At the Top of Long's Peak!!!
My first 14,000ft mountain!!
Well This past Friday I climbed 14,000ft. How awesome that!??
We started at the Trailhead at 9:45pm and then started to trek up the mountain. I had enough energy to keep me going for a while and it did. I had no idea where we were going or what I was getting into. We kept moving and the hours were just flying by.
I was so busy looking at all the stars and staring up at the milky way! It was just spectacular, you cannot capture that sky anywhere (well just anywhere, wish I was there Thursday night for the meteor shower). I saw a few shooting starts and wished upon a few, but can’t remember them.
About 4am we got to the keyhole. About a half hour after we got there other people joined us, and we all chatted for a while trying to decide what to do, and then maybe 4:30am or so we decided to do that ledges and as we were going along you could see the light starting to approach. I could start to see the mountains and how massive they were. And also, how incredibly high we were and how steep those mountains were. I started to think, I am ok right now, but that I may be really scared going down the mountain.
We got the notch and stopped again and took some photos. We were passed up by a few guys who were just booking it and they actually made it to the summit to see the sun rise. We unfortunately were on the wrong side of the mountain to actually see the sun rise. I was determined to get up there as soon as possible so I could see the sun.
We did the homestretch as quickly as we could. There was a bit of ice that made it a little slippery. We got to the top about 6am. I was the 5th person on the mountain that morning. Those two guys then Jason and Trevor then me. We took our photos at the top. (As you can see).
You know what blows me away. There are some days that I have climbed Squaw Peak (in AZ) and I was much more bothered than I was climbing this MASSIVE mountain. I am not sure, but I am just so happy by body was working with me.
We stayed on the top for maybe 20 minuetes and looked at all the ranges of mountains. Then we started to head down, which was just a killer on the knees. Gosh my knees were really bothering me, but fortunately the next day and today they don’t hurt at all. (The thighs were another story).
The way down .. the long walk seemed to be going forever, and ever. By the time we got to the bottom I was imagining the parking lot. It was just crazy. I really did see cars at least three times, but I really think I was dreaming. With the altitude and the lack of sleep. I saw all sorts of stuff. Cracked me up. Jason and Travor thought I was nuts.
Then, we got back to trailhead at 1pm. That was 15 hours of hiking… with stops here and there, but it was still fairly intense and it was awesome! I now can say that I hiked that, and I am really proud of that (thanks Jason for inviting me)!
Then we ended up staying up there in Estes Park for Saturday night. Much better idea than driving down with no sleep. And Estes is amazing!
Anyway, don't want to go on too long. Here is the link to the photos
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/melanie_gentz/album?.dir=1ce0&.src=
ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/melanie_gentz/my_photos
