This past weekend was the 4th of July holiday. For the past two years, some friends and I have hiked up to 14,000 feet as a way to spend some time outdoors and see this beautiful country from the top. And well…..I forgot one VERY important thing this year……….I kinda hate it.
Our Hike:
This year we chose Grizzly Peak for our goal. Grizzly Peak is in Loveland pass and an easy area to go after more than one peak if you are feeling up to it. Loveland pass is around 12,000 feet above sea level so I expected the 2000 foot elevation gain to be no big deal. For the first gain, I felt strong. I felt like I could keep my breathing under control and move quite a bit faster than last year. I always forget how hard it is to breathe at that elevation. You’re thinking, it’s only two miles, I do two miles all the time…..but the truth is: that two miles is straight up and you’ll be needing more oxygen…..the whole time.
But then…..you come down and go back up….three more times. Remember the rough mountains you drew as a kid? A zig zag line? Well that’s what this trail was. 500 feet up, 300 down, 200 up, 100 down, 500 up, 200 down………..(these are not correct, just a rough guess) The mental aspect of hiking started getting to me two hours in. At two hours into this hike, we had one more peak to go down and then the final trek to the top. Even though you can see the top, it seems really really far away still. This is where I broke. At this time, your brain has been deprived of the oxygen it needs for quite some time, you’ve burned over 1000 calories and the more water you drink the more you have to pee….outside. As I flash backed to last year, this was the same time that I started to fall apart.
My body held up ok, although my knees were starting to ache. Mentally though…. i wanted to stop….but you’re so close that you know you can do it if you just keep moving. And then….somehow you make it to the top!
Hiking is different than any other ‘sport’ I do. In almost every other fitness activity, I just have to push to the end. Usually, it’s the last 10 minutes that are the worst. I’m a big fan of referencing ‘my bottom’ in a workout. For example: When I think I just can’t box anymore, I think about the time I was running on a treadmill through my own tears, sweat and blood while my coach yelled across the gym at me. So whenever I think I just can’t keep going, I know I can because I did that day. With hiking, ‘the bottom’ or the worst part is half way through. Once you get to the top of that peak, you know you just have to do the whole thing over again, just in reverse. So although you’re so happy to get to the top and it’s so pretty!!!!!!!…..you just have to turn around and do it again. Round trip took us 5 hours. (3 up and 2 down)
I think if I want to enjoy hiking more, I probably need to do it more. Right now, my bottom for hiking is always the current hike I’m in. I usually hike less than 5 times a year and haven’t hiked at all since my last 14er. If I hike more often, I could train my brain to know what I can do and maybe enjoy it a little more.
Overall here’s what I learned:
While I’m strong, there are still things that push me. I still have limits. I cry at 13,500 feet 🙂 and I hope I forget how bad this was before next year. 