Mount Quandary

Ben, Rebecca, and I showed up at the church parking lot at noon on Friday. We met the ward young women and their fearless leaders there. Everyone was looking fresh and clean and chipper. When we met back at the church parking lot on Saturday at 7:00, nobody looked clean, everyone looked sunburned, and there was a distinct look of triumph on each face.

Why?

Because we climbed a fourteener! Mt. Quandary, elevation 14,265 ft.

We camped near Frisco Friday night. Ben and I had bought a lovely clearance-table tent at Dick's on Thursday night and felt so smug about the great deal we'd gotten until we pulled it out of its box at the campsite and found that the poles were missing. We slept on cots under the freezing cold stars until we couldn't stand it anymore and moved in to the minivan.

We woke those poor girls up at 4:30 am to drive to the trailhead and were on the trail by 6:00. It was tough. One website I looked at said it was a "lung-popping hike." That sounds about right. Also, much of the hike was above the treeline, and there are absolutely no bathroom facilities anywhere along the trail, not even at the trailhead, and we were on the mountain for 9 hours. I'll let your imagination run with that for a while.

The young women of the Broomfield 1st Ward are an inspiration. You should have seen them. One of them even hiked it with a broken toe! Every last one of them made it to the summit.