Fail.

Mike has been plotting a secret Labor Day camping/hiking trip for months, ever since we got back from South Dakota. Usually I'm the trip planner, so I was really excited to see what he had put together. We bought a backpacking stove and freeze-dried meals and like 15 Clif bars, we made a ton of PBJ sandwiches and packed up all of our camping/backpacking gear. Then we drove four hours to Blue Mesa Reservoir, arriving close to midnight.

Then I spent the entire night scrambling in and out of my mummy sleeping bag, running from the tent to the vault toilet.

Over. And. Over. Again.

Ugh.

Thanks, stomach bug.

So, the secret camping trip ended quite abruptly. Mike was planning on hiking Sunshine and Redcloud Peaks -- two 14ers about two hours from our campsite -- on Saturday. On Sunday we were going to hike down into Black Canyon of the Gunnison for an overnight stay, and then we were going to hike back up out of the canyon on Monday.

Sounded incredible.

Instead, we spent Saturday morning driving through Black Canyon to see it from a tourist's perspective (aka the side of the road), then the afternoon driving back to Denver. Mike, of course, was a real trooper throughout my tearful, exhaustion-induced breakdowns (I felt really bad for ruining everything). Always thankful for that guy.

Regardless of the less-than-perfect outcome of the trip, we did manage to have a good weekend...after I spent the next 24 hours either on the couch or in my bed. Monday I felt much better, so we squeezed in a 6-mile hike in Indian Peaks Wilderness to Blue Lake.

And then we topped off the weekend with cream cheese & jalapeno stuffed burgers and Reese's s'mores. (Obviously by Monday night, my stomach was feeling much better!).

Peace, Love, and RuinedTrips.

Sore Legs.

One of my goals for the year was to hike five more 14ers. I've already done four this summer, and plan on doing the Lincoln-Democrat-Bross combo next weekend, so I'll definitely get there. There's something about mountain climbing that is so addictive.

We did Grays and Torreys on the Fourth of July with our friends Laura, John, and Stacy. This was the first multiple-14er hike that I had done, and it was definitely challenging in a different way than some of the others we've done. It's tough enough to mentally get yourself to the top of one 14er, let alone two. I actually thought that getting to Grays was fairly easy (all things considered), but having to climb down the saddle and then back up another pitch left me mentally pooped. Plus, we had to haul it up and then back down Torreys, because there was some questionable weather moving in.

Grays (left) and Torreys (right)

Giving his wife a heart attack

Laura & me

Summit of Grays

The group

Stacy's 5th 14er!

Summit of Torreys

Yesterday, we did Missouri Mountain with our friends Gretchen and Dave, who are 14er crazies. This was Gretchen's 30th summit and Dave's 20-something. I'm just glad I'm almost to double digits! Missouri was probably the prettiest summit we've done, although it had some killer switchbacks through the trees and a long windy walk along a ridge to get to the summit. We had the summit to ourselves for awhile, and the wind died down just as we were eating lunch. Beautiful, beautiful day.

Incredibly beautiful. We walked along that ridge to get to the summit.

Windy and a little chilly!

At the summit

On top of Missouri, with our Cardinals hats!

Summers in Colorado are seriously the best.

Peace, love & Missouri.

Summer's Here.

I haven't really been blogging much, mostly because 1) I don't feel that my life is that blog-able right now, and 2) we have been so busy that blogging is at the bottom of the list.

What have we been doing, you ask? Well, aside from the usual pool lounging, beer-kickballing, and social getting-togethering, we have been exploring and discovering new nooks and crannies of the West.

We went to South Dakota -- to the beautiful Black Hills, Custer State Park, Badlands National Park, and Mount Rushmore -- all in 3 days. We came home exhausted, grimy, and $62 poorer due to a nit-picky Wyoming cop (6mph over?! Really?!), but we had a great time.

Badlands

Custer State Park buffalo

We've also gotten in two good Colorado hikes so far this summer. Colorado summers are my favorite (minus the fact that our state is a tinderbox this year).

Hiking to Murray Lake.

Not having much fun on the way down, thanks to the snow.

Mt. Evans Ascent. 14er number six!

Summit!

So...yeah. Nothing too exciting, I guess. At least not compared to the posts where I was galavanting about Antarctica. :)

Peace, love, & summertime!

Cute.

A little 5 mile hike up Green Mountain near Boulder yielded not only some beautiful views, but also some cute little flowers and some cute little deer! So thankful that hiking season has returned!

 

 

 

Castle Rock.

I've been staring at the screen for 5 minutes, trying to come up with a way to explain how beautiful, incredible, awesome, and wonderful my hike out to Castle Rock was today. Some things are just better left unsaid, so I'll let the photos do the talking.

Trailhead

An "apple" shelter along the trail, for safety during a storm.



Red flags that mark the road

Megan & I. I did, in fact, carry a snowboard on my back for 6-miles, just so that I could go down one hill.

Erebus & Castle Rock from afar.



Castle Rock & the wonderful Antarctic sunshine.

Megan & me on top of Castle Rock.

I could not get over the scenery!

Icebergs.

Open water.

On the way back down.

Snowboarding! In Antarctica! In Jeans! :)

Happy girl :)

Hands down, one of the best days ever. Hiking is absolutely one of the greatest sources of joy and humility for me; I love to take in the Lord's creation, and it reminds me of how small I am compared to his greatness.

Peace, Love, & SnowboardingInJeans.

Ob Hill.

Living in Colorado has created in me a deep love for hiking and climbing mountains. The rush of being on top of a mountain peak after miles of aching quads is so exhilarating, yet so calming.

So when I saw the hiking options around McMurdo, I was thrilled. There are certainly no 14ers around here, but there are some great hikes with incredible views. I did the Arrival Heights Loop my second day here, which was awesome. Last night I opted for the summit of Observation (Ob) Hill:



The beginning of the trail

 I couldn't find the trailhead at first, but I could see the trail, so I climbed under some big scary pipes to get there. At first I thought that I was being a really bad employee and trespassing all over the place, but then I found out that you actually do have to go under (or over) the pipes to get to the start. So then I didn't feel bad.

So, here's a chronicle of my hike.



About the halfway point



Stopping to take in the scenery



The summit.



"You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you." (Nehemiah 9:6)



I also got to experience my first "sun dog"! A sun dog is an atmospheric phenomenon that creates kind of a halo around the sun, with light on the edges of it. Our trusty friend Wikipedia has more info on it if you're interested. :) I got some awesome photos of it though.

Pretty awesome. I did a little editing to make the sun dog more dramatic, but the originals are up on facebook.

Peace, love & dawgs.