What It Feels Like to Hike 10.5 Miles

Major progress towards my goal this week. I hiked 10.5 miles up Echo Mountain today! The hike was mentally and physically challenging and was not easy by any means. Although I regularly go on hikes this was my first time hiking such an intense trail. I had also gone on the hike with my friend Filip Bartnik, who documented the trip through the pictures you see, and encouraged me to make it to the top.

So what was it like to hike 10.5 miles? I'm not going to lie about this, it was hard. The trail was very steep and narrow. There was times I questioned if I would make it all the way to the top of the trail, a place called Inspiration Point. However, I found with enough focus, belief in yourself, and allowing for breaks in between making it to the top was possible. Once I made it to Inspiration Point I was in total awe of the view, it was so beautiful. You can see Glendale, Hollywood, Venice Beach, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica from the point. It was very relaxing and rewarding to look at the view, the hike was very much worth it. Then it was time to head back down, something we were rushed to do as it was getting dark fast. Since it was such a long trail, the hike seems to go on forever as you're going down, however once we made it back down I felt a huge sense of accomplishment.

Although this hike was difficult and I am really sore now, I really feel the hike made a good measure of how much progress I made this semester with my exercise goals. I don't feel I was always physically in good enough shape to be able to complete such a hike, and am really happy that I was able to do so now. Knowing this really does motivate me to continue making progress.