It was sincerely one of those days where I had no idea what to expect. I was driving up Senator Highway towards Groom Creek to meet my business partner, Luke Peterson, for an afternoon of Bouldering.Now bouldering is not what some might consider a difficult sport, but it is. Bouldering does does require some sort of competence and physical dexterity - both of which I soon realized I was lacking.

One thing is for sure – it was absolutely awesome outside! Groom Creek is located about 3 miles out of downtown Prescott, just past Goldwater Lake. Regardless of the activity – you gotta head up there to check out this beautiful area of Prescott.

But I digress, back to bouldering.

By his own admission, Luke as been bouldering “since I was able to climb out of my crib.” And with that, my shame began.

The best part about bouldering is that the only equipment required is chalk, a bouldering pad and climbing shoes. By the way, the bouldering pad is used to break your fall in the case of … well … falling.

While there are tons of places to go bouldering in Prescott, Groom Creek has lots of granite rock formations that run the gamet as to degrees of difficulty. Which leads to another interesting fact (and I wonder how things like this start), but a gentleman by the name of Jon Gill was the guy responsible for developing the actual “sport” of bouldering.

Later on, John Sherman further developed the grading scale of bouldering, which had taken on a life of its’ own beginning in the mid 70's. So my first climb started at V-0 – about an 8' rock – which seems really silly when you think about it. But, the difficulty in climbing a rock that is only 8’ high is really surprising. The scale developed by Mr. Sherman goes up to V-15, but I’m not going anywhere close to that today.

Now, before we go any further, let me mention that I was borrowing a pair of climbing shoes that were less than comfortable. Ok, not less than comfortable, really uncomfortable. Climbing shoes are basically a thin layer of leather that hugs tight to your feet with an incredibly responsive sole that is perfect for grabbing hold of the slick granite.

The bad part about the shoes is that the ones I was wearing were incredibly uncomfortable. See, the way the show works is that your toes kinda curl under to help you grab onto to super narrow ledges. After the shoe had stretched a bit, and I got used to moving around – things started to improve – but at first – man did my feet hurt!

As the day progressed Luke began climbing some more difficult boulders, while I sat back and watched. But I did attempt a few more with varying degrees of success. I have to admit that when I got to the top of the “big” one … I was pleased as pie.

Bouldering really goes to the core of being a man. I mean – it’s you - and the rock. You can either climb it and stand tall pounding your chest, or give it your best shot and find yourself lying on your back looking up at this massive stack of granite as it sneers down at your puny little self. Today, I experienced both.

From the top of the “biggest” rock of the day – the view was incredible. Looking out over the ponderosas you could clearly see granite mountain on the other side of town, and looking to your left – Thumb Butte – awesome!

Whether you hit Groom Creek to go bouldering, or to simply take in the awesome forest that surrounds us – You Gotta Do This!

I’ll be back out there giving it my all – ‘cuz with anything, it’s the challenge that makes it all worthwhile.

So get some climbing shoes, some chalk, a bouldering pad, and a buddy you trust… and go bouldering in Prescott. You may feel like me at first … but once you conquer that first sizeable boulder – “You Gotta Do This!”

To hear the You Gotta Climb This program that aired on Kjza radio this week – check out “You Gotta Do This” on facebook.