| 108 | Fifty-four | 2009-08-06 |
We arrived home from our Colorado trip Saturday night. What a trip. We accomplished our climbing goals (climbing the 54 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado) and had an amazing trip. There were times when continuing was hard. Then, there were times when life was the best ever (probably something to do with food.) Then, there were lots of times when things were nether good nor bad, we just had to get up and walk. But through it all we were able to climb every day.
Every day that we were scheduled to hike, we hiked and made the summit. Every day that we started for the summit, we made it. That is amazing to us. Okay, there were a few days when we were just plain lucky. It would rain cats and dogs while we were backpacking into an area where we were going to climb, or while traveling to the area, but not while we were climbing. Oh, sure it rained on us, but mostly after noon when we were off the mountains.
The other amazing feat was that we stayed healthy for the whole trip. I dislocated a finger and had to go to a clinic and Amy went through a bout with her stomach; but overall we were healthy. A single sprained ankle could have ended our trip. We twisted a few but walked until the pain was gone. We constantly were saying, "look for the fastest, easiest passage. Be safe. Be cautious. Be careful." Words don’t dictate actions, but maybe they helped.
In the middle of the trip after we had rescheduled due to snow for the umpteenth time, we considered quitting. We were tired, sore, and very hungry. However we had, from time to time, friends who climbed with us and more friends who were coming to visit us. Their support helped us get over the hump. Of course our group of friends were the biggest cheerleaders. Thanks Mark, Nick, Jon, Laura, Robin, Ray, and Monica! It was hard to quit with a hearty "rah, rah" ringing in our ears.
Oh, I will try to return to my old MWF blogging schedule starting Monday. Cloudhiking is being updated, sorry for the delay, but hopefully it will be worth it.
Happy trails.