This past summer, Dad, Brandon, and I went backpacking in Colorado. We spent about 4 days in the wilderness, climbed Mt. Hope and Table Mountain. There is an interesting thing that happens as you get closer and closer to the top. It's called a false summit. You look up and think that you see the peak, so you tell your tired legs to keep moving a little bit longer because you'll get to stop in about 5 minutes. When those 5 minutes are up and you've reached that peak, you look up and realize that on the other side of it is another peak you couldn't see from below. This one will take you another 5 minutes or so to climb, but then you'll get to stop. This illusion keeps repeating itself until finally you are on the summit and every direction you look is downhill.
I'm in that last leg of the climb now. There are 5 weeks of school left after this one. This week, TAKS week, is one of those false summits. I kept thinking, just make it to TAKS, then you can stop and rest. But I realize that there is still a lot of uphill climbing to do before I can really relax. My legs are burning, I'm sucking wind, but I have to keep moving because if I don't, I'll never get to the end.
