Climbing Life's Mountains

I have to tell you about our hike to Angels Landing in Zion National Park. It's one of those hikes that gets me really excited when I think about it.   Before we did the hike to Angels Landing, I went online and got all the info I could. I watched YouTube videos of other people hiking it and those videos had me scared to death. I read about fatal falls and realized that any fall would be a fatal one. When we began the hike, I was not sure if I would complete it by going all the way to the top.  This is the rock formation called  Angels Landing.  The trail goes along the  ridge  where you see a few trees. The top of Angels Landings is 5790 feet. In comparison, this is about the same elevation as Mt. LeConte (in the Smokey Mountains). However, this trail is much shorter and much steeper than the trail to Mt. LeConte. One portion of the trail is called Walters Wiggles and it consists of a series of 21 steep switchbacks. The final half-m...

Havasupai in the Heart of the Grand Canyon - one of the most beautiful places on earth.  The night before our hike, we stayed at a (not so fancy) motel on Historic Route 66 in Arizona which was 60 miles from the trailhead and the closest place we could find. I am not sure what is historic about Route 66 but it brought to Mike’s mind an old John Mellencamp song called “Hotdogs and Hamburgers.” I had never heard the song but we found it online and played it while in our hotel room.  As many of you know, I was very stressed about the backpacking thing. Before we started the hike we had a sudden change of plans. We decided to pay $170 and have the mules carry our gear both ways so we could enjoy the hike. I think we could have made the hike in with the backpacks but the hike out would have been really hard. That's a lot of money to spend but it was so worth it.  My monkey shoes were great! Mike got a blister after the two days but I did fine. Can...

There was a scene in the show "Parks and Recreation" (which we never watch but saw this one particular episode) when Rob Low's character took all of his shoes to the building's shoeshiner to be cleaned, but the shoeshiner had no idea what to do with the FiveFingers.  Andy: I didn't know what to do with these. I think they are gloves.  Chirs (Rob Lowe's character): No no no . . . Those are sports sandals, they are for adventure racing. They perfectly contour to the human foot. The human foot is the ultimate technology. Andy: Dude, that is the coolest sentence I have ever heard somebody talk.  And a few seconds later, in the hallway: Andy: Hey, you know who should wear these shoes? Monkeys! I bought my first pair of Monkey Shoes in January 2011. I've never really liked shoes and would go barefoot all the time if I could. There is nothing worse than a pair of uncomfortable shoes. If I have to wear shoes, give me a cheap pair of flip flops and I...