits are AND accepting that failure is a valid option. What better way to REALLY know your limits, right?
I knew I'd pushed my body through more demanding situations and this would take maybe 15 minutes and was my goal for the day. I went for it. Starting with the tight rope walk I got to the other side and felt like I was going to throw up. No going back from here though...
I had to move fast, but remember to be safe, and tried using my arms more than my legs but that was given I had to reclip every 6 feet or so. For a little bit, there were no rungs - hands and feet on nothing but rock. Freaked me out a little but there really wasn't much time to think about it and my mental game was on 100% at this point.
I had a bit of a ledge about halfway through the course and took a much-needed break...
I sat there for maybe 5 minutes and started freaking out about how to get back out on the rock as I couldn't quite see it. I couldn't see it because the rungs were around the little corner. I had to get one foot on, one hand on, and swing myself out. Only advice from the guide at that point, who was yelling from down on the ground, was to move fast - LOL. Thanks. This was likely the scariest part of the whole thing for me given how high I was at this point. I knew my safety gear would catch me and had to trust that but my stomach flipped as I whipped myself out there and kept at it all the way to the end of the line.
So glad I tried this out and definitely want to do more rock climbing...maybe at higher altitudes ;)
Zip lining was up the next day which was only minorly exciting after the rock climbing. Zero nerves with any of this.
We ended up hiking about 15 miles in total with some really beautiful snow falling and so many little detours we stopped to take a look at that we missed we ended up on a trail that was closed. Oops. Made it out just before sunset with my phone and watch batteries dead. Not my proudest safety moment with hiking but I've been in worse situations. Don't remind me of descending from Wilson Peak...that was a scary one!
Here's a few pics from our hikes around the area...
And ending our trip with a debrief over a beer as we wrote down all the most memorable and hilarious moments.
Another fantastic adventure in the books!
And don't worry, I spent plenty of time in the hot tub soaking my muscles that held loyally held me tight to the rock. Cabin for over tent was definitely the right call for this trip.
This is the last post from my Everest Base Camp Trek...bittersweet, for sure, but I know there are some pretty amazing adventures ahead...
I'm sitting here on the plane and when we raced down the run way for take off the entire trip started flashing through my mind. Still trying to process it all and not wanting to forget a second of it, I started writing. It may not be cohesive and I may go back and expand on it all more but for now here it is...(Update, I went back to add pics and clean it up a little on 11/27)
This has been the experience of a lifetime. Not just the trek and the sights, but my teammates: Amanda, Katie, Courtney, Kat, Ignacio, Joe, Kyle, Alyssa, Alex, Travis, Ruth, Laura, Aaron, and David along with our guides: Xiwan, Hanok, Asmita, Sanish and our porters...we all became family.
We looked out for each other, helped each other, cheered each other on, laughed together, prayed together, sang together (I will never hear the word "coconut" without hearing the song!), cried together...connected in so many ways.
We got sick of dahl.
We can all still hear Ignacio giving a long, loud, drawn out NAMASTE as he enters the room. Always brought laugher and smiles...
We will remember all the tea (chai or lemon ginger, occasionally black), the momos, the fried rice, the thupka, the ramen, the porridge, Sherpa stew, pizza fails and the occasional success. The garlic soup...mmmmm.
The grilled cheese and tomato soup I ordered for lunch one day looking for a simple comfort of home
The popcorn somewhere between Namche and Tencboche...
...and how that will forever be pared with sitting for that lunch and how good it felt to get out of my boots for a little bit and how good the warm sun felt on my feet...and how I broke out the duct tape here due to a potential blister.
The one and only burger had back in Lukla...
The luggage, what we started with, including 34 lbs of snacks and bacon!
Having to make weight with our luggage as we pared down to two people per duffel bag then watched our porters carry three of them at a time...
Aaron's luggage getting lost and getting flown to Namche via helicopter.
The warm fires fueled by yak crap. The little places we stayed and views from them, the cold nights sleeping with hats, gloves and handwarmers in socks or toe warmers stuck to base layers. The one night of the upgrade. The cold showers or lack of showers all together.
The exhaustion, the tough time sleeping at altitude, the oxygen level checks, the 360 degree spins to check out the surreal views.
The compassion and concern for our teammates when they struggled, myself included.
The seagull sandwich riddle, the bracelets given away, the gazillion flowers received, the moldy coconut cookies, the bathroom receipts...
All the hugs from that day and the joy in the moment of watching camera discovery...that smile goes down to my soul.
The surprise first gimpse of Everest and touching it in photos (thanks to Amanda's idea!)
The yak attack video...
The almost yak attack...
All the suspension bridges...
The dogs that laid in the sun everywhere or followed is around most of the day on the trail.
Squatty potties and carrying toilet paper and not flushing it.
The moment most of us first learned about passing monuments on the left, playing Dhumbal, BACON.
The night sky, sunset above the clouds in Dingboche.
Travis's Lego family, the flight to Lukla and cheers when we landed.
Watching the elevation left to hike for the day and comparing Garmin and Apple.
Kala...for those who made it and those that didn't...what a night that was. That night was incredible, amazing, and in many ways complete overload...everything I expected and then some.
It was that night I got back to the lodge after dark, pulled my hat down over my eyes, laid down on a bench and cried...exhaustion, accomplishment, joy, disbelief, sadness it was over...all the feels. It was that night I cracked open the letter from my sister and read it at least 10 times and prepped for base camp the next day.
Base camp...the victory, the rock, the shoulder of Everest, the prayer flags, the photos, the ice fall...and the hike back to Gorak Shep.
The helicopter ride back to Lukla...that was a tough choice and a place of personal growth recognizing that my path was just meant to be something different from what I expected. Acceptance of a plan bigger than my own...
Water, own pace, WOW attitude.
Coffee shops with Wi-Fi. Dingboche bakeries and sneaking coffee with rum in it.
Rewearing socks...again. Dang my boots stunk even after hanging them outside from the window overnight.
More dahl.
Stomach issues...if you say you had none you're a big fat liar.
The reason we trek and what brought is together in the first place.
The celebration, certificates, the dancing (or carrying in Travis's case).
It was love in every sense of the word...for each other, for the beauty, for our cause, for the accomplishment, for Nepal and its people. It's now all a part of me and will live forever in my heart and soul.
Life changing, no doubt.
How everything happened and came together to put me here to experience this is incredible...I was meant to be here and walk this journey...we all were.
It certainly doesn't end just because I leave Nepal or because I made it to Kala Patthar or Base Camp. I'm just getting started. No idea what adventure comes next but stick around and find out...
