January 11, 2025

I was right to assume that it wasn’t going to be a “hike.” Something about the way Nick Dunbar does life gave me both a sense of excitement and a good dose of worry. The perfect blend for an adventure.

It wasn’t a hike. It was a 6-hour tactical climb through the most beautiful nature the world has to offer. It’s called Ka’au Crater, located outside of Honolulu, Hawaii. Just for fun, I looked up the first comment on a hiking review site out of curiosity:

The most gorgeous foliage I’ve ever seen and yet terrifying rope / climb to top. Very experienced hikers only.

The way up didn’t leave too much time to catch up. I was busy trying to keep pace with him and learn how to rock climb mini-waterfalls. But the way down was just a long walk, and we had a great heart to heart. I’m not sure where it stemmed from, but I told him what my (and possibly many readers’) fear was.

“ACL or Achilles,” I said. Gotta be a major injury.

And then I shared that, truthfully, for the last couple of years, every time I played or went to play Ultimate, I had visions of myself going down. My brain was not being super nice to me. Big game? Chances are high because I’m going all out. Headed to a random practice? Could be today, I’d think. Random non-ultimate event? Ohh, it would happen at a low-stakes event when it’s least expected — like Wayde van Niekerk, one of my favorite athletes of all time.

I’d literally be walking out to the line thinking, it could be this point! But practice after practice, game after game, my body held up.