Thursday, July 19, 2012

Why I Love Hiking

Life has felt a little hectic lately. I've been busy with work and have also had a few other things on my plate. The combination of it all makes it all seem a little overwhelming. I just recently was able to look at one part of my workload and say, "Andrew, you're all caught up with that." It's amazing how finishing one thing can also lead you to realize that all the other things you had in your mind weren't all that big either. It's as if passing some critical point in terms of workload makes everything exponentially worse than it truly is.

I've been moving steadily through the first book of Game of Thrones and that's been pleasant. The last 24 hours have brought with them a rather unpleasant stomach bug, but things seem to have cooled down. This is the price you pay for paying $1 for dinner at the Night Market. The food is decent, but I guess it can't be perfectly germ-free all the time.

As I've felt a little overwhelmed with life this summer, I've been trying to step aside from my daily routines and think about the things in life that I enjoy the most. Perhaps the first of these to come to mind is hiking. I feel odd saying this, because hiking and I did not start out on very good terms. In fact, I wasn't a huge fan of hiking as a child. My dad would say that we were going for a hike and it almost seemed like a chore. My how times have changed, and for the better I ought to add.

I've been lucky in that both my parents are avid hikers. My mom has been to the bottom of the Grand Canyon more times than I can count and she still manages to make it back there at least once a year. As I mentioned above, my dad was one of the first motivating forces behind my hiking. As a kid that might not have been the most exciting, but now it's great to know that we both have that interest in common. There's are actually a few great hikes near where we live in Massachusetts and we were able to make it out to one the last time I was home.

The real treat that I had with regards to hiking came the summer that I spent as an intern at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Let me share a few pictures I took from various hikes during that summer.






The first three of these photos come from a hike that I did up La Tournette, a mountain that I believe overlooked a town of the same name. I did this hike and several others with a hiking club that I became acquainted with in the area. You would not believe how much those people could hike! I know I have photos somewhere around here from another hike that I did with them. Oh, here we go...


If you look closely, you can see just how steep that hike was. Add to it that the Lake Parade in Geneva was just hours before and you'll understand me when I say: this was the most difficult hike I've ever done in my entire life!

Ok, back to the first set of pictures. Like I said, the first three were with this hiking group. The fourth photo is actually from the first time that I ever hiked up Saleve. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein the creature flees up the rock face of Saleve upon its escape. 


That's not a photo from one of my hikes, but it gives a good idea of just how steep the rock face is. My first time hiking, which is when I snapped the photo, we took the long way up, which was significantly more relaxed. I returned to Saleve many times in my time in Geneva and decided to stick with the steep trail. I even had the privilege of taking my parents there when they came to visit me. Anyone looking to verify just how steep of a hike this is, you can ask either of them. One of my favorite parts about hiking Saleve is that it is accessible from public transportation. Just jump on that #8 bus and you're good to go. I think this is part of what made Geneva such a special place for me.

The last photo of that first bunch should make your mouth water. If it doesn't then your taste bugs haven't been configured properly. After a long hike with some co-workers we arrived at a farm that rested atop the mountain. This was the dish they brought us and it made every drop of sweat worth it.

Why do I love hiking so much? This might be a question that doesn't really need explanation. How could you not like hiking? It takes you outside of the city and puts you back into nature. It gives you a chance to either be alone with your thoughts or do something relaxing (but sometimes incredibly challenging) with your friends. There's really nothing like it.

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