At home at my computer I remember searching the web for hours trying to somewhat plan out things to do at our various locations. I came across Pikes Peak and thought to myself, "I've never climbed a mountain before." Hundreds of people climb the mountain every year so I thought it would be a cinch right? Wrong! The day of the climb we woke up late because we were at the laundromat the night before until 2 am. After about a dozen stops at Wal-Mart for last minute supplies and attempts to flush out our systems, we headed to the mountain for the ultimate hiking adventure. Let me stop a minute and give you an idea of what I was carrying. I dressed in leggings (thanks Laurel!) under my jeans, a pair of sport socks with wool socks over them, my running shoes that I sprayed waterproofing lining on the night before, a long sleeved shirt, a polar fleece, a thermal vest, beanie, ear warmer, two pairs of gloves, my sports watch, and my giant jacket from Goodwill that looks like it was the height of fashion in Aspen circa 1992. My backpack had 5 sandwiches, a bag of beef jerky, four granola bars, a liter of water and a 2 liter bladder full of water, a change of shirt and undies, odds and ends for hygiene, a bunch of hand warmers, my sleeping bag, and other misc. items. All in the all, the backpack weighed about 25 lbs. The weather was dark and ominous over the peak. The clouds had rolled in and the temperature became cooler as we neared the trail. There was talk in the town of a storm coming our way. Naive and energetic, we arrived at the trail head about three hours later than we had planned. After the third or fourth switchback, I realized I was in way over my head. My jacket and all warming devices came off immediately and I was drenched in sweat even though there were patches of snow on the ground around us. I had to stop and rest every ten to twenty yards or so. The incline was ridiculous and the pack weighed down on my back. Every step I took, my calves would burn and I couldn't ever get enough breath to slow down my heart rate. About a mile on the trail, I realized my time was a lot slower than anticipated and I started to worry that we would be caught in the dark on the trail, or worse, a storm. We met two experienced hikers who were already on the way down and they had some very discouraging news. The looked at me and instantly told me I was not dressed properly and I would never make it. They told me my pack was too big, I didn't bring enough water, and my jeans would soak up water and I would freeze in the waist high snow at the summit. They also told us the trail is not even visible right now and only 12 people have made it to the summit this year and they had serious snow equipment and have summited the peak before. I was crushed. I am such a fighter though that I could not turn around after we came this far. Already very tired, I kept following the boys trudging up the incline. After 4 miles, the trail did not incline nearly as bad, but it was getting colder and the altitude made it almost impossible for me to breathe. Chris and Hanlon were very patient with me and stopped as many times as I needed to. Hanlon was worried and knew that this pace would never get us to camp before dark and it had been a mile or so since we had seen another person on the trail. I regained some energy after eating and using the bathroom, which was an entirely different kind of experience than I am used to, and we were able to pick it up a little. The sun was dipping low when we saw the sign that read 3.5 miles to Barr camp. I knew it was impossible to turn back at that point because the trail can be very dangerous at night, people have died on this mountain while hiking it at night, even people who have done the trail 13 times. By this point, Col. Springs was far behind us and the silence was only broken by a few birds here and there. The trail was now completely covered in the snow and my shoes didn't have enough traction to keep me up most the time. You have to look down constantly to follow the hard-packed footprints of earlier hikers. If you deviate an inch or two to the left or right, your leg would sink in 3 feet of snow and your body would be thrown forward. I have cuts on my wrists and bruises every where where I hit the ground hard, although I must say I stayed on my feet more than Chris did. :o). The sun was gone and it was pitch black and I was barely walking. I would take 3 or 4 teetering steps forward then sit in the snow until I could get the energy to get up and keep going. I am not going to lie when I say this is the hardest thing I have ever done in my whole life and looking back, I have no idea how I made it. We walked 7 miles I think uphill in the the snow with our packs completely unprepared and out of shape. I passed a sign that read .5 miles to Barr Camp and just kept repeating to myself outloud, "That's two times around the track, only two times around the track, cmon Julia." My mind was determined but my body was done. I literally was about to just stop for good. Hanlon and Chris kept encouraging me and that's what kept me on my feet. We finally saw the fence for the camp and it seemed like forever but we finally made it up the steps to the rustic cabin where caretakers Neal and Teresa were waiting for us with a hot fire and lantern to welcome us. They made me hot chocolate and it took me a few minutes to realize the hard part was behind us and I could relax. After staying up with them for a about an hour and eating hot dogs, we crashed in the bunk in our sleeping bags and were up before 7 am to keep going. I was rested and had a new energy. We took only water with us and had a new goal: we would make it to the timberline if we could not summit the mountain. We left about 9 am and had a new skip in our step. After about 2 miles though, the trail became less trodden and the trees more sparse. The wind whipped around us and at 12,000 feet, it was getting harder and harder to take a deep breath. I was falling more in the snow, my gloves were wet and my jeans were soaked up to my thighs. After about a half a mile of crawling on my hands and knees up snowy inclines (the snow, ice, and incline made it impossible for us to walk upright) we got to a big rick. Looking up at the next stretch, I decided I was done. If anyone knows me, I don't like inclines and the next tenth of a mile or so was just climbing icy rock to icy rock with your hands and I was done with that. My hands are sweating just thinking sbout it again! I urged the boys to go on and I staying on the rock and slept for a while, praying a bear wouldn't come eat me. I formulated a plan though Mom, I was going to throw my beef jerky up the mountain and slide down on my bottom. Haha, thinking about it now and how scared I was is so silly. Anyway, the boys were certain they could find the trail again and go up farther, so they made it beyond timberline ( I stopped about 200 feet or so) and then turned around for many reasons: they felt they could summit but it would have taken a long time to forge their own trail, it was snowing at the peak pretty bad, they were worried about me, and we had left too late to return back before dark so they took a picture of their location and headed back down. I'm snoozing on the rock by that time and the sun was warming me and the jays were singing in a nearby tree. It was great. I started worrying about them after an hour because the peak was black and snowy and I was worried their testosterone would get the better of them. Not to mention both their cell phones had died. A little while later though I heard Chris yell out my name and I knew they were ok. We had to slide on our bottoms in the snow which was fun and after my nap, I was trucking it down the mountain. We made it back to base camp and got more hot chocolate to fuel us. Teresa after seeing the photo Chris and Hanlon took said they were less than a mile from the peak and that was disappointing to know they didn't make it all the way, but it only made us want to come back in the summer and do it right. We left base camp around 3:15 and made it all the way down the mountain by 6:00. We were basically running and I kept thinking how much easier it was to go down than to come up! The last four miles were pretty jarring on our knees and backs as we descended the incline that was so steep for us at the beginning. Out of water, starving, dirty and exhausted, I'll never forget the feeling I felt when I stepped off the trail to our car. I did it. I may not have summited the mountain or made the best time in the world, but I set a goal for myself and achieved it. I was so proud of myself and of all of us that I nearly cried when I hit the bottom. I miss the mountain already and I can't wait to go back and summit during the summer. It is so true that you can accomplish ANYTHING you put your mind to.

Julia,
I log in every Sunday night and look forward to reading about your next adventure. Great job hiking the mountain. I can't even begin to imagine how hard that must have been. Great job. I look forward to the pictures and to your next blog.

Julia, Chris and Hanlon,

This is Doug. One of the two guys that you all met at Barr camp that works at Intel. Julia, your story is well written. I know how you must have felt. We hiked up to Barr camp to spend the night a couple of years ago in a pretty good snow storm. I had about a 45-50lb pack on my back. I had the same weight in my pack a couple of weeks earlier and made it up there in about 3-3 1/2 hours with better trail conditions. On this trip it took me over 8 hours due to the deep snow and heavy boots that I wore. I was completely spent when I got there. I had to sit on a bench about 200 yards from camp and rest my knees for about 20 minutes just to make it the last 200 yards. You guys should be very proud of yourselves for what you accomplished. To come here from sea level, makes that journey twice as hard since you weren't acclimated. Great job! Remember: "If you are going through hell, keep going." - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) You guys need to watch that movie I was telling you about called Wild America when you get a chance. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your adventure.

Best regards,

Doug

Juji, You are something else...All I can say is NOOOOOOO! WOW! AAAAAAAAGH! COOL! EEEEEEEEEEK!
Do me a favor, if you ever go up Pike's Peak again, at least consider DRIVING the road to the summit where all those tourists were taking pictures of tired, surprised climbers as they dragged themselves up over the top! After you described that to me on the phone, I liked that idea so much better!

You know when I spoke to Chris on the phone AFTER the climb, he made it sound like a piece of cake - haha. (that's a good trick for us moms) You go girl. I couldn't have even made it the .5 mile. What an inspiration you are!!!

I printed this out yesterday and read it last night. Wow! You are amazing! I am so impressed that you lasted as long as you did with the attire you were wearing, especially your shoes! You should be so proud of yourself!! You certainly can accomplish much when you put your mind to it and have God on your side!! I am so proud of all of you!! Keep having so much fun!!!

Thats so awesome Julia! I was in suspense reading this. I can't believe you made it that far. I don't know if I could have. I love reading your blogs, it makes me feel like I'm there =P

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