Summiting Mt. Massive, and other big events

Lots has been happening since O and I went to France! I went home for a long weekend, my parents visited me in Denver for a week, I ran the BolderBoulder 10k for the third year in a row (this time with Owen!), my sister gave birth to a perfect baby boy (whose birth I was able to attend!), we started the summer adventure season with two outdoors-packed weekends in a row, and O and I moved in together (!!). WHEW! 

Let's take a look at a couple of those major events... 

Welcome to the world, TJR!

My sister and brother-in-law welcomed the most beautiful baby boy into the world on Father's Day this year. I was able to run away from work for a few days to be home and with everyone in the delivery room when the little guy was born. It was an edge-of-your-seat whirlwind trip, waiting every day for TJ to make his debut. At 3am on Father's Day Sunday, I got the call - take the next flight home, he's on his way!

After a beautiful and early flight into Portland, with stunning views of Mt. Hood and the Three Sisters, I made it to the hospital literally five minutes before the major action of labor and delivery happened. What a miracle to witness. My sister is the ultimate Earth Mother and a total beast, having delivered two children in less than two years with no meds whatsoever!! She didn't even accept a Tylenol or an IV drip. She is one strong mama. It was inspiring to watch her work and be able to be there to offer support and love.

Just about ninety minutes after I got to the hospital, TJ was here - healthy, robust, and snuggling close to his mom and dad. He's perfect! I'm so glad to be his auntie, and it was such a treat to spend those days at home with family, sharing some good bonding with my sweet year-and-a-half old niece and cute new nephew. 

Newborn baby feet are the sweetest. 

I love to go a-wandering, along the mountain track... 

The very next weekend, O and I started off the Summer 2017 hiking/camping/adventure season by going camping with his parents right next to the Dillon Reservoir, about two hours west of Denver. I had driven through the area and stopped for the day at different times to visit Dillon, Silverthorne, and nearby Frisco, Colorado, but I hadn't ever stayed for a camp or a hike. What a gorgeous area!! We stayed in the Heaton Bay Campground, right on the lake, and it was just lovely. The weekend was filled with gourmet camp food, lots of Old Fashioneds, games, great stargazing, a long bike ride around the lake and through the surrounding mountain towns, and a beautiful early morning run to the Dillon Dam. It was lots of fun to spend time outdoors with Owen's parents and begin summer on a high note. 

... and as I go, I love to sing; my knapsack on my back!

The weekend after that, we decided it was the perfect timing to hike our first 14er of the year - Mt. Massive! O had hiked this mountain twice before, but I had a hankering to take it on. Mainly because I wanted to stand at the summit and yell "Mount Massive!!" in a Caribbean accent (don't ask my why; and yes, it did happen), but also because it's the 2nd highest 14er in Colorado and the 3rd tallest peak in the contiguous USA, and I'd already climbed Mt. Elbert (#1 and #2, respective to the above categories), and I figured, 'I can totally do this!'. 

After a loooong drive out of Denver (it was Saturday morning of the 4th of July weekend and everyone was heading to the mountains), we made our way to the National Forest road a few miles outside of Leadville, CO and up a rugged, AWD track to our camp site. The site upon which we stumbled was tucked down just off the road and was nature's perfection. There was already a fire ring of stones set up, previous campers had put together a rugged "bench", and the site was right next to a busily bubbling mountain stream. We set up the tent, the hammock, gathered fallen wood for the evening's fire, and were set to jet! We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of reading, snuggling, laughing, and planning out the next day's hike.

The best camp site ever found!

The next day saw us off fairly early for our 9-mile RT trek. The trail started off easily and beautifully in a Pacific Northwest-esque forest trail, and then broke off after about a mile and a half to head steeply up the meadowy hill- and then mountain-side. Columbine, Indian Paintbrush, and other colorful wildflowers were plentiful along the trail and we saw dozens of marmots and heard lots of pika (I only saw one, though - they're sneaky little creatures!).  It was an excellent day for the climb.

Where the Columbines grow

The trail quickly turned super steep once we got out of the tree line and hit some lingering snow patches that covered the trail. We hauled almost straight uphill with our trekking poles (thank goodness for those), moving to eventually regain the trail at the saddle on the ridge. A few false summits and a brief storm cloud scare later, we made it to the summit, greeted by a snow flurry! 

"He climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below
He saw everything as far as you can see..."

The views from the top of 14ers are always mind-blowing. The reward of the view of mountains and colorful Colorado expanding out before you is one of the best among my outdoor experiences. 

Rocky Mountain highhhhhh, Colorado!

We lunched atop the peak and started to make our way back down about 30 minutes after summiting. After a few more hours, many miles, creaking knees, lots of internal dialogue, and a few John Denver songs sung mentally, we made it back to the car. Due to the steepness of the trail going up and coming back down, I was just about as exhausted as I think I've ever been. Whereas Owen loves to climb 14ers with the mindset of 'as many as possible and as many times each as manageable' (evidenced by this being his 3rd time climbing Massive), I'm more inclined to hike as many 14ers as possible, once, and not hike them again. They are incredible and so worth it, but it's a mental and physical test, that's for sure! That's part of the fun and part of the challenge, both of which I appreciate. Even after a long and tiring day, it still makes me want to do the Tour du Mont Blanc at some point in life. That Bucket List item remains! 

In any case, here's to bagging peaks! We've got four more to 14ers on our list for this summer (both twofers - gulp!), which will bring me up to 8 14ers and Owen up to 21 distinct summits and about 40 climbs total. Wahoo!

More in the next edition on moving into together, a weekend away with my folks, my 3rd half marathon (coming up in August!), summer concerts, and those other four 14ers!