On Sunday morning we all got up at 2:45 am. It was very cold. It was about 40 degrees. (I have to give a shout out to Anut Tammy. The backpack was awesome! It was exactly what I needed that weekend. Becuase of the super crazy padding it didn't hurt my shoulders while I was climbing. Thanks so much!) I put on a lot of layers along with a hat and gloves. I thought it would be enough, but I would later find out that I was wrong.
We all met at the bus at 3:15 and drove to the foot of the moutain we were going to climb. When we arrived we all lined up in hiking groups that the HA selected for all of us. I was in hiking group 22. We decided to call ourselves Duce Duce. The purpose of the hiking groups was to make sure that everyone stayed together, made it to the top, and stayed healthy. If we had hiked as one large group it would have been chaos. As we stood waiting to hike, suprise, suprise, it began to rain. My group and I got together and prayed that it would not rain hard that day while we were on the mountain. Thanks to God it didn't. It did drizzle however, which was nice for a while because as we started to climb we got really hot.
Fianlly Duce Duce was called to begin hiking up the mountain. We were all very excited. However, it was really dark and only two of us had thought to bring a flashlight. Thus, the people in the middle of the line got shafted. The going was rather slow, but we did alright. Though it may have been dark, I have never seen such amazing stars in my life. It was so gorgeous!
By the way, for any of you that were worried or are getting worried. I was fine the whole climb. My hiking leader did a great job to make sure that we stopped every ten minutes or so for a little water and sometimes a little food. Toby also did a great job leading the way, giving us hiking tips, and helping the girls that were having a hard time. TM also placed staff at different checkpoints on the mountain trail to make sure that everyone was there, we were drinking a lot of water, and that we were all feeling well. I was perfectly safe.
Anyway, as we kept on climbing that sun started to rise. Though I never actually saw a sunrise because it was cloudy all day. We all started to get rather cold and put some of our layers back on. There was no sun, the drizzle may have started out okay but it eventually made us very wet, and the higher we went the windier it became. We kept on hiking through the cold, stopping here and there to take some amazing picutures! I have never seen such beautiful sights in my life! How could anyone look at those mountains and not believe in God?
Well, at one point it began to hail on us. Then it stopped for about a minute and then it started hailing even harder. This made it even colder for all of us. We were wet from the rain, it was windy, and the hail did not make things any better. When we hit the tree line and started hiking in the tundra of the mountain it became even colder. The wind was much worse and the higher you got the colder you got. Thankfully the hail did stop though.Finally we made it to the top of the mountain, and we were only a half mile from the peak. We were the third group to arrive. We had to stop at the last checkpoint before heading to the top.
At this point we had reached the end of the trail. The rest of the climb was by forging your own trail and actually climbing in some areas. The staff at the checkpoint told us that we had to sit and wait for a while becuase at that time the visibility was three to five feet in front of you. Becuase I was cold and wanted to get to the top, I was not happy about waiting. However, it's better to be safe than sorry. Duce Duce then sat down together and tried to eat a little lunch, but our fingers were so cold that we gave up. We were basically sitting in a cloud, which added to the cold, so we couldn't see anything around us.
(This is an example of what it looked like where we were. If you hiked down for about two minutes you could see all around you.)
TM staff finally decided to wait for all 36 hiking groups to reach the top then the leader, Mr. Neil, would take us all up as one group. The option was also given for those who did not want to wait in the cold to go ahead and ahead a hike back down. Of course, I was too stubborn and determined to do so. As people began to arrive, we all began to realize how cold it really was. Almost everyone at the top got together and formed a large penguin like huddle so that we could keep warm.
At least what would be considered somewhat warm at the top of the mountain. Then we all sang worship songs and had orselves a little worship session. I stayed at the top of that mountain waiting for the last group to arrive for about two hours. It was approximately 15 defgess with a windchill of zero. We were all wet and hungry, and the sun never came out. I was freezing cold. My gloves were much to thin for that weather so I couldn't feel my fingers, and my toes were like ice. Whitout a scarf, my face was cold and receving wind burn, and the rest of my body was just cold.(This is Tamra, my hiking leader, and I about to hike back down.)
When the last group finally arrive, Mr. Neil said that he would hike up a little ways to see if the visibility was any better than before. He came back down and told us that the visibility was now zero and that it dropped about another twenty degrees as you went up. We had to hike back down. I was not very happy at hearing this news. I had worked hard all summer, exercised here at five in the morning, and waited in the freezing cold for two hours, and I couldn't got to the top. I saw the wisdom and reasoning of the decision but I still wasn't happy. Actually, it took about a half hour after starting to hike down for me to feel my fingers again.
(In this picutre you can see the difference of what we were standing in at the top and what it was like only two minutes down.)
I hope that you don't all think that I didn't have fun. I had a great time. I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. It was so much fun meeting new friends, hiking the mountain, and having that great adventure. I loved it.
There were some people that hurt themselves coming down or who became sick, but we are all okay. I found out later that our experience was one of the hardest in HA history. Anyway, that is the story of my trip to Colorado.(This is Heather and I at the bottom of the mountain when it started to actually rain.)
This is my group Duce Duce. Top: Jill, Tamra, Allie. Bottom: Katie (she's from Michigan and was actually born in Sparrow Hospital), Toby, Kristina, and I.
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