For me, 14ers are always such a humbling experience. Even though I’ve lived in Colorado for 3 years I still get super altitude sick at anything over 12,000ft. The altitude combined with gaining lots of elevation in just a few miles makes for an extra challenging hike. Its hard to enjoy a hike when I’m constantly trying not to throw up or pass out.
Hiking a 14er actually wasn’t on my list of things to do this summer. However, one of my friends wanted to do one before she turned 30. Obviously, I love a good quest, so my other friend, Ariel, and I asked if we could be a part of her adventure. We decided on Mt. Bierstadt because we didn’t need four wheel drive or a high clearance vehicle to get there and because it was supposed to be easy. But I mean honestly what person would consider 3000ft of elevation gain in 4.5 (but really only the last 3) miles easy?
We got an airbnb for the night before, packed our backpacks, and off we went on our girls trip.
The adventure started on the drive up there. I hate driving in the dark. I especially hate driving in the dark if I don’t know where I’m going. But, since I was bringing both my dogs I offered to drive. At first there were no issues and we were all able to relax and enjoy the drive. Then, among our girl talk and easy conversation a sudden windstorm came out of nowhere almost blowing my little Honda civic, Pepper, off of the road. Then we came within four feet of colliding with a deer that came out of nowhere. We finally and safely made it to our airbnb and went to sleep thinking of our 3am alarms.
The next morning we got to the mountain around 5am and started our hike at 515am. This was the easiest 14er ever to get to. You literally never leave paved roads. My little car definitely appreciated that. Poor Pepper has been taken up some roads that he definitely did not belong on.
Mt Bierstadt is definitely the prettiest 14er I’ve done so far. There’s a lake, tons of bushes, wildflowers, and succulents. It wasn’t as crowded as any of us expected either. The first about mile and half is actually a combination of flat and downhill, making it really fast. At about mile 2 is where you really start gaining elevation and don’t stop until the summit. It’s not that rocky which is nice, but it is steep. We actually saw quite a few people turn back before the summit. I guess that’s part of the whole “easy 14er” conspiracy- just because it doesn’t involve scrambling or climbing, doesn’t mean it isn’t challenging.
Ariel and Alexzia did great. They forged ahead with strength and speed. But I died. I was seriously struggling. My head was pounding, I was dizzy, and felt sick to my stomach. Every 5 steps I would have to stop and sit down. I’m not out of shape either, which I think made it more frustrating. I don’t do well when my body tells me no. And I would absolutely be lying if I said my pride wasn’t wounded either. I was so slow. The goal was to get up the mountain in 3 hours and down in 2. We all figured this was an attainable goal. I did Grays and Torrerys (which you can read about here) in 6 hours and that was two mountains! Of course I could do one in 5! That day was not my day. I felt embarrassed, ashamed, lacking. I felt like I was holding my friends back. I felt like I was ruining Alexzia’s 30 before 30 bucket list hike. They did nothing to make me feel any of those things of course, they were super sweet and supportive and concerned for my well being. I guess everyone has bad days. This was one of mine.
We (I) finally made it to the top. We celebrated our victory and Alexzia’s first 14er with lots of pictures and a toast with mini bottles of moscato. Completing something challenging always makes the push to the finish worth it. I love those summit views.
It only took us two hours to get down the mountain. Descending was super easy. There wasn’t a lot of loose rock so we didn’t have to really worry about sliding. The coolest thing happened on the way down: we saw four mountain goats!! I had never seen one in real life before and they were way bigger than I expected. Such a special moment. We all agreed the worst part about the trail was the very end- you go very slightly up hill. Any kind of hill- regardless of size-on tired legs is pretty killer.
As per tradition we got pizza afterwords. There’s nothing quite like pizza after summiting a mountain. Even though it wasn’t my best day, I really did have fun. I was in the mountains with my friends and my dogs. There was wine. The whole 24 hour trip was an experience I’m definitely going to hold close to my heart.
Love this Sam!!! 💙