Pike's Peak

Pictures: Top row, left--At the start of the trail at dawn. Right--Pike's Peak.
Middle row, left--The three of us at the midway point. Right--We were at the timber line where they have a small shelter for campers.
Bottom--We are about 1 mile from the top of the peak. It was looking down on a big gulch.

A week ago today Joel, Bill, and I hiked up Pike's Peak. If you remember, last year Joel and Bill hiked it. Well this year I wanted to go--I was ready to face the challenge of hiking a mountain over 14,000 feet in altitude. Last year Joel and his dad made the 13 mile hike to the top in 6.5 hours. This year was a little different.

I have been training for this all summer. I was hiking 3-4 days a week for 7 miles or more. I was all ready for the hike. But then I got a stomach virus Thursday night. Friday I was feeling somewhat better and I figured that by Saturday morning I would be perfect. Joel on the other hand felt perfect but the last time he took a major hike was last year, when he hiked Pike's Peak (that is a tad bit of an exaggeration...but not much of one). Of course Bill was in the best shape for the hike, with all the running Bill does he is in top shape.

The night before we stayed in a little motel in Colorado Springs. We started the hike at 5 am in pitch dark. We needed two flash lights just to see the trail. We made it to the half way point by 8:15 am. The first half of the hike went well. We made the first 7.5 miles in about 3 hours and 15 minutes (exactly the amount of time it took them the year before). Barr Camp is the midway point. There they had free grapes, bananas, and oranges for all the hikers. They also had a much needed bathroom. After a quick rest at the camp, I felt great. Joel was feeling rough but was ready to keep going. And of course Bill felt great.

Things went down hill after the midway point. My stomach started acting up and Joel got
really worn out--we really slowed down. And then we hit the high altitude. And we ALL got altitude sickness (our stomachs were queazy and we felt generally crappy). We still had about 3 miles left to go. And it was the longest 3 miles of my LIFE! In the end it took about 8.5 hours to get to the top.

At the top we hitched a ride down, (yep that's right, we bummed a ride from a couple at the top). The good news is, as soon as we got down a couple of miles, the altitude sickness was immediately gone. Afterwards, I felt great. At that slow of a pace, I didn't even get sore. Bill was great too (the next morning he got up and ran). Joel on the other hand was a wreck--he was sore for a couple of days.

Despite how sick I felt going up, I am glad that we did it. But next time I hike a 14er I will pick one with a shorter trail! And I will never hike one just days after having a stomach virus!

You might be wondering what the girls were up to during all of this. They got to have a slumber party with Grandma! They stayed up late Friday night playing Candy Land, watching movies, eating pizza, and painting their nails. Then Saturday they had a great day walking to the park and playing with Grandma.