I think with the mountains, even though I appreciate the air up there and the natural beauty of it all, perhaps I'm not putting as much weight to my accomplishment of getting up there as I should. It probably stems from me not taking myself too seriously - perhaps I should take this a little more seriously.
To tell you the truth, I think the fun of hiking, the enjoyment of being in the mountains gets a bit lost when you hike with your goal being to "summit". My favorite Whitney hike as far as pure enjoyment was my first and I didn't make the summit. Just walking through the pines during a full moon, taking long breaks at several points, especially Trailside Meadow really made it fun. My partner, Karyn, a botonist/biologist, couldn't go 50 feet without pointing out types of plants, animal life, rock structures. Fun stuff.
That said, when I did summit, I cried at the top. This mountain we walk has a certain draw like no other.
"Turtles, Frogs & other Environmental Sculpture"
