Hell Hike (but it was good)

As I've said (well actually written) before I'm back in Tiruvenamali. This town is the home of Mount Arunachalla. There is a whole story behind the mountain but I've already told it so I'm not going to waste time telling it again.

Anyways, the mountain is significant to Hindus and weird westerners alike. It's a big deal. It's also just plain old big. I didn't realize really how big it was until I began to climb it.

I'd been told that it's 800 meters, top to bottom. That is 2,640 feet.

My plan was to wake up early (5:30 am) and beat the heat. I'd been told it took about four hours to climb. This was and still is a great plan, however, it never developed past the plan stage and into the action phase.

So, instead of waking up when my alarm rang, I slept until 8:20 am. Once I showered I figured I might as well have breakfast. By the time that was all through it was 9:45 am. I was on the road.

When Indians make a pilgrimage up The Mountain they don't wear shoes. Indians are about 50 times tougher than most Westerners. They sleep on cement floors. They wipe their butt with their left hand. They don't eat beef etc. This fact has always bugged me. I like to think of myself as tough. I mean I once slept on a carpet. That is pretty bad ass, right?

Anyways, I saw an opportunity to prove my toughness. I decided I would climb up the mountain with bare feet. I have pretty tough feet and I like walking barefoot. So yeah!

Well the first hour or so wasn't all that bad. In fact it was nice. I was walking on a well maintained trail with plenty of flat stones to step on. It was in the shade and the heat wasn't so bad.

This was the mountains way of tricking me. She led me on. She got me to the point where there was no way I was gonna put my shoes on. I was gonna make it up because I'm tough.

Once I had reached that mental point of no return the mountain really began to kick my ass. First, she took away the well maintained path. Suddenly I was walking on little stones. The big rock slabs that were so nice to walk on before were few and far between.

Then, she increased the steepness. Now, instead of walking with a slight tilt forward I was practically leaning into the mountain, just to keep from becoming air born.

OK. No problem. I got this. And I did. It was fun. My legs were sore but felt strong. I was sweating, but that felt good. My feet were doing OK.

She saw this and decided to turn up the heat. Literally. The sun, which had been on the whole day, suddenly got going. The stones lost all vestiges of their night time chill and began to feel like frying pans. Soon my only way to continue was too dash from one spot of shade to another. And the spots of shade were getting harder and harder to find.

Many times I had to stick my feet into dark crevices created by rocks. There are lots of snakes in this part of India (I've seen two Cobras and a Viper!) and they love to hang out in dark crevices created by rocks. So, sticking my feet into the same dark crevice that might contain snakes was a risk. But in my mind it was either between having my feet catch fire, or maybe having them bitten by a possibly deadly snake. It was a gamble that paid off.

So I continued. I was drenched in sweat, my water bottle was almost empty, and it felt like I was holding my feet to an iron. Instead of walking I was scuttling. Using my hands and legs, just trying to dash to the next shade spot.

But I wasn't gonna give up. I didn't have a choice (actually I did, my shoes were in my bag, I'm just stubborn).

Well I made it. I finally stumbled the last little slope, and saw the giant rock that is the top of the mountain. I almost put my shoes on there, but then I realized I needed to be at the highest point to call it a success. So, I stumbled/crawled/dragged myself onto the final boulder. Which was covered in black oil. Oh my god. Suddenly it was even hotter. Black attracts heat or something like that. That rock was attracting heat and then passing it right on into my feet. I could hear them sizzling.

I put on my shoes.

The view was amazing. Really truly amazing. Breathtaking, tear jerking all of that crap. But it just couldn't compare to the feel of my sandals. I enjoyed the view, but I enjoyed my shoes just a bit more.

The descent took all of 45 minutes.