So on my de-facto weekend (Monday and Tuesday) at the beginning of the month, I drove up to the Black Hills of South Dakota to catch up with a literarily-inclined buddy and climb Harney Peak, the highest point in South Dakota.
I'm not sure what prompted me to point my car northward, what with five weeks to go before my "A" race. If a DNF in what I considered ideal conditions and a bike wreck plus some minor physical injuries plus major psychological injuries doesn't say "You might try something else," I don't know what does. I hadn't been impulsive for quite some time (if ever, really), and this trip took shape in, maybe, two or three days before I left. A little bit impulsive, at least for me.
I drove up 85 through Torrington, Lusk, Lingle — places that get called in to the sports desk, but exist in a somewhat mythical plain. I met up with my buddy at a brewery in downtown Rapid City — a much cooler place than I thought it would be. After finagling some Marriott points for the LAST room at the Rapid City Fairfield, I took what amounted to a nap. Eventually I set off for Harney Peak.
Now, I'd heard about the Sylvan Lake Trail. I'd heard that the trail is a short-ish, solid line of people up to the top, so I found an alternative — Harney Peak Trail No. 9. It's a 2,200-foot gain for about a 10-mile round trip. The toughest part — well, two things gave me a little trouble. One, for some reason I thought 24 ounces of water, a gel packet, a banana and a Clif bar were enough to get me up and down the hill on an 85-degree day (trust me, it was no cooler on the summit than at the trailhead). I got up and down, but I was ready to siphon the gas out of my car, I was so thirsty when I got done. Two, beetle-killed aspens made the trail a little sportier than I'd anticipated. Crawled over most of those trunks, acquired some nice scratches, scrambled up some rocks and took selfies from the fire tower atop.
For the next week I piddled away my online time plotting the other 49 high points in the U.S. Nebraska's Panorama Point is about an hour from here. Wyoming's Gannett Peak is regarded as one of the toughest of the 50 high-point climbs because it's a 40-50-mile roundtrip hike from anything resembling a road. A bunch of those high points sit on private property and require at least a phone call to the owners to let them know what you want to do.
Then I remembered Colorado's 14ers, a few of which sit just a couple hours away. Last year, my friends Josh and Bree climbed Mount Bierstadt, and Josh said I'd probably crush it. Well, why not prove him right? I picked Grays and Torreys Peaks and left Cheyenne around 3:20 a.m. on July 17. I got to Exit 221 off I-70 at 5:40, parked in the paved lot and headed up the hill (this time with a Camelbak full of water). I summited Grays in around three hours, and then strolled over to Torreys in another 45 minutes. I had whatever meal you have at 10 a.m. when you've been awake since 3, and then headed back down.
The trail up Grays, which I almost had to myself.
Snow! On July 18!
Dani and Robert from Cañon City, Colo., had that banner made, and were kind enough to take my picture up top.
The Grays Peak summit — with about 20 other people.
Six days later I headed up to the aforementioned Mount Bierstadt. The plan was to do Bierstadt and Evans via the Sawtooth Ridge, until I saw a YouTube video that sufficiently freaked me out. I found an alternate route to do them both, which became the plan. Then I lost the trail to Evans from the Guanella Pass trailhead, headed back to the Bierstadt trail and did Bierstadt in about 1h45. Got up and down in around 3h.
Driving up Guanella Pass at daybreak.
The summit, a couple hours later.
Hey, I was over there just last week!
Mountain goats — my inspiration. They're not impressed with me, obviously.
Evans is next. Maybe I'll climb Longs next year when I acquire some technical expertise. Pikes, for sure. Maybe camping out in the Elbert Wilderness to get Elbert and Massive. Or the Sangre de Cristos for assaults on Ellingwood, Blanca and Lindsey.
In any event, I found something else.
