I hiked up my first 14er this weekend.
For people living in Colorado, hiking or climbing the 14ers is a part of saying you live in Colorado. If you live here long enough, you'll say you've climbed 10, 11 or more of these famous peaks. Why the excitement?
There are different classifications of the peaks and the one we did was a Class I - easy. It is 7.5 miles round trip and took about 5 hours total to summit and return to the campsite. Class III is the most difficult to summit without gear and Class IV and V require gear - climbing gear. Eventually, I hope to get strong enough to complete some IVs. I am going to stick with Class I and II for now - why not, right?
The beauty of hiking to the summit is the change in scenery as you ascend. Starting in a forest and then hopping through a rock jungle and then just hard rock and ground at the top. Another great part - hiking with friends! I went camping outside Breck with 3 new friends that I have met from my new church, Fellowship. Great people! One of the guys with us has just moved to Colorado a few weeks back so he jumped right into what it means to live in Colorado.
A little crazy but I ran a little over 13 miles the day before this hike - not suggested, by the way. My legs were dead and I was drinking a lot of water at the beginning of the trip. Luckily, that 2nd and 3rd wind kicked in with the adrenaline and I steadily moved up.
Living in Colorado is a dream. The mountains, the people and the adventure are snapshots of a deeper meaning to living here - I feel like I am discovering more of who I am here than I have in other cities where I have lived. What I like is knowing that there are no limits.... only the ones we set for ourselves. Here, friends push me to expand my limits and go beyond my comfort zone.
I love living here!
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