colorado: lacking in oxygen, full of beauty

Yesterday, I hiked a fourteener with a dear high school friend, Sara. Colorado is filled with them, mountains that summit 14,000 ft above sea level. It’s a thing that you must do if you dare consider yourself a Coloradan and after reaching the summit, I knew exactly why. It didn’t happen until that point though, let me tell you. The hike on the way up, well, sucked. These hikes take place mostly above the tree line, there is no shade, little foliage, lots of rocks, and very very little oxygen. I had to drag myself up that mountain, gasping for air with every step.

But then, a magical thing happened. After false summits, many a water break, and thinking “dear Lord in Heaven, please please please give me strength to make it up this because it is most definitely not going to happen on my own (or maybe send me one of those big birds from Lord of the Rings..?)”, we reached the peak. And we could see for miles on end. In that moment, I knew exactly why instagram is filled with photos of happy hikers holding up signs reading “Mount [insert 14er here] 14, …”. It is a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring kind of beauty. There is truly no place like Colorado.

I could attempt to put it all into words, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words (and you probably don’t want to read thousands of words about how much I love my state). So pictures it is!