Rocky Mountain High Colorado!

That John Dever is definitely not full of sh*t. Any one who has ever felt the thrill of climbing a mountain knows it is a high unlike any other. So when when I received my invitation for the MLS ticket-sales job fair in Denver, Colorado, of course I was going to hit the backcountry. Luckily, I have a few friends in the area. After my interviews Thursday, Erica Jenewein picked me up at the hotel. Erica and I did some mission work together Summer 2002 on the Black Pines Lakota-Sioux Reservation just south of Badlands National Park. We had not seen each other in five years, but it felt like five days. Erica and I explored downtown until we met up with my Philmont Ranger buddy Lee Tolbert. The truly awesome thing about working at Philmont is that you have friends all over the country. We met at the Rock Bottom Brewery and began making our adventure plans. We decided we were going to knock out not just one 14er, but three. Mt. Lincoln, Cameron, and Bross were our backcountry destinations. Friday was all preparation for our hike. We left for the trailhead at 12,000 feet that evening. Camp was a packed house. We had to pitch our tents in a meadow. In the parking lot, I met a former IU girl who lived in the Kappa Delta house next door to Sigma Nu and happened to be a Little 500 rider. Small world. We arose early Saturday around 5am. The air was cold, but the 2000 ft elevation gain in 1.5 miles warmed us right up. The trails were steep and the wind vicious. We met some really cool people, and dogs, along the way. The elevation crippled me a little, but nothing major. All in all, we bagged four peaks in four hours. Not bad for a guy who lives in the Midwest and had only two days to acclimate. Our trip to the 14ers of Colorado was exactly what the doctor ordered. My summer in minor league baseball has been fun, but a little lacking on the adventure side. Once again, I conqured the moutain. My only wish is that I could do it more often.