I MADE IT!!!!

Long's Peak: 14,255 Ft above sea level. And I made it to the top!!! I am calling it a Horrendously Wonderful experience, because it was both horrendous, and wonderful!! I told Cameron when I got home that I'm very glad I did it, because now I don't ever have to do it again!!

I met my fellow climbers (Jacob, Zack, and Mike) at my Fossil Creek Office at 12:45 am. We then drove the hour and 15 minutes to the trailhead at 9,504 ft. We were on the trail by about 2:20 am and hiked in near pitch dark until sunrise about 6:30 am. In that amount of time we reached the Boulderfield, a camping area 6 miles up the trail, just below the Keyhole. It was a beautiful sunrise over Mt. Lady Washington. Then came the treacherous climb over all the rocks. The last nearly 2 miles is all rock scrambles, separated into about 4 distinct sections: the Ledges, the Trough, the Narrows, and the Homestretch before reaching the summit! It took us nearly the same amount of time to traverse these sections as it did the first 6 miles!!! That's how difficult they can be!! The Trough is indeed the worst of them, because there are MANY loose rocks in this steep section. In fact after reaching the summit Mike severely sprained his ankle, and I learned today that another gentleman who also summited yesterday with us was hurt in this section and had to spend the night in the Trough and be helicoptered out this morning. You can read that story here. Mike was a trooper though and after Zack (an EMT and Army Medic) wrapped it well he continued down with only hiking poles to help him!! So Long's Peak is not a mountain to be taken lightly!

We reached the summit around 11:15, after taking a 20 minute nap in the sun before the Homestretch section. We then spent about an hour and half on the summit taking pictures, enjoying the beautiful views, calling loved ones (Yes, I had Cell Service!!), signing the registry, and listening to Zack play the bagpipes!! That was the best, and everyone else loved it as well!! He did say it was very difficult to play the bagpipes at 14,000 ft, but he did it, and it was something I will never forget - definately check out the video of this! The decent was just as difficult, and especially hard on my knees!! By the time we reached the boulderfield again I was traveling at the same pace as the injured Mike (did I mention he was a Trooper!) And the 6 miles from the boulderfield were just horrendous: we thought we would never reach the trailhead again!! But we did finally, around 6:30 pm, after many false signs of hope (waterfalls and signs we remembered from the way up, and a false "sighting" by Jacob!!) We then went to Subway for dinner in Estes Park, scarfed our food in complete silence, and drove home!!

All in all it was something I was so happy to experience, but am content with only 1 of these experiences!! We had beautiful weather!! Minus the "smoke haze" (visible in the photos) from the California wildfires (and the cause of my sorethroat, wheezing and coughing). And came away with only many very sore muscles, and one sprained ankle!! Check out the pictures and videos, which I hope to have posted soon (tomorrow at the latest).