Have you ever seen photos of somebody standing on a thin rock? Last Saturday, I visited the Potato Chip Rock with my friends. Potato Chip Rock is the iconic rock formation in San Diego County located in Ramona. It took an hour by car from where I live (Pacific Beach).

To be honest, the first impression of looking out the window at the mountain was “weird.” The mountains I used to watch were covered with trees, or just made of rocks. Not both trees and rocks are mixed like that. The closer we got, the bigger the rocks got. When I arrived, I realized that the rocks were enormous.

There are two popular routes to go: Starting from Lake Poway and following Mt. Woodson Trail. The first path takes approximately two hours to go, is gentle, and can enjoy the beautiful scenery. However, we chose the second path, which is steeper but shorter. We started hiking at 2 p.m. Everyone was going down except for us. Luckily, the weather was amazing that day, so the sun was hot, but it cooled down quickly in the shade.

I disliked going hiking when I was young and never thought that I would go to the mountain by myself. That was because it is tiring, but also because I’m not too fond of insects (apart from the fact that I hate them, insects are necessary to the environment). I was surprised there were no insects there. Instead of insects, I could find lizards. It was much bigger than a Korean lizard, so it looked like a mini dinosaur.

While going up, I stumbled upon some small towers made of stones, which surprised me because I thought it was a custom that only existed only in a few Asian countries. If you go to the mountain in Korea, you’ll find a lot of stone towers. When hikers see a stone tower, while passing by they will pile up stones one by one. It’s mainly for Buddhists, so we make a wish by stacking it up. I wondered about the mind of the people who built the stone towers in San Diego.

It was breezy when I approached the top. I hated the process even when I was a child, but the moment I reached the top was always a pleasure. It seems to be the same in life. A sense of accomplishment that you get when you reach the top through a difficult process. In some cases, you may sprain your ankle while climbing, or you may get lost, or when you go up, the scenery may not unfold as great as you expected.

Nevertheless, what is clear is that I went up there on my two feet. Checking that I have the power to do so. That is enough reason to go up.

Juri Kim is an international intern from Korea.