Somewhere along the way to Annapurna Base Camp (A.B.C.) I had an epiphany. I’m going to be thinking quite often to myself “what the fuck was I thinking.”

I actually couldn’t even tell you how many times I thought that during my trek to A.B.C. but it was at least once a day. Writing this, and looking back on the trek, I can’t help but think “what the fuck.”

All in all, I spent 10 days on the mountain with a Lebanese, an Israeli, a Brit, a Polish girl, three porters and one guide. The trek itself takes you 4130m (13,549 ft) to the base camp that is surrounded by the Annapurna Mountain Range, including Annapurna I, Annapurna II, Annapurna III, Annapurna South, Mount Machapuchhere (Fishtail)… Pretty much the whole Annapurna Mountain Range. There’s 3,500 stone steps climbed on the second day of the trek and approximately 160 kms traversed from start to finish.

No amount of squats can prepare you for this.

We had one hailstorm, two rainstorms, and a snowstorm while on the mountain, got up for three sunrises including the sunrise trek from Ghorepani to Poon Hill at 4:30 a.m., crossed 19 bridges that were either just rocks or tree branches laid out over a rushing stream, passed through a rhododendron forest and a bamboo forest, got stuck multiple times behind herds of goats, sheep and mules, and had a snowball fight at the top.

I got two blisters, 53 bug bites (yes I counted), sucked on by three leeches, and developed a sinus infection after reaching the top.

And when I look back on the trek, and read through what sounds like absolute misery, I am happy and proud of myself. And have nothing but joy at the memories, even the ones that sound horrendous like trekking with a sinus infection or accidentally popping the leech that had jumped into my boot (that actually still makes me squeamish).