It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves

This is a famous quote by Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to climb Mt Everest. And it captures how I feel about hiking, its challenges and learnings. So here I am, writing about how and why I started hiking, and what it means to me.

As I wrote in my previous post, it was back in 2012 that I became conscious and aware of my health issues to a point where I knew I have to take some action. I hated going to the gym and hadn’t been much of an outdoor person due to lack of things to do and weather in Dallas. When I moved to California, I was introduced to hiking through a friend’s brother who would go hiking almost every weekend.

It would amuse me to see so many people hike and talk about it. Is this person out of their mind? Why would someone leave the comfort of couch, air conditioning and drag themselves to the top of a mountain? Why would you torture yourself and for what? For a while I never entertained thoughts about hiking.

When I was ready to take some real steps to improve my health, I decided to give hiking a try. August 12, 2012 was the day I went on my first hike with two of my friends. Needless to say, I was in pain while doing it. It was a 10 mile loop with around 2300ft of elevation gain. With encouragement from my friends, I endured the pain and kept on going and finished it. Holy shit, it felt good. This was the most physically challenging thing I had done so far in my life and the feeling of accomplishment was motivating.

Next weekend we went to one of the most popular hikes in the East Bay - Mission Peak. This one climbs almost 2000ft within 3 miles and is a killer workout. I was struggling, all the excitement was gone and I was questioning myself. Why was this a good idea? Why do I need to put myself through this pain? Why did it feel good last week when it clearly is so painful? While I was struggling with my thoughts, my friends bolted off at their speed. I told them to keep going and I’ll meet them at the top. So now I had to make it to the top. I still remember a lot of encouragement from folks who saw an overweight guy struggling to keep going. “Take your time, there is just a fucking pole up there” said someone. I didn’t know about any pole, all I knew was I have to make it to the top. Reaching the top made all the pain and sweat worth it. I found my friends over there, who looked like they just woke up from a nap. They just waited and waited and waited for me, but didn’t give up on me. And then I saw the pole that many people climb on and get clicked.

Coming down was equally painful and I learnt an important lesson that day - keep your toenails trimmed. They take a lot of pressure while coming down a steep slope and it hurts pretty bad for days after. And then I did this hike again the next weekend. I went on 10 hikes in a period of 12 weeks before my annual trip back home to India. We started finding more and more trails all over the bay area to go explore. Our weekends were planned around hiking. And we kept this up again when I was back from vacation. I found my new love and it has stayed true till date.

Why do I love hiking so much? There are many reasons and emotions attached to hiking for me. It is hard for me to capture them in words but I’ll try to.

• The best view comes after the hardest climb. There are so many breathtaking gorgeous places you can only see if you put in the hard work of hiking to it. Having been to a few such places, it makes me appreciate them more, respect nature and its beauty.
• I love the peace and quiet it offers where you can just hear the sound of wind and your heartbeat. And this peace forces you to listen to the voice inside you, what your heart and your mind wants to say to you. These voices die down in our day-to-day busy, fast moving, hectic lives. But when I am hiking, I can hear them well.
• Physically pushing your limits, learning about yourself, learning things that work for you on the trail and that don’t. You get out, get energy from sun, get fresh air and workout while looking at gorgeous views.
• I love the mental challenge it offers the most, that feeling of overcoming yourself. Your body is telling you it can’t take anymore, your mind gives you 100 good reasons to turn back but you tell your mind that we have to keep going. Ignore the pain, ignore the reasons and keep going. Truly, it is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.

I am eternally grateful to my friends who took me hiking for the first few times, stuck with me when I was struggling and gave me something that is part of me now. I am also blessed that my wife loves hiking and a lot of our vacations are planned around hiking. Hope we stay fit so we can keep hiking for many more years. There are so many beautiful places yet to be explored….in nature, in our minds and our souls.