First 14'er!

June 10, 2014

It’s been just over a month since hitting the road for this gig. I can’t believe the amount of stuff I have already seen in such a short period of time. Last time I posted I was in Iowa City headed to Omaha, NE. Omaha was a very short lived trip and then on to Kansas City, MO. Which also, was incredibly short lived. 

Yoga @ Glacier Basin CG

The morning of May 30th rolled around and I was so excited to make the long haul to Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days off. Not to mention we would be in Colorado for just about 2 full weeks! Colorado has been a place I have always wanted to visit my entire life. I always wondered what the Rockies looked like form the ground up, and not just from a plane high in the sky down. Boy, was I in for a treat.

Just about 10 hours on the road that morning we finally arrived at our campground at Glacier Basin, right in RMNP. It was quite cloudy and chilly when we arrived and early evening, so not the views I had looked forward to. We set up camp, in our first campground with absolutely NO cell service, NO WIFI, no showers, and oh yeah…. My first experience in BEAR COUNTRY! I was incredibly excited, and nervous at the same time. See, now-a-days we live by technology. Our lives are consumed with checking emails, texting, social media sites, so you lose track of what life used to be like without it all. This for us was our first official 4 days off without work! No emails, no conference calls, no social media. It was us and the mountains. Of course we still worked, by taking sponsor photos while on trail. But this is what we enjoy doing.

First morning we woke up, as always first people to rise bright and early so we decided to take full advantage of having the campground field to ourselves with beautiful views. We broke out the yoga mats and had an hour long yoga session. Later that morning we decided to take some short hikes around the park to get our selves well acclimated for potentially a much larger backcountry overnight. We hiked a few recommended hikes. One of which was to Emerald Lake and the other was Bear Strathe Lake. It was absolutely stunning. The views were breathtaking and made me incredibly speechless.

 

Later that afternoon we decided to hit the Visitor Center as well as the back country office to see about getting a back country permit for an over night. Well, unfortunately the distance we were looking for for an over night wasn’t capable of doing with the gear we had. We were suggested to spend a night at Fern Lake, however it was 4 miles each way. So we the next day decided to hike into Fern Lake as a day hike. Glad we did because it didn’t take us long at all, even at higher altitudes than what we were used to.

Most mornings in Glacier Basin Campground and evenings were very cold. Unfortunately we had our sweat pants stolen from our dryer at a hotel back in Bloomington at a Super 8, along with many other things. So we kind of froze our butts off per say? We met a family a couple sites down from us it was a couple from New Mexico who was traveling for 2 months around the country with their 2 grand daughters. They were 14 and 12. They invited us to join them for dinner the last night we were there and it was wonderful. They made a mexican frito pie! It was so yummy. We taught the two girls some yummy dessert tips for the camp fire and told them to test them out and let us know what they thought, they immediately tried it that night.

Tuesday June 3, 2014

Morning came and we had some work emails coming through and we needed to get to wifi, so we decided to check in a day early at our hotel near Fort Collins, CO. I won’t lie, a shower never felt so good, and a bed never felt so comfortable. We spent the afternoon touring around Fort Collins, and met on of Becca’s friends for a local brew, and grabbed a cupcake. We then had out next event in Denver, CO. We did pretty much the same thing. Toured the city for the day before our event. I have to say, living out of your vehicle for 5 months, can be quite… BORING? I don’t mean this in a bad way. I mean, we wake up early 6:00am, we sit around have breakfast and head into cities. And lets face it, not all cities are cool and interesting. Also, when you have 8 hours to walk around and explore, by 2:00pm you’re wiped but know you have 2 more hours to kill. So we have adopted the nap in the car for those moments. Yup, this is my life. 

After Denver’s event we had the next few days off before our Boulder, CO event. Well we decided to stay in Pikes National Forest. We stayed at a primitive campground with 1-holers and water. That is it. We are truly roughing it. Pikes National Forest include one of the most commonly known mountains in America, Pikes Peak. Pikes Peak is the only other mountain next to what I know as home and past work, Mount Washington, NH, that also has a Cog Railway and Auto Road to the top! So we were pretty excited about that.

Friday June 6, 2014

We arrived at camp and set up for the evening. Located just outside off Woodland Park, CO area. We relaxed for the night and decided that on Saturday we would check out the Garden of the Gods. Gorgeous red rock pillars in a small area with some hiking trails around. We spent the entire morning and afternoon there. Just as we were headed back to the vehicle, a thunderstorm rolled right over us. We quickly ran back to our car and headed back to camp for the evening. We had checked the weather and saw there may be a chance of us being able to hike Pikes Peak on one of our days off. Tuesday was looking like the day. Sunday morning rolled around and we slept in a tad bit. We took our time getting up, and headed a mile down the road for some wifi to check out Pikes Peaks Cog and Auto Road. We called the Auto Road and it was $12 per person to drive up, Score! We headed that way and drove up the 20 miles road to 14,110ft Pikes Peak. A place that made me miss home, but at the same time felt like home. It was amazing with again more stunning views. 

Later that afternoon we also wanted to go visit the Florissant Fossils National Monument, as well as find the Pikes National Forest main visitor center to grab a JR Ranger Book (ask me what this is). We knew there would be thunderstorms rolling through in the afternoon, as typical here in the mountains. However, we had no idea that we would also drive into what was the beginning of a tornado. As we turned a bend on this lonely road through the mountains and only 2 ways to go, I spotted a funnel cloud. Just to be sure, I asked Becca if it was what I thought it was. Sure enough it was. We immediately pulled over trying to check weather alerts and go figure, no signal. We finally got an alert through my iPhone just as Becca reported to NWS that there was a tornado alert out for the area we were in. We started moving in what we thought was the opposite path of the storm, when all of a sudden…. Pea size hail, then dime size, and quickly turning into nickel size hail. Holy crap, we went the wrong way. Stopped the car and immediately turned around and BOOKED it. As police officers were shutting down the roads others would stand on the side of the road snapping photos. Let’s just say, it was quite the eventful afternoon. With all the excitement we decided to head north to Boulder and get a hotel for the night and host our event the next and drive back to camp after.

With only 4 hours of sleep for the both of us, and most of our stuff packed and ready to go. We hit the road to the trail head of Pikes Peak. We headed up the Northwest Slopes of Pikes for the sake of time, and milage. It was a 16 mile round trip hike with 4300’ vertical gain. Not too shabby! We were confident, but spoke mainly words of “attempting” “slow and steady wins the race” “just focus” “just breathe” and on and on. The two of us hit the trail. I was nervous about hiking in high altitude again because my first experience on Humphreys Peak was not pleasant by any means. Well, lets say I’ve learned the importance of acclimating now. 

We checked the time when we hit the trail and kept moving. As long as we both steadily trekked we could continue to keep moving. We hit treelike and felt amazing. After the first steep section that took some wind out of us, we had another good 2 miles of just flat. This was a breeze.. Looking ahead was nothing but what looked to be a very steep incline of the summit cone. Coming from NH Mount Washington’s summit cone can be quite miserable for some. This is what we knew. Well, we hit the base of the cone, took a minute to gather our thoughts, and the encouraging words came flowing out again. “Slow and steady wins the race.” Switchback after switch back, higher and higher we climbed. Breathe after breathe, heart racing, legs starting to burn, calfs aching, I finally looked up and there it was. No, not the towers of Mount Washington, but close. It was the guardrail to the road.

It was starting to kick in. This was it. There was no turning back. We are so close. There it was, the building in sight. Just about at the top and I hear the sounds of cars and a train rolling up. AHHH the sound of HOME (Mount Washington). Sadly to say emotion started flowing through my body. I was proud of what i had just accomplished. Another goal down. I start to laugh, I start to tear up, and before I know it I’m laugh crying. YUP. There you have it folks. I will admit, for me.. there just isn’t a better feeling in the world. To have worked so hard for something you want, and to know there is always a possibility that you may not make it.

We ran to the summit sign to get our official photos, and we checked time. We made it up in under 4 hours. WOW! I was just impressed with myself. We headed inside to try out their “World Famous Doughnuts” and eat our lunches and check out the gift shop. We met a few folks who asked us if we hiked up, a ranger who told us to be careful and to make sure NOT to walk on the road, another employee who asked if we were like the rest of the hikers who would be asking for a ride back down, I happily smiled and said No, we will be hiking it back down and enjoying every last bit of this day.

I sat down at the table, Becca followed behind. She put her head down and said with somewhat of a laugh “OMG Sam, we did it.” I put my head down as well started to laugh, then started to cry and I spoke back to her as tears rolled down. “We did, it feels so good doesn’t it?” She then proceeded to break out the tissues from her pack. Yup- Not only did I cry from joy, but I made a friend as well. I got to share that moment with a friend of whom I’ve chosen to leave everything back home to live with her out of a car for 5 months. I chose her for that exact reason. Because I know in moments like that, she will be the one who will understand and feel it too.

Some of you may read my blog and thoroughly enjoy it, others may roll their eyes and get annoyed. Well, either way, I am happy to be where I am today. I have made mistakes in my life. I have given up when I probably should have tried harder. Hiking has put my thoughts into perspective for me. It helps me understand that by doing something you enjoy and love, it will take you to places you never would have dreamed about going to. I am traveling for 5 months educating others by using my own personal stories. How cool is that? Not many can say they have established a career by doing such thing.

 But I encourage you, all of you, to get out there and do the things you love. Don’t let there be set backs. My biggest decision on this trip and hardest, was applying for the job as a single girl, meeting an amazing man right before I was offered the job, and making the decision of leaving him for 5 months. I knew that this is what I wanted, and needed for my life. I explained it to him and he completely understood. The words he said to me that day, and still every day on the road is, “I could never have let you pass up such a great opportunity, and I will be here waiting for you to come home.” I could not have been any luckier. So remember, don’t let small things stop you from doing what you love and what you were meant to do!