Reminiscing My Summit Journey

After months of dealing with the pandemic along with everyone else in the world, I thought it is a great time to reminisce my journey to the Flagstaff highest mountain summit two years ago. In many ways the pandemic is analogous to a mountainous climb as throughout the crisis in many ways physically, emotionally, and spiritually everyone has been challenged. Whatever your situation, join me in my reflective journey for insight and inspiration to overcome whatever personal challenges you may be facing, whether prompted by the pandemic or other significant obstacles.

Summer 2018

The summer of 2018 was intense as I balanced my personal and business goals while working out often 2 hours a day. I supplemented the coach’s recommended routine to improve overall fitness and aerobic conditioning with classes for strength, flexibility, and balance. I was trekking to the club often twice a day! In addition, on weekends I hiked 6 – 10 miles to advance my endurance and explore various trails in the Flagstaff area.

Given Mount Humphreys’ challenging terrain, I knew it would be wise to climb with someone, even though I am usually a lone hiker. I shared my goal with just about everyone I met seeking someone to join me for the summit climb, while also exploring hiking clubs. I prayed that the Lord would send me the right hiking partner and good weather when the variable peak winds were not too extreme, a frequent complaint from hikers who had summited. Climbing past the tree line, affectionately called the Saddle due to its topography, traverses rugged rocks and boulders — definitely no cakewalk!

The First Endurance Test

As summer progressed my fitness improved, so I decided to test my readiness by hiking to the Saddle. I chose a weekend mid-August thinking I could beat the daily monsoon. It was a great day and within 3 1⁄2 hours including photographic stops, I reached the saddle! There were fabulous views and lots of other hikers mingling about. But then the clouds started to rumble with thunder and toss down hail – it was time to get off the mountain as quickly as possible.

Sheryl at Humphreys “Saddle” before the Monsoon (Enlarge)

The descent was challenging in the intense monsoon with constant thunder directly overhead and torrential rains further down the rocky path! I prayed the entire way and set the pace for several others who followed me as we hurriedly passed others along the way. An hour and a half later, without poncho or gloves, I was totally soaked and bone-cold; then as we neared the trailhead large hail pelted us! I could feel the hurtling hail through my felt hat and found cover under a dense evergreen branch before it eased up sufficiently for me to hurry to my car. My hands were so numb from the cold and tightly gripping my poles to prevent a fall, that I could not access the keys in my pocket! Finally, I got into the car, turned up the heat, and headed for the house. It took an hour for my hands to defrost! The good news was that I had made the saddle successfully. Even after the hurried descent, once dry and warm I felt fine with no pain. Lesson learned and undeterred, I headed to REI at my first opportunity to purchase poncho and gloves for my next attempt on the unpredictable mountain.

Second Summit Attempt

Joining another hiker on my second attempt, we went a bit more quickly than my first climb as I did not stop for photographic shots, however, the clouds were ominously surrounding us and by the time we reached 11,400 feet, it began to hail. I turned to my ad hoc hiking partner and asked what he thought about continuing. He was eager to go on, and since there was no thunder, I thought we would be safe and continued the climb. Meanwhile, the hail intensified, and by the time we approached the Saddle, accumulating hail obscured the rocky trail. I charged ahead, commenting that I did not recall the steep steps I was now scaling! At the saddle I donned my poncho and gloves; after a quick snack and some pictures of the view filled with threatening clouds, we hastily started the descent. We headed down as quickly as the hail would allow, but slush made the going slick. Further down, it turned to rain and did not let up.

Two monsoons and two failed attempts at the summit — with luck like that, I wondered when I would reach the peak! What was concerning to me is that after this climb, I experienced muscle pain. I deduced that by charging the steep hail-covered rock steps I had overextended my muscles both on the way up and down; the hail had obscured the path of least resistance that I had easily maneuvered on my first Saddle attempt. Clearly weather on Humphreys makes a big difference in hiking difficulty. That realization made me question my preparedness, but my coach assured me I was physically ready for the climb when the weather permitted. An important lesson for me was to go my speed so I could climb within my physical capability.

Three’s a Charm!

Ominous clouds obscure the peak

I still had to find a partner to summit; I continued to share my goal with others, very aware of the narrowing window of opportunity. At a professional meeting, I met a lady close in age who was part of a Hiking Club. I followed up with her and just after my second attempt on Humphreys, she responded that she was interested in going. We selected a date only to have it postponed by smoke from a significant forest fire in a remote area near Sedona. Finally, we rescheduled for September 24, knowing our window of opportunity would quickly close as fall was bringing cooler temperatures and snow often comes to Humphreys in early October.

As the morning sun rose September 24, an ominous cloud covered the peak and I said an earnest prayer for the clouds to lift and give us a clear day to summit. Four other women joined us for the climb and we set off with determination to summit. As we approached 11,400 feet we looked up at the big cloud shrouding the peak and declared it must leave! Soon after, it did indeed lift even though all around the surrounding areas of Flagstaff we could see gathering rain clouds.

We reached the Saddle, quickly ate our snacks, donned gloves, and heavier coats to traverse the exposed one- mile rugged climb to the summit.
The final leg of the hike twists and turns over rocks and boulders that obscure the summit approach. For a first-time climber, you have no idea how much further you must endure! All I knew was, keep climbing upwards! Along the way are amazing views and I stopped to capture them… and my breath!