Last year was the first time I completed the Xtreme Hike for Cystic Fibrosis and I completed it again. This year the CFF changed the route a little and it was definitely harder is some parts and easier in other, but this route was definitely better than last years!! Like last year this was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I didn't train nearly as much as I did last year and it showed in some areas. But my family and I hiked for my cousin Wells, who has Cystic Fibrosis.
A few Friday nights ago we all met at the Green Heron to have dinner and go over all the safety information and the hike route. We had tons of carbs to load up on and give us some fuel for our early morning. We headed back to the beautiful Singletree Gun & Plough Lodge and packed our bags for the hike and hit the sack...4am was going to come very early.
4am came very early, but surprisingly I was able to get right up and get in the shower. We all got ready and went downstairs for some breakfast before leaving the lodge at 5:45am to head to Hanging Rock State Park. Once we got to the park, we got our head lamps on and started on the first trail..the trail up to Hanging Rock. It is a good 1.3 miles with a lot of incline and a lot of steps (which I thought was going to be the hardest part but I was mistaken later on in the hike). We got up to the rock about 30 minutes before sunrise and took it all in. Once the sun rose we were back on our way down the trail and headed to the next trail.
We started on the next trail with our group and then of course I had to take a squat behind a rock and go to the ladies room, and then we got left. It was just Timothy and I. We finally caught up to some of the group which ended up getting us lost and going on a wrong trail but ultimately leading us back to where we needed to go but about 20 minutes behind our Hiking for Wells team. So after our first stop on our aid station Timmy and I decided we were going to make up some time and try and catch up to my family. We did Moores Wall trail which consisted of going up about 600 steps constantly! But the view was totally worth it!!
And then back down the other side of the trail which was so hard on our knees. We ended up at what we thought was aid station #2, but it was actually aid station #3 and we had gone down the completely wrong trail. So we were lost for the second time. Since we had done extra mileage when we got lost the first time and did about the same mileage going down the wrong trail, we decided to hop in the car and get driven to the correct aid station #2 where we finally met up with our team and family. We looked at our FitBit and were at about the same mileage so we knew we hadn't messed up too much by driving up there. Then we hit the Tory's Den trail, which was straight up hill for about 1.5 miles and it was so hard!! But we were over halfway done and the rest was going to be fairly easy.
The rest of the trails were fairly flat and with just a few miles left all we were all talking about were the beers we were going to get at the bar where the finish line was! Yep...this year we decided to finish at the Green Heron instead of inside the park because well we were illegally drinking in the park last year and it just made more sense for our crew! We finished the hike at 3:30, so it took us 9 hours to hike the 22 miles!
After we had some beers at the bar, we all headed back to the lodge to get some much needed hot showers and put on some comfortable shoes. Dinner was at the lodge that night and BBQ and all the fixings were brought in to refuel us! There was a fire and we had our awards ceremony! After everything was done I was in bed and asleep by 9:30, and I slept like a rock!
Sunday morning we got up and packed everything and had breakfast at the lodge one more time. But not before we got some beautiful photos of the amazing view! (The big rock/mountain in the back, we hiked that yesterday!)
As of October 28th Timmy and I have raised $3,920 for CF, just $1,080 away from our goal! We can continue to raise money until December! Please help the CF cause if you can!! You can donate here!
As a team, Hiking for Wells, has raised $15,680! And overall all 24 hikes have raised around $38,560! This event is huge for the CF foundation and will help fund more research for those living with CF!
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1 comment :
This is amazing! I bet it was such a cool experience! 22 miles in 9 hours is not bad at all. There is a hiking trail near us that I love. It has 600+ steps, too, and they are right next to a waterfall! It's really neat.
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