This past weekend has brought together many elements of Colorado that I have yet to fully indulge in. It was David’s last weekend here in Boulder, USA so we decided to hike one of the infamous 14ers. We chose the second deadliest mountain to begin our exploration of the world above cloud-line: Longs Peak.
We planned on camping up in Rocky Mountain Nat’l Forest the night before and then beginning out trek straight from the tent. It was raining and storming Friday night so we delayed our departure time and made the half an hour drive early Saturday morning.
By early, I mean eaaaaarrrrly. We woke up at 1:30 am, went to a 7-11 (still packed with Pearl Street bar go-ers) and headed up to Nederland to take the Peak to Peak Highway to the mountain. We bounced around and sang along to Bluegrass music and drank some wonderfully fresh convenience store coffee. Equipped with one bad-ass flashlight and backpacks full of water food and raingear, we started our ascent in the pitch black of night/morning: 3:05 am.
The hike was a steady winding trail through the forest for about 2.5 miles. The trees slowly disappeared until we reached a sign reading “Alpine Tundra: Please stay on trail” which meant we were above tree-line. The sun rose just as we got in a bicker about who would hold the flashlight and where that person should walk, as if to say “Stop quarreling over light; I will lead the way.”
Long Longs hike story short: we kicked ass past the tundra, Boulder Field, keyhole, trough, narrows, scary-exposed-slippery-on-the-side-of-a-mountain section and up the final “homestretch” and made it to the summit at 10:00 am. The homestretch is a full out mountain climb at about a 70 degree angle (would be my guess). Basically, this portion was the “if you slip, you fall off the mountain into the abyss” section. My all around reaction to climbing Longs Peak via the Keyhole Route is this: at each turn, the ascent gets slightly scarier and more difficult, as if preparing you for each next step. I found myself turning each corner and literally saying out loud “Fuck.” But then you do it and once you’ve done it, you figure you can step up your game a notch for the next part.
The sun rising behind the clouds (that are below us- we are at Alpine Tundra).
Fog moving over Boulder Field. Looks like the moon.
View of the Keyhole from Boulder Field.
The large crater we would fall into if we fall off the Narrows.
David on top of Longs Peak. Roll no rocks.
That’s my Longs Peak impression.
We also went to the Planet Bluegrass Folk Festival in Lyons, CO on Sunday. Moira Smiley, Martyn Joseph, Paul Kelly, Assembly of Dust, Andrew Bird, Martin Sexton and Ani DiFranco. Need I say more?
We began the day with a taste of Cajun Kitchen at Lucille's in Boulder. We had cajun donuts and crazy big biscuits. Not to mention Hank's Eggs- yum.
As for the fest- New Belgium ran the beer tent and there was a creek nearby where people waded around and created rock structures. There were hula hoop contests and songwriting competitions going on all day. There were gyros and sweet potato fries. I saw a few Naropa friends. We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Skinny Dip beer. It sprinkled a bit. Nearly the entire crowd saw a shooting meteor fly across the mountain backdrop of the stage in between Martin Sexton and Ani’s act. Ani played Gravel. It was an all around fun-loving, relaxing festival. ☺
pictures coming soon...
