Pike's Peak Day Two (AKA – Can we quit now?)

So, we’ve survived the night. Not eaten by bears or killed by a volcano. (My son Isaac had started a betting pool on when and where we would die on this trip. The odds of being eaten by a bear were obviously higher than a volcano but he was trying to cover all the bases. He was also auctioning off pall-bearer spots for my funeral as well. Ahh, the enduring love of a son.)

We had some anxiety about day two. Everything we had read and everyone we had talked to about this part of the trip said the same things.

• ·         You’ve got to get to the summit before 1pm because you will be above the tree line for the last 3 miles and there are rain storms practically every afternoon. The only advice for what to do if you were caught above tree-line during a storm is to spread out so you all won’t die in one group. Wow, that’s great advice! I guess that way there is someone who can identify the bodies? We heard / read this advice numerous times. So, you can imagine our concern about getting started somewhat early.
• 
  
• ·         Take how long Day 1 took and add “X” to that. There are several factors at work here. One is that you are obviously more tired having done Day 1, second is that you are climbing further up to where the oxygen is in limited supply further complicating your ability to make it to the top. Various sources said that it would take 1 hour more than day one, or twice as long as day one, or some mathematical formula involving your weight, the lunar phase and the last eclipse of the sun.
• 
  
• ·         The last ½ mile is the very worst part of the trip. It’s called the 16 Stairs, it’s a series of switchbacks at the very top. The 16 is misleading, a switchback has two parts of it, the left and the right so it’s actually 32 parts! So, you are tired, out of oxygen and now you get to the worst part. Oh joy.

We debated skipping breakfast so that we could make sure that we got to the summit before any lightning storm killed us but finally decided that we couldn’t pass up the lure of Pike’s Peak Power Pancakes for breakfast. It was a good choice as they were awesome! If you’re feeling adventurous try the recipe. Pancakes devoured, we hit the trail.

It’s about 10 minutes in that I start asking myself several questions:

·              What have I done?

·              Why can’t I breathe?

·              Can I make it?

·              Who wins Isaac’s betting pool if I die today?

Breathing was difficult, the pack felt strange, the legs were tired. Talking about it later, I think we all kinda felt this way (well, maybe not the "who wins the pool" part) but we just kept trudging on. Before long things fell into place and you started to feel that you could indeed make it up the mountain. The first three miles of the day were much like the lower part, trees and trails, but then we made it to the A-Frame. WOW! We are now ½ way up the mountain. The A-Frame is in case you get caught in a storm above tree line, you can come back down and ride out the storm. The best part of seeing the A-Frame is knowing that you are ½ way there! From here you leave the nice shade of the trees and enter the barren rock-filled land above tree line.

For the next mile or so you keep looking up toward the summit. You’re not really sure how you can get there as it seems like one gigantic pile of rocks. You just keep putting one foot in front of the other thinking “I’m one step closer.” I was watching the elevation on my watch thinking “we only have another 2000’ of elevation and we’re there…). I celebrated the really large steps up on the trail as that meant that I was that much closer to being there. My fellow hikers started calling them “John steps”! We found the “2 miles to go sign”! There was hope! In no time at all we made it to the “1 mile to go” sign and looked back at where we had been and what we still had to accomplish. It was still just a big pile of rocks up there.

Then we found it, the sign that marked both the end and the beginning. The 16 Golden Stairs.  You’re excited about the fact that you only have ½ mile to go. You’re scared because you know it’s the hardest part of the trip. Earlier that morning I was thinking about this part of the trail, thinking that we would probably have to go 5-10 steps and then rest, then force each other to go another 5-10 steps but it turned out to not be that bad. Yes, it was hard, yes the air was certainly thinner, yes it was steeper, but we just kept going. At this point we can see the Cog Railway coming to the Summit and people looking out from the top. I’m sure they were thinking “Why would someone walk up when there is a perfectly good train?”. Now the adrenaline is flowing and you know you can make it! Near the top we weave through some train folks who are wandering down the trail some and then BAM! You’re at the top. In a moment of sheer lunacy Andy & I jog that last 30 yards or so to the Summit House (on both our training hikes Andy & I jogged back the last little bit – just to show how manly we were).

From there it was photos and donuts and people asking “did you really hike up?”.

The answer is: Why yes, yes we did hike up Pike’s Peak.

Next – Epilogue

Pike's Peak - Barr Camp

Barr Camp is an amazing place and I give them credit for saving my life. If they had not built this lovely camp giving me a place to rest, re-hydrate, eat and sleep I might not have made it!

As you enter the camp you cross over a small bridge that leads to the main cabin. Teresa welcomed us as we stumbled up the trail. We found our lean-to and took off  the packs (ahh…). Rest is good. We got some Gatorade and a Pike Peak Power Brownie (made at Barr Camp), both were awesome. 

We used the water filter (Thanks Phil Laster!) and refilled all our water bottles and just chilled for a while. Since we hadn’t really done much walking so far, we decided to hike over to a scenic overlook. I can assure you that walking without packs is much more enjoyable than with packs. Just my opinion. The Overlook was indeed scenic and worth the walk. Back at Camp we played Yatzee on the iPad. I even got email an email signal in there a few times. 

The Camp cooks dinner, they served an awesome spaghetti with “switchback” garlic bread and “Tex-Mex” macaroni and cheese. After dinner we just chilled, read, played on the iPad and talked. It was getting dark when a guy came into the camp. He had come up from the bottom of the trail – getting ready for the marathon in two weeks. He was wearing shorts and running shoes and had one small water bottle. He rested for about 10 minutes and then hit the trail to head back down. Wow, what a man! Earlier in the evening we had seen “Shark-fin man”. He was dressed in shorts, no shirt, random bits of hiking “bling” and a helmet that had a shark fin on the top. He didn’t stay at the camp, the camp people said that he would stay on the trail somewhere. Sure enough we ran into him near the summit as he was coming back down. We made it until about 8:30pm and then hit the sleeping bag. It was cold, but not freezing. Overall we slept pretty good and Joann only got lost once coming back from the latrine!

Next…

Day Two (AKA – Can we quit now?)

Proud Pike's Peak People - Part 2

First, you gotta get there! We left Friday afternoon and made it to Amarillo, Saturday found us on the road to Colorado Springs. The first order of business was to scout the parking situation. There is a parking lot at the trailhead of Barr Trail but it fills up WAY early in the morning. As it turns out, since we already had Cog Train tickets (Yes, we rode the train down – and our bodies thanked us.) we were able to get a parking pass to use their parking lot. It was kinda strange to look at the skyline, seeing the tallest mountain and realizing that you were going to walk up it!

So, Sunday morning at the crack of dawn we head out. By the way, Holiday Inn Express will do a “brown-bag” breakfast for you if you are leaving before the regular posted breakfast time. Nothing beats a cinnamon roll to get your exercise started! Car parked, one last restroom stop and we hit the trail. We have the essentials for the trip in our backpacks. Food (Cliff Bars, Medifast Bars), energy aides (Gatoraide G2 mix, GU Chomps), a sleeping bag, a change of clothes, and rain gear. Oh yeah, and my iPad. You didn’t think I would go anywhere without did you? Crazy talk! In my defense it is an iPad2 – lighter than the original.

Barr Trail is a well-marked trail, mostly smooth the first part with about 8 million switchbacks winding up the mountain. The first part of the trail was really pretty busy. Two weeks after our climb they will do the Pike’s Peak Marathon. Yep, people are going to run up and then back down the mountain. Makes you feel somewhat inadequate. There were lots of folks running up and lots of folks running down. Many of them had walked up the “Incline”, an evil looking set of wooden steps going straight up the mountain, and would then come down the trail. Wow, and people thought we were crazy! Excitement was high, energy was good, the 26 pound pack was a lot less weight than I had carried around with me before!

We did see some interesting things on the trail. There are some weird folks that walk up/down mountains (I’d like to think that they felt the same about us!). We saw the search and rescue folks heading down to take care of someone. They were carrying lot’s of stuff and moving fast. I thought that maybe they had heard about me and were coming to check on me but they went right past. This was encouraging! Lot’s of “scenery stops” (waiting to catch your breath!), stops to grab a Cliff Bar or some GU Chomps, to let someone pass. We trudged on. You would visit some with the folks heading up the trail. We got some water out for a guy that his pack was so full he looked like the kid on “A Christmas Story” that couldn’t get up because he had so much clothes on. Turns out he was heading to Barr Camp and we saw him and his sons there. There was an interesting variety of footwear – the standard hiking boots, running shoes, five-toes, and one pair of flip-flops. The most bizarre site of the day was the unicyclist. Yep, you read that right, a unicycle. He was coming down the trail like it was no big deal.

We did see the Search & Rescue Team heading down to check on someone. I was happy that they didn’t stop and check me, I guess I wasn’t looking that bad! Every now and then you’d get a brief level spot on the trail and occasionally even a downhill! Joann did not like the downhill as she knew that every step downhill meant you had to go back uphill sooner or later. I prefer the really big steps up, it’s all about gaining elevation. We had 8000’ of uphill, the big steps just got me closer to the top! On the second day we had lots of “John steps”. We kept going, step after step. Somewhere on the trail we met Scott and his dog Chaos. Scott had run a Triathlon the day before and was now hiking up Pike’s Peak. What a man! As it turns out, Scott & Chaos were the only people that we actually passed (overtook) on the trail. Of course it was because he was filtering water for Chaos! Andy & Kim had left us in their dust and had gone ahead somewhere in there. We kept walking. I tried some music, I started singing “Everlasting God”, I didn’t have enough breath for it so Joann and I traded phrases back and forth. I’d sing a phrase and then she’d sing a phrase. The words fit well for how we felt. You don’t really know where you are on the lower part of the trail, you know that you’ve been walking for a long time and you should be close to the camp but you’re not sure until you get there. We came up an incline and heard voices, then we saw the camp! It was a great moment, we’d made it half way up the mountain and were still alive! I love Barr Camp!

Next…

Camp Life

Walk to the top of Pike’s Peak? Hmm… Sure, why not?

It’s not really my fault that we did this. It’s all Andy & Kim’s fault. (That would be Andy Jameson, Joann’s brother and his wife Kim.) They came up with the idea, had already planned it out and started gathering their equipment. When Joann first told me about I thought that they were crazy – 12 miles up the mountain? No way. But then they explained that it was over two days, that we didn’t have to carry food because we were staying at a camp where they fed you dinner and breakfast and there was a place to sleep. Oh, only 6 miles a day? Next thing you know Joann talks me into it! (Not true, she also thought it was a crazy idea but I wore her down!).

To fully understand why this is such a big deal to us you have to go back ten months. Andy and Kim started doing Medifast to lose weight. When I was in England last Summer Jim Hackney had lost a lot of weight on Medifast as well. Mid November I decided that it was time to get healthier so I started Medifast. Last month (July) I hit my goal of losing 120 pounds. Joann had also done Medifast to lose weight as well. Together, the four of us have lost an amazing 244 pounds!

So, the thought of walking 6 miles even on flat ground would have been crazy-talk to me before, walking 6 miles two days in a row up a mountain would have been insane! But being skinny makes you do crazy things evidently. On July 1^st Joann and I started working out at a gym doing 3-4 strength workout a week and 6-7 days of cardio so we convinced ourselves that we could walk 6 miles a day for a few days.

On July 17 we decided “we’re in” and booked the campsite on the mountain, three weeks until we climb! We started scrambling for gear, we hit the gym hard, we pondered the sanity of our decision. That next Saturday we met Andy & Kim for a practice hike at the Eagle Mountain Park (it’s a really nice place). We did 5 miles and lived through it. Feeling more encouraged we continued to gather the essentials for the trip. That meant trips to places like Cabela’s, REI, and Academy. Lots of time thinking through the details of how to make it with as little weight as possible.

We walked the same course the next Saturday with packs on. Sure, they weren’t full packs, but they were packs! Once again we survived. By golly, I think we can do this!

Next – we begin the epic adventure!

John

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Joann's take on this crazy idea...

4P

Proud Pikes Peak People

Ten months ago we needed to exercise, loose weight or do anything healthy. Today we are 14ers. October 2010 Andy & Kim started the journey to better health with Medifast and exercise, by Thanksgiving they did the 5K Turkey Trot. John started Medifast in November, while traveling every week to Las Vegas. On the weekends I ate healthy with him and ate ‘not too bad’ during the week. By the end of January I had lost 10 lbs and started Medifast. In June 2011we had all reached our goals having lost a total of 244 lbs. July 1st John & I joined a gym and started working out 5 days a week. 17 days later on July 17^th, our 29^th anniversary, we lost our minds completely and in a moment of weakness agreed to join Andy & Kim on a hike up Pikes Peak. We began to train harder, the next 2 Saturdays up @ 5:30 a.m. (John didn’t know life existed prior to 8 on Saturdays) to hike 5+ miles at Eagle Mountain Park, elevation 500ft, before it got too hot. (Ha! Ha! As if you can get up that early in Texas.)

Sunday Morning, August 7, 2011 we hit the trail in Manitou Springs, elevation 6400ft, before 7 a.m. Hiking 6+ miles to an elevation of 10,200 ft to reach Barr Camp. A lot of water, Cliff bars, GU and breaks. Hundreds of people were on the trail out for a Sunday stroll or training for the up coming marathon or riding a unicycle, all of whom passed us with great regularity. We did manage to pass 1 person; he had stopped to collect water for his dog. We arrived tired but in better condition than I dreamed would be possible.  Upon arriving in camp we rested, filtered water, made use of the latrine instead of a bush. Made a short hike to the scenic overlook, yea no back pack required. Played Yatzee on the I-Pad & checked email, only the best hi-tech travel for us. Had a wonderful dinner of spaghetti, tex-mex mac & cheese and garlic bread. That night we slept in a lean-to and I only got lost once walking to the latrine in the dark.