> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.notliketheothergolddiggers.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Woman Who Chooses Lower Ground - URL: https://www.notliketheothergolddiggers.com/woman-who-chooses-lower-ground/ - Published: 2026-08-14T03:44:19.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-16T22:30:57.000Z - Description: It began as most of my best decisions do: with spite. - Author: Kara Hobby - Tags: #Essays As America’s self-designated number-one hiking hater, I have always considered myself an exceptional steward of public lands mainly by refusing to set foot on them. Living in Jackson Hole means you are surrounded by extreme athletes so constantly that you eventually forget what normal people do for fun. You hear “mild scramble” enough times and start thinking, *Well, how bad could it really be?* It began as most of my best decisions do: with spite. Last summer I announced I was going to climb the Grand Teton. A friend laughed out loud. Everyone else assumed I was joking. That was all it took. Suddenly I was off to the races like a thoroughbred fueled purely by pettiness. I was not new to hiking. I spent a good chunk of my early twenties trekking around western Washington, which is how I came by my hatred honestly. I love nature. That is why I live out West surrounded by it every day. I just do not see why admiring it needs to be so aggressively labor-intensive. Yet suddenly I was grinding up Snow King every other day. I took up running, and if you know me at all you know I despise running. I was even willing to risk the dreaded "runner’s face." My strategy with heights had always been simple: do not look down. If I do not look down, the drop does not exist. This works great on chairlifts. I am here to report that this does not work when you are climbing and forced to look at your feet because directly beneath your boots is thousands of feet of sheer empty air. Some people feel completely at home up there. I know people who casually free-solo the Grand before lunch. This fascinates me in roughly the same way it would fascinate me to meet someone who can be set on fire without feeling pain. They genuinely love it. I do not and I never will. At 8:43 a.m. I reached the Black Dike at around 12,400 feet. I had hiked nearly seven miles and felt strong. But when I laid eyes on the actual vertical rock face ahead of me, a dark clarity washed over. ![Kara Hobby in a black cowboy hat, unimpressed](https://storage.ghost.io/c/48/6a/486a924e-e8e1-4b1d-9ccf-33d11c4615a2/content/images/2026/10/kara-hobby-cowboy-hat_o.gif) I began running the risk-versus-reward calculation. Then I stopped and thought: *Wait… what is my reward here exactly?* ![From Kara Hobby’s Grand Teton climb: a dark fantasy tower under storm clouds](https://storage.ghost.io/c/48/6a/486a924e-e8e1-4b1d-9ccf-33d11c4615a2/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-d9703b82-9d6d-4a39-bbd0-28139eeac6d1.jpeg) My fingers were swollen to twice their normal size, actively being strangled by rings I had forgotten to take off. I was getting woozy. My brain was lagging. It was me versus me, and for once both of us unanimously agreed this was idiotic. So I made the executive call: *I’m out this bitch.* Hallelujah. I will never forget the euphoric high of turning around to head home. What a filthy, unadulterated joy it was to strut downhill while everyone else was still slogging up. Descending has always been the best part of any hike, but this time was pure triumph. When an extreme athlete dies on a mountain, people always comfort themselves with the same line: *“At least they died doing what they loved.”* What were they going to say about me? *“Tragic. She died doing the exact thing she never shut up about hating.”* Absolutely not. If I am going to die doing something reckless, I had better at least be having a good time. ![From Kara Hobby’s Grand Teton climb: a woman in pink sunglasses at a fashion show holding a sign that reads "At least you tried hoe"](https://storage.ghost.io/c/48/6a/486a924e-e8e1-4b1d-9ccf-33d11c4615a2/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-17fa429c-19cf-4f4b-858f-56ef4b13c335.jpeg) I trained for months because I wanted to know if I could do it. Standing at 12,400 feet, I decided that "probably" was close enough. I thought this journey might turn me into *Woman Who Climbs Mountains*. It did not. I am proudly *Woman Who Chooses Lower Ground*, and she lives to hate hiking another day. ![From Kara Hobby’s Grand Teton climb: interview headline "I don’t want to be in a situation for even an hour where I’m not enjoying myself"](https://storage.ghost.io/c/48/6a/486a924e-e8e1-4b1d-9ccf-33d11c4615a2/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-daede7a3-0ad9-4847-b4ea-7bff7b56e9f8.jpeg) ![XOX Love, Kara]()