Our big summer vacation has finally arrived. Kris and I will be leaving early tomorrow morning to head up to Lawrence, KS for the Wakarusa music festival. Its less about the music, and more about the general relaxation, so we are getting ready to relax. The back seats of the Element will be coming out to make plenty of room for all the comfort junk we plan to bring.
We'll be gone until next Monday, so I'll report on everything when we get back.
I've finally set aside a few minutes to write up the two trips Kris and I went on over her Spring Break. Working at University of North Texas means that when the students are gone, the whole school shuts down. A free week of vacation. We started early with a backpacking trip over Saturday and Sunday. We found the trip through the Dallas Sierra Club. My family has long supported the Sierra Club. Its a great organization that focuses on environmental and outdoor issues. That means lots of campers and people who enjoy public lands. Kris, my sister Alisa, and I signed up for the trip, got up early on Saturday morning, and drove to Atoka, OK. Its actually a perfect distance from Dallas. About a 2 1/2 hour drive, and you are into a nice forested area of Oklahoma.
We arrived at the trail head last (I hate being late) and met up with the other people going on the trip. One hello from everyone and we were off. McGee Creek is a state park, in which there must be a creek, but I never saw one. All of the areas where small creeks normally would be were totally dry. But it was beautiful weather (slightly humid) and a very nice hike. It was about 2 or 3 miles to camp. The hike is through a forest that slowly gains elevation until you are on a circular ridge. It over looks what some people might call a valley, but that might be an overly generous use of the term in this situation. Its a nice view over a gradual drop of maybe 60 feet.
The trip was led by a lady named Faith. There is no way I can remember the others names, but there were 10 people total on the trip, most of them on their own. Kris, Alisa and I were the only group together other than Faith and her companion. Most of these people regularly do Sierra Club trips, and they seemed to know each other pretty well. Kris, Alisa and I (KAI) split gear between the three of us, sharing a tent, stove, etc. It made for nice light packs and a comfortable hike in. Once at camp we got set up, moved in, and Kris took a nap. Alisa and I joined up with a guy our age named Steven and did a little hike further down the trail. There were some signs referring to a Hunting Cabin which we thought would be interesting, but we didn't see it, and since this wasn't a full out hike, just wandering, we turned back for camp. Steven ended up being a really nice guy who was on his first Sierra Club trip. Alisa and I joined Kris in the tent for a nap as well.
The rest of the people had set up a kitchen area and proceeded to sit there the entire trip. It was bizarre. Just sat around. No activities, no hikes, nothing. Just sitting. We weren't interested in that, so after the nap, KAI and Steven went back down the trail to find the Hunting Cabin. It was about a mile hike, and we found it. I had envisioned a log cabin back in the woods, or even a shack from the 20's. What we got was an aluminum siding building. Fairly modern, probably from the 60's or 70's judging from the linoleum floors. The thing was falling apart, but you could look inside the door and see the old kitchen and huge holes in the floor. It was pretty creepy. Very horror-moviesque. We relaxed there for awhile, playing some Frisbee through the trees, then hiked back to camp for dinner. Dinner for KAI was hot dogs wrapped in tortillas. Nice and easy cooking.
It was kind of weird hanging around the kitchen though. I didn't know what to say to these people. Normally I have no problem making conversation and friends, but something about this group was just kind of odd for me. First of all, I got a bad introduction. My sister was hiking ahead of us on the way in, and came to a nice overlook. She informed me that while standing on the rock looking over the "valley", one of the guys commented that it would be a great place to shoot a deer. When told it would be hard to get the deer out of the valley if you shot it, he stated that he would just take the antlers and the good bits. That's just a stupid comment first of all, irresponsible hunting at best, and aren't you with the Sierra Club? I would have thought shooting animals wouldn't be one of their main activities. (In case you haven't noticed, not a big fan of hunting, especially if you are doing it to get antlers for your wall.) Well, it turns out that all of these people are hunters. Seriously, outside of KAI and possibly Steven, they all were sitting around telling hunting stories. Man, I just really don't understand hunting. Are you honing you skills for the apocalypse? Are cows one day going to run away? I don't mind killing for survival, but killing for pleasure makes no sense. Where is the joy in taking life? That is just one example of how we were surrounded by people we just didn't mesh with very well. Its is worth noting that it turns out only one or two of them were actually in the Sierra Club. So, the four of us did our own thing. Played some cards, and then went and read in the tent after dark. Kris and I went to sleep after that, and Alisa went over to Stevens tent to play cards.
The next day was pretty simple. Rose fairly late, had breakfast of oatmeal, picked up camp, and hiked it back out. We were at the cars by about noon, and home to Dallas at about 3pm. It was a nice weekend trip, and a nice park. I think I'd rather camp with my friends though. The nice thing about Sierra Club is that the trips are planned for you. Just pick the one you like and show up. Hopefully in the future, if we go on a Sierra Club trip, we will be with actual members of the Sierra club. But the trip was fun amongst our group, and not a total loss for meeting new people. Steven ended up asking for my sister's phone number, and invited her on a camping trip two weeks later. Nice ending to a nice little weekend trip.
Just in case you didn't know, there is a new photo album on this blog with all the photos we took on our trip to Enchanted Rock. Look on the left hand side and scroll towards the bottom. Check back for new photo albums in the future. I'll be posting more and more photos.
Several weeks ago, myself, Kris and my sister Alisa made plans to go camping. The weather in Texas has been so mild all winter, and Kris and I wanted to get a jump on the backpacking season. Squeeze as much camping in as possible this year. Texas in the summer is unbearably hot, so we like to camp spring and fall. With a three-day weekend for Presidents Day, it was decided the weekend of the 18thst would be ideal. After much discussion, we decided on Enchanted Rock State Park, just outside of Fredericksburg, TX. Enchanted Rock is in the hill country, and we've heard really good things about it. The plan was to leave very early on Saturday morning, and come back on Monday evening. Two nights, three days.
My sister has never been backpacking before, although she has done alot of camping. So we got her set up with our extra backpack, I made her a list of things to get together. The plan was to have her spend the night Friday evening, get packed up, and off we go Saturday morning. Now, Kris and I have done a fair amount of backpacking and had some unpleasant trips, so we knew how to prepare. The main concern is always weather. If you are unprepared for rain, heat, cold, or whatever you experience, then your trip will get very un-fun very fast. The plan was to prepare for some cold in the evenings. Unfortunately, as the trip drew nearer, so did the only forecast for cold weather we had seen all year. In the two weeks before the trip, the forecast called for scattered showers, but a low percentage chance of them. But as the trip drew nearer, the forecast for a cold front kept moving closer and closer. First it was going to be cold on the Tuesday after we got back. Then on Monday. By Friday evening, we realized it was officially going to be cold. Dallas got very very chilly. Predicted temperatures were in the 30's at night, which is cold for Texas.
To add another wrinkle, our horse Dervish has been sick. Kris decided he needed attention twice a day, so she couldn't go on the backpacking trip. It was just me and Alisa, which was fine, as it would be a good practice trip for some bigger ones with Kris in the future. So, Alisa comes over Friday night, prepared to be cold. I took Friday off to get everything prepared, and we had everything packed up and ready to go Friday evening. A quick trip to Central Market to pick up some supplies and make my trail-mix and we were ready. Of course, discussion turned to the weather, because as we were running these errands, we realized it was really damn cold. Nonetheless, Alisa and I planned to go. Maybe we would just start later so that we could get a handle on the weather.
Since we were starting later, the call just before 10pm from our friends Collin and Amanda worked out great. They came over, played some games, drank some beer, and we had a miniature party. Collin and Amanda reminded us how freaking cold it was going to be, but we still planned on getting out. We went to bed quite late, and rose late the next day.
To very cold weather and ice.
Saturday morning we were up at about 10am. It was very cold, with ice all over the cars and even some on the roads. The time had come to really decide what we were going to do. As we Marshall's apparently measure ourselves by our suffering, we agreed to go for it. We put all the gear into the Element, and hit the road at 11am. The directions on Google maps had a drive time of 6 1/2 hours, however, I felt that time was grossly exaggerated, and put our drive more at a time of 4 1/2 hours. Plus, we Marshall's don't stop during trips, so we make good time.
On the road we passed the miles with talk and alot of music from the ol' iPod. The drive to Enchanted Rock took us down I-35 almost to Austin. In Georgetown, you head west into the Hill Country. The drive from Georgetown to Enchanted Rock was beautiful. Small towns, lots of space. The Hill Country is truly the most beautiful part of Texas. We turned onto the farm road that took us into the park, and spotted some does and their new fawns. Once in the park, we paid our money for camping, parked the car, did some stretches, and were on the trail by 4:30ish. The drive actually took about 5 hours.
Enchanted Rock is actually the name of a very large granite dome formation. It stands in the center of the park, about 1825 feet, and an elevation gain for 425 feet from the entrance. There are also four other granite formations that you can climb, but Enchanted Rock is the biggest. Its just a huge rock dome, like a bald head sticking out of the ground. Our trail actually took us between Enchanted Rock and It was still very cold. We had our big outer coats on, with stocking caps and gloves. The ice that was on the car when we left was still on the car when we parked. There was no doubt it was going to be cold on the trip, but even the forecast only put the temps in the mid to high 30's. Daytime highs were supposed to get up to 50 degrees the next day, and just get warmer and warmer. On the trail we spotted deer again, but I think it was just the same group we had seen from the road. I took some very fuzzy pictures of them. My digital camera is not made for long distance shots. The other wildlife we came across were buzzards. They are enormous, and about 30 of them were perched in some trees along the trail by Frog Pond, a small body of water that was covered in algae and had no observable frogs.
The trail took us between Enchanted Rock and Turkey Peak and Freshman Mountain. Our campsite was Moss Lake, a small pond actually, which ironically contained no moss or algae, unlike Frog Pond. Apparently naming bodies of water at this place is pretty loose. The hike was quite nice, very well formed trails, and we didn't encounter anyone the whole way in. There were some sections in which you are walking over bare granite, so the trail is easy to loose in some places, but if you keep your eye for the small signs, its simple enough to manage. We took about an hour to arrive to Moss Lake. We saw some tents already pitched and went towards them. The primitive camping area is not marked, Just anywhere in the general area is fine. We found a small sheltered area off the trail, but it was right by a large group of campers, apparently Boy Scouts. They were already being fairly loud, and had started a campfire, which is expressly forbidden in all ways, including a sign about 50 feet away stating clearly, "No Ground Fires". We decided we didn't want to be anywhere near these yahoos, so we continued looking. We went back up the trail around Moss Lake and found a large group of trees on the opposite side, about 20 feet off the bank of the lake. The limbs went all the way to the ground, but there were some openings, and when we went into the middle, there was a perfectly cleared area. We found our site.
Packs were dropped, tent went up, and we got moved in. Light was fading fast now, it was probably 6pm once everything was set up, so the trusty Svea 123R stove came out for dinner. Hot dogs and mashed potatoes. The water took a bit to boil due to the cold, and it began to get pretty dark. We got the one headlamp out (I left mine at home by mistake) and huddled around the stove. The sun was down, we standing still, and it was becoming uncomfortably cold. Through the light of the headlamp, frozen moisture could be seen falling from the sky. Although it was just swirling about in the air, I say that frozen falling water constitutes snow, and that should give you an indication of how cold it was. Remember also we are Texans, and it might snow once every two years. It was extremely cold, so we gobbled down our hot dogs, drank our hot chocolate, cleaned up quickly, stowed the packs, and got in the tent.
This was the third time we'd used our tent, and its a unique design. The rainfly is just half a rain fly, and creates vestibules on the side with allows airflow. Great for warm, rainy weather, but in the cold you are supposed to bring those flaps in to trap the air. With the cold affecting my thinking, it didn't occur to me to bring the flaps in. We jumped in the tent, got in our bags, and began to feel warmer immediately. We played a game of Yahtzee with the dice I had brought along, and did some reading. Finally, we went to sleep, nestled in our sleeping bags.
Normally while camping, I wake up several times a night, change position, adjust pillow (sack stuffed with clothes). Sleeping on the ground makes for light sleep. Well, this night, I was waking up due to my bitterly cold feet. Looking back, its easy to point out that my feet, (and it turns out Alisa's feet as well) were cold because I hadn't closed the flaps on the tent. But at the time, I didn't think of it. This is a new tent for me. Also, many campers are aware that if you touch the side of a tent with moisture on the outside, it can pull moisture in. This happened with my bag. Not alot of moisture, just a little, but I did reach out and feel a little on the outside of the head of my bag. It was frozen. While we stayed warm on the bodies, our feet were just uncomfortably cold. We would later learn from a park ranger that the temperature that night was 25 degrees. Although I can't find the data, I'd be willing to bet money that 25 degrees is a record for February, 19th in Texas.
We woke the next morning to find that all of our water had frozen. Luckily, we were by a lake. I scooped up some water, boiled it to purify it, and we had a nice breakfast of hot oatmeal. We put a few things in a day-pack and decided to head out towards Enchanted Rock for our day-hike to see how things looked. Ice clung to the cactus needles, and there was small amounts of ice on other things Including granite rock. Our trail towards Enchanted Rock took us up a trail of some small boulders that were covered in ice and dangerously slippery. I became concerned that we wouldn't be able to go up the rock due to the ice, and would be forced to turn back without seeing what we came to see. We decided to just push on until we decided it was just too unsafe. On the opposite side of Enchanted Rock, however, things were looking good. The ice had melted, and a mist was rising off of the granite. Outside of some small, avoidable slick spots, our climb was clear. We started moving up towards the top. This is a very simple hike. No hand over hand climbing. Just a walk to the top. All over this huge granite dome, there are small oasis where plants have taken root. As we neared the top we found that all of the plants were covered in ice, but the ice had formed on just one side, apparently due to wind. The ice had also grown out about 1 1/2 in very fine points, covering the leaves of plants from top to bottom. At the very top of Enchanted Rock stood a tree covered in ice. Just a lone tree, holding its ground. The view at the top is wonderful.
We kept walking toward the opposite side of the rock, and found a small grove of trees covered in ice. As we explored, we just kept finding more and more beautiful ice covered treasures. Everytime we thought we'd seen the most beautiful ice formations, we'd stumble on something better. A second larger grove of trees hidden from view was also found. This grove of trees led to a pile of huge boulders that had formed small caves and paths you could walk through. It was just a wonderful time of exploring. After a few hours, we had explored the whole rock, and decided to head back to camp. Once back it was decision time. We wanted to do another hike over to Freshman Mountain, and with the time we would stay another night. Unfortunately, the day was still very cold, and there was every indication that the next day would be just as cold. Since all we would do is sleep, eat breakfast and hike out in the morning, I suggested we pack up our things, pack over to Freshman Mountain, stow our packs, and do our exploring. Then we could just pack out to the car, arrive at about 5pm and drive home. Alisa agreed, so we did.
Over at Freshman mountain, we forged a trail and got up to the top very quickly. This was obviously a popular spot for deer, as there were animal made trails, and lots of deer droppings. We explored awhile and then spent some time sitting on an outcropping that looked over to the peak of Enchanted Rock, probably over a 1/4 mile away. What was really interesting is even at that distance, we could hear people talking over on Enchanted Rock. The echoing and clarity of sound was amazing. A gunshot in the distance resulted in an echoing of gunshots off of every peak, and you could hear them travel past you into the distance, ending in a faint sizzling as it hit hills in the distance. We also saw a bunny that allowed us to get about 10 feet away, so we watched him for a bit. After seeing what we came to see, we went back to the trail, picked up our packs, and hiked back out to the car. A quick visit to the Ranger Station, and we were on the road at about 5pm. A quick stop at Pancho's in some unknown city on 35 (Pancho's is a strange Marshall craving) and we were home at 10pm that night.
A very fun overnight trip, and once in a lifetime experience. The ice we saw I can guarantee happens rarely, and will probably not be seen like that for years to come. While we had to suffer the cold of that night, we were definitely rewarded for our troubles.
Back at the E, boots came off and swollen feet were released with aching pleasure. Water was guzzled, packs were stowed, and Evan took the wheel to drive us out. We decided that no music suited our mood more than James Brown, so the bouncing road out was filled with the sounds of the Godfather of Soul. On the main road we found Saturday's, a gas station with a great selection of beer. We got a 6 pack of 90 Shilling and Breckenridge IPA, and celebrated with a cold beer. The drive back to Colorado Springs was fairly uneventful. Just lots of conversation about the weekends events. Drank some beer (not Evan of course, he was driving), marveled at Mt Massive as it disappeared behind us, the peak growing smaller and smaller until it was swallowed by mountains around it. About 12 miles outside of Colorado Springs, Evan remembered that Ben had once explained that you can coast all the way into the center of town if your speed is right. So, at 60mph, we put the E in neutral and just coasted. Made it all the way into Colorado Springs to 26th St., before we were stopped by traffic. I think Ben only has made it as far as 21st, so it was a damn fine coast. We pulled up to Ben's condo and found him outside washing his Harley. There was a bike show the next day in "The Springs", and he was going to take his new Road King out there. We went in and showered and had some beers, and got changed for the evening. The main thing on our minds was food. Mainly, burgers. We ate dinner the previous night at about 6pm. It was now 24 hours later, and all we had eaten was trail mix, some chex mix, fruit leathers and energy bars. We wanted real food. So, Ben took us out into the wild night life of The Springs, and a burger place called Johnny's. This place was supposed to have great burgers, but it was packed to the gills with bikers in for the rally. It wasn't really our scene, so we went next door to an Irish place and had some beer and burgers, (except me, I had Fish and Chips). Then it was off to Oscar's a local bar that has 2 for 1 drinks. It was great. I ordered a Laughing Lab, and you get two glasses of it. Everyone was two fisting beer. Collin also had a friend join us. His roommate from college, Shane, lives just outside of The Springs, so he met us at the bar with his wife Laura. I know Collin was excited to see him, because Evan and I were about to fall asleep in our beer mugs, but Collin was high energy and ready to party. But, the exhaustion proved to be too much, so we ended the night at about 11:30 and headed back to Ben's. We had a few more beers there, and Collin was the first to pass out on the couch. I played some video games with Ben and Evan, doing my best to hold on to consciousness. I remember them saying they were going out for breakfast burritos, and I pulled out $5 for my own. I woke up the next morning on the couch, with my $5 still sitting there. We all woke up about 9:00 and went out for breakfast and Mountain Shadow, a great little restaraunt that serves pancakes the size of a VW Bug. As a nice bookend to the our last breakfast, we had a quirky, zany waitress again, but she was really good at taking care of us. After breakfast, we said our farewells to Ben, and hit the road for home. The drive through the panhandle and north Texas is very boring, so Evan and Collin found us a special route that took us through some beautiful country in Texas. We drove through Palo Duro Canyon, lots of small little towns, beautiful fields, and saw a wonderful sunset on the Texas plains. At 1:45am, the E pulled up to Collin's place, and the trip was over. The Tale of The Tape:
14,421 = Height of Mt. Massive
1973 = Approximate Milage covered
79 = Hours during the trip
34 = Hours driven
113 = Photos taken on the digital
30 = Approximate number of albums listened to
81 = 9x9 (a math problem we flatlanders can solve faster than Coloradians)
17 = Approximate number of times the word "vestibule" was used (15 of them by me)
1 = Number of doves killed by the E (and Collin)
2 = Crazy Waitresses
1 = Amazing Adventure
WARNING!!! Do Not read this unless you have read Pt 1 and 2. Trust me, you want the whole story.
I awoke in the middle of the night to Collin moving about the tent and a splitting headache. The headache was most likely due to the physical exertion of the previous day and altitude. The Collin moving around I totally didn’t understand. He was out of the tent, I knew that. I asked him to snag me some aspirin from my bag outside, which he did. I took the aspirin and went right back to sleep. Sleeping well rarely happens on backpacking trips. Hard ground, strange surroundings, cold. It’s not uncommon to wake up every hour or so. I woke up the next morning to Evan telling me it was 5:30. Time to get up, breakfast, tear down camp and hit the trail. I got up, and found no Collin, no pad, no sleeping bag. Turns out Collin couldn't sleep well, so he got up after the rain and laid out on Our Rock under the stars. Great use of time if you can’t sleep. I’m sure he saw some amazing things out there.
We woke and decided to not have a hot breakfast and instead hit the trail. I had freeze dried Bacon and Eggs, but Evan advised me that I wasn’t missing much, since he heard from the REI people that it tasted terrible. So, I had some Access bars, fruit leathers, and we tore down camp. With our bags packed, we hiked back down to the meadow. There was a rock formation that made an overhang. We stowed our backpacks under the rock, and packed up our day packs. Basically, I had a 2 liter hydration bag, a poncho, my camera and some food for the trail. Super light for the climb. At 7am, we were on the trail, and our ascension of Mt Massive had begun.
The trail started out simple enough, just a steep trail climbing up. (The topographic map at top shows our route. The purple is our ascent, the green descent.) Then we hit the boulder fields. Huge rocks that you climb through, and try to avoid banging your shins on everyone. After scrambling through the big rocks, the scree begins. Scree is loosely packed rock and dirt that gives way when you step on it. These rocks were the size of baseballs or larger, and completely loose. Nothing you stepped on stayed in place. I was really sucking wind at this point. The trail was very difficult and very steep. We climbed over this rock for an hour or more, and at one of our rests, assessed the trail ahead.
The trail was actually hard to find, and the boulder fields didn’t end anytime soon. Evan recommended that we break off the trail and go straight up the side of the mountain. It was green and nice looking. After going straight up the side, there was a peak. We felt sure if we made it up and scrambled the rock formation, that we would be looking at the top of Mt Massive. I agreed and said I was up for an adventure. Collin was less sure of getting off of the trail, but in the end we decided to go for it. We started climbing the green landscape.
About 30 minutes into this climb I was cursing Evan for coming up with this idea. It was 60 or 70 degree angle the whole way. If you stood up straight, you felt like you would fall backwards and tumble all the way down the mountain. The green hillside turned out to be plants with scree underneath, made slick by hail covering the mountain. However, we were getting a lot of elevation. Each stop showed us moving up the mountain, even though Collin and I were killing ourselves to get there. Evan seemed to be effortlessly moving up the hillside, although he was working hard as well. He was just much more effective with his movement. When we rested, you had to put a leg out to hold you up, otherwise you felt as if you might slide right down the mountain. But another two hours of struggle found us climbing to the peak we had seen at the bottom. As we got higher, we felt sure this was the peak. We were positive we were right around 14,000 feet. So, we climbed up the rock and stood at the top and gazed out over…
More peaks. This was a false summit. Although we were quite high, we could see another two peaks ahead of us. The upside was there was a ridgeline that connected us to the main peak, so we wouldn’t have to climb down, but it was close to a mile away. We posed at the false summit for some photos, and debated whether to go on. You can’t understand how tiring the climb was. This was the most physically challenging thing I had ever done in my life, and after all of that, we weren’t there yet. We discussed going down from here. I mean, we had made it to a 14,000 peak (we thought) and who cares if it was the main one. After a short rest, it was decided that we should go on. Going all this way, all this suffering, all this work and not making to the main summit was not an option. So on we moved, but at a much better pace. We were still breathing hard, but we were on more manageable ground. We crossed several snow fields, climbed to more peaks, and wound our way along to the peak.
At about 11am, we stood at 14,421 feet, the second highest point in Colorado, the 3rd highest in the 48 lower states, and the 20th highest point in all of the US when you include Alaska. No words can describe the feeling, the view, and the total sense of calm standing at that height. The view went on for an immeasurable distance, but it would have been measured in hundreds of miles. There were some people at the top who were nice enough to take our picture. Collin and I rambled on about our hike, and how we had gone up a completely unmarked trail. We then found out that these people were with the Fourteeners Initiative, responsible for the trail, and they really don’t like it when you get off trail. No worries though, because we had truly climbed a mountain. From the top we could see the north trail, a slow meandering trail making the top quite accessible. Those people hike to the top, we climbed.
Proudly we marched down the hill, following the trail all the way down. We passed a group that had followed our path up the side of the mountain, and they were with a 9 year old Border Collie. She had climbed 8 14’ers in her life and was showing no signs of stopping. We passed two men who had given up on the climb and stopped by a rock to make tea. Then we started working again. For me, going down was worse than coming up. You make the trip in much less time, but you are tired, your legs hurt, and now you are abusing your knees and ankles trying to put the brakes on the whole way down. The path down on the main trail took us to the top of the nastiest scree field I’ve ever seen. It was about 500 ft or more down of completely loose dirt and gravel. Going down literally involved taking a little sideways hop and sliding down 20 feet. Looking at this, we had to apologize for ever doubting Evan. Climbing up this scree would have been terrible. Then the trail disappeared again, so we meandered through snow and land, happening upon the trail, and then loosing it again. The sun was out, and the snow fields were starting to get wet. Several times I went crotch deep into a snow field, or slipped and feel on ice and mud. Exhaustion was setting in. My body was ready to stop. I was slowly falling behind Collin and Evan. Not much, but 100 feet or so. I lost sight of them at the end as they turned into the trees, but I was only about 3 minutes behind them. We met at the packs in the meadow, short rest, and full packs were on for the hike out. I set the pace this time. I needed to get off my feet, and the longer it took to get back the worse I would feel. So, I set off at a brisk pace back to the car. We hiked at about 2 to 3 miles and hour all the way back, which is a pretty good pace. None of us were actually walking anymore. We were on auto-pilot. Our feet went forward because that’s what they’d been doing for the last 6 hours, and they saw no reason to stop now. We were stumbling a bit more often. Talking a little less. Hoping that every bend was the trailhead and signs of the end. After more than an hour of non-stop walking, we arrived at the E. We flung our packs to the ground, at 2:30. The mountain was vanquished. We were men who had accomplished exactly what we set out to do. There is no greater feeling.
WARNING!!!! Do Not read this section if you haven't started with Pt 1. Not as good in the wrong order.
The trip from Colorado Springsto the SawtoothMountainswas fairly uneventful. We did encounter a large bicycling event on the road. It was Ride the Rockies, and for over 20 miles, we passed by droves of bicyclists. I would estimate there were 750 or so involved in this thing. It seemed like it would never end, but finally we found ourselves just outside of Leadville turning onto unpaved mountain roads.
The original plan for this trip was to take Evan’s Acura TL. Man, were we glad we took the E (Honda Element.) She has 4WD and the road we were on used it. Huge potholes, washouts, rocks, slow climbing hills. It was terrible road conditions. Finally, after several miles, we came to a point that the E simply couldn’t pass. We parked about .5 miles short of the actual trail head and emerged from the car, 18 hours after we had left Collin’s front door. Once out of the car, we did our final packing and prep, checked our supplies, stretched, and hoisted our packs onto our backs. With 40 – 45lbs of gear, food and water on each of us, we headed down the trail.
Now, some background to help put you in our shoes. We are from Dallas, TX, elevation – 463 ft. The car was parked at around 10,400 feet when we started hiking. That’s 10,000 feet in elevation we gained in just a few hours. Now, as elevation increases, atmosphere decreases. There are fewer oxygen molecules in each breath, so your body needs time to adapt. Normally, you want to spend a few days gradually increasing your elevation to acclimate. Why? Acute Mountain Sickness. AMS can affect anyone at higher elevations. Some studies say 20-25% of people suffer from AMS in varying degrees. Initial symptoms are fatigue, headache, giddiness/loopiness and can advance to nausea, vomiting, heart conditions, and if untreated, death. That’s right, you can die from AMS. But, Collin and I had done our homework. We pounded down large doses of Gingko Biloba and Garlic tablets right before and during the trip. This is supposed to help alleviate symptoms and help with acclimatizing.
So, with our packs on, we began up the road. 200 feet into the trip, and I was breathing through my mouth. Collin and I would both later confess that this first .5 mile made us question whether we could hack it. Of course, no one said anything about this, and we trudged on. At the trail head, we turn into the woods and follow the North Halfmoon Creek. The NHC is a beautiful body of water with waterfalls and the constant sound of rushing water. About a mile into the hike, and we were getting used to our packs. The wooded area opened up into a huge meadow suddenly, and it was amazing. The NHC runs through a valley surrounded by Mt Elbert (the tallest mountain in CO), Mt Massive, and other unknown mountains all around. We packed through the meadow and suddenly lost the trail.
We knew we were close to the area we planned to set up camp, but with no trail, we had to do some exploring. Evan went up ahead and found a trail, which turned out to be a false trail. We finally found a nice clearing in the trees to make our camp. The trail was found again, and we felt like we were in the right area. The clearing we chose to camp was right by a rock formation that over looked the creek and valley. Here is a “panorama” Collin took at Our Rock.
It was now about 3 or 4pm and we were at an elevation of 11,500 feet, give or take a few hundred. We set up camp quickly, as we saw clouds moving in from the SW. Storms are common in the mountains, especially in the afternoon, so we knew to make sure we had shelter. The tents went up (Collin and I stayed in my new tent, a Sirius 3, and Evan had his own tent), rainflys put on, and we stepped out onto Our Rock to look at the surroundings. Collin was ready to go explore and hike down to the creek, but we decided to stay put and let the weather blow through. Some drops began to fall, so we went into the tents. Collin and I started to play some cards. The rain began, and it was heavy. Our tent was getting pelted. We looked out to see what kind of rain this was, and found to our surprise that it wasn’t raining. It was hailing. 
Pea sized hail was pouring from the skies. The storm only lasted about 20 – 30 minutes, but in that time, the ground was covered with hail.
But, as quickly as it came, the storm was gone, and the sun shone brighter than ever. The warm sun combined with the cold hail resulted in mist rising off of everything around. We hiked down to the creek to take some pictures, marvel at its beauty, and collect some water for dinner. 
I was very tired at this point, but Collin and Evan wanted to find the trail we were using the next day. They found a trail going up out of the meadow and followed it. I went back to the tents to get set for dinner. After about 30 minutes, Collin and Evan came back, certain they had found the trail, and had actually gone a considerable way up before cutting back. I fired up my Svea 123 stove and started boiling water. For dinner, I had Beef Stroganoff and Chocolate Pudding. Collin had Pad Thai, and Evan had some sort of noodle dinner. Collin had brought some spices, which improved dinner immensely. During dinner, we saw more weather blowing in. The skies went from blue, to grey, to black, to purple. We knew this one wasn’t going to miss us, so we cleaned up organized our camp for the night, and proceeded to hang our food, which is necessary in bear country.
The hanging of the food was a debacle worthy of The Three Stooges. I’ll spare you the details, and just let you know that eventually, the food was suspended between two trees, and we apologize to the pine tree that sacrificed a limb to our ineptitude. We then sat on Our Rock and watched the weather come in. It was beautiful, but soon rain began to fall, and lightning was fairly close, so we retreated to our tents and a nights sleep.
Collin and I played Cribbage for a bit in the tent and listened to the rain, then more hail, and large claps of thunder and lightning. It hailed quite a bit that night, and I fell asleep to the sound of ice pelting my tent.
*Don't miss the Photo Album on this blog for Mt Massive*
This trip starts with Evan Moorehead, (a good friend of my friend Collin Wigley) suggesting three weeks ago that we take a trip and hike a 14'er. For those not familiar with the term, 14'ers are mountains over 14,000 feet. Simple as that. In Colorado alone, there are 54 of these peaks. Being that my wife and I backpack, and I wanted to go on a trip this weekend, the timing of June 24th - 26th was perfect. Kris couldn't make the trip due to her bad ankle (fencing injury) and Collin's girl, Amanda, couldn't get off work.
So, the trip became a guys weekend. Preparation began about two weeks before the trip. Evan and I have a lot of backpacking gear, but Collin had to borrow stuff from us. We got him set up with a pack, sleeping bag, pad, tent, etc. I started doing some physical preparation, walking on a treadmill at as 15 degree angle to get used to hiking uphill. Bought more camping gear, which is always fun.
Evan was leading this expedition, because he had the most 
experience with mountaineering. Evan actually has ascended several 14'ers including Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa.
For this trip, Evan decided on Mount Massive. Mount Massive is the second highest peak in Colorado. At 14,421 feet, it is only 12 feet shorter that the tallest peak, Mt. Elbert. Mount Massive (pictured above) gets its name from the fact that it is one freaking enormous mountain. Instead of just being a big peak, its is a sprawling mountain with several peaks over 14k feet. The plan was simple. Leave Thursday night after work. Drive all the way to the mountain, stopping in Colorado Springs to possibly pick up Evan's friend Ben who wanted to join us. Hike in about 2 miles and set up camp on Friday. Wake up early on Saturday, and summit. Hike out, drive back to stay with Evan's friend. Sunday, drive home.
The plan was in motion. Wednesday night found me packed and excited. 
We took my car (my Honda Element, which I adore) so I packed up all my gear, and at 5:00 left straight from work. 5:30, I was at Collin's. Evan met us, we packed up the car, said our goodbyes to Kris and Amanda, and at 6:30pm, Thursday, June 23rd, we were off. Our initial drive lasted about 5 minutes. We decided that we were hungry, and also wanted to avoid traffic as much as possible, so we stopped at a Taco Bueno for dinner. After munching down our food, we got back on the road at about 7:00. I drove the first leg of the trip which took us north west through Amarillo. All of us were too excited for words. Tunes poured out non-stop on this trip. The hard rock came from Evan's CD collection, while my iPod offered a more pop-rock selection. Collin chilled out in the back with a Gameboy playing Legend of Zelda. Miles poured by. At about 1am, we found ourselves past Amarillo, and switching drivers. Evan took over after that. Collin slept a bit in the back, I took over co-pilot. I did my best to stay awake, but nodded in and out on the next leg. At about 3am, Evan passed the wheel to Collin. (Evan did drive 3 hours or so, but we lose an hour going into a new time zone). I slept through most of Collin's leg, waking up just after sunrise at about 5:30. We called Evan's friend Ben to tell him we were in town. At 6am, 12 1/2 hours after we started, we had covered about 750 miles, and were in Colorado Springs at Ben's front door.
When we arrived at Ben's, he greeted us at the door, groggy, hungover and just woken. Upstairs at his place, we found a girl (not a girlfriend), also groggy, hungover and just woken. No questions asked, but Ben was definitely earning points to impress the Trio. The five of us (red head girl Amy included) went to breakfast at Denny's where we were waited on by a strange old lady who had no internal dialog. Seriously, everything she thought in her head just poured right out of her mouth. It was really bizarre. We had a play by play of everything she was doing and thinking, cause she just told us everything.
After stuffing ourselves with food (and the obligatory Moons Over My Hammy), we were back on the road heading to the Sawtooth Mountains, and our destination. Mount Massive.
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