Mount Olympus Hike

Myself and Dana at the top of Mt. Olympus

I began this summer with lofty goals - painting, sewing, crafting, exploring. Then graduate school began and much of my time shifted away from fun and more toward focusing on reading. Then some more reading. And you guessed it - once I thought the reading was done, nope there was more. Now that the summer semester has ended, I have had a little more free time on my hands. My best friend Dana asked if I would be interested in hiking to the summit of Mount Olympus. Unbeknownst to her, this was one of my summer goals! So this worked out perfectly. On Thursday, we set out on the trail head at 5am and began our journey up the mountain. I hadn't heard much about this hike, but have always wanted to do it since high school - I was an Olympus High Titan so it seemed getting to the top of mountain the school was named after is pretty much a must!

With our headlamps on, we began the hike. The first two miles are really not that bad. Just a steady hike up the trail. Then, thanks to an amazingly in shape 60+ year-old who passed us twice on the trail, we found out that the last mile and a half is where you gain 2/3rds of the total elevation. She was right. It pretty much felt like a mile and a half of hiking up a trail with a 75 degree slope featuring lovely rocks and boulders alone the way.

The last 600 feet to the summit is a rock scramble. This was my first rock scramble up to the top of a mountain and needless to say there were moments of "What am I doing?" and "Is this really the way up here?". After we found the "right" way up, the view from the summit was breath taking. To look down at the valley with thousands of people, and to be one of two people standing on top of a mountain. It was surreal. We found a metal mailbox stuffed with notebooks and pens documenting the countless treks people have made up there. Of course we added our own signatures to them!

The start of the rock scramble

Last 600 feet of the hike, which leads to...

This! 

The beautiful Dana!

Victory pose!

Dana's victory pose!

The mailbox.

Video of the summit

I am unbelievably proud of my best friend and I. Looking at Mt. Olympus from my backyard, I smile at how amazing it feels to complete a goal and to have done so with the wonderful Dana!

More pictures from the hike :)

One of the many overlook points 

Dana walking into the light - sun coming over the mountain