Back at Newfound Gap.

I am cold, I am sore, and the last mile of the trip just took us two hours. The heavy rains from today quickly began freezing as the sun went down and turned the already treacherous trail into a slick river of ice.

The fog grew so dense that even with (and partly because of) headlamps we couldn’t see more than what was right under foot. Our steep, downhill shuffle to the Gap was, quite honestly, terrifying. To one side, a wall of loose slate and rocky soil. To the other, a sheer drop-off. Both options made all the more perilous by exhausted legs.

We made painfully slow progress as we crawled, and often slid, across the freezing river of rain. It wasn’t until the last few hundred yards of trail that the ice cleared and we could resume our penguin shuffle through snow and mud.

We’re at the car now. The heat is on, this seat is soft and inviting, and I have a Five Guys burger and Fries on my mind. Since the car key epiphany this morning, I can’t think of a time that I actually enjoyed the hike today. I hate to say it, but I was pretty miserable. The rain and ice got to me—I let them get to me… I lost my cool.

But now, as I sit, slowly thawing, listening to this super dope Spotify playlist, I can’t think of a better way to have spent a weekend. Honestly.

Tomorrow, I’ll sit at my desk, in my comfortable apartment, and do work at a computer. Assuming I don’t slip in the shower, my safety won’t be at all compromised. And I won’t be forced to push past aching shoulders and quivering legs to accomplish any physical goals.

This trail—these mountains—they are a foundry where character is forged. I don’t mean to say that you have to embark on a masochistic death march on the Appalachian Trail to experience the power...

But the occasional boundary-pushing adventure is just what's needed to reveal our weaknesses and make the case for continued growth.

Now, if you’d excuse me, I have a burger to destroy.

Until the next adventure!

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