Go Big or Go Home

     Hey hey! It's been a good week. I've been trying not to think too much about not coming back to the Y next summer, but it's close to impossible at this point. Every time I tell someone that I leave on Friday there's an immediate follow up question of "will you come back next year?" Then I have to explain that I'm required to find another company for my final internship. It didn't make me sad at first but now that it's really hitting me, I'm getting pretty sad about it. Better to leave and want more than to leave wanting to never return, right?
      Work was both good and productive this week. I finished the huge filing project that I talked about last week, which was a relief. Now I can focus on doing a bunch of fun and creative projects. I made a cool invitation for the Annual Campaign Kickoff and I'm in the process of making a brochure for our new donor wall. I got to attend a Directors/Assistant Directors meeting as well. It was three hours long but it was interesting to hear from all of the different departments. 
      There were three really fun things that happened this past week. 1) I got to see the Snow Mountain Ranch crew one last time. The reason we all got to see each other is because one of the girls is moving on to another job, so that's sad, but I had fun going to lunch with them. 2) My department threw a baby shower for one of the girls in accounting. Her office is right next to ours so we figured that it would be fun to put something together. It was a ton of fun. We decorated the meeting room, got fun desserts and had a great time. 3) I got to sit and talk with the Center Director and CEO. I mainly asked them about how they came to the Y, where they wanted things to go, etc. It was so cool hearing their stories and what they were passionate about doing. Our CEO is retiring at the end of the year so I especially enjoyed hearing his story and getting general career advice.
      Monday night was my last hike before doing Longs. I went up Deer Mountain and it was great! It wasn't too difficult and we got to watch the beginning of a gorgeous sunset. 

Typical sorority pose.

The day was also the two week mark of me moving back to Manhattan, so obviously I was pumped.

      The other nights I mainly hung out and relaxed. I bought a grown up coloring book, watched a movie and hung out with new friends. It's weird to still be meeting people when I'm so close to leaving but I love it. Everyone I've met has been wonderful. Most of them are from Missouri and close-ish states, so that's exciting. If we stay in touch it'll be way easier to visit. :)
      Saturday was one of the longest and most incredible days of my life. It was the Big Day. The day that my friends and I decided to summit Longs Peak. This was no easy feat- Longs is the only 14er in Rocky Mountain National Park. Only 50% of the people who attempt to summit are successful, it's in the top 15 on almost every list for difficult 14ers and there have been at least 60 deaths on it since people started attempting to summit. 
      So it was a little intimidating. 
      Making it up Longs was also a big deal to me because it was one of the first fitness goals that I made for myself and actually accomplished. I have a tendency to make excuses and generally not follow through on things like that. There was something about leaving last year and not having done it that really bothered me, though. (In hindsight I am so glad that I didn't make the attempt- it would not have gone well.) When I got back to K-State I started trying to get in shape, hoping that if I got hired back at the Y I would at least having a fighting chance at tackling it. There was a bit of doubt and indecisiveness at the beginning of the summer, but I eventually decided to go for it. I started the countdown and didn't look back.
      Friday night was supposed to be my "go to bed early night" since I had my alarm set for 12:45 AM. As it turns out, trying to sleep at 4 PM is fairly difficult. With my nerves and excitement I ended up not being able to sleep until 10 PM. The wakeup call was rough, to say the least. I pulled myself out of bed, got ready and met our full group of nine at the trailhead to start hiking at 1:45 AM.
      We were hiking under an incredible full moon, and once we made it above treeline (it surprisingly didn't take us long- we were booking it at the beginning) we could see Denver, Loveland and Fort Collins. We could also see different hiking groups because everyone was wearing headlamps. I was freezing until the sun rose (which makes sense), but it was okay because watching that sun rise as we made it to the Boulderfield was amazing.

My attempt to capture the cool night part of our hike.

The view of the peak. Absolutely incredible (I use those words a lot but that's the only proper way to describe Longs.)

     The Boulderfield was exactly how it sounded- a ton of rocks that we had to navigate to get up to the keyhole. It was basically us jumping from rock to rock. You gain a good chunk of elevation so I had to stop a few times to catch my breath. I rested with our group at the Keyhole as Bethany, the only hiker in our group who had done Longs before, explain what was ahead of us.

The Boulderfield & the Keyhole (up towards the right side). 

     Everyone who has ever done Longs via the Keyhole route will tell you that your day doesn't really begin until you hit the Keyhole. I always assumed that they were right, but my optimistic brain secretly thought, "Okay yeah cool, I'm sure it's hard. But it can't be that bad."
      Hahahahahaha. It was definitely that bad. It was the most difficult part of the hike, and as we all agreed at the summit, the hardest thing any of us had ever done, period. It's only 1.5 miles to the summit, but the official trail ends and you have to follow a bunch of trail markers. I'll take you through it piece by piece.
      First, you hit the Ledges. This part look bad but it's actually not too terrible. (This is a weird angle of it too.) It was fairly secure and as long as you kept a hand on the mountain and took it slowly, it was totally doable.

I know it looks terrible but it really wasn't that bad. 

     Next up came the Trough. I hated everything about this. The Trough was described to us as "kind of like the Boulderfields except you're at a higher elevation so it's harder to breathe." That was true, but it was also covered with tons of loose rocks and areas where we had to go on all fours. (Friendly reminder that I'm not a rock climber.) There were even a few chunks of ice. We were able to avoid almost all of them, and thankfully the one that we couldn't avoid was easier to navigate than we expected. This chunk of the hike probably took us about an hour and a half. 

This is from Google because there's no way in hell I was taking pictures while trying to navigate this beast.

     The good thing about this part (and what remained true throughout the hike) was the sense of camaraderie among the hikers. Everyone understood the struggle so they were really helpful. One guy even stuck around a difficult part to help all of us get over it safely. Once we were past that we made our way through the narrows. This was essentially the Ledges but with a steeper drop off. I remained calm the whole way through and in no time we all started up the Homestretch.

Again, from Google.

      As you can see, the Homestretch is a bit of a beast. It's about the length of a football field and you basically have to go up on all fours. It's not quite like rock climbing because you aren't at that sharp of an angle, but you also can't just walk up it. We were all exhausted at that point, but we pushed ourselves and made it up to the summit.
      Making it up to the top is, without a doubt, one of the most incredible things I have ever felt. I set this crazy goal back before I left last year, and here I was, sitting at the summit. Literally every single positive emotion was running through my body. I took some time to explore the peak and all of its incredible views. Before I knew it, it was time for us to head down.

The bigger lake is Chasm and the smaller one is Peacock Pool. The whole way up and over one side you could also see Mills, Black and Blue Lakes. It about blew my mind to see so many of the hikes I had done from one spot.

      One thing that I heard consistently about Longs is that it's 50% physical and 50% mental. I figured that, as a positive person, I would be okay. I get bitter when things get difficult, but overall I find ways to enjoy myself. That wasn't the case this time. After sitting down and basically crab walking/sliding down the Homestretch (it was scary but actually a little fun) I started feeling really nauseous. It was the terrible "will eating and drinking water make me throw up or feel better?" kind of feelings, and I unfortunately felt it the whole way back.
      Getting back to the Keyhole was difficult, especially making our way down the Trough. My heart sank when I looked up and saw a storm cloud making its way towards us. All we could do was continue to go as fast as we could and hope for the best. Thankfully a storm didn't form and we stayed safe. I'd like to think that my one billion Hail Marys paid off. (I also think I said something along the lines of, "I will be DAMNED if I summit Longs Peak but get taken out by a stupid bolt of lightning.") I got a little panicky at some points because of my lack of depth perception and fear of heights- probably two of the worst characteristics to have while trying to descend a mountain- but everyone was supportive and helpful. We all made it down safe and sound.
       Making it to the Keyhole was nice because we knew that the hardest part of the hike was over. Unfortunately, we still had six more miles to go. I tried to stay positive but I was 110% over it. I just wanted to be home and asleep. We continued on and I officially made it back to the trailhead at 5:15 PM. Seeing that parking lot and rangers station was incredible. We had ~officially~ made it, and it felt pretty freaking sweet and surreal. To be honest, it still feels unreal. Every time I look at Longs I think, "Hey, I was up there. I did that thing." It was definitely the hardest thing that I have ever done and I am so proud of myself for making it.
     Sunday was spent relaxing, catching up with people and visiting the craft shop. I finished a fun project for my friend and got started on a silk painting. I was going to start painting it today but I went to go visit a friend while the outline stuff was drying and the craft shop closed before I could make it back. Oh well. I'll finish it before I leave.

      That's the end of my second to last week here. I only have five more days left. It's crazy, but it's going to be a blast. I already know it! 

Apparently the fact that there was nine of us set us up for some good Lord of the Rings jokes. *shrugs*
On a more sentimental note, this was probably one of the best hiking groups I've been with all summer. Everyone was so fun and supportive- I had a blast with them!