What a day!! Although we are only three days into our journey of a lifetime, today was the highlight of the trip thus far. In one of dumbest, unsmart, most incredible adventures of my life Derek and I set out to discover what the Rockies were all about. We had plans to head out to a place called "red rock" just west of Denver. Red rock was a hiking spot in the foothills of the rockies that peak at about 8,000 feet. On our way there we decided that since this may be our only time in Colorado we needed to go big or go home (and considering its day 4 we certainly werent going home.) After much contemplation and talking with a nice elderly women in the visitors center we decided we were going to hike Grays Peak which is 14,000 feet above sea level. While we realized we may have been over our heads we liked the idea of a challenge and set off to conquer the Rockies.
We arrived at what seemed to be the base of the mountain around 11:30am after a gorgeous scenic drive through some of the mountains. After about 2 hours we had hiked our way to what was truly the base of the mountain. Apparently you can drive your car all the way up to the base if you have the right vehicle (aka a huge truck). We however did not have the right vehicle and thus hiked from the very bottom.
Once we passed the huge trucks only parking area the adventure really began. At this point we had been hiking for about 2 hours and were probably standing at about 10,000 feet staring straight up at a peak that seemed miles away. Slowly but surely we began to make our way up the winding path amidst the gorgeous scenery. Then came the real problems. The path seemed to disappear and snow covered the entire ground. At times we would sink up to our quads in snow and quickly had water logged shoes and socks. Bound and determined to finish what we started we scraped, crawled, rolled, and treked through the snow and continued up the mountain. We clearly strayed off the path and by the end of the hike were probably hiking in unsafe areas far from the trail we ascended at the beginning. Then it began to snow. Scary yet amazing all at the same time. Around 13,000 something feet we decided it was not smart or worth our while to continue with the hike. Unfortunately for everyone except Derek and I none of my pictures truly capture the beauty, awe, or size of the mountains we were climbing. The good news however is that we are still in one piece and feel as though we conquered the Rockies. Turns out that 14,000 foot peaks usually dont get hiked often until July or August due to the amount of snow and the weather conditions.
This evening provided a little different style of adventure. We attended JD's nephews graduation from kindergarten. These 6 year old kids were decked out in cap and gown and even walked in to the typical graduation music. I may even say that this graduation was more entertaining than my own less than a week ago.
Quote of the day: On a coors light sign along I70- "Go west young man" They must know what our team name is and where we are headed.
Big news: We added Massachusetts and North Dakota to the license plate states that we have seen bringing our total to 41 states. This is big because they were two of the few states we were not real sure we would see.
Pull overs jumped up 2 spots today to a grand total of 21
Road kill struggled today but still managed to add 1 to its tally totaling 37 on the trip
Note: Colorado is a great state. Very clean, extremely pretty, and in the two days I've been here...sunny.
All in all today was an excellent day. Having the chance to hike in the Rockies was incredible. God's creation is certainly on display in Colorado and I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to explore it. The more we travel the more I come to appreciate how beautiful God's creation is and how lucky we are to be able to enjoy it.
Tomorrow we head out to Utah to visit Zion National Park followed by a few days in the Grand Canyon. I am not sure when we will be able to blog again but I will do my best to keep everyone up to date. Until then, later days.
~Brett~
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