Monday
I was with the Mountaineer group this week! Since it was my third time with this group, I've got their schedule, the kids, and the games they like memorized forwards and backwards. Eric and I had a pretty good mix of local and non-local kids (local kids can be a bit more of a challenge as they attend every week and desire new activities) so archery, cook out, and horseback riding went mostly smooth. We just had one kid <coop> not go horseback riding so we hung out with him in the craft shop and my family got to stop by and say hi to me!
After work I went with my family to Bear Lake and walked around the area. We went into town to Poppy's pizza for dinner then back to the YMCA for more Yahtzee and Cranium, where I learned Erin and I make a bad Cranium team against my parents haha.
Tuesday
I asked off for Tuesday to spend more time with my family and Erin and I got to go ziplining in the morning! We did an archery session as a family afterwards, which my mom and dad really got a kick out of. They left shortly after that to begin the long drive back to Texas, and I enjoyed the rest of my day of doing laundry, running, and going into town to get some things for my hike this weekend (keep reading for juicy hike details).
Wednesday
I rejoined the Mountaineers for high ropes and low ropes on Wednesday, and we ended up playing in the river for the whole afternoon (which was kind of nice tbh, most of the kids have already done the low ropes activities)
Thursday
Swimming, climbing wall, and museum with campers, going into town to get food at Safeway and a head lamp at the Warming Hut. This was Thursday.
Friday
An all day hike to Mills turned into a hilarious event when my middle schoolers started talking about their love lives:
"Three things I look for in a boyfriend: he has to be nice to be, he can't be a drug dealer, and he can't be ugly."
"When I get into highschool I'm going to wear a tuxedo and carry roses around and all the girls will want to date me. I will be the forbidden fruit."
"Ew high school boys. They're all in that gross, smelly stage but kinda cute I guess."
"I asked this girl out after lunch one day and the next day before lunch she broke up with me. We dated for 23 hours and 23 minutes."
That night I went to bed early (or I tried to) for my hike to LONG'S PEAK early Saturday morning.
Here's the deal on Long's Peak. It's the highest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park and the 9th or 10th hardest fourteener to climb in Colorado (out of 50+ fourteeners). 50% of those who attempt the hike don't make it to the summit, because bad weather rolls in or they just can't physically do it. It's 15 miles round trip, 5,000 feet elevation gain, and you have to start in the wee hours of the morning to make sure you get below treeline for possible afternoon storms.
It was a daunting prospect. I considered doing it last summer but ended up going sky diving instead (no regrets there) and was on the fence this summer. I just heard so many stories - "it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life" or "people have died on there what are you doing" (More than 50 actually have died doing Long's Peak) so I was nervous. I'm not a fast hiker either, and 13+ hours of hiking would definitely wear me out.
Finally, after much research and weather checking and supply getting, we decided to go for it. This was my Long's packing list: Rain jacket, long sleeve shirt, flannel shirt, sweatshirt, leggings (2 pairs), hiking boots, socks (and extra socks in case of ice or snow), head warmer, gloves, water (recommended 2-3 liters, I had 4ish I think), tylenol, chapstick, and plenty of food (energy blocks, granola bars, fruit, sandwich)
Saturday
Myself and eight others decided to attempt the infamous Long's on August 1 at 1:45am. We were nine companions hiking in the dark, and my gosh it was rough. (Yes, I was thinking of Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring the entire time)
1:45am start time at the Long's Peak trailhead
- I was a little worried I overpacked when we started the trail at 1:45am - it was so hot at first and we all stripped layers off like crazy (I was just in a long sleeve for this part). The trail winds you up through the woods, switchbacking around a river and gaining altitude. It was similar to the beginning of Twin Sisters.
3:54am The Boulderfield/Chasm junction above treeline
- We stopped for about 20 minutes here to take a little break - there's a privy (bathroom here) and it's good to take advantage of those when you find them. This is when I also started to feel the higher altitude chill - it was significantly colder up there out of treeline and I put my sweatshirt on)
- After this part, I was walking by myself for awhile and had the most beautiful little time with just me and God in the mountains watching the sky slowly change from black to blue to feint oranges. I played an ABC game with myself, going down the alphabet and thinking of things from this summer that I was incredibly thankful for and praising God for them. I really enjoy going at my own pace during hikes and find I enjoy them more when I'm not killing myself to get to the top.
- The sun started rising more during after this junction sign. The path leads you around Mount Lady Washington and it's such sweet relief to finally make it around and finally see over the edge.
- I definitely see why people break this hike into two parts: up to Boulderfield, and past Boulderfield. Once I made it to Boulderfield I just wanted to lay down in one of the tents pitched and sleep for hours. It was about 5 miles up to Boulderfield, and quite a bit of elevation from the trailhead.
- I can't even tell you how much I hated scrambling up Boulderfield to the Keyhole. I started thinking though, each part of Long's isn't that awful, it's just that they're all added together testing your physical strength, but mostly testing your endurance
- The Keyhole connects you to the Ledge, a narrow area that takes you around the mountain. You follow these targets painted onto rocks and have a great view of Mills Lake and Black Lake. It freaks some people out who are afraid of heights, but I didn't really mind this part because it was a nice break from scrambling.
- So I thought the Boulderfield sucked, turns out the Trough sucks more. It's a higher elevation, and takes much longer to do than Boulderfield because there's some icy parts and loose rocks falling. People will yell "ROCK!" if one slips loose and it terrified me every time like "where is it!? will it knock me off?" There were also a ton of people hiking Long's this weekend so you have people moving all around you (but I met many nice people here and ran into my friend Chandler on his way down the mountain)
- The top of the Trough narrows down into a small funnel so you had to wait in line to finish the scramble to the top. Once you make it to the top, you immediately take a left and are thrust onto the Narrows. Much like the Ledge, it's a narrow part against the side of the mountain that you have to cross. Pictures make this look scarier than I felt it actually was. As long as you're careful and stick close to the side, you're not going to slip and fall off of the drop off. (People have died at this part if they're not careful or it's dark though)
- The sweet blessed homestretch. Once again, I feel like pictures make this look worse than it is. I was worried about the homestretch above all else, because it's a 275 feel incline and looks like straight up climbing a wall with cracks in it. I was relieved to find that it has a slight incline to it - while you do have to do some class 3 scrambling for awhile, it's better than totally vertical.
- I remember peering up the homestretch and seeing Abby's excited face at the top, cheering me on. Then I was there with her, standing ON TOP OF LONG'S PEAK, the mountain you see from everywhere in RMNP, the gargantuan I've been hearing about the past two summers. It was amazing, and I was super excited to take out the sign I made and actually get to hold it proudly up in pictures.
First, going down the homestretch was almost harder than going up. It takes less strength moving you up, but it's hard to control yourself moving down at such a steep angle. We slid on our butts most of the way, hoping we wouldn't slip. The Narrows didn't take too long, but then we hit the trough and immediately slowed down. It was so hard to navigate around lose rocks and ice for so long. I was so sick of rocks at this point.
12:06pm Down The Trough
12:57pm On the Ledge
1:37 The Keyhole and Boulderfield
We took a short break in Boulderfield then started the long 5 mile walk back to the Trailhead. I'm going to spare you the hours of misery and pain I was in, but let's just say around 5:45pm I hopped in a car, went back to my room, crawled into bed, and slept for 13 beautiful hours.
Sunday
I haven't slept that well in so long - I was so physically and mentally exhausted! But I woke up feeling so accomplished (and sore). I facetimed a friend and hung out in admin for awhile before meeting up with my college roommate Jessica and her boyfriend Rob for the day! We hung out at Coffee on the Rocks then went to this Trout Haven place and went fishing for a few hours. (I sadly didn't catch anything but still had fun). We went to the Tiki Room for dinner and walked around Estes Park (grabbing ice cream at Hayley's of course) and then crashed a hotel bonfire. It was the best most relaxing post-fourteener day I could have asked for, and it was so much fun hanging out with them!
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