Ten years ago, when I was sixteen, I climbed Mt. Whitney in one day with my mom. It is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. It was euphoric and exhausting; I truly pushed my body to the limit and accomplished something that had at one time seemed out of my reach.

When I realized that this July is the 10-year anniversary of our climb, I wanted to do something here on the blog to celebrate. I came across a journal I kept leading up to and during the climb, which gave me the idea to share those journal entries with you.

Whether you’re planning to climb Mt. Whitney, hike a different mountain, run a marathon, complete a triathalon, or whatever your adventurous dreams may be — I hope these journal entries will be fun and inspiring to read! I’ll be doing a new post every Wednesday and all the posts will be archived here.

“Because it’s there.” – Sir Edmund Hillary’s reply, when asked why he climbed Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth

“Because Hillary inspired me,” is my reply whenever I am asked why I climbed California’s Mt. Whitney. While Whitney is 14,541 feet lower than Everest, it is still the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States at 14,494 feet.

Exactly how did Hillary inspire me? By coincidence, he became the first person to reach the peak of the world’s tallest mountain on May 29, 1953 — and I was born on the 29th of May, 34 years later. This serendipitous piece of information got me interested in doing something memorable on the 50th anniversary of his historic achievement in 2003.

So it was that I decided to climb Mt. Whitney, the “Culminating Peak of the Sierras.” To me — a girl who was born three months prematurely, weighing just two pounds, six ounces, and who doctors feared wouldn’t survive — the goal of standing {if not on top of the world} at least on top of the lower 48 states, was truly an Everest-like challenge.

What follows is the journal of my experiences. {Stay tuned for more next Wednesday!}