Longs Peak
Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park was an awesome hike. With all of the hype about this mountain, I was afraid I might not make it all the way to the summit. Now the boulder field, keyhole, narrows, trough, and homestretch are accomplishments to be proud of and not parts of the route to be afraid of. This was my first experience with class 3 and 4 hiking which involves climbing instead of just walking with some serious exposure. I loved it. :) For the first time in memory, I was smiling when Matt and I got to the top. (Usually I'm so exhausted I can't even make facial expressions.) We took the less common Loft route up the mountain and the standard route back down. All in all it was 12 miles where we only saw 3-4 people on the way up and fought the crowds on the way down. The beautiful alpine tundra in full fall colors made the long hike back pretty pleasant, but spotting a ptarmigan just off the trail absolutely made my day. (What adorable feathery feet!)
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