Mount Lassen

I climbed Mount Lassen this weekend. By "climbed" I mean I went up a ways. I would say maybe about a third of the way up. I'm not particularly good with heights. At a Motel 6, if given the choice, I would stay on the ground floor rather than the second floor. Get the picture? It was a little freaky at the very start, but then it settled down and there was solid ground on each side for quite a while. I'm good with that. Then it turned into a trail with one side mountain and the other side mostly air. Also, as you go higher, it gets windier. I'm not Mary Poppins. The chance I would be blown to my death is probably only about 0.000001%, but its a risk I'm not willing to take. Anyway, that was my turn-around point.

Check out the picture. The fact that simply looking at the picture makes me a little nervous gives you some idea of what I'm dealing with. With that in mind, I think I did pretty well. My car is a little red speck at the bottom of the hill. All I thought of is that I might also end up being a little red speck at the bottom of the hill.

I don't mind the physical fatigue part of it. Its just the abject (not sure what that word means) terror regarding heights. In fact, I like physical challenges. If they had cut-out steps and a handrail, I would attempt Everest. Also, I would need some kind of blinders on so I couldn't see down. I ought to do the math on this and see how many steps it would take and the angle of assent and go to the gym and "climb" Everest on the treadmill. Not a bad idea. First I'll need to check the statistics on accidental treadmill deaths.