14er

A few months back my friend Debra asked me if I wanted to climb a 14er with her. I'll be honest that even though I said yes I had no clue what I was signing up for, but it kind of sounded like a hike and that sounded do-able. She had told me she was going with a group of knee and hip replacement patients, so I figured it couldn't be too bad!

Even though Mt. Sherman wasn't too far from our house, we spent the night at a motel since the hike was at 6am and I sure didn't want to get up at 3am to drive there! When we arrived (after a pretty rocky ascent on the dirt/boulder filled roads) there was only a handful of people there. The group was supposed to be as big as 80 people and finally around 6:45 people started arriving.

{All ready to go! For the record- I am already exhausted in this picture from little sleep! It took me 3 days later to finally catch up!}

{Morning comes}

Now, I am nowhere near being an experienced hiker but rocks weren't exactly what I pictured as part of this adventure. But there we A-L-O-T.

{The trail was gorgeous!}

{She rocked it (slight pun intended), especially for having a knee replacement!}

This was the first tough spot where a lot of people were turning around. We decided to brave it and reevaluate on the other side. It took us some time, but we conquered it!

I was really impressed at the kindness and encouragement that other hikers offered, even those not in our group. Absolutely at no time did anyone make us feel like we were in the way (even though we probably were a good majority of the time) and people on the way down cheered us on. It was an awesome experience!

{Lovely view from the half way point.}

Want to see what the rest of the terrain looked like on the way up?

Smallish rocks...

Steep grade with BIG rocks...

Oh, and REALLY big rocks!

{Just call me a pack mule}

Just after the half way point and climbing over what we thought was the peak (3 times) Debra looked ahead at yet another steep hill and said she just couldn't do it anymore. I knew this was a huge goal of hers and I wasn't about to let her quit now. I decided that if I carried her pack then that would get her movin' up that mountain and it did!

{We did it!}

Finally! The top! It took us longer than we expected and honestly people probably made it up and back by the time we made it up. But the goal was to go all the way and we did! I'm so proud of Debra and her accomplishment. It was not an easy task!

{Some friends she made at the top! They were all so proud of her too!}

{Yahoo!}

Coming back down was only slightly easier than going up, since climbing down slippery rocks isn't an easy task! Instead of braving the boulders yet again we opted for the snow slide. By the time we got there no one was around and I was a leeetle hesitant. But heck! We just climbed a mountain, so why not slide down 200+ feet at an alarming speed with sharp rocks at the bottom?!

{I really love this picture}

With only a few minor injuries sustained and completely numb hands, the rest of the hike back down was a breeze. I was just glad to be able to sit in a car for 2 hours!

Goodbye mountain! See you next time (since we obviously have to get Cory up there now!)