It was 1998. I was a junior in high school and a good friend of mine, Lorenzo, asked me if I wanted to go hiking. Of course I said, "Yes!" I didn't know the name of the hike, location, distance or rating.
It didn't matter, I wanted to hike.
I am not sure of the exact date, but from what I remember, town was gorgeous and the hike started off well. However, within an hour clouds rolled in and we were hiking in the rain. I had to run to keep up with the boys and still I was left in the dust at several points. We saw nothing by white the whole way in. When we finally reached the summit, yup you guessed it, more white and nothing else! We took a break and ran back out. Although I saw no breath taking views or could even tell if I was on a ridge, the hike was extremely fun and I was hooked.
Papa had a hiking guide book and after flipping through it, I found the hike: LANIPO.
And so the HI life begins...
