Top of Colorado

The alarm on my watch went off at 3:40 this morning. Mike and I quietly got dressed (in the dark) in our tent. We successfully made it out of the tent without waking Brody! Then we woke up Tyler and made sure that Dad was awake. I went to find the baby Tylenol Cough and Cold to give Brody. I was hoping it'd clear out his nose and help him sleep longer. I gave it to him and then Mom crawled into our tent with him to go back to sleep.

Mike, Dad, Tyler, and I ate breakfast and then hiked towards the Mt. Elbert trailhead by headlamp. We hiked southeast on a trail for 0.3 miles to Elbert Creek. We crossed the creek on a bridge made out of logs and then continued south on the Colorado Trail as it climbed to 10,600 feet. We left the Colorado Trail where it intersected with the Mt. Elbert trail and began the switchbacks that would lead to treeline. As the sun began to rise, the mosquitoes came out of hiding. I hiked ahead trying to make it to the ridge. I was hoping that if I got further from treeline I wouldn't have to deal with the mosquitoes. I finally just picked out a rock to sit down on and....pump. Yes, I had to take a manual pump with me. There's no way I could've gone from 8:00 last night until 4:00 this afternoon without nursing Brody! I was enough ahead of the guys that I was able to pump until they caught up with me. They only had to wait a few minutes and then we headed on towards the ridge.

Here's a picture of Tyler, Dad, and Mike as we stopped for a break. You can see the false summit Mt. Elbert in the background. After hours of hiking up (one step at a time)...we finally made it to the summit of Mt. Elbert!!! It was 9:20 am when we reached Mt. Elbert's summit at 14,433 feet. It's the tallest mountain in Colorado and the 2nd tallest in the continental US!
Mike and I have climbed many 14ers together. This made number 23 for Mike and number 20 for me!!! There are 54 in Colorado...so we still have quite a few left to climb!
On top we ate a snack and rested. I also used the cell phone to call Mom (back at camp). She was excited to hear that we'd made it to the top. I could hear Brody talking in the background. She said they were having lots of fun together!

A view from the top of Colorado
We spent about an hour on the summit before we put our packs on to head back down. The hike down was beautiful! The sun was shining and we could see for miles! It's easier on Mike's knees to jog down rather than walk...so he and Tyler went ahead of Dad and me. They would go down for awhile and then wait for us to catch up. Just as we reached treeline the clouds covered the sky. It sprinkled on us off and on but never rained. It made the hike thru the trees much more enjoyable than it would've been if the sun had been beating down on us! Here's Dad hiking down to the trees.
We arrived at camp around 12:30 (just 2 hours after leaving the summit)! Mom said that she and Brody had lots of fun while we were gone. They walked down to the river singing songs and whistling. She said that he loved the rairoad tie by the picnic table and spent half an hour climbing over and back. He didn't want to nap in the tent...so she had put him in his carseat, then sat in the front reading a magazine while he took his nap! The mosquitoes were getting bad there again and Mom came up with a creative way to use the pack-n-play bug net!
As Mom made lunch for the hungry hikers, Tyler began to get a severe headache (affects of the altitude) so he went to take a nap without even eating. The rest of us ate and then Dad and Brody also headed to tents to nap. Mom, Mike, and I sat around the campfire playing Crazy Eights. We had a lot of fun playing together. I won't mention who the winner was (cough*me*cough)! ;)
After nap time, Dad and Tyler informed us that they didn't have the energy to climb Mt. Massive tomorrow (as originally planned). So instead of sleeping in a tent with Brody another night, we decided to pack up and go back to the motel for the night. I think the incentive of a good dinner made the idea more appealing! As you can see in the picture below...we hardly had room for everyone in the Durango! Can you find Mom?

Back at the motel, Mom and I made burritos for dinner...along with apple pie and ice cream! Yum!! Then we watched Myth Busters on Discovery while we fell asleep.