Virginia Pines: I hiked my first 14er...

Well people as I speak I can hear the Elk bugling and to make it real, today it snowed on Longs Peak. Granted, it snowed at 13,000 feet but still, it's really early for snow to land on Longs and stay for more than 2 minutes. It looks like we have ourselves an early winter! Cross our fingers. Now that we have an all wheel drive vehicle, nothing can stop us from having fun! But enough about that.

Last weekend (August 24-26), I climbed my first ever 14er. A 14er is a mountain whose elevation is 14,000ft or higher. Colorado has lots of these, over 50! So we climbed Longs Peak with a small group of people. We hiked up to the boulder field, made camp and then summited the next day and camped again that night before heading out. I don't know how people hike in and summit and then leave all in the same day! Those people must have drive and better knees than me because that summit was challenging. The pictures probably don't do it justice but some parts were scary. If I wasn't into rock climbing and had no experience with steep drop offs, I probably couldn't have completed the hike.

Longs is a rare 14er because I guess it gets technical and if its wet or snowy, you should not attempt to summit. As scary as it was, going up the mountain was so much fun. I can't wait to make this a goal. Every 14er in Colorado! I think we can accomplish it but with a little puppy on the way, we might need to carry her half the time. Sometimes those hikes are long! Anyways, I've been wanted to hike this since we moved to Estes Park 1 year ago and I finally did it!