This semester I have a car, but next semester I won’t. I used this as my incentive to use the car as much as possible this semester and experience Amherst the best that I could. One experience that many of my friends told me to do was to go hiking, and Mount Sugarloaf seemed to be the most popular spot. I have been doing the “Couch to 5k” app because I am a certifiable couch potato and because once you’re an upperclassman with an apartment and a specific major, you don’t walk as much as you do when you’re a freshmen without a car. Combining the want to use my car and the new fitness goals I had for myself, it seemed like as good a time as any to go hiking.
I didn’t plan to do the hike alone, but when you text people at one o’clock in the afternoon to go for a hike on a Friday, you’re not going to get much enthusiasm. On my part, I was so excited to just throw on workout clothes and go that I was secretly pretty happy that I didn’t have to wait for anyone. I’ve never hiked before, but I figured there couldn’t be much to expect.
Here’s a little bit about Mount Sugarloaf: It’s in Deerfield and is fairly easy to find. Also, you can park for free at the bottom or pay to drive to the top. Once at the top, you can see the Connecticut River, the Pioneer Valley, and the Pelham/Berkshires “hills”. It’s pretty nice scenery and there are a few picnic tables at the top if you’ve got a significant other that you want to bring.
Hiking Mount Sugarloaf was an experience worth writing about because it was one that I got to have all on my own. As I hiked up the side of a mountain with random paths, I was able to be alone with my thoughts. I thought about how there are so few things in our world today that let us experience truly new and frightening physical realities in front of us. Hiking a mountain and wondering if you’re actually still on the path, how much farther you have to go, what the view will look like through your own eyes, and how you’ll feel when you actually make it to the top is definitely one of those rare experiences. The uncertainty I had during this hike was actually welcomed. I felt like I was truly living life, especially being away from my phone and laptop. To have to trust yourself to read the path map, figure out if you’re on the right path, crack jokes with other hikers (including groups of fit guys- always a plus) left me feeling confident in myself because I had just climbed a mountain.
I had the same thoughts hiking as I do when I think of my major, internships, and the future- am I on the right path? Should I follow that group in front of me even though I don’t know if they’re planning the same thing as me? What’s comforting about hiking with these questions is that when I got scared and climbed on steep parts on all fours, I got to grasp solid land and take a breather. There were parts that seemed easy with stairs made from wood blocks dug into the ground and land that wasn’t very steep, but there were parts that had leaves everywhere making the path slippery and times where I couldn’t really be sure where the path was. Are you seeing the metaphors here? Life is a hike– at times it’s scary, you feel alone, and you doubt your decisions, but you don’t turn back. Being alone while hiking was something I’d recommend to anyone, because being with friends is fun, but being alone with your thoughts to climb your own mountains is a much needed skill.
Another fun thing about hiking a new mountain is that you don’t know how long it will take you. I had no idea when I was halfway or nearly there, and all I could see at times was the path ahead of me and the occasional hiker coming back down. I also wondered how I would react to making it to the top and if it would be worth the exhaustion.
It is always worth the exhaustion. I couldn’t handle the idea of turning around and later somehow realizing that my goal had been just a step further. You share the view with those who had driven their way up, but the exhaustion just makes the view that much more worth it. You let that moment hit you where you realize you just climbed a mountain for no reason other than entertainment! In college, we don’t have gym class and there is no one to tell you to do one more lap, one more mile, or one more step on except for yourself.
Since I’m from the flatlands of Cape Cod, scenes of mountainous areas are always a direct collapse to my ego when I realize how small I am in this world and how much out there is still left for me to see- it’s absolutely mind blowing. To realize that I got to experience hiking my first mountain, while alone, and get this scenery in front of myself personally was worth the 90 minutes of what would have been decompression time in my apartment after classes. I made myself ‘go outside’ and it’s something that isn’t easily understood until you do it yourself. (I’d recommend doing it soon, since it’s going to be cold soon).
There’s the last small issue of hiking back down- that’s the real leg day. The hike back down seemed to take only half the time, maybe it’s cause I was confident in my ability to find the path and know that I had reached my goal. It also was funny to climb down with only 20% of the hike left before your car, and pass a group of friends just starting their hike, only to overhear “How much farther?” by one of the members. I knew they had much farther to go but I figured telling them would only make the trip seem longer.
Photo: 1 / 2-4 taken by author