So last year, I did Elbert, Holy Cross, Shavano, Tabeguache, Princeton, and Pikes. Jason did Missouri, Oxfort, Belford, and Holy Cross.
This year we've been able to add a few more to our list, thanks to some helpers.
In June, while Nana was visiting, Jason and I did Democrat, (Cameron), Lincoln, and Bross near Alma, CO. Jason had done these ones before, but he was kind enough to repeat them with me. We stayed in our condo in Breckenridge and left early while Nana stayed behind with the kids. We started at Kite Lake (some people consider that cheating because you start at about 12,000feet from the car, which makes them 'easy'). There was still snow in the area, but it was melting nicely. It was terrific to get out together and play in the mountains. It was also nice for Jason to spend some time up high getting time at altitude before his race.
On July 18, I snuck away with a friend and did 2 close to the Front Range: Grays and Torrey's. These were my 13th and 14th on the list, so I achieved my original bucket list goal! It was pretty foggy but we still had a great time.
Then Grandma came to town. Jason and I saw a rare opportunity to go away overnight and we stole our chance. Poor Grandma got off the plane and was only home a couple of hours before we took off, aiming to camp overnight and hike Longs Peak on August 1st.
Longs Peak is one of the most famous of the 14ers and closest to our house. It's on the Colorado quarter and part of Rocky Mountain National Park. We can see the back side of it (actually, we can see Meeker - a 13er right next door) from our window and look up at it all the time. Tons of people come to hike Longs from all over North America all summer long. It's popular and challenging. There's a lot of hype around this mountain and the different elements of the climb. It's exposed and not safe to do if the weather shifts, because it's tough to get down quickly and trees that protect you from lightning are scarce. It's also a long hike - 15 miles round trip... one of the longer ones.
So Friday night we parked, got our permit, and backpacked just over a mile in to camp at Goblins Forest backcountry camping. We had time together to just relax in the woods and camping was so simple!
We woke at 2am, packed up our campsite, stashed our big packs, and took day packs. We left the trail at 2:50am. We hiked in a crowd of people donning headlamps for the next 2 hours, feeling strong. We got to 'the boulder field' at about sunrise, where some other people camp so they can get an early start. We made our way up and through 'the keyhole', which we have heard so many people talk about since moving to Colorado. We were feeling strong and starting to pass more and more people as we were confident moving on the big boulders. The views were amazing and the weather promised to be great. Next we traversed over the 'the trough', which is a steep steep rocky section with a little bit of snow and challenging moves to get up. This is when I started breathing pretty hard and hoping we were close. But at the top of the trough, you traverse along 'the narrows'. This was the part I had been most nervous about, because it's described as a rocky ledge only big enough for 1 person and there were at least a hundred people trying to summit all around us. Thankfully, I didn't find it too bad and we felt like we were making pretty good time. On 'the homestretch', I was puffing and suffering some, but we made it to the summit by 7:15am in good shape. Meggan: #15, Jason #16!
We briefly debated going home another route, around the 'ship's prow' and over the top of Meeker, the '13er' next door that we see every day from our window. But we weren't really sure what that entailed and I wasn't sure I had the fitness for it, so we opted to return down the way we came. The initial descent down, through the home stretch/narrows/trough was tough and slow. My knees complained but I did better than many people around us were doing. The rest of the way down seemed long and hot. Jason actually did go up and over a different 13er 'Mt Lady Washingon' on the way down, but I waited for him because I wasn't sure what I could handle.
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| 3:20am creek crossing |
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| approaching boulder field under moon |
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| entering 'the keyhole' |
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| the trough |
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| the narrows |
It was a beautiful hike full of many different challenges. It was awesome to get a fun adventure together as a couple and a night away for ourselves. Thank you Grandma!!
I think we will have to go back and do Meeker next time...
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