After I got home yesterday, Amy and I packed up and headed to her parent's in Madisonville for the fourth.
No fireworks because of the dry spell we've been having, but we still had a nice time. I got Tristan's 4-wheeler running and we rode that around until we hit some sort of metal spike thing. We wer about 5 miles from home.
I was kind of clever here: The spike was about 9 inches long and protruding from the center of the rear tire. Thinking fast, I carved a stick that was slightly larger in diameter than the spike and was maybe 3 inches long. I pulled the spike, then immediately jammed the stick bout halfway into the tire before the air had time to leak out. We were able to drive it all the way home without loosing all the air and ruining the tire. Sweet.
Later, the muffler fell off.
hahahaha
I fixed that by taking the manifold/muffler screws out of his little dirt-bike and used them on the 4-wheeler.
I was a regular mechanic that day. I think I'm also Tristan's hero which is a pretty cool way to be on the Fourth of July.
KoP
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Long's Peak Expedition 2009 Day 6
Today, we fly out. What a great trip!!
I'll be glad to get back home though. We have some cool plans for the Fourth.
See you on the flip side!
KoP
I'll be glad to get back home though. We have some cool plans for the Fourth.
See you on the flip side!
KoP
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Long's Peak Expedition 2009 Day 5
7-2-09
Today, we hiked out of the Boulder Field and headed to the trailhead.
One of the other guys headed down earlier. Seems he has cracked a tooth or somesuch and is going to see if he can get a cell signal a few miles from here. For some reason, there IS cell service down there. He's going to schedule an emergency dental appointment to get a root canal or something.
It always seems like SOMETHING with that guy.
Anyways, we told him to take off and we would catch up later. We're taking our time packing up.
He's also the same guy that flipped out on us when we got down from the peak. You see, he panics at the notion of danger. I revel in it. He managed to get another guy panicked too and they almost left us on the peak to go down and find a Ranger... 7 miles away!
Sure, we didn't TALK about a time that they could expect us to be down (it took 3 hours), but common sense should have taken over at that point and they should have waited before getting so freaked out. As it was, these two guys were pretty upset when we finally made it down.
We more or less told them to get over it. This was one of the guys FIRST backpacking trip and he needed to understand that we knew what we were doing. The instigator of the panic attack may not be coming back.
Other than that little incident, the trip was a HUGE success. A great time was had by all, and now we're talking about doing another trip for next year.
Maybe a canoe trip that crosses state lines up north, Maine and New York. Who knows, but it'll be good.
KoP
Today, we hiked out of the Boulder Field and headed to the trailhead.
One of the other guys headed down earlier. Seems he has cracked a tooth or somesuch and is going to see if he can get a cell signal a few miles from here. For some reason, there IS cell service down there. He's going to schedule an emergency dental appointment to get a root canal or something.
It always seems like SOMETHING with that guy.
Anyways, we told him to take off and we would catch up later. We're taking our time packing up.
He's also the same guy that flipped out on us when we got down from the peak. You see, he panics at the notion of danger. I revel in it. He managed to get another guy panicked too and they almost left us on the peak to go down and find a Ranger... 7 miles away!
Sure, we didn't TALK about a time that they could expect us to be down (it took 3 hours), but common sense should have taken over at that point and they should have waited before getting so freaked out. As it was, these two guys were pretty upset when we finally made it down.
We more or less told them to get over it. This was one of the guys FIRST backpacking trip and he needed to understand that we knew what we were doing. The instigator of the panic attack may not be coming back.
Other than that little incident, the trip was a HUGE success. A great time was had by all, and now we're talking about doing another trip for next year.
Maybe a canoe trip that crosses state lines up north, Maine and New York. Who knows, but it'll be good.
KoP
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Long's Peak Expedition 2009 Day 4
7-1-09
It is dark, raining, thundering, and lightening, but NOTHING can dampen, or take away from the fact that we made the summit of Long’s Peak this afternoon!
It was no easy task, I assure you. In fact, not all of us made it, only 3 of the 6 did. That would be Jonathan, Lamarr, and I.
I feel kind of bad for the other guys. One of them just had a “bad feeling” about the whole thing, another realized that he was afraid of heights when we got to the “narrows”, and the other guy was nervous about the weather, which was looking pretty bad and can turn very nasty, very fast. Those three DID make it up to 14,000’, which is still no small accomplishment.
These three had decided to leave while I was waiting under a large boulder/cave for the weather to clear. The other two guys came up to where I was and we waited… I told them that I was “…prepared to wait in this cave for the rest of the day if I have to, but I am GOING TO MAKE THE SUMMIT!” haha
Turned out, the weather cleared up in about twenty minutes. We strapped on our gear and climbed up a very steep 200’ snow/ice bank to the summit.
The view was AMAZING!
We found a capsule up there with a parchment inside with the scribbled names of those who had made it. Totally cool. We signed our names and the date there.
The hike up was grueling, maybe even harder that running in that 70.3 Ironman last year, but the hike back down was even worse because I started snowing pretty hard. That turned into sleet and freezing rain the further down the mountain we got. The granite boulders were really slick with the water. Not cool.
Anyway, by the time we got down, I was absolutely exhausted, just drained.
After some Excedrin migraine and a little food, I started feeling better.
The guys who had gone down before us, were flipping out a little, and really just over reacting because they had been worried about us. Apparently, we had taken too long to get down and there had been a really bad storm on their side of the mountain. I guess we should have given some sort of time frame on when we would be down. Oh well. Live and learn.
This was the best trip ever!
This was the last entry in my written journal. I'll be posting a bunch of photos and explanations from here on ou. Get ready. haha.
KoP
It is dark, raining, thundering, and lightening, but NOTHING can dampen, or take away from the fact that we made the summit of Long’s Peak this afternoon!
It was no easy task, I assure you. In fact, not all of us made it, only 3 of the 6 did. That would be Jonathan, Lamarr, and I.
I feel kind of bad for the other guys. One of them just had a “bad feeling” about the whole thing, another realized that he was afraid of heights when we got to the “narrows”, and the other guy was nervous about the weather, which was looking pretty bad and can turn very nasty, very fast. Those three DID make it up to 14,000’, which is still no small accomplishment.
These three had decided to leave while I was waiting under a large boulder/cave for the weather to clear. The other two guys came up to where I was and we waited… I told them that I was “…prepared to wait in this cave for the rest of the day if I have to, but I am GOING TO MAKE THE SUMMIT!” haha
Turned out, the weather cleared up in about twenty minutes. We strapped on our gear and climbed up a very steep 200’ snow/ice bank to the summit.
The view was AMAZING!
We found a capsule up there with a parchment inside with the scribbled names of those who had made it. Totally cool. We signed our names and the date there.
The hike up was grueling, maybe even harder that running in that 70.3 Ironman last year, but the hike back down was even worse because I started snowing pretty hard. That turned into sleet and freezing rain the further down the mountain we got. The granite boulders were really slick with the water. Not cool.
Anyway, by the time we got down, I was absolutely exhausted, just drained.
After some Excedrin migraine and a little food, I started feeling better.
The guys who had gone down before us, were flipping out a little, and really just over reacting because they had been worried about us. Apparently, we had taken too long to get down and there had been a really bad storm on their side of the mountain. I guess we should have given some sort of time frame on when we would be down. Oh well. Live and learn.
This was the best trip ever!
This was the last entry in my written journal. I'll be posting a bunch of photos and explanations from here on ou. Get ready. haha.
KoP
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Long's Peak Expedition 2009 Day 3
6-30-09
I didn’t sleep so well last night, but that’s to be expected. I never sleep well on the first night out.
Tonight I will look for a site that’s not as hard, maybe on a bed of pine needles.
Rick was the first one up this morning, followed by Jonathan and Chris.
Lamarr, Blake, and I woke up about an hour later, which would be around 8am.
After a breakfast of oatmeal, granola bars and coffee, we decided to do a day hike up to Mill Moraine Pass and then go down to Chasm Lake. However, once we got up to the pass, we decided to head back to camp for lunch and then hike back up with our packs since it was also the route to the Boulder Field.
It was tough enough with just the weight of a camera. Climbing it again with a 45lb backpack will be brutal. Once we get to the pass, we’ll leave our packs there and head down to the lake, then back up to the pass, grab the packs again and make our way up to the Boulder Field.
There are tons of mosquitoes here, but they are mostly leaving me alone.
On our way up to the Boulder Field.
10:46pm
I am in my tent now, about to go to sleep. I wanted to write one more time about the day.
We made it to the Boulder Field which was about 3.5-4 miles from the previous camp site. It is definitely colder here, probably high 30s right now, and we expect below freezing temps by morning. The elevation is 12,700’, I think.
Long’s Peak looms over us.
The snow covered peak is beautiful and majestic and even a little forbidding…
After we had set up camp, we saw a group of guys coming down from the “Keyhole” pass. After a while, I walked over to their camp and asked if they were able to make the summit. They had indeed made it, but said it was treacherous and difficult..
Good.
One of the younger ones is from Houston. They looked pretty tired.
Actually, I was a little surprised that they had made it. Out of a dozen people we passed on the way up, only two had summited and they looked like serious mountain climbers.
These guys I’m with are crazy. I’m having SUCH a great time!
Hopefully, there will be many more trips in the days to come.
We saw a herd of elk today and I got a few nice shots. I’m going nuts with my camera, tons of photos coming.
Tomorrow, we summit Long’s Peak
Good Night
KoP
I didn’t sleep so well last night, but that’s to be expected. I never sleep well on the first night out.
Tonight I will look for a site that’s not as hard, maybe on a bed of pine needles.
Rick was the first one up this morning, followed by Jonathan and Chris.
Lamarr, Blake, and I woke up about an hour later, which would be around 8am.
After a breakfast of oatmeal, granola bars and coffee, we decided to do a day hike up to Mill Moraine Pass and then go down to Chasm Lake. However, once we got up to the pass, we decided to head back to camp for lunch and then hike back up with our packs since it was also the route to the Boulder Field.
It was tough enough with just the weight of a camera. Climbing it again with a 45lb backpack will be brutal. Once we get to the pass, we’ll leave our packs there and head down to the lake, then back up to the pass, grab the packs again and make our way up to the Boulder Field.
There are tons of mosquitoes here, but they are mostly leaving me alone.
On our way up to the Boulder Field.
10:46pm
I am in my tent now, about to go to sleep. I wanted to write one more time about the day.
We made it to the Boulder Field which was about 3.5-4 miles from the previous camp site. It is definitely colder here, probably high 30s right now, and we expect below freezing temps by morning. The elevation is 12,700’, I think.
Long’s Peak looms over us.
The snow covered peak is beautiful and majestic and even a little forbidding…
After we had set up camp, we saw a group of guys coming down from the “Keyhole” pass. After a while, I walked over to their camp and asked if they were able to make the summit. They had indeed made it, but said it was treacherous and difficult..
Good.
One of the younger ones is from Houston. They looked pretty tired.
Actually, I was a little surprised that they had made it. Out of a dozen people we passed on the way up, only two had summited and they looked like serious mountain climbers.
These guys I’m with are crazy. I’m having SUCH a great time!
Hopefully, there will be many more trips in the days to come.
We saw a herd of elk today and I got a few nice shots. I’m going nuts with my camera, tons of photos coming.
Tomorrow, we summit Long’s Peak
Good Night
KoP
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