The picture above is me standing on the summit of Mount Evans at 14,258'
Today was a long day. Just a little under eleven miles, two fourteen thousand foot summits, some class three scrambling along the Sawtooth saddle, and nine and half hours of hiking.
Tomorrow I'll break base camp in Georgetown and head to Moab, UT for a few days to do some camping and mountain biking.
This is a geological feature known as the sawtooth as viewed from the summit of Mount Bierstadt.
After climbing Bierstadt on Friday to scope out the sawtooth, tomorrow I'll be heading up Bierstadt, then cross over the sawtooth to the summit of Mount Evans.
This should end up being the most technical scramble of the trip and I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Today was a rest day. After logging thirteen miles on Friday, (summiting Bierstadt and hiking to Barr Camp), and then nineteen on Saturday, (summiting Pikes Peak from Barr Camp and returning to the Barr trail head), I figured I have a little downtime to get caught up on my chores and get ready for tomorrows climb.
I also headed down to Idaho Springs to spend a few hours doing a little whitewater rafting on Clear Creek. Going solo does has its advantages, especially when you just want to drop in on an activity that usually requires reservations.
The rafting was enjoyable; although, a little tame by my standards.
Tomorrow I'm back in the mountains.
You know what they say about best laid plans... And if you ask me what they say is true. My late start, three and half hours to be exact, put me completely off schedule and I ended up having to stop in a little oasis known as Waco, NE.
So here I am in my tent, cell phone tethering my laptop to the Internets, listening to sound of traffic go by on I-80 composing a quick post.
Watching as the time was ticking by, knowing that I was not going to make Kearney, I grabbed a map from a Nebraska visitor center so I'd be able to find a campsite. Unfortunately, my only focus was to make sure that I was close enough to the highway so I could have cell reception without really considering the consequences of being close to the interstate.
I'm just hoping to make it out of here early enough tomorrow so that I can get into Colorado at a decent time.
Well I'm turning in... G'night all.
So peremptorily did these shades beckon him, that each day mankind and the claims of mankind slipped farther from him. Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest, and on and on, he knew not where or why; nor did he wonder where or why, the call sounding imperiously, deep in the forest. ... - Call of the Wild, Jack London
