Grays Peak

     Last Tuesday, Nick and I climbed Grays Peak (14, 270ft). We left Denver at 4:30am. Rain was predicted to begin around 9am, so we were hoping to at least summit by then. We arrived at the trailhead at 5:45am and found both of our packs soaking wet. My water bladder had leaked almost all 3 liters on the drive up. After the initial surprise, we decided to press on. Nick had a full 3 liter bladder, and I had some Gatorade as well. It was cloudy as we began, but the clouds were breaking as the sun rose over the mountains.

      The first mile of trail through Steven's Gulch was relatively flat. A small creek raged nearby and there seemed to be an endless amount of wildflowers, including Columbines.

     We began our ascent and soon realized we were surrounded by Pikas. We could hearing their squeaking all around us and saw countless scurrying around the talus.

    The weather continued to improve as the trail became increasingly steep. 

    At around 13,000ft, I really started feeling the altitude. Nick was doing great, especially for hit first 14er. I was feeling a bit light headed and dizzy, so we took a break until I was feeling better. The last stretch to the top was by far the steepest, but we continued on. It was sunny and relatively clear when we reached the summit with very little wind. We stopped for a break, took pictures, and ate lunch.

Torreys Peak was only a short distance away, but we were both exhausted and some gray clouds were headed our way. We decided one 14er was enough for that day.

      We took our time on the descent. Walking across the talus field was rather difficult going down. I fell once and rolled my ankle a few times. By the time we reached the flat part of the trail, it began to sprinkle a bit. However, it did not take long before we reached the trailhead. Overall, the hike took us 6 hours. In the parking lot, we ran into 4 ladies we had met on the trail and at the summit. They offered us a little wine and some strawberries, and we stayed and chatted with them for awhile. Nick was a champ on his first 14er. He is an excellent hiker. Now, he's hooked on High Country hikes too.

The 25th Annual Emmy Awards - Heartland Chapter

      Not like I'm surprised, but it seems having relatively no life outside of homework and school has paid off. During Summer break, I received a call from one of my professors. He said he was very glad to have had me in class, and he thought I was a great student. Then, he asked me if I wanted to work at the Emmy Awards in July. My immediate answer was an ecstatic "Yes". I hung up the phone and bounced excitedly around the room a few times. I was contacted a few weeks later by the Executive Director. She provided me with a time, place, and told me to dress nice. With my excitement growing day by day, July 23rd came more quickly than I expected.
      For those who don't know, Emmy Awards are broken into different chapters across the country. The Heartland Chapter is based out of Highlands Ranch and specific to Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. No, I did not fly to Los Angeles. No, I did not meet Conan O'Brien. No, I did not walk the "red carpet". These are answers to inquiries I have received from friends and acquaintances in the past month. The answers often leading to their disappointment. However, that did not matter. This opportunity was very exciting for me.
     Yesterday, after preparing myself for a couple hours, I headed to The Denver Center for the Performing Arts. When I entered the ballroom, I was greeted by the very amiable Coordinating Producer. Along with five other students from my school and various interns from local news stations, we got busy setting up. Everything was falling into place and running smoothly. We were even ahead of schedule. There was about an hour left before the show started, so we all visited and snapped a few pictures.

      Once everybody started to arrive, we stayed backstage and took care of last minute details. Once the award ceremony began, I stood behind the curtain and escorted the winners off stage to a table where they had to sign saying they received their award. It seemed kind of silly, considering I had never known this was protocol. Also, I helped transport and pack up awards for people who could not attend. As you can see, there were a lot of awards to hand out, as well as a few inductees to The Silver Circle Hall of Fame and a couple other honors. After standing for 6 hours in heels, my feet were growing very tired. I left at about 9:30, as they were finishing up. The Executive Director promised us all letters of recommendation, and the Coordinating Producer gave us gift certificates for Starbucks. I was happy enough just to have participated in the experience. 

    In the spirit of the Emmys, I would like to finish with this: For making it to this award show, I would like to thank my Mom. Without her, I would've walked two miles wearing my heels and nice dress in the ridiculous heat. I will not forget this when I am at the Emmys and actually winning an award one day. Love you, Mom.

Golden Gate Canyon

On Tuesday, Nick and I woke up early and headed to Golden Gate Canyon State Park. We arrived at 8am, with not another person in sight. We headed up the Burro Loop Trail to Windy Peak. There were endless amounts of wildflowers and the scenery was quite breathtaking in the morning light. We sat on top of Windy Peak for a rest. We were back at the car by noon, long before any storms rolled in for the day.

Mount Sherman - Descent

     Here are some more pictures from the summit.

     Our descent was slow-going over the loose rocks. After the talus field, we hiked to the top of the snowfield we had hiked up before. Everyone we saw going down the mountain chose to glissade. Quickly, we decided this was the way we wanted to go after hearing the joyous cheers of the people sliding down. Glissading was by far the most fun part of the trip. It was definitely a new experience for me and very exciting. (For a more detailed account, see my previous post: Glissading).
     After reaching the bottom of the snow field, we were back at the old mines. From here, it was easy-going. I was way more interested in taking photographs on the way down. We reached the car at 11:30am, which is terrific time. In the end, I was left feeling a bit of that Rocky Mountain High. This was by far the most challenging hike I have done in years, but I welcomed the challenge and was able to conquer Mount Sherman. This certainly will not be my last 14er of the summer. I will be hiking Mount Bierstadt in a couple weeks with Nick. He has never hiked above 11,000ft. I am excited to share the experience with him. I am eagerly looking forward to more adventures in the coming months.

Mount Sherman - Ascent

     Today, I hiked the first 14er I have done in about 5 years. Since then, I have not had much desire, nor did I feel I was in good enough shape. Mount Sherman is known as one of the easier 14ers in the state. Located in the Mosquito Range, it stands at 14,036ft. The trail was about 5.5mi round trip with a 2000ft gain. Though the trail is not long, it is painfully steep 98% of the way.

     At 4:30am I walked over to my friend, Sean's, place, who lives close by. After his friend, Matt, arrived, we hit the road a little after 5am and headed towards Fairplay on 285. After some slow going on the rocky dirt road in Sean's Camry, we made it to the trailhead and started our ascent by 7:00am. As you can imagine, the trail wasted no time gaining elevation.

     The lack of oxygen was easy to feel. I have a history of altitude sickness, so I knew it was important to hydrate the day before, in the morning, and as I was going. Also, it was helpful for me to take frequent short breaks and eat plenty of carbohydrates along the way. Despite it being a little hard to breathe, I was doing great. My hiking buddies were practically running up the mountain. Sean has done three 14ers in the last three weeks and is in great shape. For Matt, this was his first 14er, but he is an extremely healthy and fit young man. They were both very polite and kind about waiting for me and allowing for adequate breaks.
     As we climbed the arduous path, the hillside was scattered with old mines and mining equipment. While it was quaint and picturesque, I could not help but think about how people have been destroying the earth since long before our time.

 After the mines, the trail got even more difficult. We hiked up a large snow field. The snow was very soft and easy to sink into, but we did pretty well following the footsteps of people before us. After the snow field, we reached the last flat area before the summit. This time of year 14ers can be rather crowded, especially the ones on the Front Range. However, Mount Sherman was not overcrowded. The sociability on these mountains is nothing like other hikes. People are extremely friendly, chatty, and are very quick to offer each other encouraging words.

      As we approached the summit not only did the trail get difficult, but it became increasingly more dangerous. The rest of the way we climbed over talus and often on the edge. As we approached 14,000ft, I became a bit light-headed and dizzy. I took my time and stopped about every ten feet. The dizziness coupled with the loose rocks was enough to make me wish there was a hand rail to the top. Not to mention, it was incredibly gusty. I was comforted in the fact that others were being just as slow and careful as I.

      Finally, after reaching the top of the last steep hill, there was a 50ft flat stretch leading to the summit. Admittedly, at times, I doubted whether I could make it. However, once I reached this point it was all worth it. I was overcome by feelings of pride and triumph. We reached the summit at 9:30am. There were several people hanging around. Together we celebrated, took pictures, shared snacks, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. There were a few gray clouds in the distance but none were headed our way. It was a picture perfect morning on what felt like the top of the world.

Glissading

My new favorite hobby: glissading. Glissade is a fancy mountaineer word for sliding down snow on your butt. The route we took was so heavily used it reminded me of a giant alpine slide. Our choices were to slide or to walk down the giant, soft snow field. We chose to slide. It was great on saving time and just good clean fun.

From Bottom

From Top

Sean getting ready to slide

     I'll admit I was a bit nervous at first, but this was the popular route down. There was nothing treacherous at the bottom, and people were slowing down with ease. On top of that, everyone seemed to be having a great time, so I went for it. I sat down and let the enormous mountain slide carry me down. I controlled my speed using my feet and my trekking pole. It was chilly and snow was flying everywhere, including in my face. It was such a blast. I almost wanted to climb back up to do it again. "Almost" being the operative word. It was the perfect reward for the exhausting climb up.

Jones Pass

     On Tuesday, Nick and I drove up to Jones Pass for a hike. Jones Pass is just southwest of Berthoud Pass. Recently, hiking in the foothills has become way too hot, so we decided some altitude was necessary. After turning off US40 and driving up a dirt road for a couple of miles, we were forced to park at a large open meadow. Further up the road there were giant snow drifts and it was impassible by car.

      There were no set trails and barely any signage, so we decided to hike up a closed road, which followed a small, yet raging, creek. Only a short distance up the road, it crossed the creek. After several minutes of deliberation, we decided it was unsafe to cross. So, we left the road and headed northwest up a hillside. It was a continuous trek through soft snow and mud, which led to wet feet and legs very quickly.

 

      After walking up the hillside and meeting back up with the creek, we found a spot narrow enough to jump across. So, we met back up with the road and followed it for a short bit. Somehow we managed to lose it again, while avoiding deep snow and mud. We continued to head north along the creek until it disappeared under the snow.

      At this point, we had no real set path. We continued north and headed up the hillside. After stopping at a relatively flat point to have lunch, we decided to turn back. Crossing the steep snowfields was too slippery and dangerous. At one point my leg sank in up to my butt, and we had to dig it out because I was stuck. Managing our way back down the hillside to the creek was rather difficult. We found ourselves climbing higher and higher to avoid large snowfields. After a slow and very careful descent, including a few accidental butt slides, we made it back to the creek. At one point, Nick stated that he thought it was the most difficult hike he had ever been on, at least technically.

       On our way back along the creek, we found the road again and discovered it had made a hairpin turn up the hillside in the opposite direction from which we went. This merely amounted to a shoulder shrug, and we continued down the road to our car. Overall, this hike was extremely challenging. The high country is a mess right now. The record breaking snowfall during the winter and spring has led to a very late snow melt. Hiking through snow and mud added a lot of extra resistance and difficulty. However, the views were breathtaking, the temperature was pretty much perfect, and we were happy with our journey upon returning to the car.