Many people have said that they think I am older than I actually am. I guess you could say I’m an anomaly for my generation. I’ve never gone to a party, clubs aren’t my scene I really don’t do much in life from the perspective of people who have or live that kind of lifestyle, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. I have lived in two other countries, I’m starting my own business, and I’m living the life I had always dreamed of, I am more content with the life I’m living than many of my peers. I find peace and solitude in the silence of the forest, and the perfection of the beauty of a new sunrise in the summer.
So that is precisely where I spend my time, and even though I didn’t get to hike so much this summer because of my busy work load, I still made an effort to savor the beauty of this place. I also love introducing new people to this world of adventure. I took an old friend up Mt. Sherman, with hopes to reach the summit by sunrise. As is tradition, I left a bit too late, and both of us were moving slow at first, but we were two of maybe 10 people on the peak that day, and we were down as the clouds started rolling in.
Mt. Sherman marked my 11th 14er and Savannah’s first.
We watched the slow sunrise from the trail. I think I could have driven my Subaru further up. It is a Jeep trail, but it looked very well maintained and relatively flat.
It seems as if every mountain I hike takes me into a different world; A past life, a different country even. Mt. Quandary did not disappoint for many reasons. Primarily in that it looked like we had stepped into Oregon or Washington state. I love how green some of the hikes I do are. I recall hiking Lawn Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, and I was obsessed with the moss, the greenery, and all the flowers, and Quandary was very much the same. Unfortunately this hike, from lack of high altitude exposure since coming back, or from a lack of exercise over the last year, I got altitude sickness.
I had never gotten altitude sickness before, which is why I believe it to be a result of my time at sea level, perhaps next year will be better. I’ll have to start acclimating again, but I fully intend to hike all the 14ers in Colorado by the time I’m 30.
The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began, now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow if I can.
I didn’t get much of a view, we had fog, sleet, rain, and snow for most of my summit. It was no doubt beautiful in it’s own way, but I would have loved to see those valleys and mountains. Of course as soon as I got back down to the ridge, the clouds blew over and exposed the summit. I guess that’s what I get for being cautious.
The last time I posted a trip report, I had written about my boyfriend and his family, and well, we went off roading once again. Eric’s dad said to me that I basically wrote their family’s summer travel log, and here I go again, but this one is much shorter. This time was actually Andrew’s first time taking his Jeep out since rebuilding it, we didn’t get very far before engines started to overheat, so, just to be smart, we headed down the way we came to meet up with his parents and grandmother for a lunch at the lake in Georgetown.
One last thing before I close this one out, all of these images were taken on my Sony a6300 with an 18-55mm lens. For the photographers out there who are skeptical of going mirrorless or for the adventurers out there who want something to capture your good times, I highly recommend going for a mirrorless camera over a DSLR or point and shoot.
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