I guess you can tell by the last few posts here what we like to do in our free time - be outside, especially in the mountains. We love to go on adventures together in the mountains. So, our anniversary was no exception. We celebrated 4 years of being happily married to each other by doing some camping and climbing fourteeners. The first night we camped near the base of Mt. Belford so we could get an early start in the morning. At some point during the night, we both woke up to sticks breaking and other noises near us in the forest. We were way off in the woods, and there was no other people anywhere around, so we were quite intrigued. At first we thought, must be deer. Nope. Too big to be a deer. Must be elk. Nope, making too much noise. Must be a bear! Gotta love it. So we got up early and started our 12 mile trek, hoping to summit 2 14,000 ft mountains. This is me half way up to Mt. Belford, dreading the switchbacks you can see - I dubbed them "the shark teeth."
But they didn't defeat us! We made it - Mt. Belford - Jeremy's 10th fourteener and my 3rd. Really, the view from up that high is indescribably beautiful. You can see forever and the grandeur of these mountains just blows your mind.
So, then we headed across the saddle between Belford and Oxford. This picture is looking back towards Belford - the peak is to the right.
I loved all the wildflowers. It's amazing all the beautiful, small flowers that grow up that high where trees can't hack it:)
Made it to Mt. Oxford : #11 and #4.
There are only a few places where you can feasibly climb more than one fourteener a day. So we were excited to try it. But Jeremy had already done two in one day when he climbed the Maroon Bells. So, on our way down, it was only noon and the weather still looked good, so he decided that he just couldn't walk by the base of Mt. Missouri without giving it a try too. I guess there's something about climbing these things that is kind of addicting. And now I'm convinced that my sweet husband has some masochistic tendencies, because...
HE DID IT! He climbed Mt. Missouri. And not only did he get to the top, he went straight up the side of it because the trail was too far away and would take too long. If you look behind him in this picture(below), you can see the scree field and rock slide area that he crawled up "to save time."
I sat at the bottom resting my aching feet, praying he wouldn't fall of the side of the mountain, and making friends with some very nosey marmots. I think he wanted the carrots I was eating.
The whole hike was so beautiful and most of it followed this creek. One thing I've learned about climbing fourteeners is that going up is super challenging and takes so much endurance, but going down is actually the most painful part. By the time you get down, every inch of your body hurts it seems.
We took this picture when we got back to the parking lot after 11 hours of hiking. This was all the smile I could muster up. You can see the map of what we did behind me and a panoramic view of the two peaks.
As we were hiking, I was thinking about how climbing mountains is actually a pretty good representation of marriage. You start out, and you're so excited and have so much energy to pour in to climbing. Then, pretty soon, you're out of breath and you realize the magnitude of this adventure that you've embarked on. It becomes a whole lot of work and concentrated effort. You have to stop often, look at each other and say, "we can do this - it is worth it." At the beginning of the trail, the forest is definitely beautiful. But as you climb up higher, you begin to be able to see the greater beauty all around you, and you can share it with each other. It seems that just as things get hardest, the beauty around you is so breathtaking and humbling. You realize more and more that this world, and this marriage, is not about you. You are just a small part of the incredible creation of the God of the universe, and you and your marriage exist simply to bring Him the Glory He deserves. And then, there's the mountain top, a great accomplishment when all the hard work seems so worth it and the view is spectacular. But those moment don't always last very long and they are only part of the journey. You can't stay there very long actually, especially here in Colorado, because in the afternoon, the thunderheads come and it's actually quite dangerous to be up there. You have to decide to go back down, which turns out to be a heck of a lot of work too. And actually, the most painful part, because that's when everything starts aching and cramping and your body starts to just give out on you. But you've experienced so much together, and there's a sense of accomplishment and a sweetness in the pain as you help each other reach the parking lot, where you can get in the car, and finally rest your body and thank God for the wonderful adventure you had together.
