Ever since childhood I have had a strong desire to climb things. I remember when our family planted a maple tree in the front yard of our small house in Peoria, Illinois. The tree was very small but my Dad assured me it would be ready to climb in 15 years. I promised I would come and climb that tree in 15 years when I would turn 23. By age 23 I was living in Southern California, a proud member of the United States Marine Corps. I never went back and climbed that tree.
Looking at a satellite image of my childhood home, it appears that old maple is still there. It does seem, however, that the small forest behind that house is now gone. The victim of our ever expanding population. I would imagine the construction workers must have found hundreds of tools we kids had taken from our father's tool boxes and left out there to rust.
I want to climb these mountains. I see them every day and they call to me. In the winter the snow enhances their dominance over the valley and they call to me. No matter the size of the local hill I decide to trek up, these three peaks are higher and they call to me.I've never climbed a mountain. I've never climbed anything that took more than an hour. I know that reaching the summits of the Three Saints is no joke and no easy task. This initial web log entry marks the beginning of my quest. I'll need to train, research, train some more, learn, get proper equipment and train some more. I'm 33 years old and the mountains call to me.
In this blog I'll be documenting my quest. I'll post product reviews, information about our local mountains and I'll document my training. Others are welcome to comment. Leave your experiences. Leave a link to your website. I'm happy to hear from others.
Images from top to bottom are; Temecula valley, San Gorgonio, San Antonio and San Jacito below.
I'll see you on the trails......................
2 comments:
A cool idea, and a worthy goal. That mountain looks pretty rugged! I once read "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. It's about hiking the Appalachian Trail. Man, that made me want to get out there and hike that trail. But alas . .
However, I was lucky enough to live my dream of exploring part of the longest cave in the world. So I say, follow your dream! Climb that mountain! If you don't you will live a life unfulfilled, and will always wish you had done it.
And take your son with you. (maybe not on the first trip)
I pretty much agree with Norm. That mountain is pretty rugged, but go for it!
I know exactly what you mean when you say the mountains are calling to you. I had that happen before as well. I climbed Pikes Peak in 1998 and made it my goal to climb all the "14footers" in Colorado, but alas, I got married and whisked away to (Northern) California instead.
I say pursue your goal courageously.
I am beginning to have an urge, kinda like a pre"Bucket List" things-to-do-before-I-die, and I thought of my main visceral goal for my life - to ride with the mustangs. I would love to take a (reliable) horse up to the valleys in Eastern Oregon or Nevada where mustangs still run free and just be able to run with them, gallop along wild and free together. I started thinking about that and I was like, hey, if I make a plan, I could make that happen.
Go make it happen.
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