The Importance of Perseverance
Personal June 26th, 2010There are many analogies that bloggers use in their articles and this one is no exception. I’ve always looked at my hobbies and certainly my mountain unicycling as an example for many things that reflect my personality in my life. Learning to ride a unicycle is not an easy task and it requires perseverance and a high level of dedication to stick to it until you get it. It’s a skill I’ve mastered and having that mountain unicycling skill always reminds me that I can take on new things by perseverance. Well today was no exception, I planned to seek out a mountain top about 2500m and day hike it with my unicycle so I could ride back down (as much as possible anyway).
I decided to go up Mount Allen in Kananaskis about 1.25 hrs from my house in the Canadian Rockies after I parked my car using parkbluesky.com. It’s 2800 m high actually and a very difficult ascent with over 1500 m of elevation gain. This task proved to need serious perseverance. I had read it can take 10hrs to hike to the summit and back due to the technical hiking and steep slopes. I was hoping to complete it in about 6-7 hours by packing my unicycle and riding whatever areas I could to cover distance faster. Plus I had some new hiking shoes to break and I really don’t like going anywhere in the mountains without my unicycle.
So, I started the trail head at 9:30 am and starting heading up. I was able to ride some of the lower sections through the forest and a few areas above the tree line but most of the slopes were steep switchbacks and loose rock, not something I wanted to even attempt riding up (down is another story though). Pass a few marmots, plenty of squirrels and chipmonks but didn’t see any other wild animals. Lots of signs of bear with prints and scat in the snow and on the trail. I didn’t see any bears directly though. I was the third hiker up (I could tell from the snow prints and by meeting people coming back down once I got closer to the summit) and when I did summit, the group behind me said they saw about 25 areas dug up on the trail by a bear digging out bugs and whatever else it could find. I didn’t see these dug out areas until I headed back down so the bear was between me and that next group only about 30 minutes behind me. Anyway, back to the point of this article.
Along the climb, its funny how perseverance comes into play. At many points I was thinking that I would turn back early since my pack was heavy, my back was already a bit sore and my feet and calfs were definitely feeling steep slopes early on. Luckily, I keep thinking about getting to the next point, bit by bit and then continuing to push myself again once I get their. That is really what perseverance is all about, it simply motivates you keep going and persist on your goal, in this case, the summit. Surprisingly, I came across a group of adventure runners and I knew one of the women in the group and she was quite impressed to see me doing the hike with my uni, so she had to take a picture together. I hadn’t seen her for a couple years so this was yet again, another thing that inspired me to persevere and press on to the summit instead of turning back. The final summit climb looked the most daunting and fortunately by this point, my back and feet were sore but not getting worse, so I knew I could press on and get to the summit. There was a lot of snow and some areas you had to hike up 30-40° snow slopes on skree which made it a little risky and I definitely had to go very slowly and carefully to keep my footing without slipping. A slide down a mountain with half snow, half rock is not an experience I ever want to have!!
So, I made the summit at 1PM so the hike took 3.5 hours. I stopped for lunch, a break and many photos and to chat with the next group that reached the summit after me. So 50 minutes later, my pack back on, I headed down the mountain. I found a safer route than what I climbed that was mostly rock, with little snow, so the summit descent was much safer than the climb luckily. I then enjoyed many of the downhill areas and technical rock areas riding my uni so was able to get down much faster in about 2 hours. So it perseverance of course that keeps me riding my cycle to places many people wouldn’t even dare walk and its perseverance that got to the summit and back in 6.5 hrs, which I was quite happy with. I’m sure you have your own stories of perseverance, I’d love to hear them and I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from my hike today.
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June 27th, 2010 at 4:47 AM
Hi. WOW. Your post and the pics are amazing. Very inspiring. What strikes me is the beauty of what you can see, and the climb to this breath taking beauty is one of perseverance and hard work. The spirit has to toil, to push itself, it doesn’t come easy and yet when it does, -its spectacular. Again, great posts and pics. Thanks for sharing.
June 27th, 2010 at 7:07 AM
Thank you uzma, it was by far the most specatacular day hike I’ve ever done for the beaty and awe of the surroundings. I was able to capture a huge number of pictures and panorama views that are all in my collection of favorite photos now. I certainly can feel some sore muscles now this morning but it was oh so definitely worth it!
June 27th, 2010 at 9:40 AM
Mike amazing article and beautiful photos you’ve captured I’m becoming envious and also inspired. I must join you on one of these outings sometime though I may need to work my way up to it.
June 27th, 2010 at 10:39 AM
It must have been awesome. Do keep climbing, riding and posting.
June 27th, 2010 at 3:34 PM
Dear kind Mike,
This BLOWS MY PEA BRAIN!!!!! You are incredible beyond words. I am speechless. Stunned. I bow down to you! I am inspired, excited, and thrilled reading this post and looking at every single one of your photos. To me the whole post speaks of courage, freedom and tenacity, all things I strongly resonate with.
I knew it was the Rockies as I used to live in Denver, but new this had to be further north, and then you said Canadian Rockies. And I thought YES!!
You are one truly remarkable human being, who is tenacious, grounded/sensible (common sense), and yet full of adventure, drive, dreams, goals and a deep desire to face fear, yourself, challenges, and the world.
I know that may sound odd that I say all that, but THAT is what I saw of you in this article, and many of your others. What an astounding accomplishment. I remember Dan Millman, the author, saying how was learning to ride a unicycle at 60 and how it was really challenging him in a good way. I’ve often thought of doing it. I LOVE challenges like that, and am good at sticking to them.
You are also a born photographer!! WOW, such breathless photos of Earth, from a bird’s eye view. Just brought tears to my eyes. You live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
I am REALLY REALLY proud of you Mike. I am!! And I have tweeted this and am going to put it on my facebook page. Thank you sooooooooo much for giving me a heads up on it. Please do any time! I love your work.
You are an amazing person. Thank you for being an inspiration in my life.
Hugs,
Robin
June 28th, 2010 at 12:01 AM
Matt! I’d love to do a hike/ride with you sometime this summer. I’m already thinking of doing another mountain ride on Friday since I am going to take Friday off instead of Canada day on the 1st. Let me know if you can join me! I haven’t decided where to go yet, but any day hike I’m up for and just did Moose mountain last Monday evening, it was awesome as well, all downhill though as we had cars at the top and bottom for that run!!!
@Robin – thank you for so many great comments. Its funny how I’m taken on so much photography in my life, I guess I should post more of my photos here. I definitely love landscape photography and especially panorama photography. It’s one of many great joys I have and I’m one of those people willing to do just about anything for the perfect photo!!! I was sadly taking all of these photos with a cheap point and shoot nikon that doesn’t take photos anything close to my better Canon I normally have as a carry along while riding (still a point and shoot though). My wife had it out for a weekend in the Rockies with her horse on a Ladies weekend retreat! Beautiful landscape there as well!!! We both love photography and get many books printed and images all over our house of photos we’ve taken. Its great fun!
Anyway, thanks for the comments and I hope I can relate more personal development challenges (and maybe just some inspiration) to more of my adventures of things I do as there are many more where this came from!!
Life is to serve, the beauty in life is our short term reward and how we serve and live that life, can then be rewarded in eternity.
June 28th, 2010 at 1:47 AM
WOW! That looks so amazing. I get annoyed with the overuse of the word awesome……but those views truely are awesome:)
I like your point about just focusing on the next part – like any goal if we break things down into smaller parts they seem much easier, and before we know it the whole thing is accomplished!
Best wishes,
Kate
June 28th, 2010 at 7:25 AM
Mike, thanks for modeling and putting into pictures the success factor of perseverance. It’s so easy to give up, and so hard to keep going, but the reward is often well worth it. Love the picture of the mountain chipmunk! 🙂
June 28th, 2010 at 9:30 AM
Thank you Kate. Thinking back, that is definitely what kept me going (short section at a time) and knowing int he back of my mind what the end goal was, the Summit!
Steve – Thanks for the comment as well. The chipmunk was very cute. He sat on my knee eating crumbs while I had my lunch as long as I was very still. Its neat to see a little critter so active like him living on the top of a rocky mountain. I guess he has the best view from his house of any chipmunk I’ve known. 🙂
June 28th, 2010 at 8:12 PM
I miss the mountains. Picture #17 looks like it is wearing white ruffles. And you met someone you have not seen for 2 years? That is just such a great thing! And you didn’t meet the bears. Thats another great thing! Beautiful pictures. Thank you.
June 28th, 2010 at 11:28 PM
Hi Mike, these pictures are simply stunning but what amazed me more was the fact that you rode back down, part of the way, on a unicycle. A UNICYCLE! are you off your head 🙂 I have to admit to being very impressed with that and a little curious as to how you could do that.
Fantastic post, has to be the best I have read this month. Thanks Mike.
June 29th, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Mike, thank you for sharing this. The article was great and the photos were great. I love that chipmunk. Why is it black and white? I don’t have much mountain experience but I thought the ones I’ve seen are brown.
June 30th, 2010 at 9:20 PM
@Peggy, thanks for the comments, I’m still smiling from that hike and the views. They recharge my spirit, that is for sure!
@Steven. Yup, a mountain unicycle is definitely my style. I ride some crazy stuff at least weekly and have been riding for about 22 years now on it, so its just part of who I am, and its like walking to me. Something so natural I don’t even think about it. Couldn’t imaging doing things without it actually.
@StephenM – THanks for the comments on the photos and article. I’m not sure really why but all the chipmunks I see in the higher altitudes have much less brown and usually black and white stripes. They have some brown on their head, but that is it. He was certainly a friendly guy eating off my knee though while I had lunch. I think he liked posing for photos actually as well. 🙂
July 2nd, 2010 at 9:40 AM
What a really remarkable feat Mike. I can never do what you just did. Truly remarkable.
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:46 PM
Wow, wow and wow my friend.
Your pictures are stunning and I bet each step of your hike and each rotation of your unicycle was “well worth it”? 😀
“When you have completed 95 percent of your journey, you are only halfway there.â€
—Japanese Prover—
Your article reminded me of a story when I took my friend out to the Grouse Grind (which is crazy steep)for the first time. We were barely halfway up and he was weezing and moaning in pain because of lactic acid build up. He was going to give up.
However, I devised a game where I asked him to point to me the next tree stump/trunk he sees above us and go to it and then rest. Next stump/trunk and then rest.
Next thing you know it, we reached the top and he was invigorated.
No matter what activity, project or goal you have…you have to go all the way and finish it…no matter what, because the most beautiful creations/results/phenomenon will appear as long as you are willing to “persevere”.
Like what Mike said 🙂
July 4th, 2010 at 9:03 PM
It is still a mystery to me why it’s difficult to be persistent. At this point in my life I’m pursuing a goal but it seem like I feel like I’m not achieving anything despite the bits of success I have from time to time. Perhaps I need to be still and keep my focus, a day will come when I will finally reach the top.
Thanks for this encouraging post. 🙂
July 6th, 2010 at 12:17 AM
@miranda – I’ll have to thank you for the compliment and disagree with you. The whole idea of perseverance actually begs to differ with you. If you truly wanted to do this and decide with conviction, you absolutely can. It may take some time and a lot of dedication and trial, but you could do it… Anyone can really if they are mobile enough. Don’t limit yourself by what you say you can’t do, that’s dangerous self talk!!! Persevere instead!!! 🙂
@Vincent – Excellent example and that kind of perseverance works for so many things. Just break it down into smaller steps and tackle them one at a time, all the time knowing the end goal. Powerful stuff for sure! Thanks for the comments and compliments on the photos.
@Walter – The mystery is unique and complex with each person I am sure. And perseverance may be the answer but gaining that attribute is what needs to be solved. You need to have something that drives you to be persistent, some internal motivation to push on and take the necessary steps. Everyone has different things as well, you need to draw on what you enjoy, times you’ve enjoyed similar activities and use that to practice persistence with some drive. You’ve get there, with practice! Push on!
July 13th, 2010 at 7:57 PM
Mike, I am late to your story but it’s brilliant. What I do in comparison is child’s play but my spinning class is KICKING my BUTT! I am having a hard time. My heart-rate has never reached these levels and it’s not that I am out of shape. I do serious power yoga, dance, walk hours on end when on vacation and I got stairs in my house that get run over 2 dozen time a day! But it’s hard hard hard to get the boy back into that cardio zone…..I love it though. And one day when I have enough courage like you, I may climb a mountain. Your photos are stunning but your story is brilliant. THANK YOU for sharing!
July 14th, 2010 at 9:38 PM
@Farnoosh – Thanks so much for your comments. Great examples of living it up and staying healthy you have as well. I guess sometimes living near the mountains and my adventurous spirit its easy to take for granted what you face in your normal day to day life. Its funny how sometimes I can go out riding for hours and not really think about anything but my majestic creator from the obvious beauty in front of me and other times it is a mind exercise to figure out what drives me onward, why I think the way I do or how to use that time for creating or enhancing a story afterward.
Anyway, keep up the hard work, enjoy the SPIN class and don’t think about what makes it tough or why it is hard, think about how its so worth it and how much better you are getting as a result!!!
July 15th, 2010 at 7:04 PM
Mike, I am going to think of my spin class that way – especially when we go into those fast sprints which still kick my you-know but guess what? I have so much more stamina now for that super power yoga 100-minute class that I do twice a week, although flexibility suffers from hard intense cardio so I have to do even more hip openers and stretches to stay limber. Really, that leaves time for what, a little eating and sleep? 🙂
Thank you for encouraging me and sharing your beautiful appreciation of Mother Nature on your rides!
July 19th, 2010 at 1:03 AM
Hey Mike, man you took some awesome photos up there! Wow what an adventure you had, this one will be in your mind for a long time for sure. Where is the photo of you and the girl? Would be cool to see it, unless only she took one.
As far as my perseverance story it comes with me doing high school Track, I ran a few races, and constantly my mind wanted to trick me, and wanted me to just give it up, and stop, but persistence, and the goal of just keep going, and battling my way threw it kept me in it, and at the end of it all, I felt such am awesome feeling as I completed the long distance races.
Till then,
Jean
July 19th, 2010 at 3:19 PM
hey thanks Jean… The adventures I have stay with me for life of course. The photos just help to remind me of them. I had another summit climb just this weekend with more photos and ideas to make a post about. I didn’t take a photo with my friend up there, she had one of her running partners take one of us. I may see it sooner or later, who knows! Track is an excellent case of perseverance as well, YES! many sports and endurance items are really as it requires continuous short goals and measured progress. Glad to hear you enjoyed the pics and can relate with your own experience…
July 24th, 2010 at 6:08 AM
Climbing a mountain is always hard and requires a lot of perseverance. When I climbed Mt Fuji I wanted to give up and turn back every hour, it felt like we were no where near the summit but I kept on continuing and it was well worth it, When we finally got to the summit after about 6 hours of climbing,we got to see the sun rise at 4 am. If I gave up and went back down I never would have been able to see such a beautiful view.