The Last Sapien | rocking the boat @

Rocking the Boat 1000 feet high | It felt like the stairs to hell's gate, unlike the ones for heaven when you are hovering above ground carried by the angels, this one felt every step going up to the top of Cathedral Ledge.

True, there is also a road that takes you all the way up, but it was closed so we took the humans' trail to get there.

On the way we met with couple girls where one, just wanted us not to talk to her, while her younger sister was talking about a boat a paddle a big colorful flag and people seating in it, all waiting for us up there.

Why the hell there will be people in a boat at the top of the mountain? I was polite and puzzled at the same time and continued the climb. I managed to forget the conversation for couple reasons: One - the older girl looked at her sister as if she is insane or that even if it is true, people would think she made it up of hallucination, so she might as well shut up, but she did not. So forgetting her story will save the dignity of the young girl as if we have never heard it. Two - I was fighting rushes of blood to the head when I could balance between breathing and thinking as I could not perform both at the same time the closer I got to the summit.

You could see people going down the steep trail and I was praying for their well being and hoped they would use more brain power not to kill themselves by going too fast down hill with their ultra flat and slippery fashion sneakers on the pine trees' needles/leaves, not realizing that these are as slippery as winter's ice.

The Cathedral Ledge is a large stone formation that rises above the Sacco river valley, similar to the half dome in Yosemite. It is the rappelling Mecca of New England.

In order to bring awareness to Black Lives Matter (BLM) and to inclusion, climbers hung themselves on a rope between two points on The Cathedral Ledge and held the LGBTQ flag as well as signs of BLM. To make it even more attractive to the eye, a boat was set on the ropes hanging above the valley, where couple folks set in the boat all high above. The boat rocked with every motion and it just felt as if the boat could flip any minute, leaving the climbers just hooked to the main rope, thousand feet above ground.

The story of the little girl was so much true that I now feel bad for the older girl.

I should also re-define a hellish climb as it ended up being not as bad . . .