Yes, I am a walker. Yesterday morning, I drove up to the Desert Lab with my one year-old, 25 pound baby, Leo. We go for walks every morning, but this was our first on Tumamoc.

We got up there around 7:30, but it was already hot. It would be 111?F later that afternoon. It ws a test. I put him in my front-loading baby carrier and we started up the hill. At first, I just wanted to see how difficult it would be, but later on, it became a test of manhood for both of us. We just could not turn back.We had to stand on the top. We had to conquer this hill.

We made it to the top, standing to rest in the shade of a telephone pole. Leo had some crackers to hold and drank a sippie cup of water. I took a panorama photo series on my iPhone. Although he can toddle around, I didn’t let him down–he was barefoot.

I was exhausted and dehydrated when we got back to the office buildings around 9am, and rested in the air-conditioning, drinking water. A handful of other people were just starting up the hill. That’s a luxury most walkers don’t have, but I also don’t see many carrying 25 pound weights up the hill.