Month: June 2013

All good things must come to an end. The Chicago group and Des Moines Group left early. We all got up and started taking down the tents. The Denver group headed out the night before as they can just go home quickly. The flying group and the California group were the last to leave. As I left I stopped to enjoy the sun rising over the Rockies! As my mother listened to John Denver when I was a child, his song, “Rocky Mountain High” always crosses my mind whenever I’m here. Particularly the lyrics:

“He was born in the summer of his 27th year,
coming home to a place he’d never been before.
He left yesterday’s behind him.
You might say he was born again.
You might say he found a key for every door”

Everyone who’s ever camped with me knows that I’m a light sleeper… You have to be on your toes to make sure you’re ready to run when the zombies and axe murders show up. So basically anytime anyone unzips their tent or talks or walks around, I have one eye open. You’ll get to the point where you’re still too tired to open your eyes, but you’re definitely not dreaming like you wish you were… And the sleeping bag is toasty warm and the outside is friggin’ cold and your bladder is starting to talk to you… Eventually the bladder always wins!

So we get up around 3 and start eating breakfast. My diet’s a bit more structured than the rest of the group so I go off to cook my oatmeal, eat my grapefruit, and munch down some macadamia nuts and some beef jerky. I finish in about 10 minutes. The rest of the group was busy making sandwiches for the hike (I had a tuna fish packet, a carrot, and a cucumber for lunch). As well as grabbing granola bars (I had a 50/50 mix of cranberries and salted almonds). FYI: Tunafish sucks when you’re hiking. It has nothing but tuna flavor. I recommend bringing some salsa or something to mix with it. Their breakfast was cold cereal and juice with some fruit. Pretty good if you ask me. We soon head out, and by the time we reach the trailhead, the sky is just starting to light up. Unlike when we hiked Longs peak last year, this year we’re hiking up the West side of the mountain so we don’t see the sunrise over the plains. Instead we see the clouds lighting up against the dark mountain.

After some last minute potty breaks, we head out. We’re all talking about how it’s only about four miles to the top and four thousand feet of elevation change and we’re walking across a marshy field and debating about how it’s going to be if it’s four thousand feet of elevation change and only three miles… the steeper it is the tougher it can be.

As we’re going up, the sunrise gets better and better, and a small rain shower moved in to give us a great view. Right when two of our group are taking a leak in the scrub brush! 😀 Nice pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Overall the group did really well and we got to the summit before noon. We all ate lunch up there and were basically chilling and relaxing and watching a thundercloud move in. While we were debating whether or not it was heading our way or if we’d have time to get to Evans before it did if it was there was a man who was with a group to our right. He got up and told the group he’d be right back…

We all watched as he hopped along the top of the peak over to one side where he busted out a suit and a tie and put it on. Then he hopped back over to his group, which were kinda wondering what’s up with the tie and everything… where he promptly proposed to his girlfriend! Everyone on the top was cheering as she was shocked and surprised and said Yes! Then while we were all cheering we heard a huge thunder crash and saw some lightning strike lower on the mountain. Needless to say, that shut up everyone and we all had a few seconds of silence while we contemplated our own mortality and the concept that the treeline was almost four miles a way. Promptly someone said rather loudly, “Lets get out of here!” to which everyone agreed and though that it was probably a good idea. Simultaneously we all stood up, grabbed our packs; I took a last group picture, and we headed off the peak.

Now there are different ways of going down the mountain depending on your comfort and experience level. There was a lot of calm, rational, easy going people, who were hiking down the trail one step at a time… and there there were a few nutcases like the Peak 4 Poverty photo guy who was boulder jumping down as fast as his legs could carry him. Either way, it didn’t really matter as we only got about 100 meters when the hail storm started wailing on us.

I passed a little kid who was only 7 (and a real trooper) who was partially being sheltered by his father. The kid was taking it in stride and as I passed I heard this conversation:

Kid: “Wow! I can’t wait to tell mom!”
Dad: “Um… maybe we shouldn’t tell mom about the hail…”
Kid: “Why not!”
Dad: “Because she won’t let us do any more hikes…”

There’s danger everywhere and if you don’t embrace that then there’s no reason for you to live your life anyway.  I got ahead of the group and was watching to make sure I wasn’t near anyone who was holding on to metal hiking poles while the thunder and lightning was going on. Eventually, I found a few others and we regrouped and hiked together from there. We arrived at the vans in several different groups and once we were all there we expressed dismay about not going to the Sawtooth and a few were suffering from altitude sickness. So we decided that we’d drive to Mt. Evans (which contains the highest road in the continental US.)

The drive to Mt. Evans took a long time… Probably longer than it would have taken to hike it from Mt. Bierstad… Just sayin’ (1 mile hike vs, 50 mile, 2 hour drive)

Once we arrived at the top of Mt. Evans, everyone did another dash to the bathroom as we’d all been making sure to hydrate ourselves after the hike. We took a quick pic and there was a display that pointed out where Longs Peak was (woot!) From the parking lot you can’t see Mt. Bierstadt so a few of us decided to hike the extra 200 meters to the summit and take some pictures.

There were some amazing views from up there. I took some time alone on the top to reflect on the idea that I was sitting on top of a mountain in the rocky mountains where as just a couple of days ago I was in the sweltering heat of goblin valley. The ability for us to travel in this day and age is awesome to say the least!

We quickly went back down and then headed back to the campsite. Funny enough, the other groups got lost and ended up getting to the campsite a little after we did. We all go together for some tasty hamburgers and I pulled out the sweet potato chips and had ourselves some delicious grub.

In the end it was an epic hike with rainbows and hailstorms, with some of the most generous and awesome people I know and I think we all took away some great stories from this great time.

After dinner, it was dark, and lacking a campfire and being awake since 3:00, everyone was asleep pretty quick.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the groups I love is the Peaks 4 Poverty group. They organize hikes and use the profit from those hikes to fund orphan’s educations in an orphanage in Tanzina. If you would like to know more about them, visit them at : http://www.peak4poverty.org/ . I’ve done a couple of hikes with them and this time they wanted to conquer Mt. Bierstadt and Mt. Evans. They sent out an email asking if anyone one was up for it and I’m always up for another adventure so 16 hours of driving later, I’m sitting in the Rocky Mountains where the weather is a cool 73 degrees, next to the Tenmile Creek, just off the 70 getting ready to head to the campsite to meet up… For kicks and giggles I check to see what the weather is like back home and it’s a egg frying 105 degrees… I turn my phone off for the next few days and get in the car and head out to the campsite to meet up.

The Peak 4 Poverty group is a volunteer based organization so no one gets paid for anything. That way all the proceeds go to the orphans. This time they had asked me to be the photographer. I always take my camera and take lots of pictures, but this time I needed to make sure I’d get all the standard pictures like the one on the peak and the one at the beginning with the banner and some other group photos and action photos of everyone.

Amazingly enough, I arrived at the campsite within 30 minutes of the Iowa and Chicago groups! The maps were accurate and the campground was easy enough to find.

Unfortunately, the USFS had changed the fire restriction to Stage II the day before so even though I brought firewood, I wasn’t able to burn it at all. We ended up using Propane Stoves to cook and as usual, without the campfire there’s a lack of a center point to the gathering. It seems human nature for us to gather around fires for warmth, comfort, and good times.

Then it started to sprinkle and we all went back to our tents to sleep as we knew we’d be waking up around 3:00 a.m. to make it to the trail head for the hike. The plan was to hike Mt. Bierstadt, then head across the sawtooth to Mt. Evans, and then hike back down to the trail head.

 

 

 

Goblin Valley is a state park located in Utah. Apparently, I went there as a child, but seeing as I was 3 or 4 years old I don’t remember it at all. Looking it up, You’ll find it’s near the 70, but a little out of the way if you’re traveling through the state. So, on a recent road trip I decided to make the detour and check it out.

Originally, I had planned to do this in the winter time, but as this was June I was greeted with 110 degree temperatures and a very nice Park Ranger. I asked her about the established trails and she said that they were fine, but it was good to go exploring though the goblins. Unlike most areas going off trail is allowed since all it takes is one rain storm and all traces that you’ve left behind are gone. So, I decided I’d leave the trails for another time and just do a three or four mile walk thorough the canyon and back.

As it was 110, when I arrived at the parking area there were no other cars. The campground was full and everyone seemed to be staying in the shade, eating lots of cold things, and just relaxing rather than hiking. Suits me fine as then you don’t have a lot of people in your photo’s that you debate about removing.

When you’re walking through the goblins it is easy to understand why they wanted to call it mushroom valley. My mind kept imagining that it should be seeing Alice and the Cheshire cat around the corner… or maybe super mario and luigi!

I was only there for a day, and next time I come back I’ll go on the established trails and check out Dead Horse Canyon which is nearby. I’m hoping that it won’t be too far in the future. Maybe later this year or next year!

I first went to Yosemite National Park a few years ago. Up until then, I had only seen the posters and imagined what it would be like. It was 2011 and it was a high snow year and the waterfalls were raging! It was one of the most spectacular things I’ve seen. Right up there with visiting Zion National Park. As you go around the valley you get kinks in your neck as you are constantly looking at the sheer granite walls and beautiful waterfalls. We first hiked glacier point, which is a great 8 mile hike, but the quintessential hike of Yosemite is to conquer the mighty half dome.

So I put it on my bucket list to hike the dome….

There’s a permit system in place now that only allows 300 people to go up the dome each day. I decided I wanted to cross this off my bucket list this year so I started by putting in for a permit any time in June. That’s the soonest you can go after the cables are put up and I wanted to go early so I could see the waterfalls at their peak.

The overall hike is 16.4 miles, it goes from 4000 feet at the valley floor to 8835 feet at the top of the dome. 0.8 miles into the hike is the vernal fall’s bridge which is the last place to get potable water. I took 4 liters from that point and almost ran out of water. (I had .25 liters left when I got back to the bridge). I recommend to everyone to take a water filter so they can refill their water in Little Yosemite Valley.

I left a little later in the day than most. I wanted to be at the waterfalls when the sun was shining on them. It was worth it. This is 0.8 miles into the hike at the Vernal Falls Bridge.

With the sun shining the mist trail could be renamed to the rainbow trail. At 1.5 miles you’re still pretty fresh. If you bothered to take a few minutes to stretch before you started you shouldn’t even have any leg cramps yet.

Below Nevada falls was a sight to see. Even at this distance the mist gets everything damp.

It’s obvious you can’t hike up the front of the dome so you’ll be coming around the back side and coming from the north rather than the south.

The cables were steeper than I thought they’d be… Take it one step at a time and you’ll get to the top in no time!

Finally at the top of the dome. This was a great view… Though there were spots of rain and a thunderstorm coming in so I couldn’t stay very long. Next time I’ll go up earlier to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms.

Thunderstorms gathering as I descended… They started raining just as I arrived back at the forest. 😀

I got back to Curry Village just before sunset and you can see the last rays of sunlight illuminating the dome. It was a great hike and I finished it in great shape. I do need to get a new pair of hiking shoes though.