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<\/a>We passed some of the pools and covered our first stream crossings of the trip. As we kept climbing, the view overlooking Tucson kept getting better. Each time we stopped it was even more incredible then the last time.<\/p>\n
After lunch, we really started to climb. It hurt, no doubt about that, but we knew it would be worth it. Then\u2026it kept going. The switchbacks piled up like the steps on our Fitbits, and the burn was real. Finally, we made it to the top\u2026or so we thought. While a majority of us were ready to call it done, Dr. Sweeney was so kind to point out we still had about 50 feet left to ascend. So, while some of us posed for pictures, he and Dave continued and reached the top. If not for their convincing texts, we would have missed out on a 360 degree view we would never forget. The pictures don\u2019t do it justice, but we were stoked. Only one problem\u2026it was 3:30 PM when we reached the top. For those of you at home doing the math, we hit the trail at 11:00 AM and took 30 minutes for lunch. That means 4 hours and 30 minutes up. Sunset was coming at 5:33 PM\u2026notice the problem? Hiking in the dark became inevitable but the van wasn\u2019t coming to pick us up at the top anytime soon. So down we went, and possibly for the first time ever, Dr. Sweeney and Professor Fay were happy to see students with their phones out to use the flashlights. It was a little scary but we made it to the van without a problem and I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been more proud of a group. Turns out that \u201c9.5 mile\u201d hike was actually about 13 miles and we (somehow) crushed every mile.<\/p>\n In desperate need of food, we headed toward Rosa\u2019s Mexican Food near the University of Arizona campus. As if the day wasn\u2019t crazy enough, Dr. Sweeney punished us even more with a weird mixture of smooth jazz music and Demi Lovato. The night got even weirder there when the owner of the restaurant told me that the tacos I wanted to order \u201caren\u2019t good today.\u201d I held my ground in a dead panic, and the tacos turned out to be great. The guys are never going to let me live that moment down though. In one last strange turn of events, we piled back in the van to finally return to the house, and the last song that played was \u201cTrap Star\u201d by Young Jeezy, courtesy of Dr. Sweeney\u2019s bizarre music library.<\/p>\n Words could never fully explain what a wild ride that day was, but the important thing is that we made it!<\/p>\n More to come, and we hope everyone back home is doing well!<\/p>\n -Cameron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wow.\u00a0 Where to begin\u2026 Following a brutal day including the Wingate test, a one and a half mile run, and a 10 mile bike ride, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves the next morning. It can\u2019t get harder than that, right? We even got to sleep in before our 10:00 departure for the mountains. … Continue reading A Day Like No Other<\/span> <\/a>We stopped for lunch, which is possibly our favorite time of the day, again still feeling pretty good. I mean, after all, the trail marking listed the distance as only 9.5 miles out and back. Nothing we couldn\u2019t handle right?<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n<\/a>Half of the group ran out of water on the way up (lesson learned), and they pushed through it. We looked for any excuse to call our stopping points the top, but the mountain would not quit. Higher and higher we went, more and more we felt the effects of the previous day\u2019s work. It was surreal, to say the least, but for whatever reason (possibly insanity), we kept going.<\/p>\n
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