Walking For A Cure: Chase

Its been unusual to get 2 consecutive days off of work, Last week was my first full weekend off in 3 months, This week i was down for Wednesday off so i booked an over night stay at Hanging Rock SP again as its my nearest mountains and i am getting to know the trails well, Just before leaving work on Tuesday afternoon my boss said i could take Thursday as well, On my way to Hanging rock my mind was whizzing around with what to do, Do i stay an extra day at HR or just stay overnight and then whip up to the Appalachians again and stay overnight at McAffee's Knob again and get a sunset and sunrise, I phoned my wife and asked her to check the weather report, Looks like a 90% chance of rain she said and that was that, The weather here has been oppressively hot and humid, Like 99 degrees hot and 90% humidity, I got up later that i wanted and quickly hit the trails, Hanging Rock has 5 main peaks, I have hiked to 3 of them and thought i would try to do all 5, I started off on the toughest trail which is Moores wall, This is a loop trail, I took the hard way up which takes me around 40 minutes, Once on top i took my time taking images, The weather on top was cool with a nice gentle breeze, I had taken my Jetflow Minimo stove with me and made a coffee and enjoyed the views, I made my way down and then at a crossroads on the trail made my way up a steep incline towards the Cooks wall trail, This trail would take me to House Rock overlook as well as Cooks, As i got to House overlook i met with a young guy called Chase, Chase is at school but volunteering at the Park keeping it pristine but collecting any trash that others leave, We started chatting and it turned out that Chase is a Cancer survivor even as his young age of 16 he has now been cancer free for 7 years, I told him of my plans to raise funds for Cancer research by trekking to Everest Base Camp and also of my previous en-devours on the Camino De Santiago, The cancer Chase had has left its scars and he is not able to do any sports but instead of staying on the sofa and living behind an X box he has found his love of the outdoors and enjoys hunting and fishing as well as enjoying the views that his local mountains give, He is hoping to finish his schooling and after college get a job in the great outdoors, He reminded me of myself when i was his age, At 16 i loved to be on my own sitting outside and watching bird life and fishing as much as i could, We walked and talked for over an hour making our way of the steep trail to Cooks wall and enjoying the magnificent views, On our way back i split off and went to Wolf Rock over view whilst Chase carried on with his work, It was a pleasure to meet with him and bought to light why i am trying to raise as much money for Cancer Research as i can, As well as loosing family to Cancer we have to realize that it can hit anybody at any age, I do not believe that Chemo is the answer as it kills as many good cells as bad, Certain cancers that used to be killers are now curable and with more research other strains of Cancer will in the future be curable but it all costs money and thats why people like Marian and myself push to raise money, I ended the day in 85 degree heat and with 10 hard miles under my belt, It had been a very good workout and i managed 4 of the 5 peaks only not reaching Hanging Rock overlook due to running low on water, I know in the future that i can do the 5 peaks and only a few months ago that would not have been possible, I weighed myself when i got home and have now lost around 25lb so the hiking and gym work are paying off and still have 2 months before i leave, As much as i enjoy a good work out in the gym you simply cannot beat a good hard trek on a beautiful day,

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A boxed Turtle getting hassled by Mosquitoes