Spencer Butte

Today was one of the most intense days of my life. Paul convinced me it was a good idea to go hiking at Spencer Butte, which is the tallest point in Eugene. In theory, this was a perfectly good idea. According to Google Maps, we would take the bus about 40 blocks away from home, and then bike the last 40 blocks, through flat, beautiful country roads, before getting to the trail head. Unfortunately, after we got off the bus, we faced incredibly awful uphill roads. They were so steep, it was literally impossible to ride our bikes. So we walked our bikes the 40 blocks, uphill the entire time. My legs were numb and I was literally the most miserable I've ever been. But we finally made it, technically capable of climbing a mountain, although at that point, the thought didn't exactly please me.

It was a painful climb, another mile uphill, but we finally reached the top. I had to sit down and rest for a while before it sunk in that, at least for a while, I wouldn't have to climb anymore. It was a beautiful, sunny day, not too hot, and plenty breezy. At this point, Paul was pretty ecstatic to be at the top of a mountain with me, but I was still pooped. As Paul pointed out though, all of the other people at the top had driven their cars there and were therefore cheaters. We did it the very hard way and deserved the beautiful view.

After resting on the flat part of the top for a while, we made the little climb on top of the boulder pile to reach the very highest point of Eugene. These are Paul's "King of the World" poses. It's pretty incredible actually, we could see for miles and miles around us, 360 degrees. We were above smoke and clouds and felt like we were floating on a big pile of rocks in the sky.

I finally got up there too, but preferred sitting to standing. My legs were still pretty upset at me for being abusive and hiking uphill all day, also it was pretty windy. I didn't want to fall down. I figured that would be a pretty bad way to go.

 It was pretty beautiful out there. Lots of blue and lots of green. I'm lucky to live where I live and have those colors around me all year. As soon as I started to feel excited about being on top of the mountain, I remembered I would have to climb back down the mountain for a mile, and then bike downhill another 40 blocks to the bus stop. That prospect didn't make my legs happy.

Well, we biked through the country very slowly and successfully. We were just about to bike up to the bus stop, we were only a couple feet away, when a big car passed us on the left. I looked at the car. It was our bus. I waved and waved and waved, all while in front of the bus stop, but the bus kept going. The next bus wouldn't be there for a half an hour. We were still only half way home. So we biked the last 40 blocks home. I was not pleased. But now that I am at home, in bed and refusing to move, I am feeling much better. It was an intense day with lots of hills and mountains and sad feet. I'm glad I did it though. Tomorrow I think I deserve extra ice cream.