Some Final Trekking Thoughts From Brittany

April 11th, 2010 8:30am - Posted By: Brittany

 The Trek is finally over.  I’ve planned this for almost a year, thinking about it every single day.  In a nutshell, this was the most difficult thing I have every done, physically, mentally, and emotionally.  But it was also the most rewarding and the most amazing. 

 I made a conscious decision last April to change my lifestyle and my body.  My 30th birthday was my ultimate goal, but I needed something more to work towards with no excuses.  So I picked a trip Tyson and I could go on for our b-days, one that was huge and crazy and would make us change our lives.  After almost a year of hiking, working out, and a huge amount of weight loss, we’ve hit our goal trip and completed it.  

This Trek was not easy.  In fact, it was freaking hard.  I’ve blistered, burned, cracked, bled, fallen, tripped, gotten sick, been on antibiotics, had diarrhea, had rashes, had headaches, had mild altitude sickness and generally felt like crap.  But that’s to be expected when you hike 6-8 hours a day for 14 days in row, several at high altitude.  It was just par for the course.  Everyone had these ailments and that made it better. 

 What really made it better was the beauty we saw every day.  Huge mountains, huge pale green rivers, boulders the size of buildings, big blue skies.  It is almost impossible to describe.  Yows and Yaks around every corner, their bells the soundtrack to our journey.  And the most friendly, generous people you have ever met.  The Nepali of the Khumbu Valley have very little.  But they’d give it all to you in a heartbeat.  The Sherpas who helped guide us, Dawa, Pemba, Chhring, and Mane, they were our support system and our spotlights.  Without experiencing all of this, the mountains and Mount Everest would be just that: mountains.  But when you put the whole thing together, it becomes that magical place people dream of reaching.

 Mount Everest just sits there, day after day, year after year.  Silently watching all these tiny humans attempt to summit it or just reach it.  It’s a funny scenario this, we strive so hard, sometimes coming up empty handed, just to reach this mountain.  And She just sits and waits.  It’s up to us individuals to make the decision to reach her and then make it happen.  That’s what I did and I made it happen.  I am so proud of Tyson and I am so proud of myself.  This was an amazing journey that was harder than I expected, but I was ready to just put one foot in front of the other and make it happen.   

Posted in: Nepal 2010

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