The Climb

I recently was challenged beyond what I thought I would ever try. Since moving to Colorado over seven years ago, I have always wanted to climb a 14er. For those of you who don't know, that means a fourteen thousand foot mountain. Colorado has 50 plus of these and I see them all around me. I have thought of what an accomplishment it would be to reach the summit, get a great picture, and enjoy the success. So, on June 14th, my roommates and I started on our journey.

I got little sleep the night before because our neighbors decided to have a party. But I woke up at 5:15 am ready to hike. The drive from our house to the trail head was about an hour and a half. We decided that Gray's Peak would be the best bet for an easier hike. Amber had hiked it before. The last few miles of the road was pretty rough...I got to test my car's ability to four wheel it.

We got to the trail about 8:00 am. There were many other hikers. As began our climb, it didn't take long before we were out of breath and in need of a break. All of us encouraged each other to take it slow. It helped to set goals of where we would take our next break. "At the end of that snow patch." "Where the trail turns to the right."

As we climbed, I kept thinking "What am I doing here?" I easily could hear Satan discouraging me and trying to get me to quit. I had a period of time where my whole right leg was completely numb. DD stopped and prayed over it, and the feeling came back. We continued on. Amber told us that the first hour would be the worst and then in the second hour you would feel that you could actually accomplish the climb. She was right, the second hour came and it felt easier...either that or the fact that we stopped climbing at the incline we had for the first hour!

When we stopped for lunch, it was a welcome break. Being so early in the summer there was still a lot of snow on the trail. There were times when you had about 16 inches of trail to walk on. On your left was the mountain and on the right was the rocky downslope. There were a couple of times where I feared for my life. When we stopped for lunch, I took of my left shoe to let my foot move around a little. It had gotten pretty sore and I thought maybe if I let it breathe it would feel better. It didn't...in fact it began to hurt more. But being the person I am, I continued to push forward, not wanting the pain to keep me from reaching the ultimate goal of the summit.

We continued for a couple more hours, getting closer to the top. But the pain in my foot made it almost impossible for me to continue. I finally reached the point where I realized that I made it this far...if I continue, I'll have to climb down on the sore foot. Amber and DD were about a quarter of a mile a head of me at this point. I had cell service, so I called Amber and said that I couldn't take another step, especially since I would have the hike the four miles back down the mountain.

I wanted them to continue on, finding a nice rock to sit on, I was perfectly content. By this time, it was already after 2:00 pm. The girls decided that it would probably be better to return to the car. It was hard to see the summit so close. To realize that I wasn't able to reach my goal.

So, we began the decent. It was the longest four miles I had ever walked. I so wanted to give up. My foot hurt, and since I was babying it, I began to hurt in other areas as well. After about two hours we reached the car. It was a welcome relief to take the shoes off and relax for a few minutes before beginning to drive home.

Amber was great about saying how well we had done for our first try. She hadn't reached the summit Gray's Peak either on her first try. She was really proud of us.

OK, so here are the things I learned about God...
1. The climb is much like my walk with God. There are days where it is easy, where everything seems right. Then there are days where I don't know if I can go on. I was reminded of the verse in Philippians that says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Yes, taken out of context, but still has powerful meaning in my life.
2. We need friends in our lives to encourage us to keep on keeping on. If I didn't have Amber, DD and even Maya (the dog), I would have probably turned back, or may not have even made an attempt to climb the mountain. The same is with our walk with Christ. Who are you surrounding yourself with who are encouraging you to press on? How are they challenging you in your walk with Christ?

Will I try to summit Gray's Peak again? Yes, I think we will in August.

What happened to my foot? After a hard night of waking up every couple of hours because of the pain (I am so thankful for Advil!) I ended up going to Urgent Care early Sunday morning. Xrays showed no break so the doctor said that it was just soft tissue injury. For the next 10 days, I hobbled around. But it was a reminder of what I learned during the great adventure.