It's 2 am and my phone alarm starts going off. I jump out of bed. I am SO ready for this. After talking to one drunken Jon Gordon for about a minute I finally wake up and realize that this was not my alarm.
It's 4:45am and my phone alarm goes off. I jump out of bed, slightly less ready for this. Make myself a blueberry jam blueberry bagel, trip over my chair in my dark room thus getting blueberry jam all over myself, but it's ok. Heather picked me up from JPA and we drove in the dark to meet my favorite girls Molly, Lauren, Jade, and Megan for the trip of the month!
I fell asleep on the twisty turning roads that led up to Humpback Rock (about a half hour drive west from Charlottesville), a well known hiking expedition that I have conquered with Heather before actually. Two years ago we went in the springtime to watch the sun set on that cold mountain. I thank God that we are spared the symbolic irony of seeing the sun set on Charlottesville now that we are older.
Our two cars pulled up to the bottom of the mountain a little before 6 am and we decided after getting out into the very breezy 30 degree weather that we should wait in the cars until 6:15. Lauren definitely was anxious to get going every minute we were in there. Some creepy car pulled around and stared at us and then drove away...and then we bundled up and got psyched to go!
I'm not going to lie...the hike up was a lot harder than I remembered it. I was definitely huffing and puffing up there, shedding layers even though the temperature remained the same (although the trees thankfully provided a lot of protection from the wind). At the midpoint we decided to take the longer, "easier" (yeah...right.) route up, being extra cautious to avoid the slippery, disintegrating leaves blanketing the ground.
And what a triumph it was reaching the top of the mountain: six great friends alone with the sleepy world below, a curtain of stars overhead, and a brilliant full moon behind us. We were later joined by two other groups of people, but we had been the first, and I was thrilled about that! Sunrise revealed herself very quickly, casting a beautiful sheen over the autumn leaves on the ridges below us. Humpback prompted Heather and me specifically to think about getting older and how the moon and sun greet each other in the transitions of the day :) All of us watched in silence, pondered, snuggled, took pictures, and grew too cold to remain up there much longer. We said goodbye to the mountain and sought refuge in warm cars, warm Bodos Bagels (at the unvisited one on Preston!), and ultimately warm beds. It was a fantastic day and I felt super accomplished to have done so much and have already headed back to bed by 9:30 am!
"You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your Mountain is waiting. So... get on your way!" - Dr. Seuss
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