Rocky Mountain high

Over Labor Day weekend I got higher then I have ever been before. No, I did not smoke any weed, I got to the highest elevation above sea level that I have ever been (excluding being on an airplane). I was at about 12,000ft above sea level. I visited a friend from high school and college who lived in Denver. Now Denver is a very nice city with good views, but the main thing I wanted to see in that area was
the Rocky Mountains. I had been to Mt. Hood in Oregon before and me and a buddy of mine had climbed part of it, but I probably only got to about 7000ft above sea level. This time I got much higher.



First major hike we did was Bear Mountain outside Boulder Colorado. We parked around 6000ft and hiked up to the top which was about 8500ft. I was a little cocky at first because I had done lots of hiking in Pennsylvania over the years and I thought the hike would be a challenge but not that difficult overall since I thought I was in great shape, but it turned out to be really hard. Part of the reason was that it is high up in elevation and there is a little less oxygen, 2nd reason is
that I decided to bring a backback with food, drinks, cameras, warmer clothes, etc. Although the backpack didn't weigh more then 15-20 lbs when the hike got steeper it got really difficult with that thing on my back. Overall the hike was probably as tiring as running the 10 mile broad st. run which I did earlier in the year. It was well worth it once we got to the top as the views from there were awesome. There were a few other people near the top so it was kind of a bonding experience with strangers. The trip up took almost 3 hours but going down was about an hour.

We also went to Rocky Mountain National Park. This was probably the neatest place I went to during my time here. The scenary here was like nothing I had ever seen before. We drove on a road that was the highest elevation paved road in the country. There was a small visitor center and parking lot along the highest point on the road at over 11,000ft above sea level. At this elevation you are above the tree line and no trees grow up here, since the climate is too cold for trees to grow. It is basically tundra and is snow covered much of the year. Since it was late summer there were only small spots of snow and glaciers. It was probably 20-30 degrees colder here then in Denver. Next to the visitor center there was a short trail to a higher peak nearby. Eventhough this trail was not steep at all, this is where the high altitude really kicked in. It was really difficult to walk maybe a 1/4 of mile on a small incline. I had faintly noticed the thin air in Denver (which is about 5000ft above see level, hence 'mile high city') but you could really notice it here. A walk that would be a peace of cake in PA, was a struggle to breathe at that elevation. I now have much more respect for people that climb Mt. Everest, if it's that difficult to breathe at 12,000ft I can't imagine how it would be at 29,000ft. Anyways, we did end up getting to the top of this trail and we got to a spot with a sign that said we were 12006ft about sea level.


Other then hiking I did check out downtown Denver and some of the nightlife there. Like any major city it had lots of cool bars, the one difference I noticed in Denver were that there were a places that had bars on rooftop decks which I though was pretty cool, so you could people watch from above and breathe in the fresh (although slightly oxygen deprived) rocky mountain air. The 3 main things Ethan told me that I would like about Denver were the gorgeous mountains, sunny weather most of the year (I read it was one of the sunniest cities in the country with almost 300 days of sunny weather) and all the hot girls that live in Denver area, he turned out to be right about all three :-)