Friday, July 20, 2012

Striving for Greatness - Mt. Shasta

I am happiest when I am making progress. Progress towards anything, really, whether its planning a vacation, stacking wood, working on our house, cooking a great dinner, running 10 miles, or working out for two hours till I can't walk. Making progress requires a sense of purpose, I believe. Each action that I take during the day is driven by the idea that it serves a purpose - if I vacuum the living room, I won't have to inhale dog hair when I do yoga later on - if I split and stack wood, we'll be warm this winter - if I spend a lot of time planning this vacation, we'll have a smoother time once we're traveling - if I run 10 miles, I'll feel hungrier for the gigantic plate of nachos I'm going to eat for dinner - if we work tirelessly on our house until it's done, we can rent it out sooner and start a financially-independent lifestyle that I'm so desperate for. You get the idea.

This concept is really important to me. I feel really good about my direction, and have a great sense of self-worth, when I am making measurable progress towards a tangible goal. Anyone who makes lists can probably identify with this concept. A lack of this seems to be the source of a lot of my frustration.

Along the lines of tangible goals I've set my sights on Mt. Shasta for the end of the summer. I attempted to climb this mountain in 2006 with E and his brother. We didn't make the top, so naturally I'm jonesing to try again. Here are some photos of our adventure.

Mt. Shasta
Driving to Bunny Flat Trailhead
Buddies
Looking up to the Red Banks from Helen Lake
View of Black Butte and the Trinity Alps
Lunch break
Traversing from Green Butte Ridge to Helen Lake
Green Butte Ridge
Gazing over Casaval Ridge from Helen Lake as the sun sets
Dinner time
Shasta Mountain Guides setup
View of the Trinity Alps from the Red Banks
Snowy ridge
Red Banks - tiny tents visible in a line near the center
Red Banks - stopping point for this crew
Packing up for the descent

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