I’ve never known anyone to become an Army Infantryman then on to being a Special Operations guy who “enjoyed” hiking. After things like 12, 20, and 30 mile “forced marches” while wearing combat loads/rucksacks leads most guys NOT to look around and take in the beauty of nature or the locale, rather it makes most guys (including myself) look around and tell fellow Soldiers and anyone that will listen...”when I get out of the Army I’m never doing this sh*t again, EVER”! Hence the reason I haven’t done anything “outdoorsy” or hiked in almost two decades. Then, a couple weeks ago, out running on a snow trail at Mt. Washington, I stopped and looked around and was like “damn this is gorgeous and I’m having a blast, I need to do this as much as possible”. After the run I promptly went to the local @llbean outlet and tried to buy out the store. Hahaha. So I “kitted up” and hit the trails at Mt. Wachussett today. What started out as a “quick” hike just to try equipment and take it easy...turned into a 3 hour long hike over all sorts of terrain because you know...NATURE. Just gorgeous even on an overcast, chilly day. Did I bite off more than I could chew? Absolutely I did and I’m gonna pay for it but it was worth it. Much better than that amount of time spent in the gym for sure!
