The Final Journey

 Life is a pretty complicated thing to figure out. I've been on this earth for nearly 27 years and it seems like every other day things are changing. Which can be a scary thought really. Which I think is why it sends most of us into a state of comparability. We get content with ourselves, our living situation, our job, our relationships ect. While, as kids we could be a football playing astronaut on the moon. There's nothing that we couldn't do. But, somewhere along the way. Creativity is looked down upon. We are guided in a direction towards that "American Dream". Graduate, go to College, get married, have a family, buy a house and rock that desk job in hopes of being in good health at the age of retirement. Now, this doesn't apply to all. But, most. 

Throughout most of my years in school I was always told I would never do anything with my life. I'd never have a girlfriend (which lol at this rate might be true but my love belongs to the mountains.) Not food anymore) but that's a different story. 12 years of hearing this doesn't exactly do wonders for the confidence level or deciding what you want to be in life. I mean, why would it if you assume you're going to fail at everything? Afterall, I was just some 18 year old kid who spent his days playing video games, drinking copious amounts of soda and eating junk food all day.  I was rocking the long, emo style hair in my face and wouldn't know how to make or keep a conversation going to save my life. But hey, I got accepted into a school for photography so that's a plus right? I was taking one step closer to that american dream. Wrong. Leading up to my acceptance some personal life stuff happened and I had no way to getting to school in Dayton, Ohio. So, here I was. Failing yet again and proving to all those people in school that they were right. Or so I thought. 

Late in 2013 I got wind of a cool area in Pennsylvania called "The Grand Canyon of the East". I was very early into my photography career and at the time was nothing more than a hobby. I think I was even shooting in jpeg at the time. I convinced my dad to come along as I didn't have my own car yet and was just driving around the family car with nearly 300,000 miles on it. After a couple days of exploring my dad and I went on a hike. Or, well at the time I considered a hike. When in reality it was just a mile down some stairs and a mile up some stairs to a gully with a beautiful waterfall. I didn't know it yet, but this was going to be the first slap to reality that would hit me like a ton of bricks. Going down, totally fine. However, the hike back up would prove to be a different story. I'd estimate I took about 12 breaks on the way up those stairs. 12 breaks in just a mile. That's pathetic. Every 7 or 8 steps I walked up I was breathing as if I just ran a marathon and took over an hour to get back to the van. 

This didn't sit well with me, but like most. After a few days you completely forget about it and go right back to your old ways of being lazy, relaxing, and playing video games. But, in March of 2014 I went into the doctor just for my normal checkup. It had been mentioned for years that I really should lose weight. But, again I didn't care. I was essentially just eating my depression away from school. But that doctor visit would forever change my life. I owe my life to my childhood doctor Julie Sabo. She told me that I was at high risk for diabetes and that my blood pressure was right on the fringe of being high and that I really needed to lose at least some weight or face dire consequences in years to come. When you hear news like that at only 20 years old it wakes you up and really makes you think. You're supposed to have so much life ahead of you. Yet, here we are talking about lethal consequences if I don't make a change. Now, there is a valuable life lesson that I decided to grab on to here and roll with through my entire life. We can either choose to complain, blame the world for our problems, and do nothing to fix it. Or, we can choose to rebuild, relive, and get another chance at this beautiful thing we call life. 

It had always crossed my mind to one day climb a mountain. I mean, how cool would that be? But its something that I never deemed possible, and really didn't even no how the hell to do that. With a little bit of research though I stumbled across this beautiful mountain in Maine. Mt Katahdin. an iconic location on the Appalachian trail signalling the end, or the beginning of an epic journey. I knew the first moment I saw those photos of that peak I wanted to climb it. But, with my trip to Pennsylvania fresh in my mind how on earth was I going to do this? I reached out to my best friend Alec Scholten who had just recently underwent an incredible weight loss journey. Dropping nearly 100 pounds. I knew if I was going to get the motivation and advice it was going to be from him. After chatting with him for awhile, and telling him what I intended to do I walked to my dad and said "dad, I am going to hike a mountain. But, I can't do it without your help". My dad looked baffled in a way, but happy that I was coming to him wanting to make a change. Dad and I ended up making a pack together to get in better shape, lose weight and hike Katahdin together come July later that same year. I went through am immense amount of pain to start. Shin splits from running with so much excess weight, sore joints, and muscles. I was beginning to wonder if this was just some laughable dream. After the first month however, my body seemed to finally be adjusting. While I was still sore it wasn't unbearable pain. My dad also signed me up for the YMCA gym where I began doing the stair climber 5 times a week. But, if I was going to lose this weight in such a short amount of time. I knew there was one thing I still needed to kick. Soda. My friend Alec, who believed in me even when I didn't believe in myself got me through some of the worst headaches of my life when I quit cold turkey. He kept reassuring me that it would pass and that eventually I wouldn't even crave it anymore. Which isn't an easy task considering I worked in a movie theater around soda all day. But, I refused to give in. Everyday I filled my cup with water. Staring coke products in the face mentally battling the machine that it wasn't stronger than me. 

What does all of this have to do with 14ers you might ask? Well, again. I didn't know it at the time but I was tearing down so many mental barriers that would later lead me to a monumental amount of success down the road. I was teaching myself that I can do anything I set my mind to. I can power through anything no matter how painful the journey was and I was starting to inspire and stand out. Something we as humans all crave whether we admit it or not. We want to stand out from the crowd. We want to be notice. We want to make a difference. Most of us just don't take the time to do so. My goal was to be 200 pounds by summit day and come July of 2014 I weighed in at 204 pounds. While 4 pounds short of my goal, I did not complain because I had just lost 56 pounds in 5 months and dropped 4 pants sizes.

 

On July 17th, 2014 I had done it. My dad and I successfully reached the top of my first mountain summit. While at the top I had felt a feeling I had never felt before. I sat on one of the rocks, gazing out to the landscape below on top of the world realizing I had to work for this view. This isn't a view you can drive to or take the family vacation to. This took so much time and effort to be here. I met my first hiker friends this trip and I felt I had finally found a place I belonged. I knew after that moment I was hooked and this would set the stage to go absolutely ballistic with hitting goals, taking on life challenges and doing things I never in my wildest dreams saw myself doing and inspiring more people than I could wrap my head around. 

Fast forward to 2015 my friend Brennan and I took a trip to Colorado to train for my biggest adventure yet. The Pacific Crest Trail. To this point, I had no idea what a 14er even was. So, I didn't really know what to expect. When Brennan explained to me the task at hand I just thought "what in the world?" 14,000ft?! There is no way! But, as I showed myself in July of 2014 there is a way and on the morning of August 31st we summitted Gray's and Torrey's Peak. Blue jeans, heavy tripod, obnoxiously large backpack and all. This wasn't part of my great 14ers journey but it does play a key role later. 

Fast forward again to 2018 after failing to complete the PCT two years prior I went through a really depressing period and lost track of what I once sought. I spent most of the year 2018 roaming around the country after quitting my job to pursue freelance full time. But, with this came a long period without being physically active and before I knew it I had climbed back up over 210 pounds after being down to 195 pounds years prior. One night the 14ers Gray's and Torrey's came back to my mind and remembered how epic that experience was. So, I set the GPS for Colorado and I decided to just spend a month out there and climb as many peaks as possible. I mean, what better way to push yourself than to slug out a bunch of mountains? I needed to push myself again to reignite that first that anything was possible and in just 14 days I climbed 12 new 14,000 peaks and even repeated the peaks from my first trip out here before I had to leave for the East Coast to cover Hurricane Florence. I was instantly hooked, but it never crossed my mind to really finish all 58 of them. In that short period of hiking I also got myself back down to 200 and would later dip back into the 190s and get me back on track so I didn't slip into my old habits. It was also this trip that I told myself "I don't know how I am going to do it. But I will call this place home one day". 

and in February of 2019 I did just that. I moved to Colorado Springs with my best friends from Ohio. I had no excuses to be bored anymore. I had no excuses to not workout. Because there is always something to do year around here and you best believe those 14ers were on my mind. I started training every single day on the Manitou Incline. a 1 mile, brutal hike up 2,000ft of gain to build up my leg strength and endurance. The first time I ever did this I never wanted to do it again after taking me over an hour to complete. But, I looked back to the time when I tried running 1 mile for the first time and how hard that was. I committed all of my spare time to this staircase to heaven and week by week trimmed by time down and come May of 2019 made it up the incline in just 31 minutes! I cut my time in half! If I wanted to slug out these 14ers I knew what it was going to take. I would wake up early before work, do a lap on the incline and then work a full shift at work. 

Some regulars on the incline that I chatted with every once in awhile began to take notice of my progress up the incline and would always cheer me on and say they've never seen anyone adapt to the incline so fast. Hearing things like that keep the motivation high and I always like to spread the positivity  like wildfire as well to other hikers along the way. If we all did this as a full circle I honestly think this world would be a better place. As much as I was loving the incline I was anxious to start slugging out 14ers. Especially after doing Pikes Peak with my buddy Troy in April. But, a record high snow year prevented that until mid July. Then it was go time. July I completed the rest of the Sawatch Range and started slugging out multiple 14ers a day. There were even a couple days I'd slug out a 14er and then show up for work later that evening. I wanted so badly to finish them all in one Summer, but with the late start all I could do is give it my best shot while also balancing a full time job. By mid August the grind continued and I had successfully taken on the Chicago Basin. An epic backpacking journey to the most remote area of Colorado where 4 14ers lay tucked away hidden in the Chicago Basin Valley. Only accessible by taking the steam train in or hiking 40 miles roundtrip from Silverton and suddenly I was approaching 40 summits! Of course, I had to show some hometown love for those four summits. 

I'll never forget being so scared to start hiking the class 3 14ers and terrified to climb the class 4's and didn't even cross my mind to do the Class 5 traverses and peaks. But, here I was. Knocking out Class 3's one by one and showing no fear going up the class 4 Sunlight peak. I was proving to myself that I could do this. Even with the anxiety ridden mornings where I tried to talk myself out of hiking. I shoved those behind me and started walking. I believe this is an important key to life as well. Its easy to tell ourselves that we can't do something. But, if you put in the time and effort there's no reason why you can't. The only thing stopping you, is well, you. The more peaks I did the more my confidence grew that maybe one day I could actually take on a class 5 route. For those who don't know, class 5 peaks are as real as it gets. Very little room for error, lots of exposure, and one wrong move and you're likely toast. 

By late August, I got tired of being in fear of some of these peaks I knew I would have to face eventually. So, I started studying the routes and grabbed the bull by its horns and began my journey across the technical climbs and eventually completed Pyramid Peak with my buddy Jared.

I not only climbed Pyramid Peak, but I enjoyed it and would be my favorite peak to climb out of all the other 14ers in Colorado. Following Pyramid I solo hiked the Class 4 ridge up Lindsey where at the summit I would stare at one of the peaks that have scared me the most through this journey. The elusive Little Bear. Several early mornings I have woken up ready to tackle this peak. But, anxiety got the better of me and I ended up going back to bed and left it for another day. After a 5 day break to hangout with friends, enjoy some concerts (back when those were a thing) I can't really accurately described what happened. But, it was like a fire was ignited. Maybe because it was now September and the window for hiking 14ers was closing. Maybe I got sick of being in fear? Whatever it was, I'm happy it happened. I left my shift at work later that day, and started driving towards Lake Como Road and ready to tackle Little Bear. 

I made a nearly critical miscalculation and relied too much on my GPS and ended up getting off trail nearly the hour glass. Missing it entirely and forced myself into some gnarly class 5 moves. However, this did give me a taste for what I was going to be up against when the time came to tackle those class 5 14ers. This also forced me into route finding to make my way back over to the hourglass. Little did I know at the time, mountains were just forcing me outside of my comfort zone and training me for epicness in the near future and showing myself that I was capable of doing it. After I got to the summit of Little Bear, summit all to myself, and not seeing a soul all day I shouted "YES!!!". I felt I had just fought a monster and won. A mountain I feared so much before I finally stood atop of. Victory was mine and the reality was settling in that maybe this ultimate goal of all 58 14ers was achievable. 

Now, before I go into the final peaks for the 2019 season I really hope everyone gets the message trend here as I got deeper into these tough peaks. Notice the trend of consistently leaving my comfort zone? Battling through anxiety? Consistently showing myself that I was capable of so much more than I realized and powering through the fear? This is a key life lesson that these mountains taught me. Our goals, dreams, and hopes can often look like giant, looming, terrifying mountains and its very easy to convince ourselves that there is no way on earth that we will one day stand on top of their, soaking in that beautiful view and seeing what we worked so hard for. 

Three times I had planned to do the Crestone traverse. A pair of peaks that look like shark teeth from a distance. A daunting pair of mountains that loom over The Great Sand dunes. Almost like a mythical guardian that everytime you see you can't help but look in awe and fear. I spent the last two weeks of September taking a break as I had gone so hard at hiking in the 2019 season that I needed to take a step back. Hiking was becoming a chore and I took that as a sign to take some time off. I spent many days leaving work at 8pm, driving until 2am or later to a trailhead, getting a couple hour nap, then knocking out more peaks before returning home for work the following day. It was a grind that finally caught up to me. But, after returning to Colorado from a trip back to Ohio for a concert weekend. It was like, a fire got lit under me when I landed. I finally told myself that this was the week I was taking on the Crestones. I reached out to my friend who I met on Pyramid Peak Annie Hughes who was already a 14er finisher as she had the experience already to help guide me across this traverse. She happily agreed, and on October (yes you read that correctly) 5th we pushed for the summit. Battling high winds and rime ice on the class 5 wall along the way. 

That smile is all you really need to see, to tell how I was feeling seeing that summit approach. When I stood on top of Crestone Needle via the traverse and my first of the great 4 traverses I shouted "Holy shit! I'm on Creston Needle from the traverse!!" with a big high five at the top. This summit would be the ultimate game changer even if the season would come to a close. After pounding out so many peaks in one season, while balancing a mostly full time job I completed two more peaks (Red Cloud and Sunshine) before snow began to fill the mountains before calling the season. I was now only 10 peaks away from being a 14er finisher. 

With the shit show that was 2020 ongoing I often wondered if my finishing Summer would be in jeopardy. But, I was going to do whatever it took to finish. But, this finish wasn't going to come easy. I may have "only" had 10 peaks left. But 8 out of those 10 left were 15+ miles and multiple class 4 and 5 traverses to navigate across. But, the season was here. My confidence was high, and I was ready to roll. In the fall months I had picked up Rock Climbing to combine forces with the mountains and this would come in handy for the finish as I gained my confidence in my feet placement and felt more in control doing technical moves despite their not being any rope. I was fortunate enough this year to not have a major snow year like in 2019 and in late June I Uncompahgre Peak early and I was officially into the single digits left. I couldn't believe it, even knowing I had finished with 10 left in the previous season. It hits you differently when you can officially say you "only" have 9 peaks left in Colorado. 

I had planned this season a little differently as well. I wanted to take my time, and not smash through so many peaks to quickly this year as I had the time to work with. I also wanted to take some time and enjoy other aspects of Colorado I seemed to neglect last year with literally all of my spare time committed to the 14ers. I spent a lot of time after Uncompahgre rock climbing with friends, and learning the ropes of lead climbing to further improve my skills for future adventures. I also went white water rafting for the first time which had been a decade long bucket list item of mine, and even learned how to river surf! This Summer was certainly the Summer of learning and I loved it! 

Throughout this process, it dawned on me that I was right where I belonged. As much as Ohio is home. Colorado is truly where I belong, and so grateful to have called it home for over a year now. Something I thought I would only dream of saying. The amount of incredible people that I had gotten to meet to this point is something I will forever be grateful for. I also think the mountains were telling me that it was okay to do other things rather than just slug out 14ers. The weather was pretty crappy to start the Summer with thunderstorms seemingly every other day. But, I wasn't complaining. 

It was now July and my eagerness and training was now ready to let loose on those mountains. However, on July 9th I saw a post on the 14ers Facebook group about a guy named Zach searching for a partner to do the Little Bear to Blanca Traverse as his finisher. This was one of the great traverses that is so far in its own league that I didn't expect to even attempt it for years to come. But, like 2019 the mountains continued to shape and shift me mentally so I happily agreed to go across with him and on July 11th we concurred the traverse and instantly become really good friends. Seeing his reaction after finishing made me that much more excited to tackle my last peaks. I was also happy that I didn't have to freaking hike Lake Como Road anymore. We even got bonus points and reached the Summit of South Little Bear. There was a different feeling this season as well. When we climbed Little Bear for my second time it was with little to no hesitation. I wasn't afraid, and I zipped right up the hour glass confidently and with how insane the traverse was. I kept my breathing under control and had an absolute blast getting across. Very little fear. It was like I was a whole different, and better person this season. 

With two of the great four traverses behind me, and by far the hardest one I knew there was nothing I couldn't do. I smashed out the 22 mile roundtrip and nearly 7,000ft of gain Snowmass in one single shot (which took every bit of will power I had to finish) as I got an unexpected surprise of no snow in the gully. Leaving me to do relentless miles of hopping over boulders on straight vertical gain and just a few, short days later my buddy Curtis and I successfully tackled the world famous Maroon Bells and the class 5 traverse. We caught up to some hikers along the way, and an instant friendship was born and they ended up joining us for the traverse. This, so far was my funnest days on trail as we spent most of our time traversing with laughs and jokes. I couldn't tell if the bells traverse was just over hyped, if my confidence had just climbed so high that it didn't phase me. But, regardless I continued to treat each mountain with the respect they deserve. Because, the moment you don't is the moment that they can, and will bite back. 

A couple days prior to Maroons Bells, I had planned on driving to the San Juan's and knocking out Wetterhorn and Handies. However, one of my biggest inspirations I have had the pleasure of meeting along this journey Matt Randall reached out to me about doing an alpine climb up the Northwest Buttress route up Capitol Peak. I peak I had already completed but who's going to say no to that offer? Surely not me! I knew I'd be tired as this was coming right on the heels of the Bells but the stoke was high, and I was ready for the 19 mile roundtrip and 7,000ft gain journey. I laughed at the top of South Maroon as we bumped into a couple of other hikers and after I said who I was she goes "aren't you the crazy guy who just did snowmass in one shot?". I laughed and pleaded the 5th as she jokingly called me crazy. Own your stereotypes right? The following morning I won't lie. I was so sleepy after only getting a meager 4 hours of sleep for the bells and another 4 for Capitol. But, Matt and I shot a 5 hour energy drink and were ready to get sendy and around 1pm we successfully reached the summit. This was so new to me, and I was so grateful for Matt pushing me and being patient with the few rests that I took going up. We slugged our way through a 5.9 crack climb, made our way up and free solo'd the 5.0 to 5.6 sections before roping back in for the final 5.7 sections and traversing over the class 4 catwalk to the summit. 

I was so smoked from those two days, that I felt every step I took up Wetterhorn just two days later. But, I felt stronger than ever before. Because the last week and a half were no easy task with so many miles and so much elevation gain. But, nonetheless I made the summit and just like that only 4 more peaks were left on this journey. I even ran into a few hikers I had seen in the week priors when I was coming down Little Bear and is always nice bumping into familiar faces along the trail. I even met a dad who had done over 30 14ers with his young son which was super rad to see! Talk about a committed father! 

There were multiple occasions after this, even though the journey wasn't over yet that I nearly started crying. Just thinking about what it was going to feel like to finish and if you wanna talk about a long work week. Try working for a few days when you're so close to ending your journey. The drive to the San Juan's to finish my last of the 4 great traverses and knowing that, that week I would be a 14er finisher was the most smile filled drive I think I've ever had. However, disaster almost struck as I made my way across the El Diente Traverse to Mt Wilson. The brittle rock that this peak is known for almost got me as I stepped on what was at the time a firm rock. But, when I went to pivot and move to the next rock the whole are gave way and I triggered a huge rock slide. Thankfully, experience has taught me never to lose 3 points of contacts with hikes like this and I had my hand on more firm rock and was able to jump off of the slide to safety. The slide was so big, that when I reached the summit of Mt. Wilson hikers told me they thought I died until I popped over the ridge and they gained visual on me again. This just goes to show, no matter how much or crazy you have climbed. You can never underestimate any hike. It was a surreal feeling already completing my final of the great 4 traverses. So many hours of studying and focus all for that moment. I had mixed feelings about doing Handies the following day simply because it was my final summit before the big day, and my final summit in the San Juan's. 

The chills were very real when I began that long drive back to Denver for a day of rest before the big day. I roamed the mountains of Colorado for so long, every free hour I had went into them and to be staring at the finish line face to face was such a wide, emotional ride. I honestly didn't really know how to feel. Part of me was excited, part of me was sad, and another part of me was anxious. This was a longer day afterall and still had to take on class 3 moves. But, this last climb was going to be something special. I reached out to multiple friends that I met along the way. I wanted this final climb to consist of all people that I met along this incredible journey. My good friends Jonah, Jenna, Billy, Kelli, and Zach all agreed to join me on my final quest and let me tell you. This would be the funnest hike I have ever done in my entire life. The vibe, weather, and setting couldn't have been anymore perfect. Its like the Mountains knew that tomorrow was the big day. 

We all met the night before at the Longs Peak Trailhead where we would car camp to make sure we didn't have any issues parking in the morning due to high numbers of people being on a weekend. Normally, I'm so tired from previous days of hiking that I'm usually pretty calm the night before. Don't get me wrong, I have a high stoke level. But, usually my body tells me I need to sleep and rest. Not this night though. Zach and I were the first to arrive and I was so hyper you would probably swear I just slammed 3 Red Bulls. My excitement could not be contained.  This was the moment I had been dreaming about for so long and put so many hours of hard work in to and it was staring at me in the face. 

Shortly after a couple of cool dudes parked next to Zach and I and asked how the camping situation was. I explained to not setup tents as they were very strict about it and afterwards they cracked a joke about spooning in the car. So, I instantly knew I could get along with these guys later to find out their names Paul and Aaron. Both guys from Colorado Springs, which was even better. Because that's where I'm from! We cracked open some beer, laughed for hours even after the sun went down and essentially took over the back corner of the parking lot. What made it even funnier is all the car camping hikers going up in the morning could see how good of a time we were having and I think knew some kind of celebration was coming up. Because, I don't know of many hikers that are that hyper that night before a huge climb. Jonah, Jenna, and Kelli arrived around 9pm and we finally decided to go to bed around 11. We needed at least a few hours of sleep before the big day. 

With my alarm set for 2:30am I tossed and turned most of the night from butterflies in my stomach. I zonked out for probably a couple hours before my alarm went off and I quickly jumped up, turned it off, changed my clothes and exited my car. With some final hugs before the final climb began I had a smile from ear to ear as Paul, Aaron, Kellie, Jenna, Jonah, Zach, Billy and I began our ascent. It seemed like it only took 10 minutes to get above tree line with how fun the hike began and from all the jitters. It wasn't hard to find the trail either. All we had to do was follow the conga line of headlamps from other hikers. Which, normally would be annoying to me. But, I wanted this hike to be super chill for everyone, and for everyone to just have an all around great time. Not worrying about route finding. 

As we approached our turn off to the boulder field, one of the most majestic sunrises I have ever seen while climbing crested above the horizon. The skies turned blood red, with a light moody tone of orange, and remnant blues from the morning hour of blue. I couldn't help but stare mesmerized by the skies as we continued our climb upward. I vividly remember our group mumbling "wow" at separate times and we all would occasionally glance at each other smiling. 

 

As if the morning couldn't get any better, we finally got our view to the summit of Longs Peak. Just in time for the sun to crest the horizon and cast a dark, orange alpine glow against the peak. Its like the sunrise was presenting my trophy to me. Shockingly, at this point too I wasn't even tired. My legs were feeling great, not sore and we had already gained over 2,000ft of gain. It was like something came over me for this hike and was like a caged animal that was let loose to roam free. Because just two days prior my quads were burning and sore just going up the easy 14er Handies. 

Arriving at the famous keyhole, disaster struck as our good friend Jonah began to get sick. We sat down for awhile with no luck of feeling better and I could see how miserable he was on his face. He insisted we carry on and that he might turn around and head down. But, was going to give it a little bit longer. I was super bummed, because I really wanted to share that moment with my pal. But, the hike most go on. So, with mixed feelings we pushed ahead through the Narrows and up the steep gully of rock which leads to the final push to the summit. I made sure to keep a close eye on friends through this section as this is where we entered the Class 3 areas and some hadn't had any experience with that yet. But, the trail was very well marked, so I wasn't too worried. I will say, it was very weird having such slick rock due to the sheer number of people that climb this peak everyday. It made overall easy moves much more difficult because it was like walking on polished marble. Throughout my climb up the gully I bumped into a couple of different hikers, and at this point, so close to my final summit. I couldn't not spill the beans and tell a couple folks that I was approaching my finisher. Their faces lit up with grins from ear to ear and gave me the biggest of congratulations and one hiker even volunteered to video the campaign bottle pop at the top when I arrived. Which was so nice of someone to offer that on their own hike! The other hiker I met Chase was on the same quest, and couldn't have been anymore supportive for me as we chatted for a good chunk of the way to the final push. Exchanging stories and advice from our journies. I didn't know it at the time yet, but word was quickly spreading throughout the conga line of people that their was a hiker pushing for his final summit. Which would later lead to chills down my spine. But, we will get to that in a bit. 

   

This final part, was almost as if I was reborn and entered the gates of heaven. It had been shaded, windy, and chilly, nearly the entire hike up. But as I finished my final moves across the Narrows, I popped around a rock and then suddenly BAM! Sunshine! It seemed to be 10 degrees warmer as I came around that corner and the wind had subsided and just like that, I was staring at the summit of #58. As excited as I was, I had gotten pretty far ahead of my group and refused to summit without them. Jenna wasn't terribly far behind me and quickly caught up and I explained no matter how long it took, I was going to wait on everyone to get here so we can summit together. Billy was up next to arrive, and then out of no where our friend Jonah appeared!! I quickly jumped up and yelled "holy shit, Jonah!!" and ran over to give him a hug. Jonah at first apologized for not making it to the summit in time and congratulated me. I chuckled and said "we haven't made it yet dude. I'm waiting on everyone. Lets do this!". Jonah was so happy to be feeling better and catching up to us in time to summit and not far behind him Kellie and Zach popped up around the ridge. A few hikers who got wind that I was finishing gave me a high five and said "you got this man" as we gathered our things and began the final push. I was smiling so big my cheeks hurt nearly the entire push. Jenna who was just ahead of me let me go around and said "go get it dude". I looked back, with still the biggest smile on my face and pushed forward as she filmed the final 50ft. I peaked over the horizon, saw that beautiful summit and shouted the loudest "WOOOO!!! I DID IT!!!" I think a human possibly could. But, that wasn't even the best part of the actual summit. Remember when I said word got around that I was finishing? The whole conga line of hikers coming up stopped, and cheered and began clapping. I had goosebumps all the way up and down my body. The moment I had worked so hard for and dreamed of I had finally gotten. I instantly called one of my biggest supporters at the top (my Aunt Joy) and erupted into tears when I called and told her the news and sent those final summit texts to the parents. 

As kids (yes even in our mid 20s) we all strive to make our parents and family proud. They raised us, worked so hard to make a good life for us, and mold us into who we are today and I feel like the ultimate goal is to make them proud. While, I may not have the highest paying job in the world, live out of my car (willingly), and not have anything close to a stable relationship. I felt at this moment I had genuinely made them proud. They have seen how much time I have put into this goal, how much hard work I have put in to it and for them to see a small town Ohio boy grabbing life by the horns and fulfilling challenges some deem impossible, and seeing their son, nephew, or grandson blossom so brightly and contentiously push themselves out of their comfort zone and to have that all come together for this moment. I knew I made them realize that they raised me right and to never let anyone tell you, or have you tell yourself that you can't do something. 

So many hikers gave me high fives, hugs and elbow bumps at the top it already made me wanna start planning my next adventure. What was even greater about this, was when I posted on social media about the news and my whole journey. The amount of well wishes and inspirational comments that erupted nearly made me cry. I have said through my whole weightloss journey, and really life in general attempting to pursue what I love that I want to inspire as many people as possible along the way. When I saw those thousands of comments pour in, some with really personal stories and their own personal battles with bullies and how my story inspired them to not those bullies knock them down. One parent even reached out about her son, who currently gets bullied in school is going to take on his first 14er and hoped that he obtained the same mindset that I did from these beautiful mountains and you best believe I will be there to cheer that little buddy on when he takes on Mt. Sherman. 

The biggest things that these mountains have taught me is to never sell yourself short. Its so easy to convince ourselves that we can't do something before we even try it. They taught me that the human body is capable of so much more than we give it credit for. Physically, and mentally. It put fears I've had for a long time behind me, showed me that I can do it and most importantly they taught me to stay true to myself and that I can be anyone that I tell myself I can be. In ways, I think the mountains test us. To see just how easily we might try to give up on ourselves when the going gets tough and I think that's a valuable life lesson to hold on to outside of the mountains. If you can take on the biggest, baddest mountains around, through the elements, through the mental and physical struggles. There's not a damn thing you can't do or get through. I feel that a part of my soul is forever in these mountains. This whole journey has changed me in all the right and most beautiful ways. I plan to keep pushing myself harder and further than ever before and hope to continue to inspire so many people along the way. I'm not saying everyone has to hike mountains. I just want people to see if some ordinary kid from small town Ohio can do incredible things. That they will one day do something they have always wanted to do. Whether that be a job change, take a hike or family vacation they have always wanted to take, or make simple dietary changes. Whatever it is. I hope they know that they can do it. 

I don't know where the trails will take me next. But, I look forward to the journey that lies ahead.