14er

14er's

A few years back, my wife and I had the chance (while we were out in Colorado for a graduation), to climb a bonafide Colorado "Fourteener".  Wikipedia defines a fourteener:  "In local mountaineering parlance in the western United States, a fourteener (or "14er") is a mountain peak that exceeds 14,000 feet (4267.2 meters) elevation".

There are actually 53 of them in Colorado.  We started on our bucket list by climbing just one.  Longs Peak, in Rocky Mountain National Park -- located in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America.

And so, early one morning in late May, my wife Terri, my nephew John and I set out to test our resolve and endurance against the vaunted Longs...

8 years later...

On the trail from the 4wd trailhead to lower South Colony Lakes, about one more hour to reach our 11,500 ft. base camp.  4 hours of hiking with a 46 lb. backpack.  We set up camp in the dark, headlamps glowing.  Dinner is boiling in a pot.  The small backpacking stove hissing in the twilight.  Too exhausted to care much about the 40 mph wind gusts that are trying to flatten my tent.

Backpacking is like giving birth to a baby.  The joy of the end result makes you forget the pain of the journey.