It looks like this new year will bring yet more mountains to climb with Covid-19 roaring ahead with the aid of Delta and Omicron variants.
I decided to look back on the mountains that were much more rewarding to climbs; well, mountains, monuments, hills, stairs.
It wasn’t until I started gathering the photos of our experiences, that I realized just how many very high places we managed So, this might take more than one post. Let’s start the ‘holy cow, I did that!’ ones.
Scott Monument in Edinburgh, Scotland
The Scott Monument, dedicated to Sir Walter Scott, has a staircase is so narrow so that if you meet anyone coming down while you are going up, as I did, it is quite a squeeze. Being in my usual form (speaking without thinking) I said to a guy I had to pass by, “some people pay good money for this kind of experience”. Luckily for me, I will never see this person again.
The Scott Monument (Sir Walter Scott) is 61.11 metres high (287 steps). This is the second highest monument dedicated to a writer; the highest being the José Martí monument in Cuba at 109 metres.
Fogo Island, Newfoundland
Don’t be fooled … this is so much further than it looks. I was. I would say this is about 1/4 of the way to the lookout.
This is the Trailhead which is also where we camped.
Goldensides Trail, Tombstone Territorial Park, Yukon
It is difficult to capture how high this hike was because we had to walk down into a valley and then back up hills. The paths were nicely laid out but it was a climb! According to my fitbit, it was the equivalent to 72 flights of stairs. It was very difficult for me to go those last few yards getting us up to the point in the picture on the right. Words cannot express how beautiful it was once we got there. Going down wasn’t as easy as you might think since — yup, you gotta get back up from the valley.
Arc de Triomph, Paris
I inadvertently climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomph. We went in the door where there was a ticket booth, bought our tickets and were instructed to go into the door on our left. What did we find there? You got it — stairs! And lots of them. There was no way out so I had no choice but to climb to the top.
It is exciting to look back at some of these amazing places we have been. Stayed tuned for more, perhaps not as high, climbs.