Mile 1266. This is exhilerating!

“This is exhilarating!!” I exclaim.

My random-stranger-turned-new-best-friend Nicole is climbing the Blue Mountain rock scramble with her 11-year-old son.   Both are immediately behind me.  “I was just thinking the exact same thing!” she says.   

Jeff is ahead of all of us. He smiles.  No doubt he is thinking the same thing too.

A fellow IRONMAN, ultra runner and biopharmaceutical researcher, Jeff is my doppelgänger.   He and his wife are local to Pennsylvania and generously have been my  hosts as I pass through the area.

Layers of blue hazy mountains are in the far distance.   A storm is coming and – with the sun shining simultaneously – a rainbow faintly outlines the billowy pregnant clouds.

Lehigh River is 1100 feet below us.   People floating on inner tubes have become black little dots; and cars going over the bridge look like colorful busy ants.  

If I were looking out of a window, I would be in an airplane.   But I’m not.   I’m on the side of the craziest, most epic climb on the Appalachian Trail so far.

Just moments before, I am stuck.   Literally stuck.   Like, stuck-stuck.

***

The first two-thirds of Blue Mountain are steep-and-epic but doable.  I am able to pick a path, determine my strategy, execute the plan, then move on to the next section.    I even ask Jeff to capture this moment via video.   “My rock-climbing niece would be so proud of me right now,” I’m thinking.  “Bring on New Hampshire!”

But then.  My next section is a rock face.   To an expert, it’s a walk in the park.   To me, it’s the side of a sky-scraper.   “Okay,” I think.  “I can do this.   Just follow the blazes; and I’ll be fine.   I’ve got this.”

The epic climbs of the Virginia Triple Crown have taught me to trust the white blazes.   While the scrambles are intimidating even to the boldest of through-hikers, I have learned that the white blazes are my gentle and knowledgeable guide.   “Come this way,” they encourage.  “You will be safe here.”

And so – I follow the white blazes.  Simple!   I give my poles to Jeff.  

Round one:  I find a grip for my hands; I find a foot hold about 2.5 feet up; and I pull myself up.   Okay!  

Round two.  Grip for hands; find my foot hold; pull myself up.  “I’m killing this,” I tell myself.  

Round three:  Grip for hands; find my foot hol…  “Oh wait.  Where’s the foot hold?”   I look to the side.   There is a foot hold, but it’s ideal for people nick-named Daddy Long Legs – not for me.   

I could climb back down; but if I miss my step, I could tumble down hundreds of feet below, a thought that I do not relish.

I’m stuck.   Literally stuck.   Like, stuck-stuck.   The airplane view of Lehigh River Valley below suddenly loses its appeal.

Today, I learn a hard lesson.   White blazes for different sections of the Appalachian Trail are placed by trail maintenance people with a variety of blaze-placement-philosophy.   

The trail maintenance philosophy for the Blue Mountain is quite different than the philosophy for the Triple Crown.  “You’re the idiot who chose to go up this 1100-foot wall,” the Blue Mountain blazes say.  “You must know what you’re doing then.   Just go in this general direction.   You can figure out the rest.”

There’s only one word appropriate for this situation:  Fuckkkkkkk!!!!

Team work to the rescue.  

Nicole and her 11-year-old son just effortlessly clip-clopped her her way up the same rock face using a non-white-blaze route.   They stop when they hear the commotion.

Jeff offers for me to place my foot in his hands.   Then, when Jeff pushes my foot up, Nicole can take my hand and pull me up, being careful to keep her own self secure in the process. 

For me to get off that face, I literally must let go of my white-knuckle grip.   And I must trust Jeff and Nicole – with my life.  

Let go. 

And trust.

One.  Two.  THREEEEEE!!!!!

We all work together.   And – voila!! – we did it!!!  

I look at my hands and feet.   I’m still in one piece!  I look at the faces of Jeff and Nicole.  These two awesome wonderful people just saved my life!   I look at the view again.   Wow – it’s spectacular!

And so – the rest of the climb, the rest of the day, the rest of Pennsylvania:  “This is exhilarating!” 

It’s good to be alive!