by susanjoypaul » Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:18 pm
Thanks, guys!
It's about time I finished them... I was on quite a roll there for awhile, and then I just got busy with other things so it was nice to get back to them this year.
Looking at the list, I do have some fond (and not so fond) memories:
- Hagues Peak: I summited in a lightning storm, and still had to take the track, and write up some notes. I sat my pack down and my trekking pole started humming so I moved the pack to another spot on the summit until it stopped, took more notes until it started humming again, moved it, took more notes, etc. I descended in a hail storm, with the pole still humming. In hindsight, that was a really dumb thing to do. But it was memorable!
- Bennett Peak: Me and Doug wandered around in a complete white-out, and then in the dark, for hours. I remember hallucinating for awhile. That was the first (and last) time I ever saw Doug get lost anywhere. I now use a GPS.
- Bushnell: I was happy to be able to drive pretty far up that road, but cows had overtaken the pullout/campsite, so I parked on the side of the road and set up my tent on a nice flat spot. No sooner did I start drifting off, when cows surrounded my tent, mooing very loudly - and aggressively! I thought they might trample me in my sleep, so I grabbed my bag and a pillow and spent a cramped night in the front seat of my car.
- Bison Butte: I had no idea how I was going to get that one, because no one was getting up there at the time. I got the bright idea to just do a little research, and call the woman who owned the property to ask for permission. She didn't even know what a county highpoint was, but she said it would be just fine, so we went. Some of her ranch hands stopped me and Stewart on the way in, but when we told them who we had spoken to, they just moved on and told us to have a nice day! I sent her a thank you card after that. I got a message from someone as soon as I logged my peak asking how I had done it, and I think it just all leaked out after that.
- Uncompahgre, Wetterhorn, and the Crestones (including "East Crestone") I got to do with Spencer Swanger. Doing peaks with Spence was always a treat!
- "Phoenix" was the first peak Doug and I did after coming back from failed attempts on three peaks in Ecuador, so it was really nice to finally get up something! Funny thing, we noticed John Kirk's name was the last one on the register up there that day.
- All the peaks I did with Doug were memorable. He's just great company.
- Doing Vermilion last week with Stewart was a lot of fun. We had the trailhead to ourselves the night before, and I finally got to try his specialty: fried chili burritos. We had the peak to ourselves the next day, too, and it's one of the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen!
I don't know what I'm going to do next. I think I'm done with lists for awhile, though :-)
Cheers, and thanks for starting the thread, David. That was a nice thing for you to do!
Susan
So much to climb - so little time!