I have a dream...to climb a mountain

Martin Luther King Jr. Day. What a man. What a day.

My original plans for this beloved holiday involved studying at the library, but when my dear friend Craig called me (literally 5 minutes after I cracked open my books at the library) and asked if I wanted to join in a Tom and Huck adventure, I just couldn't resist. After all, this holiday is supposed to be a nice little break from school, right? My roommate Katie didn't take much convincing either, so we both headed back home after getting absolutely nothing accomplished to ready ourselves for some adventuring.

Problem: It was bitterly cold outside.

Solution: 2 pairs of leggings, 1 pair of sweatpants, snow pants, 2 shirts, 1 sweatshirt, 1 snow jacket, 2 pairs of gloves, 2 pairs of socks, rain boots, beanie.

Problem: The mountain our friend, Kade, had had his eye on for awhile (more like a large hill up in the canyon if we're being totally honest) had no trail.

Solution: We blazed our own!...until we found a little deer trail, then we followed that to the top.

Kade and I on our way up the mountain.

See that road? That's where we started. Tom and Huck, heck yeah

Craig, Kade, and Katie during one of our many breaks. The mountain was freaking steep!

Side note: This excursion was further proof to me that guys never properly prepare themselves for anything. Craig and Kade showed up with only jeans and thin sweatshirts (keep in mind it was about 30 degrees out with a CRAZY wind chill factor) and no gloves. Luckily, I packed extra socks, which Kade used for his hands, and an extra hat (seen on Craig in the above picture).

Our shadows

My hot roommate

Ok this was the last picture I was able to take before my face froze and I was unable to smile. Katie and I on the way up.

And cue frozen face and sadly failed attempts at a normal smile...

Apparently, Craig and I both have frozen face syndrome. Sad that we couldn't even take a good picture once we were finally at the top.

My solution:

Headband over my mouth! This was taken on our way back down the mountain.

And finally back at the bottom. Craig gathered branches the whole way down so we could make an awesome fire and roast some hot dogs at the bottom of the mountain. And when I say WE could make a fire, I mean the boys. Katie and I are pretty much completely incapable when it comes to wilderness survival.

Also, I HATE hot dogs. I think this was the only time in my life I actually ate a hot dog and enjoyed it. Suffice it to say, we were starving by the end and I probably would have enjoyed any type of food as long as it was warm. On an even grosser note, the boys brought chili and we threw that on top of the hot dogs too. And it tasted SO good.