My first 14er

For those of you who don't know, the first 14er that I ever climbed was Long's Peak. Also, for those who don't know, Long's Peak is not a good 14er to begin with, but at the time I decided to climb it I did not know. So what is a 14er you ask? It is a Mountain whose elevation is over 14,000 feet. It started out normal enough, just like any other camping trip with a hike. We packed our stuff, light as usual which meant taking only the amount of water that we thought we would need, and drove to the base where we would spend the night before hiking the peak in the morning. When we woke up in the morning there were bear tracks around our tents and the neighbors food which had been hanging nine feet above the ground had disappeared. Fortunately for us, our food had been hanging higher than theirs and though it was obvious that the bear had tried, our stuff was untouched. With this little bit of excitement behind us we started the long walk to the top. We could see a string of lights, made by the steady stream of hikers, spiraling in a zig-zag pattern around the mountain all the way to the peak, it didn't look far, but above timberline distances can be deceiving. After about a quarter mile or so we ran into two girls who were coming down, they acted rather delirious and said that they were just coming down from the top and had seen a beautiful sunset, when we asked them if they meant sunrise they said that they did but they were so tired they couldn't think straight. This should have told us that this hike was slightly more strenuous than we had thought was, but instead we gloried in the fact that we knew what we were doing and that those girls must just be out of shape. At about a half mile past timberline I suddenly noticed that my water was not going to last very long, I think everybody else noticed it too because they all became fairly quit except for my friend Paul who started complaining that he had altitude sickness which he soon proved by covering a whole rock in.. well lets just say I didn't know his stomach was that big. To keep our spirits up a guy who was a friend of a friend who had decided to come along decided to start calling out cheesy cadences. It worked until he finally got so tired he couldn't talk any more and I don't think I heard another word out of him the entire time. By the time we got to the boulder field we starting to wonder as to weather or not we could make it the entire way. Most of us decided we would finish the hike or die trying; it looked like we were almost at the top. Paul, however, wasn't feeling well at all so we told him to stay at the Key Hole and wait for us which he did gladly. Again for those of you who don't know, the Key Hole is named that because it looks like a giant key hole in a vertically placed rock sheet. After a short break, we went through the Key Hole and across the back side. The trail on the back side was worn into the slope and was narrow. The whole time Scott, who was leading the expedition, kept telling us about how as part of a search and rescue team he had once rescued someone who had rolled the long, long way down. The slope was indeed steep though, except for a few places, not to steep to climb down. However, if once you started rolling there would be no stopping for a very long time! Even so, we continued on even over the areas where we had to grab onto some metal stakes driven into rocks and swing across a gap in the trail. Eventually we came to an area that was called the trough. It was a long trough shaped slope that was filled with rocks and appeared to be glacier carved. During the break we took before starting up the trough people coming down told us that after the trough all we had left to go was the easy front side and the short homestretch. This being the case, Scott told us that he wasn't going to take anymore breaks before reaching the top and so we didn't have to follow him and with that he was off with me right behind. There were several times when a break would have been nice but I wasn't about to let an old man (early thirties) out hike me, so I kept going. About halfway up the trough and again at its top, he stopped to take a break. I was very grateful. At this point I ran out of water. After climbing a rock at the top of the trough we continued to around on the front side. The path here was a little wider and the slope shallower. However, to the side of the trail was a drop off that seemed to go forever. After crossing the front side we reached the Home Stretch. At this point we took a break to gape at what lay before us. Though it was true that the Home Stretch was short it was the most dangerous part of the hike. It consisted of a flat water worn rack that was laying at about the same angle as a Cape Cod roof. At the bottom it slowly curved of into a cliff which fell into a cloud that appeared to be a couple thousand feet below us, and cutting across its face was a crack with marks painted on it that were to be used as guides, telling us where we needed to go next in order to get to the top. With many careful warnings from Scott about keeping three points of contact he and I eased out onto the rock. All of a sudden a locust started sounding of right at my hands. Being that I was dehydrated and not thinking very clearly the image of a rattlesnake suddenly formed in front of me and to escape it I jumped up. As I did so my mind returned and I somehow managed to catch my balance before falling off the edge. Needless to say it scared Scott. With my head cleared we finally reached the top and waited for the others. Since we had only taken three breaks since leaving the others, they were far behind and we had to wait quite a while. The view was great and we could see out onto the plains for miles upon miles. While waiting we watched other more experienced guys do handstands by cliff edges and all kinds stupid stuff which we were physically unable to do, If we had only brought more water. While visiting with people, we found out that earlier in the day someone had climbed the front face earlier in the day and surprised everybody by suddenly appearing on a side with a shear cliff. How someone could do that is beyond me. After everyone had reached the top we mumbled a song that we had decided to sing upon reaching the peak. I found out later that the guy had had been doing the cadences was having delusions that he had died and gone to heaven. When everyone was rested up enough we headed back down. I don't remember much after that except that when we got to the Key Hole we found who was sitting around fat and happy. It turns out that he had taken a long nap followed by eating a lot of food that sympathetic people had given him. This was followed by more naps, food, and a little bit of playing with marmots. We found his condition and energy very annoying. When we reached the point where we had met the girls we tried to talk about how funny they had been but had to stop because what we were saying didn't make much sense. Upon reaching camp my cousin Jason and I downed a gallon and a half of water that Scott had made Paul leave because, "He wouldn't need it." With some water in my system I was able to think clearly and was surprised to find new energy. If I had had enough water the whole trip may have been enjoyable. At this point I said that I would never climb Long's Peak again. When we reached the parking lot Paul's parents were there to pick us up and as a celebration they took us to Lone Star where we downed gallons and gallons of tea. During the meal Scott said that if I hadn't always been ready to go he would have taken a lot more breaks, but that he didn't because he wasn't about to let a kid (I think I was thirteen) out hike him. At this point I decided I wasn't going to climb Long's Peak for at least a year.

Coming soon.. er.. um.. sometime, My Second 14er.