I got my tent drying on the living room floor and my tent fly on my dining room table. i often find myself thinking how many extra hours are spent on pre &post camping chores. And for what: Last night was the battle of the bulge. Right where my ribs lay, there too was a bulging shrub. Bumps are aviodable when setting up in daylight; However, we set up camp at 9:00 PM with the help of car head lights. The stars were out in the millions that night. My overly hot indoor blanket felt more like covering up with a beach towel. No match for the cold. I slept little, even with a sleeping pill.
Morning came at 6:00 and the hike of Quandary Peak started at 7:00. The introductory leg of the climb presented yellowing aspens and quaint nooks for photo opportunities. This was to be a walk in the park, the distance was three miles less than Grays and Torres. I had no anxiety about doing this climb, my confidence was more like: "Lets do this and get back to Denver by 2:00 cause the Broncos are on."
At an hour in, thunder could be heard and rain poured down. we were just under timberline meaning that we sought shelter in a clump of trees. A neo-mountain-sport-enthusiast came cruising down our rocky, slick and steep trail on a unicycle! I would have been totally impressed should he be juggling oranges too. What's next. ('course that's probably what people thought when skis were invented). The storm dumped loads of heavy, wet rain and passed after a total of five minutes. Clouds were cruising by. Many climbers higher up (above the tree line) were soaked and headed back down dispite the newly blue sky. We (me, my super courageous 5 year old neice isabelle, brother Will and his wife Katie) were only slightly soaked. Our pace/momentum was a fight to regain and rocks now were wet. We kept on climbing.
The zig-zaging trail stops right about the time the trees do; what happens then is a 2 mile, 2,000 foot elevation gain. It was very much a stairmaster-in-the-sky climb (no switch backs, just good ole fashioned vert). This too is our first glimpse of the top (not encouraging), it was surrounded by grey clouds with our names on it. Very nerve racking: The ramifications were cruising in my head. "what if" senarios galore. who knew that mountain climbing was such a psychological trial, this climb was supposed to be chill and affirming.
Keep in mind that my thoughts were largely in a state of prayer (even pre-weather problems). I was thinking about my church assembling at exactly this time. I reflected on how vital it was to be a Believer and placing others above ourselves. But the blame game took over: "who's idea was it to hike this high this late in the summer?" etc... The grey was upon us. I commited my future of this hike to God as omnipotent designer of my day/life.
Then, as a gift from God, All my thoughts and heart funneled on the story of the apostles in the boat during a squall (huge storm). All the while Jesus is sleeping below the deck. The apostles wake Him. And Jesus says "you of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then He got up and rebuked the wind and all was still. So that's a totally amazing gift to a man who was freaking out about the storm.
Right then my brother turns to me and asks if we should build a wind shelter to cover ourselves since the storm was knocking. It worked, stones three feet tall and four feet long. We piled in as the wind started whiping around. The rain was strong in the valley, we were bracing for a dose on the ridge. It skipped us and left a rainbow from the base of the valley out to the summit and ridge of Quandry. I'm a huge rainbow spotter, all my life I like to look for rainbows when symptoms are just right. We had lunch since we were stopped. Ten minutes later its blue sky.
Back to the task at hand, building momentum again and trusting the summit to God's will. Those steps were steep often two feet up from one another and slightly wet. A new song filled my head: "He's glorious, He's glorious. Jesus Christ reigns victorious." Over and over. God was once again yeilding His power within me, sending me up the ridge cause I was spent. Katie even offered music to me; but I resided in peacefulness (save my heavy breathing). I didn't get dizzy or light headed -I did make it to the top around 11:30. We took pictures, had some Hike n' Mike's (mike n' ike's), some summit bears (gummy bears) and headed back down cause the wind was rolling out another storm stat!
Unlike my descent from Grays and Torres (where I was caught up in socializing and sunshine); coming down Quandary was pious prayer. We were getting pelted with snow -not flaky, fluffy snow, but itsy-bitsy bullets that hurt exposed skin. The wind was propelling these suckers super fast. A curtain of snow speeding from the clouds to the bottom of the valley intimidated my inner scantuary. I kept the images of the Bible passage forementioned in my mind.
The rocks were wet, saturated with color. In the midst of it all I just started thinking of others. People were hiking up, facing the snow pellets, wetness, and incline. I encouraged them and I prayed for their safety once they passed me. Placing others first is really a job that is imperative to work at, yet never attained much like righteousness or holiness. I thanked God for the people who think of me in prayer ahead of their own requests. I sang out softly because my breath was with me now. My coat and fleece were just warm wetness like a sauna. After about fifteen minutes the sun appeared. I'm talking to my sister in law about how she dealt with the psycho-meteorological trials of the day. I confessed my relyance on prayer and God's all powerful control of my faith. Some uphill hikers were in earshot of it and after there was no reaction I blurted out "that's how I roll."
A thought that lingers would be God's reassurance to His servants when they are stricken with fright. Three storms, one summit, a unicycle, and a rainbow makes this hike epic on a faith level. This was uber exhausting again. I did address what hell my body went through to feel this way and how Isabelle ain't even sore. ahh childhood. I'm spent and renewed till my next fourteener.
