San Carlos is like a little mecca for American's, retired Americans, and sailors/boaters, and as with any community, there are a handful of activities directors. This particular person, Pat, had being organizing an all women's only hike up Mt. Tekikawi for the last 15 years, and as she had recently turned 80, this was to be her last.So how hard could this be, you ask? Well, judging from the older crowd (only one 19 year old, one 29 year old and a couple in their thirties, me being one of them), I completely misjudged. In our official briefing, we were instructed that this was not a race and we were to proceed in a civilized manner. I guess there were issues in the past but it was made clear that this time, it was to be the journey -aka, relax, enjoy and take in the sights. No problem, I'm not looking for a race. When Pat said it would take 2 hours up and about the same coming down, I really didn't believe her until we started hiking.
Luckily, I ran into my Yoga/Pilates instructor, Betty, at the start. We decided to hike together in the 2nd to last grouping of ladies. It was really nice to know someone at the start and in which we had something in common. Immediately into the hike, the grade started to increase. The mountain didn't look this big, hmmmm.
When I said I had misjudged, it was an understatement. I am just so impressed with all the women who completed the hike. It was tough and very technical in some areas - scrambling and a little rock climbing involved. It was very steep, but the views - well worth it. And boy, was I sore the next day!
Enjoy the pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/
(I finally figured out which online system we wanted to use for our photo albums. Now we will be able to show more pictures ~ click on the link above to enjoy.)
