I believe I have begun a lifelong love affair with a pile of rock

Well folks, we tried!

Yesterday started at 1:40 am with my alarm sounding it's "nature path" ringer, a usually somewhat soothing sound, but not so much this morning, when the night that followed concluded only 3 or 4 hours before. Jen and I staggered out of bed and headed downstairs to finish loading our day packs with food, extra water and as many layers as we could fit (and yes mom, I brought my epi-pen). We were staying with Jen's friend Molly, who was going to hike with us and was dog-sitting in Lyons which is a cute town about 30 minutes from the Longs Peak Trailhead. I have been in a dog deficiency for far too long, so this was great! They had 3 dogs, all of whom I of course loved, but I think my favorite was a big fluffy Akita named Coda who had to inspect every last content in my bag before allowing our departure.

We three made it to the trailhead around 3:15 am and snagged a spot on the side of the road because the parking lot was already packed with summit hopefuls and by 3:30 am we were on the trail. The first portion of the hike was in a pine forest with a few different cascading streams that we had to cross, and because we were hiking in darkness (with our headlamps, but mine was fade mcfaderson) we went pretty slow, but truth be told I probably wouldn't have been able to go much faster because I was already feeling the altitude, which was around 9400' at that point. Molly had hiked this trail before (exactly one year from yesterday!) so she took the lead and assured us that we'd be fine and when I asked if our pace was too slow her response was "no way, you're so good" (lies). The sun started peering it's head around some other mountain in the distance around 5:30 am, and by that point we were above tree line and therefore got to see the sunrise from the side of our hill. While I was enjoying the tranquility of hiking in the dark, I gladly welcomed the light and when day broke we all turned off our headlamps and turned on our cameras because it was GORGEOUS up there. We climbed, took off a layer, climbed, snapped some pics, climbed, added a layer, etc through the alpine tundra and up to the boulder field. However once we were on the exposed mountain face the wind went nuts, and we literally spent 2 hours fighting it. Molly said the last time she hiked it it wasn't windy and Mary Ellen also never mentioned the wind so we were hoping once we made it on the other side of this ridge, and that ridge, or maybe that one, that the wind would die down. Buuttttt it didn't. We reached the boulder field, which is basically a big flat of boulders we had to climb over and around, at about 7:15 and sat for a snack in one of the rock barriers that were built for people who tent overnight, but we just used them to try and block the wind. On our hike up we had talked to some people who were already coming down and asked if they made it to the summit and we heard the unfortunate news that as bad as the wind was now, it was way worse on the other side of the key hole (a section right before the last scramble to the summit) and everyone who had attempted to summit had turned around. So looking up at the keyhole we sat, snacked and waited about an hour for the winds to die down before deciding that it just wasn't going to happen today. It would have been nice to at least give the summit a try, but hey, it was our first attempt at hiking a 14er, and we were in good spirits with amazing views of mountains upon mountains in front of us. Around 8 am we finished our snacks and headed back down to end a 12-mile hike to 12,800 ft in elevation all before noon. Not too shabby eh!

After the hike we retrieved our things from the house in Lyons, said goodbye to our canine buds and headed back to Denver to have a great BBQ dinner with my mom, Mary Ellen and Harold and two of their friends Scott and Bev. We showed them the pictures and swapped hiking stories and passed out before 9 pm. It was glorious.

Today is our day of rest and stretching before we head to the Grand Tetons. This was such a great way to start our trip and we had a great time, my godmother Mary Ellen was amazing taking off work, feeding us, driving us around and showing us all that Colorado has to offer. Such a great host! So some thanks are in order; a huge thanks to Mary Ellen and Harold for their hospitality, thanks to Molly for hiking with us to Longs Peak, showing us around Boulder and letting us stay, thanks to Coda for making sure all the contents of my bag were appropriate for the hike, thanks to the man at REI for showing us the convenient " feminine urinary director devices" they have to offer (even though we didn't get one), and a big thanks to Colorado, ya know, for being awesome.

 Molly taking the lead

 a small Jen hiking some big rocks

 Time to turn off my headlamp

 Molly in sunrise

 It's a Marmot!

 Ain't it purty

 the boulder field

The Keyhole (up at the top)

 We met a guy with no head

 Marmot #2 not caring a bit about this view... #ungrateful

 Chilly Jen!

Mountains for miles and miles and miles

Oh and as for you Longs Peak, we'll be back.