Once more, in memory of Colorado

Outline of this blog post:

1. Poem
2. A few sappy, sentimental words.
3. Pictures of our Humboldt Hike
4. The tragic story of the descent of Humboldt
5. More Pictures.

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Some days,
Are harder than the next.
I'm straddling that line.

Mistake, Mistake,
When I think I've crossed the boarder,
But I'm always a step behind.

Can you hear,
This fading voice,
High,
Above the waves.

Can you whisper,
Me,
A choice.
And point me on my way.

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The words above are part of a song I scribbled down on a gas-station receipt, early one morning, on my way to teach another day of school in Westcliffe, Colorado, somewhere around two years ago.

Within a week I had a full song written out, with piano chords to accompany it.

These words have followed me for the past two year.

 I remember often times sitting at the piano in the school, before the kids ever got there, and singing it over and over.

I remember sitting at my cousins piano, when the house was quiet, and playing each chord slowly,

I remember being at my sister's house, on the small brown piano, trying to remember the tune..

I  remember sitting in the Brick, in Greece, on a floor mat in the sunshine, with the key board in front of me, playing this song until it was exhausted.

I sat at a baby grand piano in a café in Israel with my dear Alicia by my side,

I sat at a friends house in South Carolina, at a beautiful piano,

I sat in the back of Ryeland Gardens, at the weary weathered piano,

I sat in Riverside Church, after everyone else had left for their Sunday afternoon meals,

I sat in the hallway of the Steinbach Mall in Manitoba at a colorful street piano, and I sang this song, without regret, without a care in the world. I breathed in air, and I exhaled the memories of two years ago. Sitting in a small, two room school house, without direction, without perfection, and with the peace of a greater Power looking down and knowing exactly where each next step of my life would take me.

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Now, I am back in Colorado. Two years since writing that song. Back in the mountains. Back in Westcliffe. 

..just for a little.
 But sometimes a little is exactly what you need.

Pictures of our hike to the peak of Mt. Humbolt.

 {A level 2 14er for those who care to know}

1.
2. 3.

1.Camryn and Ashley on the Ridge, overlooking the grassy slope

2.Camryn, Cait and I... pausing for a joy photo

3.Camryn, Lee, Caleb and Koby, coming down the first leg of the ridge.

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In mere days I will be leaving this place once again. Always so bittersweet. I will never forget all the impractical situations I tend to get in with these dear people. Most recently was on the Humbolt hike. Before we ever got to the top, Caleb insisted on carrying Cait, Camryn and I's backpacks as we wormed out way up what we thought were the last few stretches. What a gentleman. Ashley, Koby and Lee were already at the top. Caleb encouraged us to keep going. We climbed up huge boulders that totally dropped off on one side. I was leading our small group and didn't know where the path was. Occasionally satisfying my desire to knock down those towers of rocks people build. Only to realize later, those were to help mark a true path... oops. Since I couldn't find a trail, of course, I created my own, which may have caused hardship for the others. The boulders were a total workout, and defiantly my favorite part of the hike. I liked the feeling of climbing upward, and looking down at the drop off. It was just the right dose of adrenaline. 

Then, it happened. The grand idea was formed after we had all finally made it to the top. There were storm clouds closing in on us, and a choice had to be made. How were we going to get off the mountain? The most reasonable answer would be back the way we came, back down the boulders, down all the switch backs, into the tree line and follow the path back to the trailhead. But, knowing us, that just seemed as if it would take by far to long. Lo and behold, the boys sparked up with a what they convinced us would be a great idea. The verdict, we would continue onward, across the ridge {Which dropped of into seep rock on one side, and slick grass lands on the other} until we reached the saddle point which looked as if it dipped a little more than the rest of the ridge, giving us a less steep way down tot the tree line. Once we hit the tree line, we thought, would be smooth sailing till we found the trail and followed in down to the trailhead. The boys were certain. Us girls, a little more cautious, questioned them into verbally stating that they were in fact sure this was safe and the best option. They did. We followed. And so started the longest next few hours of our lives, and the most memorable. 

I had great fun walking along the ridge, despite a few ridiculous moves from various members of our party which included rock slides and daring moves of standing far to close to the deathly drop off. We stayed near the top, as to not slip down the grassland side, and yet far enough over to not go tumbling through a large crack in the rocks that led to oblivion. Cait and I eased our way in the back of the pack for the most part. This was her first time ever seeing the mountains, and she daringly took on this 14er with no remorse. Although, at this point, I believe she was in the beginning stages of elevation sickness. Bless her heart. Camryn and Ashley waddled their way in the middle, with Koby taking lead and Lee and Caleb taking turns bringing up the rear or charging ahead. We had a lovely system. The scenery was beautiful, even tho snow clouds were approaching faster than expected. A few sharp blows of freezing wind kept us on our feet, lighthearted and curious as to how we were going to get off this mountain. I can't remember if we ever actually reached the original saddle in the mountain where we were going to start veering downward. No matter, we started down at a seemingly gradual place. walking sideways, cross cutting, and going over gravel patches when possible. The grass was short, dry, poky and slick. If you sat in it, you had about a million amateur cactus stubbles stuck to your hind side, encouraging you to not sit again. It was short enough, that if you slipped, you had nothing to grab on to. I thought it was rather slick until I realized that had been a conservative idea of what slick really was. We all got a rude awakening once we hit tree line. Cait and I were the last to make our way down the grasslands, past a few dead fallen trees which offered stability, and into the trees. Our group stood, waiting patiently, chatting and enjoying the adventure. I cant tell you how long it took to get to the tree line. It felt like an eternity. That also was a misconceived idea, for it would take us more than double the time to tackle the trees.

We started out with good direction thanks to Lee and his phone App. Weaving our way in and out of trees. After about the third time of a girl slipping and sliding down the mountain until rescued by a nearby guy bracing himself and stopping the mad slide, we soon realized that the thick bed of pine needles was by far more slick than anything previously encountered. Graciously the guys formed a plan, of planting them selves and various locations, as the girls slid down, point by point, being stopped by one guy and passed on to the next to ensure we wouldn't start an unstoppable tumble down the mountain. It began to snow. It was cold. We had a few mishaps of the last person accidently releasing stray rocks on the ones below. But all in all, I couldn't decide if we looked like a bunch of monkey's goofing around, or children using the great mountain side as a play ground. Four girls, sliding down the mountain. Three guys. Hanging onto trees, creating blockades. I, being me, allowed my pride to get in the way and insisted I didn't need assistance. I tried my best to maneuver down the mountain as the guys did, clinging to trees and planting my feet. But my shoes weren't sufficient and resulted in me causing multiple human landslides. I gave in and slid. I think the guys were annoyed that I refused help. Which led me to go, with my tail between my legs, pleading back to them to lend me a hand or foot to hold onto as I slid into embarrassment. Pride is a stupid thing. And a hard lesson. I will publicly apologize for my arrogance of thinking I could somehow tackle such a thing by myself. It was defiantly a group effort to keep everyone alive and uninjured. Might I add, this lasted for a good three hours. I am almost certain. Even tho, logically, it usally takes you less time to get down than up...{Facepalm}

 Each time we asked Lee to check his App, he told us we were only '900 feet' from the trail, and what felt like an hour later, upon our request he said, "Only 800 more feet'. By gracious that 100 feet took us EONS according to his app! Also, considering the fact we hadn't the slightest clue which part of the trail this would lead us to, we blindly followed the hopes and dreams of finishing this race set before us. Finally we made it over to a welcoming patch of boulders. We thankfully crawled onto them, the only thing offering stability at this point.

 Our feet hurt, or at least mine did. I was wearing shoes a size to big. Camryn had on sneakers of little sufficiency. Cait was now in the full swing of elevation sickness, but persevered like a stubborn mule, which I admire. Ashley had a mishap or two with straddling fallen trees, which proved to not hold her back at all. Lee held onto his phone for dear life, our only hope to this hopeless cause. Caleb continued to help each of us who faced more slippage. And Koby managed to warble his was downward, looking to see just how far the trail was, or if in fact we were going to be lucky enough to ever even find it. At one point we thought we lost him. We offered a few shouts into the thick of the trees with no response and continued, figuring he was the mastermind behind this escapade and would be able to fend for himself. 

I think I was the third one to the trail. I ran down the mountain once I was the first glimpse of it and fell into its rocky welcoming arms. I was followed by the others, who were equally please to be heading in the correct direction. We started the third leg of our journey, soon realizing we were closer than previously imagined. And then, I partially convinced myself that, what if in fact we were on the wrong trail, and actually on the boulder filled road going away from where we had parked the cars. I verbalized this. The idea was shot down fiercely. But I couldn't help but continue to think so, as it seemed the longer we walked, the further we got. We all agreed nothing looked familiar. Lee desperately looked at his app to get an idea of where we could possibly be. Koby, who has been reunited with us once we found the trail, ran ahead again, looking for the trailhead. And the rest of us, slowly, exhausted, and ready to be comfortably sitting with food and coffee, trudged along. We still, for the most part, had good attitudes. Despite my gasping lungs and pained feet, I was having enormous loads of fun with all the completely ridiculous things that had just taken place.

We basically all wilted with relief as we saw the bridge that told us our vehicles were just around the bend.

We rounded the bend, and there sat our cars, flat tires, broken windows, and....Just kidding. The vehicles were fine. But I wouldn't have been surprised to see the devastation of our cars considering all we had already been through.

We piled in. We had chosen to take the old Blazer and Lee's snazzy Duramax up to the trailhead. Which was a lumpy ride to say the least. Descending off the mountain was also lumpy. But we didn't care. We had finally made it. We then realized it took longer to come down the alternative route, than it would have to just go back the way we came. At least this way we all had, weather fond or not, memories in our minds and a truly teambuilding adventure under or belts.

We all survived. Went home. Ate chili and cornbread. Drank coffee. Examined our wounds. And laughed, at how enjoyable our time had been. 

All in all. It was a day well spent.

I can't help but remember Colorado a year ago, and hiking my first 14er, Mt. Elbert, also the highest summit in the Rocky Mountain range. It was so satisfying. Even though Sheena and I had a few doubts, the others faithfully encouraged and stuck with us. Also, somehow they convinced Ashley and I to eat live grasshoppers, which we did with frontward pride and inward regret. We had camped out the night before at the base, and headed up the mountain far before the sun decided to wake up. By the time we made it back down to camp after the hike it was pouring rain, and we scrambled to pack everything up. We also somehow all survived that.

Pictured Below:

First Picture- August 2017.  Mt. Elbert, Level 1. 14,433 Elevation. James, Sheena, Ashley, Caleb, Lee and I. It was a much warmer and nicer day that time of year.

Second Picture- September 2018. Mt. Humboldt, Level 2. 14,294 Elevation. Camryn, Ashley, Caleb, Cait, Me, Koby and Lee. You can see the clouds beginning to roll in.

 {and I now just realize, I obviously never changed my skirt and jacket in between now and then. what terrible hygiene.}

{Also, my backpack, Chester, was along on both hikes. He is quite the advanced hitchhiker and enjoys mooching rides off of me whenever an adventure is at hand.}

That concludes all I have prepared in regards to Colorado. 

On Saturday James and Sheena will be tying the Knot and beginning the start of the rest of their lives.

& Life will have proven to keep moving on once again.

My only question is, where will we all be in another year or two from now?

I suppose, time is the best storyteller for that.