Ever since I moved to Colorado last year, I’d planned to climb as many fourteeners [a mountain that has an elevation of 14,000 feet or more] as possible. After all, this state does have 58 of them! After a year of slogging through the first year of my PhD program at CU-Boulder and spending the summer in Kathmandu, Nepal - I returned to Boulder with a renewed resolve to at least climb one fourteener before I went back to the grind of my PhD. Thankfully, the mountain gods were smiling down at me … even if it was one year after having lived in Colorado. Well, events happen - when they are supposed to happen I guess, irrespective of how much you try to make them happen OR events happen - when your fellow hikers/friends are all available and willing to climb up a fourteener on the exact same day that you have chosen! SO on the auspicious day of August 22nd, 2015 - I finally set out to climb my very first fourteener with a group of four other friends. We chose to climb -
Grays peak: the ninth highest peak in Colorado at 14,270 ft/ 4350 m. Now, the reason we chose this particular peak was because it is highly regarded as one of the easiest fourteeners in CO. However, I should also point out that I have often been told the following as well - “There is no such thing as an easy fourteener!”
Be these assumptions - true or false - what I can say is that our motley group of 5 consisted of #1) who had done multiple fourteeners but was recovering from an injury, #2) who had done only one fourteener and that being the highest fourteener in the contiguous United States, #3) who had done no fourteeners but who otherwise worked out regularly and was physically well-equipped to deal with this beast, #4) had done no fourteener and not many hikes and managed (in my opinion) to tackle this fourteener due to her sheer grit and determination, #5) [ME!!!] who had always dreamt of doing ALL the fourteeners [at least in CO) and was reasonably (not so much in retrospect] fit but was also recovering from an injury. With a few hiccups notwithstanding, ALL FIVE of us did manage to successfully go up and reach a lofty height of 14,270 ft. and come down back to a measly 11,230 ft -the starting point of our hike at the
Stephen Gulch Trailhead. So, what follows is a [hopefully] brief account of my first ever fourteener …
Now the BIGGEST problem for me about climbing a Colorado fourteener is that you have to be at the trailhead at the crack of dawn or may be even hours earlier so that you can be up at the peak and down again before the thunderstorms set in during the afternoon. Now, I don’t want to go into the science behind why these thunderstorms need to occur in the afternoon in Colorado, [this is not true for the California fourteeners as far as I know] but what I do know is that there have been cases of people getting struck by lighting up at these peaks. So, as thoroughly annoying as it may be to drag ourselves out of bed in the middle of the night, I’d rather lose a few hours of sleep than several hours of my life. So, given our love for our mortal coil, we dutifully gathered around 4.30 am in the dark at our apartment parking lot in Boulder - dressed in warm clothing which turned out to be not warm enough in retrospect. Now, this was August - relatively warm here in Boulder. I figured it will be a bit cold up there at over 14000 ft so I packed some extra layers but what I didn’t figure was that my tropical climate-loving body would not be able to withstand the windy weather which brought the temperature much further down. So, note to self: for your next fourteener - pack layers as if you are heading to subzero temperatures irrespective of whether you are going there in summer!
Our drive to the Stephen Gulch trailhead took an hour or so [can’t recall exactly since I am writing this post 4 months later :P] But I do remember there are two parking lots… low clearance vehicles park 2-3 miles out and hike up to the main trailhead whose access is limited to high clearance vehicles. Even though we got there fairly early [around 5.30 am], the parking lot was full and we had to park along the road. With that began the hike to my first fourteener. The initial climb was pretty decent - not too steep - and given that the parking lot was overflowing and vehicles were parked along the road - you can guess there was heavy traffic on the trail. Believe it or not - I was reminded of the yatras back in India - the holy pilgrimages that scores of Indians undertake to the holy peaks in the Himalayas. The difference being that most of the hikers on this trail were equipped in gear worth more $$$ than most of those holy pilgrims in India encounter in their entire lives. Money matters apart - the hike was relatively pleasant. Although the trail was overcrowded, fellow hikers were polite and did not complain when they were slowed down by others. The slower ones often graciously let the others pass. Trail/hiking/outdoor etiquettes are a new kind of behavior that I have encountered in this country [..took my ill-mannered self quite a while to get the hang of it…] and one that I hope people emulate all over. Indian mountains would be much happier if fellow travelers packed in their trash and followed the “Leave no trace” code of behavior followed here.
Whatever be our ethical obligations, I just wish there was an easier way to pee in that crowded area. Since we were above the tree line -no vegetation such as bushes or trees, there was not much cover to answer nature’s call in much privacy. The only way to get privacy was to bush whack far away from the trail and crouch behind an elusive rock and bare your behind to the vicious winds. Well, as one woman whom I encountered [to my bad luck] - peeing on the streets in downtown Reno - once told me “When you have to go, you have to go!” So that is what we did...
About halfway up, the climb got pretty steep and I was gulping in air that was frigid cold and probably lacking in much needed oxygen. I also realized how out-of-shape I was. Nonetheless, we trudged on. Couple of our group members picked up speed and got ahead of us while another one decided to take it much slower. I hiked at my own speed to make sure I didn’t over exert just to keep up with the group. Ultimately, as I have come to realize - following a pace that you are comfortable with helps you keep up for a much longer duration. And this realization has served me well on many an occasion.
It’s roughly a 4 mile trip (probably a bit less ...like 3.8) up to the summit from the trailhead depending upon how many detours you need to take to pee in peace. Given how dry this beautiful state is, you NEED too gulp water by the gallons and what goes in needs come out sooner or later…and in cold weather it is usually sooner than later :P … So the four hour hike uphill took me about four hours (that was how out of shape I was … and still am…) It was four of us who made it there at roughly the same time (give or take 15 minutes…) The feeling that I had when I stood on top of that peak can be described in one word - CHILLY! - Oh, how I wish I had more layers to give me some much needed warmth. After a few pics and gazing lovingly at the Rockies around us, we began our descent. The two in our group who had reached earlier again picked up their pace and left us far behind. I as usual hiked at my own pace. At the same time, I happily provided words of encouragement (as humbly as possible) to those who were still headed uphill.
On the hike down, we encountered the last of our group members still determinedly headed uphill… She was having a tough time but she was ready to battle it out. The only thing I was worried about was that it was approaching noon - which meant the thunderstorms may not be far away. But it seemed like she could make it in time so we told her we’d wait for her further down the path where the wind was not freezing us up. On a nice flat area about a couple of miles down the trail, we decided to take a short nap while we waited for our friend to come back. That was a wonderful nap… filled with the satisfaction of having climbed my first fourteener. After about an hour of napping, the first hailstones hit us. Phattu that I am - I was already imagining thundering showers and lighting. By this time, the crowd had considerably thinned and there didn’t seem to be a lot of people on the trail. We hoped our friend had made it back in time since both of us had dozed off… and she probably didn’t notice us snoozing away…
We hiked back but the hailstones seemed to be a false alarm. Nothing much happened... at least not at our elevation. Also, I realized my leg has not yet healed up completely. So I took it slow. We made it back to the trailhead by 2 pm including the couple of hours of napping, munching breakfast, peeing, etc... on the trail. It took the fifth member of our group another hour or so to get back. Thankfully, she didn’t encounter any thunderstorms!… just a bit of rain but no lightning… Apparently she got to celebrate her summit with fellow Indians who had a packed lunch of Indian delicacies with them that they were enjoying on the summit!
There wasn’t much wildlife up there.... may be pikas(?) and quite a bit of wildflowers looking splendid as always.
And so with that concludes the account of my very first fourteener in a country far far away from home (yeah.. I just watched Star Wars…). Hopefully when I return to the Himalaya, I’d aspire to reach heights much higher than these :P
