Two weeks ago Neil and I climbed Storm King Mountain. Abby came along too. Now this may seem like no big deal to you. "Lots of people hike!" you may say. This was a big deal to us because this was the most physically challenging feat that Neil has completed since being diagnosed and treated for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Congestive Heart Failure and having a hip replacement. He was VERY determined to make it to the top. The mountain is 1,340 feet high. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday at 67 degrees. As we were hiking up we passed some people coming down. We asked how it was up ahead. They said that it was icy in a few spots but to have a nice day. Being that it was sunny and 67 degrees we thought "How bad could the ice be?" It was AWFUL and TREACHEROUS! There were huge patches of ice that we had to crawl around. Every time we made it past an icy spot we thought that has to be the end of it.......but then there would be another one! The dog fell but was unharmed and a real trooper.
The view at the top of the mountain was totally worth it! We could see South toward NYC and North toward Albany.
It took us a total of 5 1/2 hours. I thought it would only take us 3 hours so I only grabbed a granola bar for each of us ( I shared mine with Abby) and a water bottle for each. Not very smart, I know. We were famished by the time we got home. I was really proud of Neil. He is a Taurus and Italian which makes him stubborn. Sometimes that makes me crazy but today I was really thankful for it.
