This Van adventure was intended to cross off an item that has been on my bucket list since I first moved to Colorado back in 2006, namely hiking a Fourteener.

For those not from Colorado or familiar, a 14er is a mountain hike that rises up to 14,000 feet above sea level and there are numerous 14ers. across the state. In fact it is a very popular endeavor to attempt to hike all of the 14 or‘s and many people have done so. I’ve ridden two 14ers on my bike, evans and pikes peak, but haven’t hiked one.

For no specific reason this is one of those things that just simply has not happened for me, and it’s also not something I’ve wanted to attempt to do the first time on my own.

So when I made a new friend who was willing to hike Yale, a 14er that she has done a couple times already, I jumped at the chance!

The night before Rams and I did a mini recon hike of the first half mile of the trail. Wow that sucker is steep.

Then, I drove the 🚐 up Cottonwood Pass and watched the sunset from the top of the pass which was absolutely incredible. This experience made this entire endeavor worthwhile in and of itself!

I then drove a bit down the pass to VanCamp for the night, and if I could do this over again I think I would sleep at the lowest elevation possible, since I think the thin air caused me to get absolutely no rest. 🤦‍♀️ Dinner was a batch of hot Huel, some almonds and hot tea.

Micah and I met at the Denny trail head at 5:30 AM sharp and off we went to hike Mount Yale.

From the word go, I knew I was in trouble; my body felt like absolute garbage, my legs felt wobbly and I felt dizzy. I kept trying to keep the fluids and fuel on board, however the sense that my legs were just not reliable, persisted.

As we approached tree line and then got above tree line I told Micah that I thought I needed to turn back -as disappointed as I was- because I felt like I was going to be a significant liability on the way back down if I went all the way to the top.

Thankfully she agreed to keep going so that she could get her acsent in, and I turned around and started back for the van. I am really sad that my first 14 or attempt was unsuccessful.

I learned a few things in this process one of which is that I need to do a lot more glute strength work, as the butt cheeks were on fire 🔥 from the very start, whereas the quads never felt a hint of effort. I also think that getting up sooner than 40 minutes prior to go time is a good idea, as I don’t think I had time to sufficient to wake up (never got my coffee in!) and didn’t really get my mind in the game this morning.

Lastly as I mentioned, I think I would sleep at a lower altitude and then drive up to the trail head the morning of.

This is certainly not the last time that I will attempt to summit Yale, it is simply the first… while I am very sad that I didn’t get to stand at the top and hold the sign, I know that I will try this again soon!