August 31st, 2024
Mile Marker: 1696.1
Miles Hiked: 10
I slept relatively well last night even though my sleeping pad has a hole somewhere and would slowly leaked throughout the night. I would wake up on the ground, blow the pad back up, fall back asleep, then repeat.
We rolled out around 7:30 ready for another huge climb up to a little over 13,000 feet and then back down to the road, a total of 10 miles.
I felt the nerve creep in per normal but kept the positive self talk and plugged in my headphones to help distract.
The first part of the climb felt relatively easy especially as I had peaceful thoughts. It was a blue bird day and just beautiful.
I kept my thoughts on the end of the 10 miles. I was going to meet my aunt, uncle, and cousin; Debbie, Bob, and Maddie. I could not freaking wait. I couldn’t climb fast enough!
The higher we got, the rockier the terrain became. Naturally, we started to have a slower pace as we reached over 12,000 feet.
Once we were at the last pitch of the climb, I could feel my worried thoughts start to pull at me, stronger than yesterday. Or was I more fatigued in general and that made my ability to repeat the positive thoughts harder.
Today I thought about how much work mental toughness takes. How if we want to change, if we want to be different in how we think, it takes so much work. Just as I have hiked every day and have gotten stronger trail legs, I have to constantly train my brain to think differently. Constantly repeating these mantras even though I don’t fully believe them yet, eventually I will. Eventually, it’ll be my new way of thinking.
We made it to the top and I was ecstatic but also didn’t want to dilly dally. I wanted to run down the mountain to let the worried thoughts flow behind me and run into my family’s arms, my safe place.
We had a 2 mile descent to Berthoud Pass. We flew down the mountain as it was smooth sailing, flying past day hikers. This was a very popular spot as we saw so many people hiking up to the top.
As we neared the parking area, I saw a group of three and as I stared at them and got closer, I realized they looked familiar.
I waved up my hands to see if it was for sure them and they waved up high back to me.
I felt my adrenaline race and tears come to my eyes. There they were. I walked faster down the trail and into my cousins, aunts, and uncles arms. Each of them giving me a huge hug.
I was beyond grateful and happy. Oh, so incredibly happy to see them. There is something so special about seeing family on trail, people who have known me my whole life. It was magical how we were able to coordinate this and their willingness to come out and get us.
Beyond grateful. 🥹
We hopped in their jeep, the perfect Colorado vehicle with the sunroof open and flowed down the mountain. It felt unreal. It felt like a dream. It almost felt like I was getting off trail. Which technically we were but only for a couple days.
Aunt Debbie sat in the back with Journey and I and we talked nonstop the entire hour and half drive back to town. There was so much to catch up on.
We arrived back in Parker, Colorado where Maddie recently moved to for graduate school and went to a Mexican restaurant. I ordered a margarita and chicken fajitas. Journey and I haven’t drank much on this trail and haven’t had any for the last 3ish weeks. After only a few sips, I was surprised I could already feel it, no freaking way! Thankfully our food came out and I was able to eat a hefty meal before finishing.
We talked a lot about trail, what we had been experiencing, our hard days, our favorite parts, and what hitching is like. As we told stories I was again filled with a surge of love. How wonderful it was to be sitting across from family.
We finished up then went back to Maddie’s apartment to wash clothes, take showers, and hang out until our hotel opened up.
An incredible thank you to them for getting us a hotel for a couple days. I felt so taken cared of and that’s a really good feeling. We didn’t have to make hardly any decision, it was all already done.
After our laundry finished we were able to take Maddie’s car to do chores and get to our hotel which was a beautiful room with an extremely comfy bed!
I’m so excited for a couple zero days to relax and do nothing. It’s going to be so nice and beyond needed.
Hoping for some good sleep.
Goodnight!
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 