Return To The Mountain

What started as a 30+ minute trip had minutes shaved off. By the fall Helaine and I were getting to the castle at the summit in around 24 minutes.

“Let’s walk.” Those were my first words to Helaine as I came downstairs this afternoon. In our house the generic “walk” has meaning beyond its dictionary definition. We walk the main trail to the top of Sleeping Giant Mountain. It’s a moderately stressful 1.6 miles with few flat stretches as you climb around 600 feet.

Two years ago we walked Sleeping Giant nearly every day. Last year we slacked off.

The year we walked made a huge physical difference to me. In the beginning I had to stop halfway, By the end of the season I was doing a few brief sprints near the top.

What started as a 30+ minute trip had minutes shaved off. By the fall Helaine and I were getting to the castle at the summit in around 24 minutes.

The good part was the mountain could be used as a variable target. By picking up the pace the mountain became more difficult.

Toward the end of the season Helaine took a bad fall on a rock hidden beneath falling leaves. A DEP policeman brought her down on a motorized utility vehicle. Since then she’s been more cautious which surely makes the walk more difficult.

The weather was beautiful today. The sky was blue. The mountain trail uncrowded.

Close to half the walkers were accompanied by dogs. It’s that kind of place.

When we first walked the mountain we’d always pass two women who were on it every day. On today’s trip it was one of the women by herself. We didn’t ask.

Hopefully we’ll get back into the swing and do this three or four times a week as we did a few years back.