Wild Wanderer

CityRock: Don’t Forget to Clip-in

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I was invited a few days ago to go to CityRock tonight with a group and climb. My first instinct was to say ‘no’ because I don’t really like groups, but then I remembered these were really nice people and I needed to make friends.

Then yesterday I got bombshell news concerning my divorce and our next court date (I’ve been divorced for 6 years, yet it seems we’re always going to court). This news was pretty devastating, and I knew I’d be very occupied for the next few weeks, so I might as well have fun tonight.

Another reason I wanted to go: There was a guy I’d met at a 14er Happy Hour who asked if anyone was climbing at CityRock on Friday. Without thinking I let him know a group of ‘us’ would be there. He messaged me back to make sure it wasn’t a ‘family’ thing, and said he’d be there too. That kind of obligated me to go.

It’d been a busy day so I didn’t get there until 5:30pm. Immediately I noticed the bouldering wall didn’t have any climb holds. I guess they’re re-doing the wall. I was glad I’d successfully climbed that V3, but I was a little disappointed I couldn’t actually show anyone in person tonight.

Jen and Tim were there, and they introduced me to a bunch of their friends. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember who was who, but I’d recognize you if I saw you!!! I did a few auto-belays, and Tim belayed me a few times. I wanted to go over to the lower bouldering wall to get in some practice before my arms got too tired.

As I was heading back down to the climbing area I heard a girl shouting: “Mom! Mom! Mom!” She was about 14 or 15 years old, and at the top of one of the climbing runs. She was frantic, and realized once she’d made it to the top of the run she’d forgotten to clip into the auto-belay! She’d free-climbed all the way up to the top, and had no way of safely getting down.

This was a very scary situation, and one I never actually thought I’d see: There are signs all over the place asking you to check to make sure you were ‘clipped in’. This girl was definitely in danger. She was at least 50 feet up, and if she fell no one would be able to catch her. Several people wanted to climb up and help her, but if she fell she’d take them down with her.

She was scared, and having difficulty holding on to the wall. She tried holding on to the rope next to her, but that didn’t really work either.

Luckily CityRock had a solution: They clipped a carabineer to the auto belay and released it up to her. She was able to clip in and climb back down. She climbed back down, and didn’t jump (I don’t blame her). Everyone let out a sigh of relief when she made it back to the ground. I couldn’t believe how shook up I was, and I wasn’t the one at the top of the wall without security!

The adrenaline rushing though me didn’t let up for a good half an hour, and it wasn’t the good kind of adrenaline, but the kind that wipes you out. I continued to climb, but without the enthusiasm as earlier in the night.

I saw the guy who said he’d meet me there. He climbed a 5.12, and was super proud of himself. Since I hover around 5.9-5.10 I was proud too!

One thing I learned tonight I really don’t understand is that it’s ok to take breaks while rock climbing. I don’t mean it’s ok to just stop, but you can push yourself away from the wall and dangle for a bit and then resume where you left off. This seems like cheating to me. However, I guess it’s how a lot of people successfully ‘work the wall’. I’d feel better about myself if I did it without ‘falling’.

After climbing we went to a taco place downtown. It was small and there were a lot of us so we had a 30 minute wait. The tacos were good, but the party was split up so it was kind of like I was coupled with Tim and another couple. The conversation was good but not really what I’d been looking for. The tacos weren’t all that great either. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t bad, but I’m into this ‘trying new things’ thing and they didn’t have anything that looked good enough to try, so I stuck with the carbonara tacos (pretty vanilla).

Runs Down Fast mountain 11,048

The last time I tried to summit this mountain I was unsuccessful (https://wildwandererlmc.wordpress.com/2017/12/09/north-cheyenne-canyon/ ) mainly because the trails had changed. The forest service had actually destroyed some trails, created new switchbacks and connections for others.

I met Tim at 7:30am and we drove the 13 miles of dirt that is Old Stage and Gold Camp Road. This time instead of hiking in through North Cheyenne Canyon and the 7 Falls trail we hiked in from Frosty’s Park.

It had snowed 3 days ago, but it was obvious no one had been in the area since. We were making the first tracks. There were a couple of frozen river crossings, but the Tundra did just fine.

We started at the 701 Trailhead at 8:40am, intent on hiking to Runs-Down-Fast Mountain.

This trail too was undisturbed. It was really cool to be breaking trail in 2-4 inches of powdered snow!

After hiking for about 2 miles we were able to see Runs-Down-Fast Mountain through the trees. Kind of. The area was densely treed and it was difficult to see any mountain, but we were pretty sure this was it.

There’s no trail to the summit, so we just headed north through 600 feet in elevation containing a lot of downed trees, boulders, brush, and snow. And the wind! It was insane! Gusts were supposed to be 55mph, with sustained 25-35mph winds. They weren’t kidding!

We reached a false summit and then continued on for about 20 more yards. The view from the top was lacking, as the summit was heavily treed at 11,048’

7 View from summit

We walked around for a bit, and found an ok view from the north most part of the summit of Almagre. Pikes Peak was hidden in the clouds.

Since it was windy we didn’t stay long, but descended and once again found the 701 trail. I’d wanted to summit 2 or 3 more mountains, but with the recent snow the trails were hidden (or maybe they weren’t there at all?). We did see this plateau and decided it looked doable, so we headed up through the wind to its summit.

The slope up was all scree, but the good kind that is easy to find traction on. I tried to take a summit selfie but my camera kept getting knocked down by the wind!

When Tim made it to the summit we tried again. The camera kept getting knocked around, but I think we got a pretty good shot!

The views were much better from this summit, even though it was about 600 feet lower than Runs Down Fast. This point has no name (or written elevation, but it’s 10,000+)

It was super windy here, so we headed back down to the trail again. I wanted to try and figure out where I’d gone wrong the last time I hiked this trail (I never did find Runs Down Fast last time) so we continued on the 701, looking for the 720. We hiked all the way to the 667 and never saw it, so we turned around and decided to look more carefully. Check it out! We found the destroyed trail! They’d ripped up perfectly healthy trees, roots and all, to try and hide the existing trail.

We followed the 720 for a while, but eventually hooked up with the 667 again, which brought us to the 668 and around. I was confused the entire time, mainly because we were below treeline and the route didn’t match my map. I was freezing by this point. It wasn’t lost on me we’d hiked in about 5 miles and would need to hike back 5 miles to get to the truck. My fingers were numb (but at least my feet were warm). The trail kept descending until it reached about 8500’ and followed the creek.

We hiked the 668 and Ring the Peak trail following the Cheyenne Creek. There was a lot of snow here too.

This is where the elevation started to climb rapidly. We’d descended about 2500’ and needed to make it up again to reach 10,500’ where the truck was parked. Most of that elevation gain was in about a mile and a half. We passed an old cabin

And for the last mile we followed Bobcat tracks! They were really neat to see, clearly marked in the snow, and proof of wildlife. Unfortunately they were headed in the direction opposite of where I was headed, but I was able to follow them almost the entire way back.

The elevation kept getting steeper, so Tim and I separated for the rest of the hike. He said he’d just follow my tracks in the snow. Right about now it started to snow again. Not a heavy snow, but more of a sprinkling of glitter in the air. The wind had died down. It was quiet, calm, and peaceful. I was no longer cold, as my body was producing heat from hiking harder up the hill.

Take a look at this photo: It’s a stream crossing. Under that 2 inches of snow is another 2 inches of solid ice, spread out for about 20 feet. It was incredibly slippery, so I traversed around it and up the hillside. The one part of ice I couldn’t avoid sent me skidding for a bit, but I maintained my balance.

I made it back to the trailhead at 2:04pm. I’d say the hike was about 10 miles, with 3500’ of elevation gain total (up and down and up again).

CityRock

I didn’t correlate a climbing gym to a regular gym in this way before, but apparently they fill up for the New Year as well with all those resolutioners: CityRock was packed!!! I got there at about 6:30pm, and I could tell it was filling up fast for the night. I checked in and stuffed my gear in the last cubby available.

I really wanted to start my night bouldering, but I could tell by the number of people already there I’d better start with rock climbing (again) because the auto belays were all going to be taken soon and I’d never get the chance to climb.

It was almost too easy today: I climbed about 6 runs, all between 5.7-5.10- . I climbed some because they were there, and others because I actually enjoyed them. I’m stuck on 5.10- and can’t seem to climb a 5.10+. However, I’m not sure how static those rankings actually are. I feel really solid on a 5.9, and that’s probably where I’ll continue climbing, but there’s a 5.8 I just can’t seem to get! Maybe it’s because it’s on a curved wall? In any event, I usually end up trying that one last, and by that time my arms have given out. Maybe I’ll start with that one next time. The 5.11’s require me to cut my fingernails, and I’m not that committed yet. In fact, I broke a nail tonight and it’s the first one I’ve broken so far since climbing. I’m pretty proud of that!

After getting my fill of rock climbing I headed over to the bouldering area. By this point my arms were a bit sore, but I was able to do the yellow curved V1 without much difficulty. I went to the V3 run I’d done last time, but couldn’t get a good grip. I noticed a kid (probably 13) watching me, and I said “it needs to be cleaned”. He assumed I wanted him to do it, and climbed up just to clean it off. I smiled inwardly: I was just making an observation not asking him to clean it! I forget the power adults have on kids when they make comments…lol!

He looked like a regular who knew what he was doing, so I asked him if he wanted to climb. Nope, he was taking a bit of a rest. So I tried the run again and was successful. The kid watched me the engire time and seemed impressed: he asked me a bunch of questions about how I did the route, and said that one took him forever to ‘get’. It was as if suddenly I was important in his eyes. I don’t know why, but it made me feel good to impress a 13 year old kid. Sheesh! I moved on (and didn’t ever end up seeing him climb anything that night).

I moved back down to the lower climbing area and saw a kid that was supposed to be at Boy Scouts. He sheepishly stated his plans had changed at the last minute (funny thing, his father was at the Boy Scout meeting down the street… I wonder if he knew?). At this point I was seriously tired. I tried the Yellow V1 run again and while I made a valiant attempt and held on for quite a while, I wasn’t able to push myself over the ledge. This happens after you’ve been climbing for a while and don’t rest. I was encouraged by the others sitting down how it was impressive I’d held on for so long. This is a common occurrence at the gym: everyone encourages everyone. I still feel uncomfortable in this sort of environment, so I thanked them and switched climbing areas. I did a few more runs with the auto belays and called it a day after only about an hour of climbing. I need to learn to either take breaks or build up my strength. In any event, it was a successful night of climbing! I didn’t embarrass myself by falling, and there wasn’t a run I’d been able to do before that I couldn’t do tonight. Now to work on those 5.10+ and V3’s!

West Spanish Peak – 13,584

West Spanish Peak – 13,631

RT Length 7.9 miles

Elevation Gain 2400’

I’ve been eyeing this trail for weeks, and was finally able to make the hike! I don’t do well in the cold (or wind) so I’ve been looking for a relatively clear, wind free day. It’s been clear but the wind hasn’t cooperated, so instead of 14ers and 13ers I’ve been hiking 12ers, 11ers, 10ers, 9ers, and 8ers for the past month and a half: I needed to get above treeline again!!!

Today’s forecast at the summit was 38* with 15mph gusts, which I figured I could handle. I’d been keeping an eye on the Webcam, and the peak looked pretty barren from snow: http://www.keno.org/colorado_web_cams/cuchara_cams.htm (side note: If you use this link, know the best time to view for clarity is around 3pm, and the bottom webcam is only updated once a week, the others usually every half hour).

I found several directions to the trailhead, but none of them were ‘exactly’ correct. This is the exact route I took:

I25 South to Walsenburg, Exit 50 (the second 160) turn right

Continue on 160 for about 13 miles

Turn Left onto CO12

Continue on CO12 for 21.8 miles

Turn Left at Cordova Pass CR46

The trailhead is exactly 6 miles on the road, near the campground

The road in was a 2WD road, but iced over in a lot of areas, making it an easy 4WD road for this point in the year. Just be careful: there are 3-foot-deep drainages on either side of the road filled with snow so they look like they’re level with the road (but they’re not), and driving into one of those isn’t fun to get out of, even with a 4WD. It was obvious many had made this mistake.

The trailhead is the West Peak Trailhead. I parked here. There are restrooms but they’re locked. I was told to pay a fee, but all signage and fee envelopes (etc.) were gone, presumably closed for the winter. I gathered my gear and started on the trail at 8am.

A few yards in I came upon a trail register. The last entry was from December 28. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t seen anyone else on the trail today.

I hiked for about a quarter mile before coming to a meadow. I’d seen quite a bit of cow patties along the trail up to this point, and figured there were cattle in the area. When I reached this meadow I thought I saw cows on the saddle ahead of me. I made a mental note to look out for them, and stopped to put on my gloves and hat because I could hear the wind picking up. The wind didn’t stop for the entire hike!

What I thought were cows ended up being bighorn sheep! So cool! They were a bit skittish and ran up and over the hill as soon as they saw me.

When I’d entered the meadow I thought I was out of the treeline, but the trail dipped back down and I walked for about 2 more miles through the trees. Most of the path was clear, but there were a few snow covered areas.

This trail is super easy to follow the entire way to the summit. There’s only one trail junction, and it’s clearly marked.

The trail is also very easy until you get to treeline, but make no mistake, most of those 2000+ feet in elevation occur during the last mile of this hike, so it is still quite a workout. Once you hit treeline you turn right and see what’s ahead of you:

The trail follows the ridge on the left (but stay to the right while on the ridge). It’s all loose rock until it becomes scree, and it’s straight up for over a mile. Since there are so many rocks there are tons of cairns and the route is easy to follow. About halfway up I saw a small wind break made out of rocks, which was filled with snow. There was no other snow on the mountainside.

After hiking for what seems like forever you’ll come to a false summit, but it’s ok to be happy about it because the rest of the trail is very easy and is only about another 100 yards or so. This was also the only spot I saw snow above treeline (besides in that small shelter).

I was able to make that little bit of snow look like a lot of snow…

Here’s a view of East Spanish Peak from the summit of West Spanish Peak

And photo proof I summited. I started at 8am and summited at 9:45am.

The summit was very windy and cold. The weather predicted 38* with 15mph wind gusts, but those winds were actually closer to 20mph and sustained. I didn’t spend much time on the summit before heading down. Here’s a view of the ridge back down. Crazy huh? It’s January 5^th and there’s no snow!!! Check out those dry ski runs…

About halfway down I noticed a very small heart on a rock. It was less than 2 inches in diameter, and randomly caught my eye. At first I thought it was moss, but upon closer inspection noticed someone had painted it on the rock. I have no idea why they did this, or why they chose this particular area: it wasn’t on the main trail and it wasn’t very visible. It made me happy to see it, and I took a picture of it before reminding myself LNT. So, to the person who painted this, it made me happy, but it’s really not cool to do this stuff so please don’t do it again.

Here’s a photo of what it looks like when you get to treeline. See that meadow in the middle? That’s the one that I crossed that had the Bighorn Sheep. The entire hike above treeline I kept that meadow in view in case I got lost (although this is such an easy, well maintained trail I didn’t foresee that happening).

The hike back down went quickly. When I reached the meadow again I looked for those sheep but didn’t see them. Well, that is until I’d made it all the way across. At that point I looked back and saw them about 100 yards away from me. Never one to miss an opportunity, I backtracked and tried to get a few photos. The wind was blowing towards me so I was able to sneak up on them pretty close before they saw me. By pretty close I mean about 15 yards away. I stood in the shade of a tree and tried to get photos of them before they noticed me and ran off (about 3 seconds).

I continued on, and during the last part of the hike I actually saw a pair of birds. They were about 10 inches long, much bigger than this picture suggests (I still need to identify them…)

I made it back to the trail register and signed out.

I reached my truck at 11:40am. I hadn’t seen another person on this trail. It’s funny how it usually takes me longer to hike down than hike up: must be all that elevation training I do everyday…lol!

Working on it

Just checking here

New Hiking Boots

My new hiking boots have arrived! Check out the difference 18 months can make on a great pair of shoes!

That tread though! It’s been an intense hiking season!

Rock Climbing with Rebecca

It’s
been over a year since Rebecca’s been rock climbing. We’d planned on all going together this
break,

but it just wasn’t happening, so this morning I woke Rebecca
up at 10:30am and we headed down to CityRock.

As usual, the place was busy. I’ve never been climbing with Rebecca (I’ve
chaperoned, but never climbed with her) so this was fun!

We spent some time on the climbing wall, and I got a selfie
of us both at the top of our runs!

I’ve been climbing for about a month now, and while I can
climb 5.10, I’m extremely comfortable at a 5.9, so I stick there most of the
time (but keep trying the harder ones as well).

We spent some time bouldering too, which I don’t think
Rebecca’s done too much of. She was
fantastic!

There’s a V3 bouldering route I’ve been trying to master for
a while now, and today I was finally able to get it right! (It’s the yellow route in the middle)

This is one I’ve seen many people attempt,
but no one complete. I’ve tried it once
or twice, but was unsuccessful as well. You
see, I’ve never been able to grab one of the holds. Today I tried the run 3 times and just couldn’t
get it, so I decided to clean the hold.

OMG! What a difference that
made! I was finally able to grip it, and
successfully summit! I did it three
times in a row (so it wasn’t a fluke) and finally had Rebecca take a video of
me to prove I’d done it. I was ecstatic!
This video makes it look easy, but it really isn’t: those moves take changes of body weight that
are difficult to manage!

We spent about 2 hours climbing/bouldering, and left happy
and exhausted!

Mt Esther 9505’

While there are a few twists and turns through the back
roads of Chipita Park to get there, this hike has a very obvious trailhead but
very little parking. I had to drive a
quarter mile down the road to find a driveway to turn around at so I could park
my truck alongside the dirt road.

The first 1.3 miles of the trail begins with some steady
elevation gain and a lot of switchbacks.

I noticed as I was hiking there had been a lot of tree clearing/cutting/trimming
lately. I saw dozens, if not a hundred
of these piles lining the trial.

Once you arrive at the top of the switchbacks you come to a
nice meadow and a trail junction. Stay
right at the junction. I state this
because many people have told me they mistakenly went left, which takes you on
a long loop to nowhere. (OK, it goes somewhere,
but not directly: you’ll need a topo map
as there are several possible trails you can take, leading in many different
directions: just go right).

After crossing the meadow and a very small trickle of a
stream you enter an aspen grove

and then start following a forest road. While I was hiking here I heard the loud
rustle of feathers ahead of me, looked up, and saw 2 ptarmigans jump/glide from
the forest floor to the top of a pine tree.
I was able to get a picture (and video) of them, but didn’t want to
disturb them so I didn’t stay long/didn’t get great photos.

The forest road starts to follow power lines from this point
on.

This forest road will take you all the way to the Crystal
Creek Reservoir, but what fun is that? I
looked at my topo map, and figured the power lines were a straight shot to
where I wanted to go, while the road twisted and turned but eventually ended up
in the same place. It’s part of the Ring
the Peak trail system, which they made wide enough here to accommodate 4
wheelers. I’d rather hike. So I turned left and followed the faint trail
under the power lines (hey, there was little chance I could get lost this way,
right?)

Once I reached a saddle I could see the Crystal Creek
Reservoir, so I knew Mt. Esther must be to my left.

Quite a bit of tree maintenance had been done here as
well.

My directions told me to look for a cairn indicating a faint
trail, but there was no cairn, and no trail.
So I turned south and just headed towards the summit. This is what it looked like:

I headed south and up the mountain for about a third of a
mile before reaching a boulder filled summit with great views of the reservoir!

I had fun bouldering a bit (and jumping from rock to rock where
feasible). I took a few summit selfies
to prove I’d made it, one with a view of Pikes Peak and another of the Crystal
Reservoir (which I’ve taken a paddle boat out in with the kids! Fun!)

Pikes Peak looked beautiful today, as it does just about
every day

This was a fun, quick hike (7 miles in 3 hours including
stops to watch the Ptarmigan and boulder for a bit). I’ve heard it described as ‘difficult’, but I
think that’s exaggerating a bit. Yes,
the initial mile of switchbacks probably would turn many away, as well as the route-finding
at the end if you intend to summit Mt. Esther, but the hike itself is quite
pleasant and easy to follow!

7 miles

1500’ Elevation gain

I followed the red Ring the Peak route, and then kind of made my own trail. This topo shows where the trail should be. I followed this, even though there was no actual trail off the Ring the Peak trail.

Summit View (It was WINDY)

Ptarmigan

Cascade Mountain – 9387′ & Point 9298′

I’ve wanted to take this trail for a long time, but I’ve put
it off because I was working on hiking in another area. The forecast was really cold for last night,
but by 9am this morning the area was supposed to be about 35 degrees, increasing
to 46 by noon. Imagine my dismay when I
left my house at 45 degrees, and headed to the trailhead, watching the
thermometer drop to as low as 16 degrees before settling at around 21 degrees
at the trailhead. I bundled up in my hat,
gloves, and coat, and headed out.

I parked at the Heizer Trailhead, and for updated
information, you can no longer park near the “Snow Plow Turn Around”
signs. You must park about 800 feet
below the trailhead, directly next to the park. There are about 3 available spaces, so plan accordingly.

Once you hike up the single lane road you’ll clearly be able
to see the beginning of the trail.

The trail quickly gains in elevation, with tons of pretty
steep and relatively short switchbacks that continue for just under 3 miles. There
are several game trails that veer off at most of the switchback junctions, but
you can tell they’re not part of the trail because about 3 feet up the branches
cover the path. It could get confusing in
the dark however.

At about 2.5 miles you’ll come upon a large boulder
area. I stopped here for a bit to play, and
then continued on to the left. Cascade
Mountain is another half mile.

The true summit of Cascade Mountain can be difficult to
find, as there are two areas with large boulders very close to each other. I did some climbing and made the “summit”.

Most of the hikes in the Pikes Peak region have great views
of Pikes Peak. This was no different,
but included an angle I hadn’t seen before.

I wasn’t just interested in summiting Cascade Mountain
today, but also in learning more about the trail system. I know the Heizer Trail connects with the
Barr Trail below Barr Camp, which makes it another way to summit Pikes Peak
without paying $40 a night to park at Barr Trail. It adds 6 miles round trip, but takes you through
an area not often hiked. I didn’t intend
to hike all the way to Barr Camp but I desperately WANTED to, my time limitations
just didn’t allow it today. My goal
today was to find the connecting routes that would eventually take me to Barr
Camp. They were much easier than
anticipated! Check out these signs:

It was still early, so I decided to follow the trail for a
bit to see how established it was. The trail
was very well marked, which is great because I plan to hike it in the
dark. At this point the trail was
heading down the mountain toward the Manitou Reservoir, and I stopped to take
out my map. Check it out! I was near another peak! I decided to summit and take a look around. This ‘peak’ has no name, it’s just referred
to as point 9298’

The summit didn’t offer very good views… but I could make
out Manitou Reservoir

At this point I decided to turn back. I really wanted to continue on, but it was
obvious the trail headed down for quite a bit and I wasn’t interested in making
up the elevation on the way back.
Normally I would be, but today I was pressed for time. I was happy with today’s progress and started
the hike back the way I’d come.

When I got to Cascade Mountain I got a different view of the
area, and saw this really cool rock balancing between two boulders! What fun!

Here is a sloppily put together panorama of the hike back to
Cascade. You can see the devastation
from the Waldo Canyon Fire, and the North Pole.

Here’s the route I took today. It ended up being about 6.5 miles, with 2800’
of elevation gain.

Oh, and for those of you studying the map, you take the 638
to Barr Camp…

Christmas Morning Incline Hike

I was invited to ‘do the incline’ on Christmas day, and
since the invite was for 10am I figured sure!
I tend to be an over-planner, so I left my house early and my pack
included microspikes (not necessary).
The invite said we’d all meet at Manitou Park and carpool there. I knew 3 people who’d RSVP’d, so I figured I’d
have friends.

Well, when I got there the group chat started lighting up
with everyone’s whereabouts. There were
a few people at the park, but everyone I knew was already at the incline. Hmmm.
I talked with the group in the parking lot, realized they were the ‘4
hour crew’ and thought it’d be better if I just drove up to the Incline parking
lot by myself.

As I was leaving the park I saw someone I recognized from Villa
heading down. He said there was plenty
of parking in the incline lot. I met Tim
about halfway up Ruxton Ave and gave him a ride to the top. Parking was only $5 (Woot! I’d thought it’d be $10). We met Jill at the bottom. She was super
excited her son gave her a Navy running set for Christmas. She’s so proud of
that boy!

Tim and I knew we’d have different speeds, so we hiked for about
30 seconds together before splitting off.
The trail actually looks great since they re-did it (for the third time…).

About halfway up there was a decorated Christmas Tree

Even though it was brisk when I started, pretty soon it got
warm due to the exercise. I was
sweating! I knew from past experience
most people time their hike, which means it’s a personal competition to do
better each time than you did the last time.
I was exhausted about half way in, but kept trudging on. The most difficult part was breathing, which
I found curious? My body wasn’t tired,
but I had to stop to catch my breath.
This was maddening! Hey, I’m used
to doing hikes above treeline, why was this so difficult? In any event, my time was 35 minutes 35
seconds to summit, which is a great time!
I’m proud to say no one passed me on the way up!

At the top there was a decorated Christmas Tree.

I admired it (and the view) until Tim summited, and then we
hiked down the Barr Trail together. I
drove home, and woke the kids up to celebrate Christmas!

This is the third time I’ve hiked the incline. I usually avoid it on principle, but was
seriously glad I’d hiked today! Being
social is difficult for me: this was a
nice segway into socialization… lol!