8-18-14

Me: The last few days Bob's done a lot of studying & I've done a lot of laundry. We've both been going through piles of mail, doing yard work & running errands. This evening Bob flew to Dallas & I made a quick grocery stop. I grabbed mac & cheese for supper & bought a couple magazines. But I also found these cool (haha) juice bottles! They're for kids & I'm sure Kavan will like 'em but I like them too! Planning to reuse Barbie for my drinks & Bob can use Spider Man. ;-)

8-17-14

Me: Back on the bike in Phoenix now! My 2nd road bike ride since hand surgery. The thumb is a bit sore & stiff but overall I am pretty happy with how the hand feels. Tendonitis is much better. Yay!

Me, Howard, Wendy, & Bob riding around the mountain (46 miles).

Bob studying his flight training flashcards while Harley studies which toy she wants to play with next!

8-16-14

Martin…where are you?!

Jane :-)

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Me: After getting back from Colorado my mom told me about the time she & dad went to Pikes Peak (maybe around 1979). Mom said they were driving up the curvy roads when dad got dizzy & light headed with altitude sickness. He got out of the car and vomited: poor dad. I am sure it was pretty crazy for an Iowa farmer to drive the twisting roads of Colorado with huge cliffs a few feet out the window. I wish I had a photo of them on top of Pike's Peak (if they made it to the top that is. Mom wasn't sure they did). :-/

But I do have a photo from Bob's parents trip up Pikes Peak in 2001...

They drove their Model A to the top!! Congratulations on your 14'er summit, Pat & Bob!

And congratulations to our friends, Karen & Charlie. They summited Pikes Peak in 1993!

(via their car) :-)

I also have a photo of Karen at Maroon Bells (Aspen 1993). Beautiful with all the snow! 

2014 - Bob standing in the same place! A lot less snow on the Maroon Bells but again, beautiful!

Thanks for sharing your photos, Pat, Bob, Karen & Charlie!

8-15-14

Me: Here's Bob. Today's his birthday and he turned 45.

Here's Bob again. He likes to climb mountains!

So do I. :-) Here we are on Mount Sneffels.

And here's my birthday song to Bob...

"There ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you, babe"

Happy Birthday, honey! I am so happy to be celebrating another year with you.
Love you!
Me
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Lyrics borrowed from the song recorded in 1967 by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell & then a hit again by Diana Ross in 1970.

8-14-14

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Today was a travel day home. Harley & I left Denver at 10:30am and made it all the way to Phoenix in 14 hours (last 2 hrs were tough). Our Colorado vacation was so special with a good mixture of time with family & friends and adventure. Here is one pic from each of my 7 summits of the summer... 

#1) Mt. Sneffels.  14,150 ft.  July 30, 2014.  With Bob & Highly.

#2) Castle Peak.  14,265 ft.  August 2, 2014.  With Bob.

 #3) Conundrum Peak.  14,060 ft.  August 2, 2014. With Bob.

 #4) Snowmass Mountain.  14,092 ft.  August 4, 2014. With Bob & Rich.

 #5) Mt. Bierstadt. 14,060 ft.  August 12, 2014. With Rich & Anna.

 #6) Mount Evans.  Biked to 14,130 ft & then hiked to 14,264 ft. August 12, 2014.  With Anna & Rich.

#7) Pikes Peak 14,110 ft. August 13, 2014. With Danielle, Dana, Rich, Anna & Clint.

I am thankful for good health so that I can hike these mountains, appreciative of friends & family who share in these adventures, and much love & gratitude to Bob who is always right there with me! Special doggie hugs to Harley - who is our faithful companion.

8-13-14

Me: My 7th summit of the summer!

Pike's Peak - 14,110 ft.

And I had a big crew with me! :-)

Danielle, Dana, Anna, Clint, Me, Rich

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Our Pikes Peak day…

(click to enlarge any photo)

After a 90 minute drive from Denver we started out hiking in pine trees.

 Fun that Anna & her boyfriend, Clint could join us! They fly out of Denver to Cancun tomorrow & just happened to have today free.

 It's also Clint's first 14'er. I'm not worried - he's already leading the pack up the mountain!

Dana hiking with a pretty backdrop.

That's some of our crew reaching the grassy saddle.

One of my favorite shots! Clint & Danielle standing by a large cairn. Dana is in the distance with her hands up. She looks like she's miniature & standing on top of the cairn. Kinda cool. :-)

The terrain we walked through was different - more like Arizona.

Thrilled that my niece, Dana took the day off to do this hike! It's so nice to catch up while we spend hours walking & enjoying the scenery (and gasp for air!) ;-)

Had great fun with my niece, Danielle! The kids are back in school so she had the day to play as well.

 Once to this point we could see the top of Pikes Peak. Steep & rocky but a clear trail all the way.

Also at this point, Danielle was getting symptoms of altitude sickness. A pressure headache, dizziness and some nausea. Ugh. :-( 

 Danielle still pushed for the top and WE ALL MADE IT! Here's the official Pikes Peak Summit monument. The building behind is a restaurant and souvenir shop PACKED with tourists. Not only can you drive your car to the top of Pike's Peak but you can also take a tram. 

We took many summit pictures and then went inside for French fries & hot chocolate. We could have had freshly made fudge but none of us felt like having any (not even me). :-/ We were all craving salt so the French fries were a huge hit for our group.

Danielle: 3rd 14'er. She & Dana did Torreys & Grays with us last Sept.

 Dana: 3rd 14er! Torreys, Grays & now Pikes.

Anna: 5th 14'er. Last year Torreys & Grays with us, yesterday Bierstadt & Evans and today Pikes Peak!

Rich: His 53rd 14'er!! He has just ONE peak left to hit all official Colorado 14,000 ft peaks. He is scheduled to hike that one (Culebra Peak) on Friday.

Clint: Today was his 1st 14'er!    Me: It was my Sweet 16!

Pikes Peak was a GREAT summit to complete our Colorado vacation.

We definitely ended on a high note!!

Wahoo!!

We gathered our things and walked the same 7 miles back down.

It was a 7.5 hour hike round trip (including the 45 minutes at the summit eating fries).

Girl Power ;-)

Thankfully Danielle's headache & other altitude symptoms subsided at the lower elevations.

Back to Denver we all went. Dana, Danielle, Rich & I had a great time celebrating at the house (we were all too tired to go out for dinner). Clint & Anna headed to their airport hotel to clean up and get ready for their Cancun trip.

It was a wonderful day with family & friends!

8-12-14

Me: Anna & I had a du-athlon 14'er day!

First we HIKED to the top of Mt. Bierstadt.

14,060 ft.

Then we BIKED to the top of Mt. Evans!

14,130 ft!

Here's the story with all kinds of pics to go along. :-)

Click on any to enlarge & scroll thru...

Before the sun came up Rich, Anna & I left Breckenridge & arrived at the trail head of Mt. Beirstadt & Mt. Evans. Mt. Bierstadt is the highest rounded peak you see on the right. You can't see Mt. Evans which is behind the rounded peak on the left. The famous "sawtooth" are the jagged rocks in the middle (which is the hiking route from Mt. Bierstadt to Mt. Evans).

We didn't take any photos on the climb up but instead hiked a steady (& fast-ish) pace to the top. We made it to the summit in 1.5 hours!! That's the fastest summit of any 14'er we've done. We passed a LOT of hikers! :-)

We took our summit shots. Love Anna's smile!

Mt. Bierstadt

14,060 ft.

August 12, 2014

In this photo you can see where we started. The trailhead is by the road just north of the lake you see in the middle of the pic.

We had a snack and enjoyed the view.

Since Mt. Bierstadt it one of the easier 14'ers (and close to Denver) it's a busy mountain!

While eating PB&J we contemplated our next move. Our original plan was for the 3 of us to hike across sawtooth (the jagged ridge now on the left of above photo by the snow) to Mt. Evans. For sure Rich was needing to do that as he has to check off summit #52 in his quest for reaching all 54 Colorado 14,000 ft summits this week. But Anna & I didn't have that pressure and we weren't so sure we wanted to spend that long of a day hiking the technical sawtooth and then coming back through the marsh, willows & loose rock route from Mt. Evans.

Hard to tell in this pic but all the water ponds = marsh & willows. This area is part of the route back from Mt. Evans. We've read hiking reports that this section alone can take hours as you sink knee deep in mud & get scratched up from willow branches trying to find your way back.

We've also heard the sawtooth is easier than it looks but still requires careful climbing along the ridge of  narrow paths & rocks.

So, in the thin air, Anna came up with the idea that she & I should hike down the Bierstadt trail while Rich would cross over on sawtooth to Mt. Evans as planned. Anna & I would then bike to the top of Mt. Evans (we'd first have to get in our cars & drive through Idaho Springs, up the Mt. Evans road a bit to the fee station and then bike from there). We also made the plan to meet Rich at the top of Mt. Evans & save him from having to hike down through the nightmare return route. He'd still get his summit checked off having met all the requirements of elevation gain. It was about 8:45am when we parted ways on top of Bierstadt peak and agreed we'd see Rich around noon on Mt. Evans. Now, does that all make perfect sense? Keep in mind that Rich had no cell phone in case we needed to reach each other & noon was merely a 1/2 educated guess of when we might all arrive. At 14,000 ft it all seemed logical and off we went. What could possibly go wrong? :-/

Rich started his expected 3 hour traverse to Mt. Evans.

And Anna & I hustled down the Bierstadt trail to our cars. We made it down in an hour!

A look back at Bierstadt, Sawtooth and our morning trek.

Once in the cars we made the hour drive to the Mt. Evans Road fee station (14 miles from the summit). We got our bikes ready, grabbed our jackets & started riding. Up, up, up!! This was only my 2nd time on a bike since my hand surgery so I was not sure this was the best idea but it sure sounded like an adventure. It was! We didn't take any photos along the way as we needed to keep pedaling (realizing that we were unlikely to make it to the top by noon). Instead our ETA was likely to be 1:30pm. We wondered?? Would Rich be there when we arrived? The ride up slowed tremendously for me at 13,000 ft. It was hard to breathe and my legs were tired.

But Anna was a good cheerleader and WE MADE IT!!

And, Rich was there waiting for us!!! 

What a relief that our plan (with big potential for failure) turned out perfectly!

Cool that Anna & I biked the highest paved road in the contiguous United States at 14,130 ft! I've never biked that high before. :-) And fun that Rich easily made the traverse from Mt. Bierstadt to Mt. Evans to bag his 52nd CO 14er!

From the Evans road parking lot I hiked the remaining 134 ft to Mt. Evans highest point. 14,264 ft. 

Since our bike ride was over 3,000 ft elevation gain and under my own power (no motor) I am claiming Mt. Evans as an official 14er summit for me.

That bike ride to the top was every bit as hard in effort & time as walking to the top. What a unique adventure and what a blast! In above photo you can see some of the road we biked up (just right of summit lake).

From the top of Mt. Evans, Anna & I had a thrilling bike ride down to our cars while Rich hitched a ride with some tourists to the cars. From there I drove Rich 1 hour back to his truck at Mt. Bierstadt trailhead and then we each drove another hour to Danielle and Mike's to spend the night. Anna went on from Mt. Evans to pick up her boyfriend at the Denver airport. We will all reunite tomorrow for another 14er: Pikes Peak.

WHAT A DAY!!