Longs Peak

We're hiking Longs Peak next weekend. Matthew told me a month ago that his cousin was putting together a group for the hike. Matthew was definitely up for it and he strongly advised me, the more risk averse member of the family, to read up on the mountain before committing.

I did my research. Hiking on the entire mountain is considered technical except for about two and half months of the year when the Keyhole route is not covered with snow. Longs is the most popular 14er in Colorado. It can often be difficult to find parking in the main lot and if you plan to hike to the boulder field and camp for a night before attempting the summit you need to reserve a site six months to a year in advance. We plan to do it in one day, which is about a 12 hour trip. 14ers.com is a great site - full of first hand trip reports and photos. The site even has complete trail descriptions with photos of key benchmarks along the route. The biggest concern when hiking Longs and any other 14er is lightning. Everything I've read advises heading back from the summit no later than Noon.

My initial thought after reading everything I could find on the web about Longs was, "Why are we doing this as our first 14er?" There are plenty of others that take less than four hours to summit, aren't nearly as popular and don't have features like "the narrows" or "the ledges" (seriously, look at the photos). I let everything I read marinate for a day. I've decided I can't pass it up. My sister in-law Kendra is going too.

We have most of the gear. Many people climb in running and other sorts of tennis shoes, however, I am a gear junkie so of course I had to buy hiking boots. Matthew and I both bought Merrell hikers today. We'll be wearing them pretty much everywhere for the next week to make sure they're broken in. At this moment, Matthew is wearing his while climbing on the counter to install a blind over our kitchen window. I am sure our neighbor's will think we're a little nuts walking the dog in boots and and 103 degrees (I swear that's what the thermometer reads right now), but it's all in the name of blister prevention.

I am crossing my fingers for good weather, no lightning and most of all no altitude sickness!