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(Continuation of Standing on Top of Vermont – Part I, Part II)

…The trail. Rocks. Boulders. I sat on my butt and slid down one. I got the “I’m petrified of heights” shakes when having to climb over gaps in the rocks. I lost a water bottle along the way.

Low and behold – we made it to the Gondola.

Can you hear the angels rejoicing?! I had a way down! I was exhausted (and hungry).

We walk in to where the seats were spinning and told to we needed a ticket from the gift shop. I’m not even kidding. $19 each for a one way ticket down.

“#$%&@*%%&*#%*” went thru my mind. I’m exhausted, hungry and feeling very, very old.

“Are you serious? No, thank you.” Came out of my mouth.

Side Note: Dear Stowe Resort. This is a photo of a random wire on your property thrown into the woods. Please clean this before winter falls upon us. It’s environmentally irresponsible. (Near Switchback – easy access to Long Trail nearby.) Thank you.

Green Mountain Man and I began our walk down the ski slopes. Down a black diamond trail. This was seriously the funniest part of our hike. The man not only runs up the mountain but he also runs down. Then falls. Multiple times. Everytime I buckle down laughing and trying not to pee. Karma, I end up falling and continually laughing. Oy vey. It’s the point in the day when you realize you’ve had enough.

At one point, we see a road and my brother says “We’re getting farther from the truck. We gotta cut thru the woods. It’s shorter.” Exhausted because I don’t think I have a choice, I follow suit. Branches, tree trunks, brooks, rocks, I twist my ankle, a twig stabs the same ankle. I feel old, like 90 years old. My thighs hurts, both knees, my toes are squished in the tips of my shoes, I somehow manage to laugh thru most of it but at one point I distinctively remember looking at him with the “evil glare” thinking why are you doing this to me again?! I guess he wasn’t worried about it because he later said that his wife would’ve been a whole lot more pissed than I ever was on this trip. He wasn’t worried. Here we are walking thru the woods, trying to find the trail, once again. All of a sudden we hear a rustle to our left. A dog. It might as well been a moose by the way we both jumped. Calamity Jane! Needless to say, we found the trail, found the start of the trail (which was not where we started) and got back to the truck.

We did it! We hiked Vermont’s highest peak. Although it was a real pain, struggle and terrifying at times but the view from the top was beyond anything I can put into words. This is my home.

Next time, we need a lunch packed but since we hit “the big one” it should all be easy from here on out, right? Plus we have unforgettable sibling memories. That’s pretty special.

Did I mention that there was a toll road to the top of the mountain? I veto’d that idea because I thought that would’ve been “cheating”. Needless to say, the toll road creator – was one smart person.