I literally have no words that could accurately describe the beauty of these mountains. And the pictures do not do this beautiful place any justice. My friend, George, was hiking with me, and after I had complained for the second or third time that my camera was not doing the view any justice, he said, "God's probably thinking, I create things that you can't ever catch on camera." I honestly had never thought about that before, but it's true because we will never truly be able to capture the beauty of God's work and maybe we were never really intended to. The view, seriously was amazing. Hands down one of the top 5 best moments of my life. I mean it ranked up there with the birth of my nephew and my experiences in Africa, so it's a pretty big deal.
We were in Stoos, Switzerland, and we were told that the hike would take anywhere from 2.5 to 3 hours to complete. I am not exactly the most athletic person, but I was more than ready and beyond excited to tackle these mountains.
At first, the hike was not that bad because it was all mostly down hill, but it still made me anxious because I almost rolled my ankle a time or two. I mean if you fall there really is no one to catch you because you are just going to roll down the mountain. Ok, that's a little exaggerated, but in most spots it's true. There was green everywhere, and the color of the water was just wonderful because it was this mesmerizing aqua blue and green. Unfortunately, we never got close to the water, but even from far away it looked fantastic. 
The above picture is of me and my hiking buddies, Erin and Hayley. We had some others here and there along the way, but the three of us pretty much stuck together most of the way. The bottom picture is probably the flattest part we hiked the whole time. It's a little over halfway to our ending point, but once you reach the end of that stretch there was the steepest hill I have ever hiked before. Let's just say it was a workout, for real. The last leg of the hike was a lot worse than the start I feel like because there was more steep hills to climb, but I definitely think that the way we came was the best way to hike the the Blade (name of the portion of the Alps we hiked.) We took plenty of time to stop, not always out of weariness, but more out of awe of what was before us. I could not get over the view that was laid out before us, and it was fun to think about what God must have been thinking when he designed this breathtaking place.
There were so many times during this hike that I was overwhelmed by my surroundings. I just had to take moments to be still and remind myself that the God who created all of this beauty was the very same God who chose me, loved me, and claimed me as his own. If the view didn't completely blow me away, that thought process did. I felt so undeserving of His grace and of His desire to want me as His own; me, this lowly human who looked like nothing compared to these towering mountains and gorgeous landscapes. It was a very humbling experience. Towards the end of the hike the clouds were moving over us, and it was really cool to see others walk through the clouds. I had Katie take a picture of me taking it all in. It's my one hipster picture :) I had to have at least one, especially with the hat I am sporting!
The whole hike took my group a little over 2.5 hours, and it was worth every step. I would do it again if I had more days on my Eurail pass to come back. Above is our victory picture because we completed the entire hike without passing out or dying, so I feel like that is a pretty great accomplishment :) All in all, the alps trip was a definite success. I would recommend this hike to anyone who is planning on going to visit Switzerland. Mainly because of the incredible sights, but also because it was a super fun hike! It will definitely get your heart rate up and blood pumping! We did the hike for our last PE activity, and I can say that this PE class has been by far, hands down, the BEST PE class I have ever been apart of. I am so glad that last semester I asked Brad if we could figure out a PE course for this semester because this definitely beats any course I would have had to take back in Olathe. It was a LONG day, and I was beyond worn out when we finally made it home, but I would do it all again in a heart beat. If people question God, then I think they need to make a visit to the alps because I don't know how anyone can doubt Him once they see the breathtaking scenery. He definitely did an A+ job when He created the Swiss Alps! That excursion is one I will always remember.
Tomorrow I leave for France to go visit my aunt and all my cousins. I will probably be out of touch or just super busy for close to a week, but I am BEYOND excited to see all of them because it has been years! This is definitely going to be the best semester yet! Til Next Time.
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