Me at my Best

When I think of the accomplishments I've made so far in my life I think of what I did in high school and what I did to have and prepare for college at the same time.  However, the event that I feel I am the most proud of so far in my life didn't have anything to do with school or even my family.  This experience was completely independent of what I had previously done in my life up until that point.  That is why I'm most proud of climbing the Grand Teton in a trip to Grand Teton National Park when I was 16.

The company was called Wilderness Ventures, and it is based out of Jackson Wyoming.  They coordinate adventure trips for teenagers that want to do something different with their summers.  It took me almost two years to earn enough money to go along with help from my parents.  My trip was 28 days, and was called the the Great Divide.  It included whitewater rafting the Salmon River in Idaho, backpacking in Oregon's Eagle Cape Wilderness, backpacking and sea kayaking in Yellowstone National Park, and finally climbing the Grand Teton during the final week of the trip.

I didn't know what to expect from this trip in the beginning, but once I arrived at the first location in Jackson I knew that I was going to have a blast.  All of the aspects of the trip were great except for one thing.  I couldn't understand why the hiking was so much more difficult for me than for everyone else.  The company advises that you excersise and get in shape prior to attending the trip, and that is exactly what I did.  Despite this, I was still the person at the back of the line struggling to keep up.

This is the reason I feel that climbing that mountain was one of the times in my life I was at my best, because this trip was before I knew I had a heart condition that made it so that I essentially had to work twice as hard as everyone else.   Hiking and climbing for 13 hours straight is extremely hard by itself let alone having to deal with being tired from the start. 

Now thinking back on how much I struggled and how I didn't know what was wrong at the time, I can't believe I was able to continue on.  I managed to scale the entire 13,770 feet of that mountain exhausted, and I think that says something for how people can persevere in trying situations.  I think this experience helped me prepare for college a lot, just because it helped with confidence and knowing that maybe if you work hard enought you can accomplish what you really want in life.