So, back on Monday when I was sitting around with the hikers, John mentioned that he was going on an epic hike to collect a string of 14ers along the Colorado Trail. I said I’d never climbed one before, and he invited me to hike one with him. Um, Hell yeah!

I see you all shaking your heads- yes, I know that I’m racing Saturday, but chances like this don’t come along every day…

We decided that the perfect one would be Elbert- it’s the shortest hike from the trailhead, and it’s also the tallest of the Colorado 14ers. The hike up was gorgeous- especially once we were above the treeline. I was amazed at the wildlife up there- grouses (which you can barely see in the photos because of their camouflage), chipmunks (you can see his butt in the photo), crows, and, at the top- Marmots! One of the Marmots almost crawled into my lap- which was probably the most frightening experience of the day. I didn’t want to catch marmot fever or anything…

Once we were up there, we signed the register and celebrated with a drink. There were a lot of people up there, so we sat around and talked to everyone for a few hours.

Eventually, we started to get hungry and sunburned. We headed back down- a process that is harder on the muscles than the climb up (I’m a little sore today!). I dropped John and his pack off at the Mt. Massive trailhead so he could take advantage of the perfect weather and make a sunset summit then headed back to the hostel for the most awesome dinner I’ve had on this trip.