Wednesday (22,422 steps) - Got up early to get my run in before work. It wasn't great, but I've certainly had worse. Also, it was nice to get it out of the way early.
Worked both jobs. That's about it.
Thursday (13,919 steps) - Had slept like complete garbage. Struggled to fall asleep, then woke up shortly after midnight and was up until about 4, so needless to say, I was tired all day. Did a Peloton ride and some strength training. Went for a long lunch at walk - which is weird without Pika :(
Actually did some meal prep - which worked out nice because then I had lunch and dinner ready.
Had to go to second job after, but at least it was busy, and it ended up being my best night tip-wise.
Friday (13,420 steps) - Skipped the Friday walk at Wash Park for a couple reasons - first because I hoped I would be able to sleep, and second, I just wasn't really ready for that much people-ing. Worked in the office (it was SLOW, I think just about everyone took a long weekend). Then headed to job 2, and it was just as busy as Thursday, but tips weren't quite as good. Still a pretty good night though! Almost worth doing nothing but working. JK no.
Saturday (27,788 steps) - I had agreed to meet people at Herman Gulch for a loop up around Mt. Parnassas. The drive up went quick, and we met up shortly after 7. I get a little anxious in group settings still, not to mention, I haven't been doing much climbing, nor ANY mountain stuff since Cocodona. First off, I overdressed. I also brought WAY more shit with me than I needed to - but hey, I guess I'd rather be overprepared?
I think I made it about a half mile before I was already dying. Starting at over 10,000 had me gasping for air and questioning why I keep signing up for stuff that requires a ton of climbing. Then I remembered - HEY, I LOVE THIS SHIT. It was a beautiful morning.
When we got to the base of the long climb up Mt. Parnassas, I was REALLY glad that Terri said she wasn't especially interested in summitting, and that she had plans to go ahead and loop towards Herman Gulch. With all the stress of the week and lack of sleep (and probably having some altitude sickness), I was more than willing to join her and Larry.
Thankfully, I had downloaded the route into my phone. Tyler seemed to think that we would not have any trouble figuring out where to go. Well, Tyler lies. We spent a lot of time looking at the map and searching for the trail. But it was deserted up on the mountain and it was a gorgeous day, so I didn't mind.
Apparently, this small snowfield was the one section of exposure. Compared to some of the other times I've had to cross snowfields, this was pretty tame.
Finally, we came to Colorado Trail - and I recognized where we were. Wooo!
I wanted to go to the lake to eat my lunch. The lake seemed really low compared to previous years. This was apparently the only picture I took though - so it's hard to tell.
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| Crazy running into someone I know up here! |
Larry and Terri had plans to run back to find the rest of the group, but I opted to head down since I had plans to meet up with Ben. It was a beautiful jog down the mountain.
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| Columbine field was gorgeous again! |
Made a big mistake heading down the mountain. Tolls had been waived going westbound, and I jumped in the toll lane on the way back not realizing it wasn't free... crap. Can't wait to get that bill in the mail. Met up with Ben at New Terrain for a beer. They were insanely crowded (not a surprise, since it was nice out). We had just the one beer before going to Luki.
Talking is not incredibly productive right now, I'll just leave it at that.
Sunday (6,501 steps) - Managed to actually sleep past 7:00, which I don't think has happened in months. Had breakfast and took Pika for a walk. Had plans to maybe get dinner, but conversations got strained. Had a beer at 4 Noses and ended the night on a bit of a sour note.
Monday (32,377 steps) - I woke up well before my alarm went off. Gave me time to get some other stuff done before Kristin picked me up for our 4th of July adventure! The drive to Nederland was uneventful, and we were able to get a spot in the high school parking lot without any trouble. We just missed getting on one of the shuttles when we arrived, but were on one by 7:45. According to the route that Kristin had set up, most of the nearly 3,000' of climbing were supposed to happen right out of the gate. (We would later realize that somehow the route she made was in the middle of the trail, not from a trail head).
The first part of the route was familiar(ish) since we had done it last summer. We did come up to a few intersections where we weren't sure where to go since a lot of the trails parallel each other.
Starting to wonder when we were going to get to the "climbing" and then when we saw the turnoff towards Diamond Lake - we figured it out. I always feel better at least knowing what we are maxing out at elevation wise, and it was lower than what we did on Saturday. It still wasn't easy, but you wouldn't know it from watching Tyler, he's basically a mountain goat!
The worst part was the last push to the summit - you know, when there are no longer switchbacks.
We all somewhat expected a lake when we got to the top, but it was really just a big alpine field. From there, we knew that it was basically all downhill. Not necessarily a relief since it was pretty muddy and technical. SUPER pretty, although strangely warm for being so high up.
We got to a pretty big snowfield and completely lost the trail. We could hear people on the other side of the river, although we weren't really sure how to GET on the other side.
We also realized that we had finally ended up at Diamond Lake, so we made a quick detour to see what all the fuss was about. Yup. Pretty!
I rolled my ankle on the way down, and so did Tyler.
We finally got to an area that I thought I had remembered from hiking here many years ago and figured we were getting close to the Fourth of July trailhead (see what we did here?) - but of course we still had miles on dirt road once we got there.
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| Christmas in July - I actually did NOT even plan this! Was just looking for festive-colors since I don't have 4th of July socks |
I felt like garbage on the last four miles. Tyler and Kristin took off, which was fine, and I ran (walked some) because I just wasn't feeling well, plus I had developed a side cramp. Made it back to the Hessie trailhead and just had to wait for a shuttle, although not for long. We spent the drive back to town deciding where we could get food/beer and a lot of places were actually closed. We settled on Resolute.
Headed home for the night and tried to watch tv and settle in for the night but finally went to bed (angry) around 8:30. I think this may be the first time in my whole life where I didn't see even ONE firework. Of note, I didn't even get woken up by them, I must have been exhausted.
Stats:
- 132,875 steps
- 29.79 miles run
- 20 minutes of cardio
- 20 minutes of strength training
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