Mohonk—Day 2

Okay, peeps.

How did it become my vacation life that the hardcore, four-mile (mostly uphill) hike through the woods this morning was like, no biggie.

I’ll tell you how.

Because this afternoon, we survived the absolute, most terrifying physical challenge of my life (well, maybe tied for the most terrifying, along with climbing to the summit of Pike’s Peak in Colorado as a teenager).

I mean, child birth, pft.

Lemme tell you about the rock scramble here known as The Labrynth, that includes a final crevice climb called The Lemon Squeeze.

If any of those words (rock scramble, crevice, climb, Labryth, Lemon Squeeze) sound terrifying...they totally are! Especially for someone like me, who is deathly afraid of heights!

I mean, I’m calling liar who lies all the lies to every employee or guide here who told us we could totally do it, I’d be fine despite my heights fear, and we couldn’t leave without conquering it.

I mean, I almost didn’t survive!

Yeah, sure, parts were glorious and amazing.

But it was tough.

And sooooo scary.

Officialy, about a one-mile rock climb/scramble, unguided, unassisted, that took us two hours, that took us near some really harrowing (for me!) cliff edges, through minuscule spaces, and just some pretty challenging physical feats.

I mean, the final “squeeze” up these ladders and then hauling yourself up and through the crevice sideways, without your coat on, because it was so narrow you couldn’t risk getting it caught, had me close to tears. And let’s not even talk about my four-letter words.

Just shoot me now!

I’m gonna be quaking in my boots for days and days, and will most likely have nightmares about this (and I’m only joking a teeny tiny bit).

But, yeah, yeah, life experiences and what not.

Boy, was this one a doozie for the you only live once list.

And, boy, am I glad tomorrow is our spa day! I neeeeeed it.

The only way you knew you were headed in the right direction were these sometimes-faint, red arrows painted on the rocks (you can see one near the hubby’s foot in the pic above), that I’m pretty sure were painted from the blood of people’s injuries whilst scrambling. ;)



Also—I might be smiling in oodles of these pics, but I was mostly whimpering inside. Don’t let my face fool you!



























This is about the time we made it halfway through and to this gorgeous clearing strewn with pine needles, and I decided I would live there forever, so I wouldn’t have to climb anymore.

Also—I’m sitting criss-cross/apple-sauce in a few of these vacation pics the past two days, and it’s usually because I’m up too high somewhere, and too freaked to stand. 







This is when I tried—and failed—to let the hubby just leave me here.



















I’m pretty much saying, oh s***, oh, f*** with every step I’m climbing at this point. That’s just the terrible truth.



And I’m holding onto that crevice wall, because I’m afraid of collapsing.



Yup, those are more insane stairs. 





Finally...the top!

These pics really don’t do justice to the panoramic views we had (probably because I was too terrified to back up from my spot leaning against a boulder, ha). It was breathtaking.



Again—too scaredy-cat to stand!







I brought this chalkboard (my beloved, weekly, baby pic chalkboard!) along, because I was going to write messages to the kiddos that I was going to hold in various pics. But this was about all I could write, ha.





This is my genuinely smiling again, because we were back on an actual path down toward the resort. And I was alive!









This is Annie, a grandmother of five who’s climbed Kilimanjaro and spent some time climbing the Swiss Alps with two of her kiddos last summer. We hooked up with her right at the final Lemon Squeeze—and honestly, I’m glad we did! Because I don’t think she could have done it without us, and she was a helpful guide (having climbed this before) to warn us when we were finally at the end so I had the strength to soldier on!











I mean, we have hiked, biked, climbed and scrambled our tushy’s off the last two days.

It’s been some incredible time in a stunning setting. And though we’ve only scratched the surface of the trails here, I think we’ve done pretty good job of it, and I think we can feel pretty happy with starting our wind-down tomorrow.

And now, I’ll leave you with some easy-breezy pics of our morning hike—a far less harrowing adventure, but a beautiful path through some interior woods.

:)

Over and out, peeps!