Greetings all from Buzz!

So guess what?  We are now right back here in Massachusetts after a whirlwind tour of a good portion of the U.S.  I'm sure that the last four weeks of our road trip would translate nicely to a ten minute play titled "Gods and Burgers."  That would seem to sum up a lot of our "road" experience.

We were welcomed back last night into the hearth and home of the Hoffs, and then we were immediately put to work... moving furniture.  Apparently, they bought a new living room set which was delivered today.  Last night, you could find us pushing a twenty year old couch out their front door.  But hey, I got birthday cake for my efforts. 

We spent the weekend visiting the Martin-Brasfields in Toronto, and now all we have to do is get the technology to start posting some pics and video from our last few weeks.  We promise to do that soon.  We are going to pay a little visit to our abode tomorrow!

Buzz here, tuning into our weblog from the Juniper Library located in Grand Lake, Colorado.

Here's the news from this week: we climbed Pikes Peak!

We departed from the small parking lot at the Barr Trail trailhead in Manitou Springs, CO on Monday morning.  We managed to get the last available parking spot.  We were unaware that the Pikes Peak Marathon is only two and a half weeks away, so the parking lot was jam-packed with the cars of trail-runners.  Somehow, we lucked out, but still we spent the first three miles of our ascent stepping to the side of the trail to let runners pass. 

The trail began a scant under 7000 feet, and we had 7300 feet to gain.  Fortunately for us, we were splitting this 13 mile one way hike into three days.  We hiked upward to 10,200 feet to the Barr Camp.  Despite feeling like we were moving slowly in the quickly thinning air, we made very good time for the first 7 miles.  We settled into our campsite around 1 PM, and just as we were sitting down in the caretakers' cabin, the thunderstorms started.  We sipped hot cocoa and visited, while our tent suffered the elements without us.  It was quite the luxury.

On Tuesday, we "arose" at 5 AM.  Or should I say, Dr. ZOOm prodded me to start moving.  Neither one of us had slept great - dry air, pre-summit excitement/anxiety, sinus trouble, and cold!  Somehow, I managed to wake up and start following Dr. ZOOm's lead.  We hustled to get through our morning routine, and we were on the trail ten minutes before the sun rose.  After so much bustling through camp, we had to tell ourselves to slow down once we actually started hiking the trail.  We'd be going into even thinner air, and there was no point in burning ourselves out too soon by moving too fast.  We began a peaceful ascent up the trail. 

By "peaceful", I just mean that the Barr Trail is one of the more popular trails in the area.  Around half a million visitors go to the top of Pikes Peak either via foot, train, or car, and according to Teresa (on the Barr Camp caretakers), on Saturday they had 500 people pass through the camp, and that wasn't including the people who stayed there and the people who didn't sign in.  On this early Tuesday morning, we had the trail to ourselves for the first three miles. 

We had six miles and 3900 feet between our camp and the summit, and after two hours, we had the first three miles behind us.  Not too shabby.  Unfortunately, we had only ascended 1300 feet.  Um, where's the rest of the mountain?

Never fear, it was quite there.  The dread Mile 4 as it will be known covered essentially the same elevation as the first three miles but in ONE mile.  That took us one hour.  We were a bit disheartened at first by our slow ascent, but after we did the elevation math we realized why it had taken so long.  120 feet every tenth of a mile.  Hunh.  Who thought that was a good idea?

Now, altitude is altitude, and all I can say is: breathing was like sifting flour.  You took in great breaths of air for very little pay-off.  We both had pounding hearts and woogy heads and had tremendous views that would make those who suffer from vertigo - the next target for the nearest rescue 'copter.  We continued upward, of course.  That's where the summit was.  But we had given ourselves an 11:30 AM turn-around time because in summer, the mountains suffer from summer thunderstorms, and the last place you are supposed to be is... on the summit.

It was 10 AM when we reached the end of the fourth mile.  We were a little concerned that we would be shy of the summit because of our turn-around safety time.  But when we finished the fifth mile in 40 minutes, it was looking do-able again.  Still daunting as always.  Here we were surrounded by a boulder-field in a great cirque that the summit house overlooked.  Was that edge of crumbled stone the top of the mountain?  Or was it a false summit staring back at us?  When Dr. ZOOm said she spotted a large mammal in this craggy stone field, I thought she might be suffering from high altitude, but instead, I looked up to see a yellow-bellied marmot looking back at me.  This folks is called the "beaver of the mountains" sans the tail.  I was relieved that Dr. ZOOm wasn't just seeing things.

We reached the 16 golden stairs which takes you the last half mile up a very steep ascent to the summit house.  We were there, the summit within our reach, and it was 11 AM.  We could make it!  Dr. ZOOm wasn't sure if she could finish the climb; the look downward at the trail looked quite foreboding.  But then she saw the throngs of tourists from the train crowding around the summit taking their summit photos.  In a tone laced with determination and mild aggrevation, she said, "I can make it there."  There - meaning the summit, and there - meaning where we were.  There at 14,110 feet.

Whew.

That was a climb.  And one day, when my feet heal, perhaps I'll revisit the tale of how we descended those 7300 feet back to our car.  Let's just say I think both of us are going to lose some toenails in the next day or so, and neither one of us can quite lace up our shoes. 

We arrived in Rocky Mountain National Park this morning, and we have already taken part in a few ranger-led programs.  We have set up our camp in the not-so populated West Side of the park at Timber Creek, and somehow managed to grab one of only two shady spots in the entire campground.  We are sure to have more to report soon as we continue our Rocky Mountain adventures.  And someday, we'll be able to post some pics too!