In August, Tom's cousin and his wife from Ohio came to visit his sister in Cheyenne, Lorri. They all have a tradition of hiking, led by my husband's family that immigrated west about 40 years ago. To his great pleasure, Tom was asked to lead an expedition up Longs Peak as the capstone to their trip. Longs is one of many "14ers" in Colorado (14,000 ft elevation), level: difficult.
I hemmed and hawed if I would join the entire planning process. It's 16 miles. I've never walked 16 miles in my life.
To cut to the punch line, we did all make it, but I only made it because we were a team geared towards people who live at sea level, and everyone was very nice, and Tom, who could do the route in nine hours, spent 13 hours guiding us on this day. And we ate a lot of peanut butter and honey.
Behold, our day on Longs that ended in many, many blisters. And there was crying in the middle when I realized I would have to climb back down that rock chute that falls out into nothingness, somehow.
I hemmed and hawed if I would join the entire planning process. It's 16 miles. I've never walked 16 miles in my life.
To cut to the punch line, we did all make it, but I only made it because we were a team geared towards people who live at sea level, and everyone was very nice, and Tom, who could do the route in nine hours, spent 13 hours guiding us on this day. And we ate a lot of peanut butter and honey.
Behold, our day on Longs that ended in many, many blisters. And there was crying in the middle when I realized I would have to climb back down that rock chute that falls out into nothingness, somehow.
Oh! what a promising day!
But what foreboding clouds cover the summit!
Now the summit is clear but the wind is blowing 40 mph!
Cousin Lorri, the rockstar who even looks like a rockstar!
Blech, this is steep!
Our fearless leader and cousins in The Narrows!
Having the time of my life on the summit!
We made it to the top!
My body language says it all!
But no one arranged for helicopter rescue!
So we have to hike eight more miles to get down!
Somehow, it was worth it!
All pictures by Lorri, who sacrificed her knees very early in the morning in order to get the cool pictures of the group winding up the trail.
3 comments:
You made it! I am so proud--you are my inspiration!
Hannah, my palms get sweaty just looking at those pictures all over again! Russ and I still marvel at what we all accomplished that day, together. We will always treasure the memories you and Tom and Lorri help to create that week we were visiting. We miss you all and want to plan another trip someday!
This story reminds me of many, many... most of my days on my 40/40. You shut your eyes to sleep and the thought, "totally worth it," is the last thing you think before you fall into a peaceful dream. Which was far from the thing I was thinking six hours before. Way to gut it out Poppet!
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