Take a Hike!

     In my last post I talked about bucket lists - I should simply do a post on my list but it's much for fun to spread them out - there could be a quiz at some point so pay attention.
     When I moved to Colorado 18 months ago I told myself I needed to LIVE here, meaning, take part in everything this state as to offer and so I am.  Since I moved here I've heard people talk about '14ers' - "which one have you hiked" - "have you done a few in a weekend yet?" - whoa? What is this 14er you all speak of??
     Well, a 14er is a mountain over 14,000 ft above sea level - Colorado has 53 (or so that's the word on the street) and that's all I had to hear - hike, challenge, driving distance from Denver - Bring one on!
     On Saturday, my friend Jacqui and I hiked our first one, Quandary Peak.   Quandary sits at 14, 265 ft - it's located 6 miles southwest of Breckenridge, CO and is part of the Tenmile Range.

     We began our adventure around 5:30am that morning - stopped for a quick shot of espresso and away we went ( I managed to make a few wrong turns, and shout out some words my mother would have stuck a bar of soap in my mouth for saying) but at 6:44am we were on the trail and starting the hike.

Stopped for a Coconut Water - made an effort to stop along the way and take in the beauty of the area!

Jacqui took this pic of me - I loved the lighting, the color of my backpack and again, soaking up the moment

The path we took - lots of shale and loose rocks - this was the hike from the plateau to the top

We met up with another group that were hiking for their friends 60th birthday - we all got a good laugh when we thought we there and someone passing explained it was that next peak - yes, the one WAY UP THERE!

Here we are! Yes, we made it - 14,265 ft above sea level

Me! So proud of myself - I'm afraid of heights so this really challenged me but so glad we did it!

It still makes my palms wet when I look at this one - we stayed up here for about 30 minutes - soaked up some sun,  talked to people around us and had a mini picnic lunch.

Mountain Goats - the way down we crossed paths - we stopped to admire and thanked them for sharing their home with us!

It was a day I will never forget! We met some terrific people along the way, the weather was perfect - as you can see from the photos - blue sky, cool, crisp Fall morning - and we made it round trip in 5.5 hours.  Jacqui and I decided when we planned this hike that we were going to call it 7 miles of gratitude! We stayed focused on all the good things in our lives we are grateful for - friendships, family and health!!
Together we conquered our first 14er - a lot of laughs, a few blisters, and more importantly another check mark on the bucket list!