Pike's Peak.
It had to be done...
because I can...
this is what I do....
because it's there...
...whatever the reason, we finally did it.
Phil and I celebrated 15 years of ups and downs, rocky roads and amazing vistas, winding meandering paths and and straight up sheer climbs. We're far from being done, but climbing Pikes peak seems like the perfect way to celebrate it all.
We stated out early in the morning only to find out we weren't alone. The one weekend we had available to hike a mountain just happen to be the same weekend as the Pike's Peak Assent. We had about an hour head start on the race, and it took about one more for the racers to catch us. From then on, we spent a romantic anniversary with 2,000 of our closest running friends. It was fun cheering for everyone, and it was nice to know we were still on the right trail especially at the top where it gets kind of sketchy.
I've always thought mountains are built into my DNA somehow. The closest I've ever felt to depression was when I lived in SC without a mountain in sight. I can't describe how it felt the first time we drove up through the mountains after we moved here. It was like I could finally take a deep breath again after being suffocated for 3 years. I thought this was all mental until we got up to about 10,000 feet and Phil started to get a little light headed, while I caught my second wind. If it's possible to go down hill when your heading up a steep mountain, Phil did.
When you get to the tree line there are only/still three miles to go. After hiking ten, another three didn't seem like much....
right?
It was so amazing and beautiful. Climbing up above everything changes your physical perspective, obviously, but I always get a kick out out how it adjusts my spiritual perspective also. Without a doubt, mountains are meant to be climbed.
Sure enough those last three miles were tough. It was steep, a lot was sandy gravel that had us slipping back precious inches with each step. Oh yeah, and then there was the lack of oxygen...that added a whole new level of difficulty. I think Phil would have been content to sit down by the side of the trail for a few hours, but I, being the yin to his yang, had the crazy urgency to get to the top, and since he was about to lose consciousness and I was still of sound mind, we continued to the top.
I jest, but in truthfulness, we were both pretty exhausted when we got to the top so we hopped a bus and rode down the other side on beautiful paved roads. Made me wonder if the view from the top is as amazing if you don't have to work to get there. My instinct is to say no; to really appreciate the top you have to leave a little of yourself on the trail. On the other hand, I sure appreciated the bottom of the mountain even though we took the easy way down.
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