Longs Peak Adventure

This is going to be a long post with lots of pictures, but I felt like it was worth documenting.


Yesterday I went with the Young Men and Young Women to hike Longs Peak. I had no idea what I was in for. We were told that it was a tough hike and to be ready for it to take at least 12 hours at a good pace. Of course I kind of thought that all the warnings and such were probably over-kill and they just wanted to make sure the youth were ready for a strenuous hike and not a relaxing stroll. I should have paid a little more attention to the explanation of what we would be doing.

I got up at 2:30 in the morning, got dressed, and packed my backpack with my camera, snacks, water, and extra clothing (gloves, hat, & sweatshirt.) As soon as Kathy got to my house at 3 am to watch my girls, I was out the door. We had to get an early start because when you are climbing to such high altitudes you need to beat the afternoon storms.

Everyone met at a local park and we carpooled up to the base of the hike. I couldn't believe all of the cars flooding the parking lot and road going in. We actually didn't get started climbing until about 5:30 am.


A little background I found online about Longs Peak:

The summit rises 14,259 ft above sea level.
It is considered to be the most difficult class 3 (not sure what a class 3 hike is) 14-er in the State of Colorado.
It is the image on the Colorado state quarter.
It is one of less than 50 mountains in CO to have a glacier...Mills Glacier.
It is 15 miles round trip.
57 people have died climbing Longs Peak...according to the National Park Service, one person dies every year attempting to climb the mountain.



When we first started hiking we needed flashlights, of course, because it was still dark. We were probably about 2 miles into the hike when the sun started coming up. We were still below the timberline but just starting to emerge out of the thick forest.The mountains in the distance had a beautiful pink glow.

The trees turned into shrubs as we reached the Timber line and came upon this sign. We were 2.5 miles into the hike and although they had gone pretty quickly, 5 more sounded like a lot.

A little ways past the sign, I got my first "good" view of the peak I was planning to summit:

Just below the peak, the East face of the mountain contains a sheer rock cliff know as the Diamond. It is called that because, well, it looks like a diamond. :)

Looking down from the spot where the previous picture was taken:

Before beginning this hike, we were told that there were 3 main destinations: the Boulder Field, the Keyhole, and the Summit. In this picture you can see the Keyhole and the Boulder Field (the Boulder Field is just a gigantic pile of rocks below the keyhole.) The Summit is out of the picture to the left. You make your way to the Summit after passing through the Keyhole and along the backside of the mountain.
I remember this being about the time that my backpack was getting VERY heavy and I began to question my real need for food and water. ;) We stopped to take a quick picture.."we" were Ella, myself, and Sarah...aka "Team Awesome.":)

I happen to think this is a pretty cool picture of the keyhole from the Boulder Field. If you click on it to see it larger, you can see tiny people dots scattered among the rocks. It gives you a better idea of the size and number of rocks. It is just over a mile from the Boulder Field to the Keyhole. That is a lot of boulders to climb.

We stopped at the Boulder Field and were joined shortly by other members of our group to eat lunch.

Sarah was greeted by a very friendly marmot (?.) This little guy climbed right up her leg and put his paw in her hand.

The toughest part of the hike begins at the Boulder Field, 5.9 miles into the 7.5 mile ascent. After a quick break, "team awesome" headed up to the keyhole.
Here is Sarah making her way up:

Ella is almost there:

Once at the Keyhole, you get some really great views...this is when I really wish I had a wide angle lens...it would have made a huge difference when trying to capture the views. We reached the keyhole at 6.2 miles.

This is the view to the West of the keyhole: This is the view of what we just climbed to get to the keyhole...once again, click on the pic to get a better idea of what the Boulder Field is like.

The view to the SW of the keyhole (I think...I'm not so great with directions.;) I don't know these people, but I wanted a picture that would show what kind of stuff we were climbing:

This is a picture of what is called the Trough. This section of the climb is 1000 vertical feet. It looks much more steep in person than it does in this picture.

This picture is out of order...This is looking back toward the keyhole from the bottom of the Trough. As we were climbing this section, there were nearly sheer cliffs of 1000 ft or more to our right. (again, click to see the people and gain a better perspective.) You can see the keyhole-it is the little sopt of orange-like light shining through the rocks.

After reaching the top of the Trough, you pass an area called the narrows. There was a point where traffic was being held up because there was only room for one person at a time, and the people going up had to wait for a line of people coming down before moving forward.

Here are Sarah and Ella in what is known as the Homestretch.

Hooray! we reached the flat, yet very rocky, football field sized Summit!!!

Here I am in all my nasty, mountain conquering glory:

You can't climb to the top of a mountain and not get some cool I can reach 14,270 feet-while-jumping pictures now can you?

Team Awesome (Sarah dubbed us that btw ;) reached the top at about 11:30am. So it took us 6 hours to get to the Summit. We waited for about 30 mins when the next group of climbers from our Ward reached the top. After a quick greeting we started heading down. There were some ugly clouds moving in and we did not want to get caught in a storm. The group behind us didn't stay long at the top because of the weather and they followed us down. This is what our beautiful view was turning into:

Not 10 mins after we started our descent, it started snowing. It was cold and made the rocks pretty slippery. It was a little scary, especially because the large number of people we saw on the way up had dwindled down to a handful. Luckily the storm passed quickly and the sun came back out after about 10 mins of snow and started drying the rocks off. We chalked the storm up to an added bonus in our adventure. :)

On the way down we hustled. We made it down in 4 hours where it took us 6 to get up. Even though the climb up was more tiring, I think the climb down was more brutal on my body. My knees, ankles, and feet were killing me from all the impact. I think I should have jumped off of a few less boulders.

We stopped at the waterfall to take a picture on the way down. It seemed like it took us 10 mins to get to this point when we were going up, but it seemed like it took us an hour to reach the bottom from this point going down. We were exhausted by this point, and yet Ella and Sarah found it in them to smile. :)

It was a great experience and I am so glad I got the opportunity to go (thanks to the wonderful people who watched my girls for me.) I am definitely feeling quite sore today and I think that next time I do this climb, I will take it a little slower on the way down...I know I am getting old when I actually have to start thinking about how my knees will feel.

Belt Promotions

Syndee and Charlee both earned their new belts at Tae Kwon Do on Fri. night. Sydnee went to purple and Chuck went up to orange. It was a fun little ceremony to watch. I spent most of the time recording instead of taking pictures.

Charlee getting her belt:

Sporting the new belts with Master Tran:

Curiosity of a 2 year old

I was mowing the lawn today ...dog poo duty is a job that has to be done before the lawn can be mowed. Justee was helping me find the piles. :) She was very excited to point one out, "Here's some mom!"
Then I saw her bend over and put her face very close to it.
"What are you doing?"
"Melling it. I'm melling it momma......It mells like poop."

This is a pic of Justee as we watched Sydnee and Charlee get their belt promotions tonight. I will post about that tomorrow night because I have to get to bed...going on a hike up Long's Peak tomorrow for a ym/yw activity and we are meeting at 3am. {ouch}

Breakdowns

So my sister and her fam (minus oldest daughter Journee who we all missed) came and stayed with me for a few days. It was nice to have some company. Especially nice to have the kind of company you can watch all your stupid shows with and then discuss them afterwards...I miss not being able to do that with Justin. My girls had a blast playing with their cousins and I was sad to see them all go this morning.
I can't believe I didn't take a single picture while they were here.

Now for tonight's breakdowns:
All the hard playing wore Chuck out, I think...Charlee was very tired and extra sensitive tonight. She was getting into her pajamas and after getting completely naked, realized she wanted something out of the car. I told her to go get it (not realizing she would go into the garage and open the garage door while she remained buck naked.) After she came back in she looked very sad. I asked her what was wrong, and she bust into very sad tears, "Sydnee la-a-au-ughed at meeeeeee because I went outside n-na-a-nakeddddddd." I couldn't help but smile as Sydnee gave her a hug and said, "I'm sorry Charlee."

Justee was playing with a few plastic Easter eggs. Apparently Cash thought they looked like fun and wanted to play too. He pounced on one and chased it as it rolled away. Justee was not in the mood to share and started crying and screaming, "No! No kitty! That's my egg! Mommy, kitty took my egg away and I had it first! Give me it baaaaack!" Even after the cat decided that the egg wasn't worth all that, Justee continued to declare her disgust with Cash's actions for several minutes.

Thought it would be fun to remember...

I answered this tag thing on facebook, and then asked Justin to do the same without reading my answers first...I wanted to see how they compared. They matched pretty well for the most part. It was definitely more fun for us, then anyone else. :) (I left out some specifics to some questions.) My answers are in green and his are in blue.

1. When is your "engagement" anniversary: Nov. 23, 1999
1. When is your "engagement" anniversary: Nov 23, 1999- Teri's birthday her senior year ;) In Powell at the Lamplighter

2.When is your "marriage" anniversary: June 14th, 2000
2. When is your "marriage" anniversary: June 14th 2000, the happiest day of my life

3. How long have you known your spouse: about 12 years
3. How long have you known your spouse: about 12 years

4. How Long did you date/court before you got engaged? off and on for about 2 years
4. How Long did you date/court before you got engaged? I would like to say 2 years, but she didn't stay exclusive to me for that entire time, she was a player.

5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time? The first time we talked was at Crosby's house...the days of Sunday game nights. Good times.
5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time? I saw her on the bball court, I met her at the Crosby's family home evening/game night

6. What is your spouse's full name? Justin Michael Durtsche
6. What is your spouse's full name? Teri Jill Durtsche, Jillian :)

7. Do you have any children? yes
7. Do you have any children? yep

8. How many? 3
8. How many? 3

9. Do you have any house pets? We have a bulldog, 2 cats (one was my parents until she recently moved in with us) and some fish.
9. Do you have any house pets? .One dog that doesn't deserve to be in the house because he stinks too bad, one pain in the butt cat that I hate, and some fish.

10. Do you own a house or rent? rent/own
10. Do you own a house or rent? rent to own

11. Do you live in the country or town/city? town
11. Do you live in the country or town/city? town

12. What is one of your favorite activities together? Anything together would be fun right about now.
12. What is one of your favorite activities together? watching movies/tv, attending sporting events, eating, and some...

13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot? not really...we are very excited about going to Disney World for the 3rd time!
13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot? well, I would say we enjoy our times in Lovell the most, but I really enjoy going to Star Valley with her and her family because it is so pretty.

14. How many siblings (including in-laws)? I have 2 bros and 2 sisters, Justin has 3 bros and 2 sisters-of those 9, 4 are married- so 13.
14. How many siblings (including in-laws)? two sister in laws, two brother in laws, three brothers, and two sisters, so 9 all together

15. What church do you attend? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
15. What church do you attend? LDS

16. Is this the church you were married in? Yes, but in the Billings, MT Temple
16. Is this the church you were married in? yes, well the temple

17. In what town is your current address?
17.In what town is your current address? Khowst, Afghanistan; but my fam is in

18. Do you work or stay at home? Uh, I stay at home...so according to this question that means I don't work?
18. Do you work or stay at home? I work, and stay home as much as possible

19. Where did you go on your honeymoon? Sydney, Australia
19. Where did you go on your honeymoon? Sydney Australia

20. Who drives when you go out together? He does...I hate to drive
20. Who drives when you go out together? I do

21. How long have you been together? 11 years or so...
21. How long have you been together? Probably 12 years off and on

22. How long did you know each other before you started dating? about a year before we were exclusive...I reckon
22. How long did you know each other before you started dating? wow, about three months

23. Who asked who out? He totally did all the asking...and chasing for that matter. ;)
23. Who asked who out? I am the man so I did the asking, but she wanted me.

24. How old are each of you? I am 27 and he is 32..33 in a few weeks, he's getting old
24. How old are each of you? I am 32 almost 33, and Teri is 27 almost 28

25. Whose siblings do/ did you see the most? mine
25. Whose siblings do/ did you see the most? Probably mine, I see Shane a lot, but we visit hers more when we are in Lovell, so all together probably hers, but I see Shane the most I think.

26. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? I would say military crap...especially now, but I have always disliked dealing with the military crap.
26. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? when Teri tries to mix what I am saying to work in her favor, then she says I am telling stories and starts to call names, those are rough times:)

27. Did you go to the same school? The same high school, but he graduated before I was a freshman.
27. Did you go to the same school? Yes, Lovell High School and University of Wyoming

28. Are you from the same hometown? Yep
28. Are you from the same hometown? No, well we both graduated from Lovell, but Teri grew up in green river, so I don't know if we did or not. Yes and No

29. Who is smarter? ME!!! Even if he was, I would never admit it.
29. Who is smarter? Teri is, she was valedictorian, she got a full ride scholarship that she only lost one semester;), and she married the best man in the world, that makes her smart.

30. Who is more sensitive? He is
30. Who is more sensitive? I don't know if she has feelings, so i will say me.

31.Where do you eat out most as a couple? Not sure, we keep a good variety
31.Where do you eat out most as a couple? The Texas Roadhouse Baby, give me some rolls and ribs!

32. Where is the farthest you two have traveled together as a couple? I think Australia
32. Where is the farthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Sydney Australia

33.Who has the craziest exes? probably him
33.Who has the craziest exes? Easily her, she dated a bull rider, you have to be crazy to do that.

34. Who has the worse temper? I lose mine a lot easier, but when Justin gets really mad...watch out. :)
34. Who has the worse temper? Teri gets pissed a lot more than I do, but mine is way worse when I lose my cool.

35. Who does the cooking? I do most of it except Justin is the breakfast cooker
35. Who does the cooking? Teri does, unless i am doing something special for her or the girls

36. Who is more social? He is by far. He is always talking to someone as I am trying to drag him away.
36. Who is more social? ME!

37. Who is the neat-freak? neither of us are a freak about it, but it depends on the type of mess
who is more bothered by it.
37. Who is the neat-freak? lol, yeah right, I like to vacuum but she does everything else

38. Who is more stubborn? maybe me ;)
38. Who is more stubborn? Teri, by far!

39. Who hogs the bed? Justin doesn't move once he is asleep, and I like lots of room to toss and turn...so me I guess
39. Who hogs the bed? I stay in one spot all night, not moving a muscle. She likes to have lots of space to move around.

40. Who wakes up earlier? Justin
40. Who wakes up earlier? I do

41. Where was your first date? A movie in Powell??? I seriously have no idea
41. Where was your first date? Powell Theatre, James Bond, and Teri's parents went to the same movie

42.Who has the bigger family? He does
42.Who has the bigger family? me, by one

43. Do you get flowers often? Only when he's in trouble
43. Do you get flowers often? Never, but I give them whenever I am in trouble, so about five times a year.

44. How do you spend the holidays? Usually we see both sides of the family...we are beginning to just stay home though
44. How do you spend the holidays? with family and friends in Lovell usually

45. Who is more jealous? Probably me...no reason for him to be
45. Who is more jealous? Teri

46. How long did it take to get serious? After we were married for a year...then I realized, crap we are stuck with each other. ;)
46. How long did it take to get serious? about one year

47. Who eats more? Does anyone eat more than him?
47. Who eats more? I do easily, I love to eat

48. Who does the laundry? Me...when he is home he helps a lot though
48. Who does the laundry? the hadji's, I take it in and it is done the next day. Oh, but at home Teri does.

49. Who’s better with the computer? I am.
49. Who’s better with the computer? Teri by far, I didn't even know what email was until she showed me

Friday Flashback...Can you say Chunk?

Technically it is Sat morning, but I haven't done a flashback for a while and I wanted to put this video clip up for Justin's benefit. Charlee was such a chunk as a baby and I know he'll get a kick out of seeing this.

This was taken at a park in Alabama while Justin was attending flight school. My guess for Charlee's age is 8 months. Charlee loved that ball and I'm pretty sure it got left at that park on one of our visits. You could always hear helicopters in the area and this day was no exception.

2nd Grader

Sydnee was off to 2nd grade today. She was very excited and got right up and got ready...too bad that enthusiasm wears off through the year. She got a new haircut for the occasion...She was not happy at all when I told the lady to cut bangs. She kept glaring at me, but I think she likes them now. As a little "back-to-school" celebration, I had a party in my bedroom. The girls always want to sleep with me, but I don't like to let them. So, as a special treat we watched a movie and ate junk food and everyone slept in my bed (well I don't think I did much sleeping...I ended up across the foot of the bed...and next time we do something like that, they have to bring sleeping bags for the floor.)

I am looking forward to Sydnee telling me how her first day went.

Laughs and Screams

This monster causes me to do both on a daily basis.

I don't use the term, "monster" loosely. When Justee isn't getting nail polish on the couch (yeah, I haven't told you about that yet, Justin) or throwing a huge fit because she isn't getting exactly what she wants right when she wants it....she is making my laugh. It seems like it is one of the two extremes.

I have been enjoying my time with her at night after Sydnee and Charlee are in bed. She has to have some time to prove to me she is worth keeping in the family, and she goes all out when it is just the two of us. ;)

The other night she was sitting on my lap, holding the cat and watching tv. All of a sudden she turned to me and said, "Cash just said you're a poopy head."

I replied with, "Cash said YOU"RE a poopy head?"

"NO YOU"RE a poopy head!"

"Well that wouldn't be very nice, so I guess it's a good thing cats can't talk, huh?"

"Cats can too talk."

"No they can't."

"Yeah huh! They say meow meow meow."

So potty training just isn't happening for us. Justee just decided she doesn't want anything to do with her potty. I threatened her that I was going to spank her if she pooped in her pants again. So when she came up to me and I asked if she was poopy, her immediate response was, "Don't pank me...just a teeny pank. Like this...(then she showed me how soft she would like to be spanked) k mom?" (Don't worry I didn't spank her...not even a teeny. ;)

Yesterday she came running into the office very excited. She was hollering out words that I couldn't understand...at then end of her rant I could make out the words, "like this" then she proceeded to attempt what she saw on tv. She had been watching gymnastics and her somersaults and rolls were almost as impressive as the tricks on tv. She was very proud of herself.

Date with Sydnee

Sydnee and I had a great day on Thursday. We spent the day together in preparation for Sydnee to return to school next week. (I totally messed up on the date of when school starts...not sure how that happened.) First we went to lunch at Sydnee's choice, Red Robin. It was really nice to enjoy time with her and not be worried about the younger ones causing trouble. She seemed so grown up as she ordered her meal:

"Can I have the spaghetti, please?"

"What side would you like?"

"I'll have the carrots please." After the waitress left she said to me, "I got the carrots cause they are healthy for you."

Not that ordering a meal is anything special, but it just made her seem so grown up.

After lunch we went shopping and got Sydnee some shoes and clothes for school. Then we went to a movie. Sydnee was very excited about getting to go to a 3D movie. We went to G-Force, and it was pretty cute. Sydnee really liked it. I really liked all the previews of the movies that will be out when Justin gets home...There are some cute family ones we will definitly have to go to.

I have been wanting to spend some one-on-one time with Syd, and I am glad I got the chance. Later that night when we were back home, Syd came up to me and hugged me, "Thank you for taking me shopping today, Mom. I had lots of fun." That was definitely icing on the cake.

*On another note...the Tooth Fairy made her appearance a little late. She had a very busy night and only made it to our house while we were at Gold's first thing the next morning. "Sometimes the Tooth Fairy does that, huh mom?" was Sydnee's response. She was happy to get her dollar none-the-less.

Hoping the Tooth Fairy Doesn't Forget

Today Syd finally pulled out her other bottom tooth...it has been loose for a while and her permanent tooth was coming up behind it. I kept forgetting about it and she just sort of left it alone...I don't know how she could leave it in for so long. As soon as I had a loose tooth I was working on it til it came out. She has been very excited about putting it under her pillow all day.

Cooling Off

Today was a great day to play in the water. I set up the girls' water slide thingy and pool and they had a blast. They asked for some water balloons and I suggested that they bounce them on the tramp...I loved doing that when I was a kid. It was a hit! :)

Justee is really starting to catch some air on the tramp.

After all of their bouncing, a popsicle was a perfect treat.