Yale Alum

I hope you all enjoyed Alissa's guest blog. I certainly did, and I hope she comes back soon (to visit and to blog)!

Matt and I got back safely on Monday after a wonderful 3 day camping trip to the Collegiate Peaks. If any of you fellow Coloradans (or anyone for that matter) out there have not experienced this area, let me tell you that it is absolutely one of the most beautiful areas of Colorado that there is to see.

Saturday, we got to our campsite around noon and got everything set up. We had a whole afternoon ahead of us, so we decided to go for a 6.5 mile hike with the dogs. I am kicking myself for forgetting the name of the trail. It was a beautiful hike, and not overly strenuous. Here are a few pictures. Most of them are of me because Matt takes much better pictures than I do with his camera. :)

Perdi basically pulled me along the entire way. She has so much energy. But more on that in a little bit...

There was a beautiful lake at the top, but we didn't stay long because of the impending storm clouds. Even I won't tempt mother nature on top of a mountain.

Saturday night, we went to bed pretty early because we had a big hike ahead of us Sunday: Mt. Yale, elevation 14, 202 ft!

I wasn't sure if we would finish the hike because of the dogs. I didn't know if they could make it up a 14,000 ft peak. This is the top of Yale, before we got above tree line.


They have had the Lepto vaccination, so we let them drink from the stream.

As soon as we broke through the tree line, the views were INCREDIBLE. It was like we were literally on top of the world. You could see forever.

The summit of Mt. Yale, covered in clouds.

Still hanging in there after, a couple hours in.

We were literally scrambling up rocks and dirt to get to the top. It took us 4 hours, but we finally got close to the top. We still had some bouldering to do after we got to this point. The dogs were doing pretty good at climbing over the rocks, but when we got about 25 feet from the very very top, I started getting really freaked out. I was clinging to these rocks and all I could see around me was sky and mountains in the distance.

I don't usually get scared of heights, but I guess I learned that when there is nothing around to catch me if I fall, I freeze up. I know I was also worried about Pongo and Perdi falling off the mountain, so that didn't help at all.

Mt. Harvard was covered in storms. This is exactly what you DON'T want to get stuck in. Mt. Princeton looked about the same. We were lucky....Yale was clear when we got to the top. But we didn't stay too long because the storms were moving fast.

We did manage to eat a quick lunch and rest our legs for a few minutes. I knew I couldn't make it back down without some nourishment and some rest. It was an intense hike, to say the least.

Here we are at the top...beagles and all! I was so proud of them for making it to the top. I could see that Pongo was getting tired. He would sit or lay down whenever we stopped for a break. Perdi, on the other hand, pulled us to the top. Which ever one of us was holding her leash would get way ahead of the other. When we tried to stop and catch our breath, she was tugging at her leash to keep on going! I could not believe how much energy she had. This was one time I was happy to have her instead of Pongo (who is ususally better on the leash).

View looking down from the top of Yale.

Anybody know what this little guy is?

On the way down, we had to let Perdi off her leash. She was tugging so hard that she was making Matt lose his balance. She was excited for the freedom and discovered a marmont on some rocks! It was "chirping" (that's the best description I can come up with) at her. She didn't quite know what to think about this weird creature that kept taunting her. I did not want her going near it (I don't know how aggressive they are), so we finally got her back on the leash. It was still cool to get to see a marmont so close up.

In all, the hike to the top and back down took us 6.5 hours including breaks. We were so tired when we got back and immediately hopped in the tent for a nap.

I guess it takes a 1/2 day hike to the top of a 14,000 ft tall mountain to really wear Perdi out. But she was TIRED.

I am still incredibly sore from the hike 3 days later. I went for a run yesterday thinking that it would help. I didn't feel much pain during the run, but the moment I got home, the pain returned. I haven't been this sore since the first time we skiied last November. Hopefully skiing won't hurt so much now.

It was sad to leave the campsite. I couldn't help but think that it is probably our last campout of the summer. I love camping in the mountains so much. Especially in the Collegiate Peaks at 10,000 feet.

This week, Matt and I are preparing for a visit from Arlene and Ron. They will get here Friday and stay for the weekend. We can't wait to show them our (hopefully clean) house and our favorite places around Denver! Speaking of which...I better get back to the house. This is a great opportunity for de-cluttering and getting out the fall decoractions!