Therese Marie

This, Unfortunately, Is Not A Euphemism.

No, alas, as I found myself toiling up the great hill that is Highcock Knob, and then going down hill before continuing on up for seemingly forever, I was immersed in sweat and none of it was a joke. There was no one popping out to tell me “HAH! Hey! Good job guys alright now come with me in this car and we’ll go get endless hamburgers.”

What’s Hiking Up A False Summit Like?

How do I describe this…

Logistically, a false summit is where you think you’ve reached the top of a really hard climb – hell, you’re even descending the other side for a little while! – and then, begrudgingly, the hill continues on, steeper than ever, and you’re still climbing, climbing, climbing.

Let me hit you with a scenario, though.

Climbing a false summit is like being told you won a full ride scholarship to your dream school except next week they email you and tell you they messed up, they got the wrong name, and you actually only got $3,000.

Climbing a false summit is like grabbing what you think is a chocolate chip cookie and you bite into it only to find out it’s actually oatmeal raisin. 

For the Northbounders hiking, THIS is what the summit looks like. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are other really shitty, long long climbs out there. I dunno, this one in particular just got me.

A Small Stretch of VA

For 10 days I hiked a portion of Virginia because it was incredibly convenient. My hike has become a section hike that is massively disorganized. Look, I’m still getting my footing in this world.

Highcock Knob and other annoying mounds were what made up this section of the hike between McCaffe Knob and Waynesboro, VA.

My time was sweaty, sweaty, difficult, and pleasant as hell! More to come on that.

Happy Trails,

And just know that you’ll get through all those false summits out there. Somewhere in that pile is the chocolate chip cookie you’re looking for. And it’s going to taste so good when you finally find it.

Fly on, Lil Wayne.