Sipping a morning coffee, this ad popped up in my feed this morning, the tag line was “Go where life is lived out of stuff sacks and gourmet meals require only hot water.” This concept excited me for a number of reasons. The biggest being I begin my travels to hike Pikes Peak this weekend. My kids, whom I love very much, will be joining me on this epic adventure. Sigh RT calls more later
#LetsCamp
Everybitthejourney.com
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One of the joys I find in hiking is a celebratory meal at the end of the trip or section. As a group we would try to pick out some kinds of food everyone had been craving over the miles of trail and feast. Hikers burn an amazing number of calories per day. After a couple days on the trail it’s not uncommon for the conversations to shift to food. People will gush about their favorite foods, the way mom cooked it, the best restaurant, the strangest combinations (Easter Peeps & peanut butter sandwiches). I think part of this food craving talk is kicked off by a physiological need for the body to refuel and rebuild. I also think it’s part “happy place.” Sights and smells can trigger memories and emotions and foods are no exception. Its not that hike makes you sad but often when stressed people will seek food for comfort, they are looking for that happy place. I think there is a sweet spot a few days in to a hiking which occurs where your body is aching a little and you’ve hiking enough not to be able to eat more than you burn, and that’s when thoughts turn to food.
But it’s not just about the food either. I have done a couple solo hikes and had post hike meals (the food was fine) which were nothing more than the next meal and I’ve had amazing post hike meals at places where the pizza is little more than a pre-formed crust assembled by a staff with a less than mediocre care factor. It’s also about the company you break bread with. The magic happens with others to share the celebration of the adventure. To eat, drink, and be merry with, whether friends or family, the group setting for tales to be told, a meal to share, is the making of a celebration. These are what I savor.
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In early June of this year I was hiking over Iron Mountain while backpacking along the Appalachian trail and happened across the monument/grave of Uncle Nick Grindstaff. The inscription simply read:
“Uncle Nick Grindstaff
Born
Dec. 26, 1851
Died
July 22, 1923
Lived alone, suffered alone, and died alone”
Standing at a man’s grave on a mountain top, I could not help but wonder about the man behind the monument. This was the best back story I could find about him (https://bcyesteryear.com/uncle-nick-a-hermit-found-serenity-in-his-iron-mountain-shack). He died alone in his cabin in 1923. While he was a hermit, he was well known to his neighbors and they erected this monument to him after his death.
Ironically Uncle Nick, in search of solitude, found popularity. Remembered by his friends and family, he is now visited by hundreds of hikers each year, most of them in search of the same thing in some shape or form … solitude.
I left a pebble on his monument as I walked away.
(link updated 3/28/2023)
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I blame my oldest son. A couple of years ago, while attending his wedding in Colorado Springs, Colorado, I was enchanted by the amazing views of Pikes Peak. The mountain was incredible to watch in the morning sunrise. To my surprise and joy I learned there were hiking trails which lead to the summit. As an avid hiker, I thought this sounded great. My three children (and their dear spouses) all were very supportive and offered to go on this adventure with me as well. Originally I wanted to make the hike in 2016. I was researching online, monitoring the weather at the peak. For motivation, I even had a large picture hanging in my office of the East side approach trail. However as life would have it, a number of now seemingly minor things intervened and I back-burner-ed the idea as the fall approached. Anyway we had been batting this trip around for a while so my New Year’s resolution was to nail it down and dedicate to making the trip and hiking the mountain.
Looking back, the delay actually worked out for the better. By watching the weather for a year, I was able to pick the best weather window for the trip. The picture with this post is from April 2015 and the entire top of the mountain to covered in ice and snow. So after much team discussion I have set a trek window set for the first week of August 2017 to hike this 14,115 foot tall iconic mountain. The delay also allowed me to figure out there was an alternative route to the peak. Originally I had looked at taking the Barr Trail to the peak and riding the Cog Railway down. This 12 mile climb from 6000 feet might have been a bit much for us lowland folks. Again after much discussion I am planning the trek to start from West side at the Crag’s, come up through the Devil’s Playground, and on to the peak. We will overnight at Mueller State Park (about 10,000 feet) and then start hiking first thing in the morning. This will help both with altitude acclimation and give us the maximum amount of time to reach the peak in time to catch the rail down.
Besides the logistics of getting six people from two coasts to the top of a mountain, one of our major challenges is we all live at sea level. My daughter and her husband are stationed on the West coast in San Diego California, and my sons and daughter in-law and I live in the Charleston South Carolina area on the East coast. The air is very thin and breathing difficult at 14,000 feet and because we are all sea-level dwellers, we will need to spend some time at the Colorado Springs 6,000-8,000 foot elevation to help acclimate before we attempted the climb to over 14,000 feet. I plan to spend a couple days training on local hikes in and around Colorado Springs to acclimate to the elevation and finish physical preparations for the attempt to summit Pikes Peak.
Sometimes the first of something always seems the hardest. I think because of all the perceived unknowns prior doing the first. Sure someone can tell you how to bake a cake or climb a mountain, but until you do the first one it’s only an idea. The more you do, the easier it gets. And there are always mountains.
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Like every journey, you need to start somewhere, and for me this is the start of a new one. We all travel somewhere. Whether across continents or simply across the room. These stories, adventures, skills, and insights are what I offer to maybe make your travels a little more interesting. It’s a little difficult to explain all the things I’m thinking about right now, but my hope is you find these posts and ramblings entertaining at least, if not useful to some degree.
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