Gray's Peak

For Labor Day, I labored up a mountain, nothing unusual. :-)  Except this specific Labor Day, the Funks from Kansas came to visit (Michael's parents) and I took Nancy to hike her 1st 14er!  We were joined by a friend of Bruce and Nancy, also named Nancy, and my roommate Heather from college.  I had a good time, but I would need to ask everyone else their opinion, but I believe everyone had fun. 

We left our house bright and early on Sunday morning, at 5:45am.  Our plan was to start hiking at 7:00am.  We met up with Heather, and then drove to the trailhead for Gray's Peak which is outside of Georgetown, CO.

Nancy and Nancy had a strong start, these women get medals for even attempting to hike such a big mountain.  And they were both from Kansas, so they really had to prepare. 

The two Nancy's

Gray's peak is in the background, right above the Nancy in green

 My mother-in-law Nancy and I

So I can't express how happy I am that Heather and I live close again, I love this girl!  It is so nice to have a friend who wants to go hiking, or skiing, or do crazy stuff.  That was always Heather when I lived with her in college.  Now I have someone to hike and go backpacking with since Mike isn't such a huge fan.

Heather and I

Due to unfortunate circumstances and time running short, Nancy and Nancy did not make it all the way to the top of Grays, but they did make it to about 13,400 feet, which for these women, is amazing.  I know I'm never supposed to say a woman's age, so these women are both 29.  But when you actually think about women between the age of 52-58 hiking such a mountain, wow, those women amaze me!  I want to be like them when I grow up!  :-)

I was hesitant to leave the Nancys to venture down the mountain alone, but they assured me they would be fine together, and that I should go try to catch Heather, who I had told earlier in the morning to try to summit since it looked like we might be running out of time.  I did catch her, and then Heather and I made sure to take some good summit pictures for everyone to see what it looks like up there.

Heather on top of the world!

The sign says Grays Peak, but we didn't zoom in enough to see it I guess

Isn't it just gorgeous?  And amazing!?  I am always amazing and the intricate and beautiful world we live in when I hike.  It helps me get closer to God and strengthens my faith.

And of course a silly photo of showing the world that we are strong women!  Roar!  Or something like that...

Heather and I snacked a little on top and then headed down to catch up with the Nancys before they got to the bottom.  We got down at about 1:30pm, so a solid 6.5 hours of hiking, whew!  Here is our after photo, of all us girls!  The dogs in the picture belong to the gentleman taking the photo, they didn't want to stay with him.

Just a side note, all the men besides Heather's husband John went golfing while us girls went hiking.  And they prepared us a beautiful feast when we got back, I guess they knew we would be tired and hungry.  Thanks Guys!