Never Judge a Book by its Cover

In my quest to summit all of the 14ers here in Colorado, Mt. Evans and Pikes Peak have been the only ones I have not been looking forward to completing. This is for the obvious reason that there are roads to the summit. I have never liked the idea of ruining such a spectacular experience by allowing any old tourist to just sit in their car and have them claim they have been to the summit of a 14er in Colorado. Sitting on the summit; that you may have done, but you have lost the true value of what that really has to offer, you have not truly experienced the greatness, the solitude, the reward…

I have lived in Colorado my whole life, and although I have come close, I have never driven to the top of either Mt. Evans or Pikes Peak, and I never in my life plan on it. To be honest, these are probably the only two peaks that I will never want to climb more than once, which is a sad thought.

Yesterday I woke up early and headed west, planning to summit Mt. Evans; on foot, not by car. I really wasn’t excited, which was the first time before a climb. I was planning on a crowded trail, with pretty scenery destroyed by roads, and then the hike to the summit, overlooking a parking lot only a few feet below full of cars and tourists.

I was wrong on almost all accounts… There were only a few cars in the lot, two of which were maintenance vehicles. I passed a couple of people at the trail head, but from there on out Seranno and I were alone with the mountain. The trail was hard to find in spots, so I had to stay focused while I hiked from cairn to cairn. I had to stop a few times and do a 360 to make sure I was still on the right trail, wondering where all the people were. Not a soul in sight. I was in shock, and impressed. The views were amazing from the start, even though there were many roads to be seen. Seranno and I enjoyed our hike, I could sing to myself, and she pranced all over. We made it to the summit around noon, with the peak to ourselves. I wonder how many people have stood on that peak completely alone, especially on a nice day in September… There was the parking lot, but it was empty. Other than that, the views were, of course, spectacular, different from other 14ers mainly for the fact that you could see the city and the plains from there, not just other mountain tops. I think that was the longest time I have sat on a summit completely alone, even in winter. And even still, I left the summit completely empty. I was juiced and still excited to be up there, so I decided to head over and climb Spalding, a 13er. It didn’t take long, and the views were just as spectacular. I was alone on that peak, too. The clouds were moving in fast by this point, so Seranno and I headed down, again without passing another soul.

The road to the summit was closed for the season, which definitely was a factor in the lack of people, but it made me wonder if this peak was actually climbed that often. This thought made me sad, especially after the incredible climb I had up to the top. Who knows, maybe I will climb this peak again…

An Epic Weekend Part 2

Seranno and I got up at 4am Sunday morning to head up Mt. Huron. I was still sleepy, and it took a while for me to wake up. I was wide awake and ready to go by the time we hit the trailhead at 8. There is a rough road we could have driven in to the trail head, but for some reason I was up for more that 5.5 miles, so I parked at the bottom of the road and hiked in. I knew I was getting a late start, but so far the weather was holding up, not a cloud in the sky yet. The road in was fairly flat, it was a nice warm up. Seranno, of course, was bolting all over the place, getting in at least 5 times as much hiking as me.

The trail started about 2 miles up the road. It was nice switchbacks through a dense forest. It was so beautiful, and I got to enjoy the chirps of birds and the sound of the stream through the whole section. There were a lot of people climbing, but I got to a spot that I was alone through the trees. The trail opened up above tree line to a large meadow full of wildflowers in every color. They smelled amazing. While I was taking pictures and soaking it all in, I thought that it would be nice to have something similar to a camera, but that captures smell. Seranno seemed to enjoy it as well, she was jumping around through all the flowers like a little girl in a fairytale.

Once we got over our flower high we continued up the trail. It got steeper the further we went, but soon we were at the summit. It was 11am. Somehow, with all of the people, we got to the summit right after a big group left, and right before another group came, so we had the summit to ourselves for about 10 minutes. It was amazing, with some of the most spectacular views I have seen from a 14er.

There were some clouds rolling in, and it was getting rather crowded at the top, so Seranno and I headed down. Since everyone else was on the summit, we had the whole descent to ourselves for the most part. We of course had to stop and smell the flowers again once we got back to the meadow, I don’t think I could ever get enough of that. I could hear thunder in the distance, and the dark clouds were moving our way fast, so we pushed on, at least to get to tree line before it hit us.

Almost as soon as we were in the trees I could see lightning and the thunder was a lot closer and louder. It also started to rain. I would say it could not have been any more perfect. It wasn’t pouring, just a steady rain, beating on the leaves making the most musical sound. At one point I had to stop, and close my eyes to listen to the falling rain and rumbling thunder, while breathing in the smell of the moist dirt. Life could not have gotten any better than that moment, right there. It is for moments like that, that make me so addicted to the outdoors in Colorado.

Quite a few people passed me through the trees, running down in their raincoats. They must have thought I looked rather goofy, strolling along, head up to the sky, with still just a t-shirt on, almost soaked. I didn’t care, and neither did Seranno. She was feeling the same way I was.

The rain really started to pick up once I reached the road, so I did put on my raincoat at this time. It was a very leisurely walk back to the car from this point, and I took my time, taking in everything that I had experienced through the weekend. I feel so lucky during times like these. This is when all I have to say is: Life is Good. J

Mt. Elbert

Yesterday I started the day early- around 4am- to have some breakfast and coffee and then headed out to the Mt. Elbert (14,433) trailhead. My parents were at our condo in Frisco for the week, so I was able to stay there and get an extra hour of sleep and a shorter drive in the morning. It was a little over an hour to the trailhead; I was there a little after 6. I knew Chris and Marni were already a ways ahead of me, but I knew I would see them somewhere along the trail. I got mine and Seranno’s packs ready, and we headed out a little before 6:30. It was a nice hike, the first few miles through dense trees and not too steep. There were lots of people on the trail, but I somehow managed to be very alone through this section, which was very peaceful, other than all the mosquitoes. I had never seen so many on a hike before. Pretty soon we were above tree line and the trail started to get steeper. I passed two couples at this point, and was then in the middle of a bunch of groups. I steadily climbed while Seranno ran up and down the trail. She was loving life! It continued to get steeper the further we climbed, but nothing that bad. Eventually, around 9:30, I reached the summit, where I saw Marni, Chris and Turbo. Seranno and Turbo were very happy to see each other. Chris and Marni had been at the summit for a while and were getting cold, so we chatted briefly, and then they started heading down. I took in the summit, enjoying the feeling of freedom and lack of thoughts of life back at home. It was amazing to stand on the highest peak in Colorado. In a way you feel invincible when you are above every other point you can seen. I have never gotten over, or used to the spectacular feelings, views and contentment I experience on the summit, as well as the trek to the summit, of mountain peaks.

I took some pictures of the spectacular views, ate some lunch, signed in, and headed down. I met back up with Chris, Marni and Turbo not too far down, and we continued the rest of the way together. It worked out perfectly. I had my serene time to myself to start the hike, and finished it with good company. Seranno and Turbo had a blast, wrestling and chasing each other almost the whole way down. We got back to the cars around noon, where Seranno jumped right into the car and didn’t move until we got home. It was a good morning to a good day.

Mt Bierstadt

My brother, Tyler, and I climbed Mt Bierstadt today. It was cloudy when we started, but the weather held enough for us to summit. But we were only on the summit for about 5 minutes when we started hearing thunder, so we packed up quick and headed down. Not even half way down we saw lightning, and soon after it started to hail really hard! It hailed for a good 20 minutes on the way down, then turned to a steady rain. Needless to say we were soaked by the time we got back to the car. It was Tyler’s 1st 14er, and we had a great time, hail and all! We brough Seranno, too, her first, and she did great, too! We learned a lot, and cut it a little too close, but had a great time!

Grays/Torreys

Today my friend, Lisa, and I climbed Grays Peak and Torreys. We got to the trail head at about 8:30, so a later start that we hoped for. The weather held up for us, though, and we had a beautiful hike. The wildflowers were out in full bloom, the sun was shining, and there was not a cloud in the sky. This was Lisa’s first 14er attempt, and she did very well! She said she was very nervous about the hike, but I knew she would do great, and she did! We summited Grays at around noon, Lisa’s first 14er! The views were spectacular, it was so clear and sunny, you could see forever! Since there were no clouds in sight when we got to the top, we decided to head down the saddle and summit Torreys. It was a lot easier than it looked, only taking about 30 minutes from summit to summit. More breathtaking views, and Lisa’s second 14er! I felt great throughout both climbs, the first time ever that even the altitude didn’t get to me! The trail wasn’t that crowded, since it wasn’t a weekend, but we met a lot of neat people along the way and at the summits. It is so cool to hear everyones stories and their goals for getting to the top of these massive mountains. It makes you feel you are climbing with a whole family! After resting and taking lots of pictures, we headed down at around 1pm. The weather was still great, it was really warm even at the top! It took us about 2 hours to get down, and completed our 8.5 mile, 2 14er summit journey for the day! We are both looking forward to doing more 14ers this summer!