The Climb

On a bright and aerly Saturday morning, my family and a group of Boy Scouts set out to climb Mt. Greys. The goal was originally to climb both Mt. Greys and Mt. Tores. My youngest son, Matt, pictured in front, was having a tough time getting going, so we were quickly left behind. We kept a slow and steady pace.

About 3/4ths of the way up the mountain, we stopped for lunch. This was the amazing view from this point. Shortly after, I met up with my family and the Scouts returning from the summit. My darling husband encouraged me to continue to the top since he knew how much this meant to me and he would take Matt back down. I was to go on by myself.

With my husbands words of encouragement and sheer determination, I put one foot in front of the other and kept my goal before me. I had to take a lot of rests along the way and a lot of people passed me on their way down. Each person or group would encourage me and tell me that I was closer to the top than I thought. Eventually, 5 hours to be exact, I reached the top. All along the way, I kept having Mily's song, the Climb, playing in my head.

At the top of each 14er, there is a tube with paper in it. You are supposed to sign your name and say where you are from. It was such an honor to add my name to the long list.

Here is my name along with many of the others that made it to the top that day. Did everyone who started out that morning make it to the top? Actually, many did not. As people passed me coming down the mountain, I would ask them if they made it to the top. Many said they did not and gave various reasons from not enough oxygen to not being in good enough shape, including one adult from our group.

This is the view to the west from the summit. What is really neat is that the valley leads to the town of Montezuma where my mom owns a house. I have actually hiked to those lakes in the valley.

 This is the view from the top to the east. It looks similar to the one above but you can see much farther. Although the view from the top is similar, it isn't quite the same. It was so worth it to make it to the top!

On the way back down, I was greeted by some of the locals. I was amazed at all the wild life, birds and small rodents, that actually live at that altitude. They have adapted to their environment and are thriving there.

Here I am at the end of the climb. I am exhausted and, yes, the sign is holding me up. As I was almost to the bottom of the hill, I came around a bend in the trail to be greeted by my middle son, Joshua, and my husband. I almost burst into tears, much like the moment my name was called as the next Mrs. Colorado International. They offered to carry my gear the rest of the way. Yep, this journey was full of analogy's for pageants, goals and life. I'll let you decide what lessons were learned. Thanks for taking this journey with me.