Hiking to the Top

The first time I hiked Wallace Falls I was twelve. I invited myself along with the VanGerpen family up the street. I don't remember walking up to be too difficult, but on the way down, Eric and another friend of ours ran down the mountain, and I could not keep up. The weight I was carrying up front made me feel off balance when I tried to run down hill.

Since then Wallace Falls has been a gauge of my physical fitness. In the summers, while training for college football, I would hike Wallace every few weeks to build stamina and leg strength. I have a lot to carry up a mountain. Then in 2004, I worked really hard to be healthy and lose weight in an attempt to catch the eye of my coworker that summer. I lost 50ish pounds and could climb to the upper falls at Wallace in 42 minutes, which is 2.75 miles up a mountain. So pretty good for me.

Last summer a friend, Harrison, and I walked Wallace four times. I improved with each trek, but could only muster 45 minutes to the lower falls, 1.9 miles in. Never made to the upper falls. Monday morning will be my first crack at Wallace since last summer and first since my weight loss started. I am not out to break any records, but it will be a gauge of...absolutely nothing. As long as I feel good during and after, that is good enough for me.