Day Eighteen: Engineer Mountain

Today we are hiking Engineer Mountain. It tops out at about 12,900 ft. I'm scared, but we will make it. There has been much discussion about how difficult the hike is, scaling boulders near the top to get to the summit, and Robert and I are sure to be affected by the altitude. Hopefully I will be able to report back later...if we make it back down.

Later...

The first part of the hike was nice. It was long switchbacks through diverse vegetation, lots of cool flowers including Columbines, which we enjoyed taking pictures of. There were also this strange plants that looked like dry land kelp to me, broad leaves all the way up a thick stalk. The hike was still difficult though and we stopped frequently to rest and catch our breath.

The second part of the trail proved much more difficult seeing as it basically went straight up the mountain. You can see the summit and little people walking around, which was cool but daunting. We tied Cooper to a tree because the summit trail is too difficult for him. The trail began through a snowy patch that most descenders decided to butt-sled down. It was understandably difficult to pass through and left my hands nearly frozen. The next part was again steep and slippery with lots of loose rock. Quickly I became the last in our group and then decided that it was too steep and too slippery for my liking so I crab crawled back down the mountain. I went back to hang out with Cooper while the others finished the climb. Curse my fear of heights and death. The others enjoyed the hike up, admitting that it got even hairier later as you had to boulder over a few places next to sheer drops.

We hiked back out, cleaned up and went out for happy hour drinks and food. First we went to The Office for red wine, then to Carvers for raspberry wheat ale, then the Irish Embassy for a car bomb, then Purple Haze for music and some light dancing. It was a long night. (but we had a blast!)