14er
At 2:15 pm, August drove me to a parking lot outside the Denver Airport. A few minutes later, my family pulled up, having already picked up Ryan and Luke. After I said goodbye to August, I got into the van, and we drove the last two hours to Breckenridge.
Now where we were staying near, Breckenridge is 10,000 feet above sea level, and Denver is about 5,280. Breckenridge is the highest I've ever been, though I still didn't get altitude sickness. On our first night, we reviewed our plans for our first few days. My Family, Ron, Anita, Tanner, and Alex, did a ton of hiking, rode 37 miles on e-bikes, and went white water rafting. But the highlight of the trip was climbing a 14er.
Ever since Arden moved to Colorado in 2019, I have heard the term 14er in passing. A 14er is a mountain that is at least 14,000 feet above sea level. At 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 19, my family and both generations of Wallaces got ready to go, and we were at the Quandary Peak trailhead by 8:00.
Dad and my brothers were in one group, and Mom, the Wallaces, and I were in the other. Dad and the boys went ahead while the Wallaces, Mom, and I took our time. The first third of the hike wasn't spectacular, though it was at a constant incline. Once we reached that second third, we ran into the scree. Scree (according to the app, all trails) is a bunch of loose rocks and stones covering a mountain. The second 2/3 of this hike was just climbing up scree!
Now the second third of the hike culminated in a false peak. A false peak is exactly what it sounds like; from below, it looks like the top of a mountain, but once you reach it, you realize that the actual peak is still far away. When we were about halfway through the second third, Ryan called Mom (I have no idea how they had service) and informed her that Josh had left the group and had run to the top of the mountain as soon as they got to the false peak. We later found out that he fell asleep when he reached the top!
As we approached the false peak, a group of moutan goats came to us. We couldn't tell the males from the females, as they all had horns, but there was an adorable baby one! I took out my phone and started recording. The one that I assume was the mother walked up right up to me, so close that I had to back up! I think she was trying to show her baby that humans are safe. They were very social creatures; in fact, on the hike down, they walked with us until we got out of the scree as if they wanted to make sure that we got home safe!
Once we reached the false peak, Ron, Anita, Mom, and I ate a snack while Tanner and Alex continued to the top. At this point, our group started to break apart. Once we had finished our snack, we continued through the final third, but Mom and Anita took breaks every few steps because the air was so thin. Ron and I would wait for them, but eventually, they told us they would meet us at the top. Whenever I thought I had reached the top, I would look up and see more scree between me and the summit. It started to feel like I was climbing up a treadmill. Finally, with much perseverance, I made it to the top! When Mom and Antia were close enough, I went down a little bit to offer moral support. Once they reached the snow about 100 feet from the top, Anita convinced Mom to lie down and make snow angels with her.
As I said earlier, I've known about 14ers since Arden initially moved to Colorado. The thing is, my "sisters" and Marshall always talked about how ridiculously hard these things were. Up to this point, I haven't been an avid hiker. I mean, I enjoy it, but I haven't been addicted to it the way that they are. In my head, these things were almost equivalent to Mt. Everest! Because of how they had set my expectations, climbing this 14er was a lot easier than I had anticipated! Honestly, climbing down was more challenging because the scree hurt my legs and feet more from that angle. On top of that, I had forgotten to put sunscreen on my neck!
There are some tasks in life that can seem daunting, but if you don't go through them, you won't get the reward of seeing the world from an incredible new perspective!
Have a Greattastic day and be safe
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
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