Kelly and I are privileged to live in beautiful Colorado. Scenery of intense grandeur can be found within mere miles of our home near Denver. This is a very spiritual place to live and play, as one feels you can almost reach out and touch heaven from the Colorado High Country.
This article describes our latest adventure-snatched-from-the-jaws-of-disaster involving a mountain. As you know, last year at the top of Mt. Evans, we had issues with wind, Port-o-Lets, and mountain goats. What would happen this year?
Our plan this last Labor Day was to attempt to summit one of the Front Range's easiest and most popular 14,000 foot mountains, Grays Peak. Unfortunately, everybody in Colorado shared our idea. We woke up at four thirty in the morning to beat the crowds at the trailhead and failed miserably. Cars were lined up along the side of Stephen's Gulch road nearly all the way to its I-70 exit. That would have added an additional six miles to our round trip to the summit and back. No thanks!
Therefore, our advice to those who want to summit a 14'er on a major national holiday: Don't!
Luckily, the beautiful Herman's Gulch trail is only one exit further down I-70; the hike up to Herman Lake was steep and challenging enough for two primarily desk-bound writers. (Who thought we could climb a 14'er from the TOP of Stephen's Gulch trailhead, anyway...Eric?)
Our plan from now on is to look for summits less traveled. Colorado has plenty of 13,000 foot mountains to climb. We feel confident that the view from that elevation will be just as spectacular and spiritually rewarding, and chances are we will be able to enjoy it in solitude, away from the masses of amateur peak baggers like ourselves. Kelly and I march to the beat of our own backpacks, anyway. And, as Kelly likes to say, if we are going to wake up at 4:30 AM, we damn well better get to the top of a mountain!
Our final mountaineering tip for today: Don't bring bananas for trail food in your pack. That's just stupid. Happy Labor Day 2009!
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