Anthony, Gray, & Torrey

These three names have had meaning for the past few days of my existence.

Anthony, obviously refers to the hospital. After a week of orientation, Sunday I started in the ICU. That was a discouraging day.  Orientation, policies, new people, new rules, new doctors..  It's tiring to have to learn and follow different procedures (especially when you might not think are the best way of doing things). And it's difficult to keep adapting to different hospitals and staff.  Every time I start a new assignment I have to prove myself and develop trust with the staff, which isn't a bad thing, except when you keep doing it every couple of months..

 However, Monday was a new day full of new grace, and was much better. Attitude seems to have a lot to do with determining how a day will go, which suggests that Sunday I had a bad attitude about the cons of travel nursing, whereas Monday I chose to focus on the pros. It is exciting to be at St Anthony's. It's a successful and new hospital (building) part of a healthcare organization that the locals seem to trust and appreciate.  It's exciting to be invited to be a part of this system and people who care for the community. Of course I should be expected to conform to their way of doing things, because it's good and works for them.

Be that as it may, I wanted a little escape, so it's no surprise that my refuge after two 12hr shifts of  frustration and germs would be the mountains.

Which is where Gray and Torrey entered my life today.

About an hour Northwest of Lakewood is Arapaho National Forest. Just off of I-70, on the edge of the forest are two adjacent mountains above 14,000'.

                             Gray's Peak on the left, Torrey's on the right

After some research I thought I would try to climb them today, as they are listed as some of the easier 14ers for people new to climbing at that altitude.

"easier" should be in quotation marks..because I'm a mountain climbing rookie (see "Rookie Mistake" notes throughout the post)

My Sentra could only go off-road for a little, so I parked my car on the dirt road leading to the trail head, which added a mile and a half (3miles round trip) to the 9 mile hike with a 3000' vertical ascent I had ahead of me.  Foolishly, I thought this mere distance would not detract from my strength, except that I forgot something.. I'm very weak.

Gray's Peak, standing at 14,270' was first on the agenda. 

Here's the thing about mountains.  When you go up, there's no fluctuation on the road.  It's just up. Imagine climbing up stairs for 5.5 miles... and there's the first half of this hike. Shortly after I started the ascent I was feeling.. beat.  It was so hard. I don't know what I was thinking! That it would be easy?? A nice walk in the forest? (Rookie Mistake - wore sneakers, not hiking boots) How about an exhausting, thigh-burning, heavy breathing, boulder scrambling, dizzying climb? Cause that's what it was..

There were 6 of us (myself, a group of 2, and a group of 3) that kept playing leap frog - I would pass them while they were taking a break, then while I was resting they would pass me, and on and on.. Finally someone pointed out that we all kept doing that and suggested that we just hike together.  And we did. The whole day we climbed, shared food, stories, and encouraged each other. It was kind of cool, and so nice to not hike alone.  It was super challenging and I really appreciated their company. 

So, in 4 hours, we made it to the top of Gray's!

During the exhaustion of our summit to Gray's we collectively decided to skip the second peak, Torrey's.

You see, the biggest danger with hiking in the Rockies in the Summer (and probably anywhere mountainous) is the quickly approaching afternoon thunder storms. At this elevation you don't have the luxury of shelter or something to protect you.  Just you on a bare mountain.. quite dangerous.  Thinking that we were all too fatigued to make it from Gray's to Torrey's and back down before the storms, we decided to just do one peak. But once we go to the top and had lunch and rested, we realized we were too close not to do the other one.

So we took the quick descent into the saddle and climbed the steep trail to..

Torrey's Peak

While only 14,267', this climb was much more difficult.  Already worn from the first part of the trip, we now had the threat of approaching storms chasing us up the steep and rocky path. But guess what...

We made it to the top!

[The signs were made by a lady who was half-woman half-mountain goat who was writing a blog about her "do as many 14ers as possible in 2 weeks" adventure.  She made the posters to help her sort through the myriad of pictures she has taken on mountain tops. This woman was in her mid 50s and climbed these slopes with no problem. Unbelievable.]

 With no time to rest, we took our pictures and started the descent. (Rookie Mistake - ran out of water at the half way point, i.e. no refreshment for the 5.5miles down)

the rain and sleet caught us. (Rookie Mistake - no rain gear)

In some ways the descent is harder on your body than the air depriving, fatiguing ascent.  You have to tighten every muscle in your legs and core to keep yourself from slipping or tripping and falling off of the mountain (Rookie Mistake - no first aid kit).

Two of the members of our group was a father-daughter combo from Michigan.  The dad took care of this traveling nurse by checking on me and providing me with energy chews, much like my own dad does on adventures. At the summit of each peak he gave his daughter and me these pins to commemorate our accomplishments.

(I assume the pins he gave me were originally intended for himself, which made me appreciate the fatherly gesture even more)

We were totally spent and kept counting down the miles to the car. Turns out we all parked within a couple yards of each other.  As we hiked down we realized that we had passed each other on the highway, on the dirt road, and even in the line to the bathroom. It seems our paths were meant to join together no matter what.

We arrived at our cars, shared snacks, compared blisters (Sign of a Rookie - I won), and the group of 3 that joined our mountain party shared Coors Light with everyone.  So we drank our Official Beer of the Rockies and reminisced over what we had just conquered today.

Now if you'll excuse me.. I need to go take some ibuprofen before I become immobile.