Physical Challenge: Rock Climbing and the Trail of Ten Falls

Sam and I have decided to start something we’re calling Physical Challenges. Yes, inspired by Double Dare, but with significantly less slime! The idea is that once at least once a week, every Saturday (or Friday, or Sunday, as appropriate), we’ll set out to do something active and outside of our comfort zone, in one way or another.

For our first Physical Challenge, we signed up for Friday Night Heights at the Portland Rock Gym for three hours of beginner-level instruction and climbing. Sam has outdoor climbing experience, with free-climbing up rocks over water, followed by jumping into said water. I had zero experience. We were in a group of about eight people, and we basically just took turns climbing various courses at the instruction of our trainer, who after the first few climbs would customize each climb to the individual. Sam did awesome right away, and was quickly moved up to climbing more difficult courses. He was a regular Spiderman! It took me a few tries to make it to the top… as it turns out, I’m a bit afraid of heights, even though there’s no actual danger of falling. But wow, what a rush! We will definitely be doing that again! 

Our second Physical Challenge was to hike the Trail of Ten Falls in Silver Lake State Park. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but at 8.7 miles, so it ended up being a good four hour hike. We only saw nine of the waterfalls, and two weren't really worth taking photos of, due to the lack of rain during the summer season, but we have pictures of 7/10. 

My third Physical Challenge, which I unfortunately had to do without Sam, was my first crack at horseback riding! I signed up for a two-hour private session that included a 30-min. lesson and an hour and a half trail ride. Turns out, it wasn’t all that physically difficult, just more of a process to learn how to get the horse to do what you want. Mine was a little stubborn. Once on the trails, though, it was so peaceful and fun! We did some trotting, and got to go through a little river and all through a beautiful forest. We’re almost to the end of horse-riding season, but I’m hoping to get another chance for a trail ride before then.

For a quick locational update, we just arrived in Boise, ID last night, where one of Sam’s offices is. Hopefully, we’ll get to spend some time hanging out with his colleagues for a couple of days, and then on to Yellowstone National Park!