Date: Mon, 05 Aug 2002 18:34:52 +0000
From: Charles Miller 
Subject: The Greatest Adventure

Greetings, all!

This is my last installment of "crap I did with my summer".  I hope you 
don't feel like the messages I've sent have been one more thing in your junk 
pile.  As this will be a lengthy installment for those who care, feel free 
to skip/ignore any portion of this message: I'll never know and it wont hurt 
my feelings a bit!  I had to send this message in detail as I have just 
completed one of the hardest things I've ever done: climbed Longs Peak in 
Rocky Mountain National Park.

Long's Peak is the 15th tallest mountain in Colorado and the 35th tallest in 
the US (18th in Continental US).  Approximately 30-50% of those attempting 
the peak make it, and 55 people have died climbing the peak. They estimate 
that about 500 people try the climb on good weekends, making it the most 
climbed 14k in the US.

The hike started on Saturday, August 3rd, when we packed in 1.2 miles to the 
Goblin Forest campground (does that sound like me, or what?!?).  Kendra (my 
sister), was my lone partner for this part, and as always we WAY over 
packed.  My pack was 45-50 lbs, and probably could have been 35.  It was a 
downpour when we got out of the car to pick up our permit, but by the time 
we were loaded down and signed into the trailhead it was a drizzle.  10 
minutes later it stopped raining completely, never to start again on the 
hike.  We got to our campsite, set up camp, and cooked "lunch" around 4pm 
(sorry, Kendra!).  Our third and final partner, Danny Dale, joined us around 
5:30.  Danny is the astronomy professor/outdoors guru I'm working with at U 
of Wyoming this summer.

All of the trail guides said to be sure to start the hike from trailhead by 
3am to avoid lightning on the return, so we listened, leaving our campsite 
after oatmeal and coffee by 3:30.  The hike up in the dark was surreal.  Our 
headlamps lit the way, and we were still half asleep for the first few miles 
and thousand feet elevation gain.  In the distance from the trail we could 
see the lights of Denver to our south-east and Estes Park to our north-east. 
  When we reached open areas, we could usually see 2-3 groups of headlamps 
both ahead of us and behind.  We made good time on the way up, passing 
several groups with cheerful "good-mornings".  It was fun having all of us 
together in the same goal, and made for fun trail exchanges.  As the sun 
started coming up, we had just about reached the base of Long's.  Our first 
view of the peak showed clouds covering the top, which got me worried about 
our view. Kendra and Danny were convinced it would clear up before we got 
there: they were right.

At about 5:15am, we reached the true base of Long's peak: the boulder field, 
a 3/4 mile hike of boulder hopping.  The boulders ranged in size from 
baseballs to station wagons.  The trickiest parts were the mid-sized ones 
that shifted when you stepped on them.  There was no trail at this point, 
just a few cairns and the sight of the Keyhole ahead, your ultimate goal.  
The Keyhole marked the start of the REAL climb. The climb to up to the 
keyhole required our first use of hand-holds and feet, as it was pretty 
vertical.  There was a hut at the keyhole in memory of 2 climbers that died 
trying Longs in the winter.  Here's where the real pain started...up to that 
point, we had gained 3,750 feet over 6.25 miles.  We only had 1.25 miles to 
go but 1,105 feet left to gain! We reached the Keyhole by about 6:15am.  
Kendra wanted to stop for breakfast, but I wanted to keep moving (she was 
the smart one.)  We just stopped long enough in the wind for a picture and 
some snacks, then kept going.

The next portion of the trail was the ledges and the Trough, a KILLER rock 
scramble down and back up.  The view was amazing, but I didn't look at it 
much as I was mostly concerned about finding a climbable route and not 
knocking rocks down on the heads of those below me.  You picked your path 
based on bulls-eyes painted on the rocks ahead of you.  This is the point 
where I realized the trail guides were NOT written for me.  It was really 
harder than I imagined, and the strain of climbing with hands and feet 
combined with being over 13,000 feet started slowing me down.  Kendra and I 
took turns leading the way, as Danny's speed and endurance forced him to 
leave us in the dust by the end of the boulder field.  At the end of the 
trough was a vertical rock climb of about 8 feet.  It was the first time I 
ever rock climbed for real, but the view above was worth it: we had reached 
the narrows, a series of ledges that the guide books describe as "high 
exposure", meaning a 2-4foot wide path with a rock wall on one side and 1000 
foot drop on the other.  This was just plain scary, as there were places you 
had to climb with hands and feet, fingers in cracks, knowing a slip would be 
bad news.  They say it looks worse than it is, whatever that means.

At the top of the narrows was the homestretch, a 500 foot slab of granite 
that you could use cracks, foot-holds and hand-holds to climb.  Once I 
realized that if I did slip on this portion I could lay flat and stop 
myself, I started moving faster.  However, 4-wheeling it at 14,000 feet was 
harder than I expected.  By 8:00am we had reached the peak, and we were 
elated.  I signed the register, touched the altitude marker, chated and 
looked around, then laid down...that was where I realized that lack of food 
and altitude were showing signs of being a problem.  Now that the adrenalin 
was wearing off, I started feeling a little nauseous and dizzy.  We enjoyed 
the view from the top, including an area of sight that was about 60 miles in 
every direction.  The 2000 foot view down the east face into Chasm Lake was 
amazing.  After about 20 minutes at the top (make that 2 hours for 
Danny...), we started down, eager to beat the starting storms.

At the top I remarked on how much harder it was than I expected, but how 
surprised I was at my physical condition.  I was feeling great! It's crazy 
what adrenalin and emotion can do...on the way down the mountain started 
wearing on us.  Kendra's knees started killing her as we had to now crawl 
"crab-like" down the steep rock, using our butts as a brake when we slipped. 
  Danny lead the way, lending a hand at steep drop areas.  By the trough, I 
figured out why so many people don't make it!  The cool thing about altitude 
sickness is, the farther down you go, the better you feel.  By the bottom of 
the boulder field, I was golden, and Kendra's knees were feeling better.  
The last 3 miles to camp we were smiling again and talking about what a 
great day it had been.  After packing up camp, we hiked out the last 1.2 
miles in 25 minutes!  We were back at the trailhead by 5pm...a 13.5 hour day 
on the trail.  (They say 12-14 is the average...we made average!!  Danny 
could have made it in 7 if he hadnt waited on us in places...we were very 
impressed.)  We felt as tired as any of us had ever been after a hike, but 
proud of what we had done.

I know this was a long story, and I've probably lost some of you by now, but 
all along I had been calling this hike my Mount Everest.  I know I'll 
probably never do anything this crazy, difficult and breathtaking again, as 
living at Laramie for the summer and taking many hikes has gotten me in the 
best shape of my life for trying it.  It was one of the most amazing 
experiences I've ever had, and ranks only below my wedding and Katie's birth 
in proudest/satisfying moments.  My only regrets are that I didn't take more 
pictures (only about 15, because I was so busy/focused) and that we didn't 
play longer at the top (but if we had I probably would have left my lunch up 
there, so once again Kendra was right!)  That's my story and I'm sticking to 
it!  I hope you enjoyed hearing about it as much as I enjoyed its telling, 
and I look forward to your questions/reactions.

Charles