August 14th, 2006: I had been dreading this hike for years before I was actually able to complete it. I normally hike by myself…mostly because I enjoy the solitude but also because until recently, I had no one in my life to hike up these higher summits. As much as I value my alone time, I knew that an 18 mile hike in one day would be much more pleasant with company. Not to mention I have a great deal of anxiety on a good day, and the thought of this hike by myself was enough to send me flying into a panic. I finished 47 of the 48 by the summer of 2015. By the summer of 2016, I had managed to rope my girlfriend’s two teenage sons into tackling Owl’s Head with me. I channeled their teenage bravery, and off we went. It took us 10 hours, and the last 3 miles on the Lincoln Woods Trail was one of the longest 2.9 miles of my life, but we finished. I will never forget that feeling I had while I was running toward the cairn on the summit of Owl’s Head; it was one of the sweetest moments of my life. It meant that I had conquered, even if only for that one day, the heavy weight of anxiety that seems to limit me in so many ways in my life. But for that day, on that hike, I was finally able to enjoy that victory, and I have carried those emotions with me every day since then.
Hiking the mountains and hiking through life