Summer at UC Berkeley Part 2.5
Written By: Gen Nguyen | Read full profile
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What do you call an angry balloon?
Okay, I lied. After classes ended Nick, Okra, and I did do something that wasn’t all food related. We figured we should at least do some exercising, so we decided to go hiking at Mission Peak. They had a pillar we could take a picture with at the end of the track so… BONUS. I don’t know why but I thought it’d be an easy hike… a couple miles right? Haha… oh boy was I wrong.
Mission Peak is a 6 mile hike up a mountain. Let me share their safe hiking tips with you.
Now let me tell you that we weren’t smart and didn’t read any of these tips. Maybe it’s common sense, but I don’t think I’ve ever hiked before this. We didn’t bring 2 liters of water for each person; we brought 4 (16.4 fl oz) bottles of water and 4 (20 fl oz) bottles of Gatorade… for all of us, 3 people. We didn’t have sunscreen nor did we apply any beforehand. And lastly, we went in the middle of the day at around 1-2pm in August, a summer month.
I think after walking a couple feet up the bottom of the mountain I wanted to give up. BUT I don’t give up. And didn’t I want to waste the time and money driving down to Fremont SO we trudged through. Every so often, we had to stop, sit down, and sparingly rehydrate. We were scrawny twigs fat, lazy slugs… or at least I was. Nick and Okra were skinny. So we were dying from dehydration and heat strokes.
I would like to note that we weren’t the only ones having trouble though. There were some squirrels chilling with us in the shade too. We just stood out the most cause I would actually go crazy and scream “I am dying.” You could probably hear me panting from a mile away. I’d also race with Okra to see who could go the farthest before collapsing.
Before we knew it, 4 hours passed and we made it up! Was the picture at the pillar worth the arduous trek up a steep, rocky terrain where one wrong footing could’ve ended up in my untimely death on one of the hottest days in California ONLY to wind up with dehydration, intense foot, leg, AND, back pain? Sure, there’s something about gratification from not giving up that makes it feel like it was worth it. But… I expected the pillar to be a little bit taller.
Another couple hours of hiking down and as a reward, we went out for Sonic’s happy hour deal and ordered a bbq chicken deep dish pizza from Zachary’s Chicago Pizza in Berkeley. Gotta regain all the calories we burned somehow, right?
Answer: A hot air balloon
Shot with my janky iphone 4s
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