Pike's Peak

The most exciting thing that happened after we got back to Colorado this summer was that Nephi was able to complete his longtime goal of climbing all 54 mountains in Colorado over 14,000 feet, known by locals as "fourteeners". Some fourteeners are relatively easy. Many are long. A few are pretty tough, technical mountains that I am very glad are safely behind him. He saved Pikes Peak for last so we could drive up and meet him at the top. We drove over to Colorado Springs together on a Friday afternoon through some extraordinary rainstorms. It just happened to be the Friday of the Olympic opening ceremonies. You might remember that I have an unreasonable love of the Olympics and the boys seem to have inherited this. So there was really no way we could camp with Nephi at the trail head and miss the spectacle. So Nephi camped, and the boys and I got a hotel room and watched the opening ceremonies, which were sort of ok but probably not worth my high level of commitment to watching them. Of course we made Nephi come with us and swim in the hotel pool with the boys before he could set up camp.

 

The next morning the boys and I woke up and enjoyed the hotel breakfast, which is, seriously, Isaac's very favorite part of staying in hotels. Froot Loops! Danishes! Juice! Hot chocolate! Pure awesome. Nephi woke up at some crazy early hour like he did so many times before to climb mountains and got started. An important rule when climbing such high peaks is to be off of them by noon when the lightning storms develop. Which means you better get up and moving pretty early, often in the dark. To be away from home as little as possible Nephi would often drive to and from a peak in the same day, which if you start doing math means there were many mornings he would wake up around 3am, drive three hours to a peak, dash up and down eight to twelve miles and a few thousand feet of elevation like it was nothing, and drive home that evening, back in time to help the boys brush their teeth before bed. So by the time we enjoyed our exciting breakfast and drove all the way up the mountain, Nephi had been waiting for us for at least an hour. He brought a book.

 

The top of Pikes Peak is big, flat, and rocky, with some great views. But overall it is pretty unpleasant up there. There are lots of people driving around and taking pictures (like us).

 

And of course there is a gift shop. Part of the pleasure of mountains is getting as far away from kitchy consumerism as you can, but not on Pikes Peak. A walk through the gift shop is just as depressing as the walk through pretty much any gift shop, but even more so because it's on top of a mountain that should not have a gift shop at all. But people are buying hoodies and stuffed animals and fudge and all kids of junk that it makes no sense to drive up a mountain to buy. But it was really great to meet Nephi up there.

 

It is quite an accomplishment to have completed all the peaks. A job in Colorado with summers off definitely helped, but those mountains are big and it takes strength and endurance to get up them. I've hiked to the top of only one, and it was back when Nephi and I were dating and I was trying hard to impress him. There are few easy ones I could probably knock off, but not too many. Some days he and Jared, his climbing partner for many peaks who finished last summer, would hike over 20 miles, up and down several peaks. They are animals. Some pictures of the two of them make my palms sweat just looking at them; they are really up high. They only used ropes on one peak, but there are plenty of places it's a good thing they didn't sneeze or trip. They are very strong hikers, really experienced at route finding, and very brave. People estimate that there are only about 3000 people who have climbed all the peaks. Here's Nephi's name on a list of people who have submitted their information; he's number 1455. I'm really proud of him. Then we drove down together and went back to his campsite to pack up. The boys had a great time playing around in the stream.

 

On the way home we stopped at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument where we took a few (really) short hikes and the boys earned Junior Ranger badges. I'd say it's worth a stop if it's on your way somewhere but probably not worth a trip of its own. The plant and insect fossils are scientifically very important, but for the average, moderately curious observer like myself, dare I say they are a bit boring.