It was meant to be a rematch. Rose and I both got beat up by the approach to Cut Your Teeth Crag the last time we did it. If you read my notes, it was the hike that I referred to as EPIC in its difficulty for me. Our plan was to do the hike on Saturday and return again and do it on Sunday along with some other friends and climb as well.

This time I did not have my big pack or my sticks. Just me, my water bag and Sockie the sock monkey. Rose and I met at the appointed time and off we went. As we began and started up the portion that is a road, I already saw that I was not breathless as I had been last time. Was it because of the pack? I don’t know. We got into the bolder area and that was work, but not in the way it had been last time. Was it because the weather was so much milder? I don’t know.

It was such a nice time. Rose is a great hiking companion and even if she DID have to shed her PANTS, we had a great time. This hike is really hard on the knees. Especially coming down. My knees have seen far better days. Left has been reconstructed back in 1987…three surgeries on that one; the right has had one surgery earlier this year to remove cartilage.  When I got home I was pretty stiff. Lots of cramping in the left ham and left foot. I attribute that to the reconstruct as one of the gluteal tendon’s was cut and used as a replacement ligament for the knee. It has been less mobile and more tight ever since then. But as the years have passed, it gets a little stiffer than the other on a regular basis. Yoga maybe?

So today should be the return trip. It will not be for me. Knees are swollen and hurting and to put them through it today may cause damage. I do not want to set myself back on this project. The project to get in shape and trek to Everest Base Camp. So I sit today out and, as Rosie says, LIVE TO CLIMB ANOTHER DAY!