Mom woke me up at 3am last Saturday morning. Yes, you read that right! Some people from her gym were going on this “fourteneer” hike, so she took me, my friend Bentley, and her friend Jen along for the trip. Driving up I-70 towards the mountains, mom and her friend started chatting as soon as we hit the road, and didn’t stop until they realized we had blown past our exit. With two hours to go to get to the hike site (when there should have only been thirty minutes left), mom did her best to get us there, and maybe went a little faster in some areas than she should have. There was maybe a cop stop and maybe some barking on my part, but everything was fine.

We got to the trailhead around 7:30am (the rest of the group had taken off by 7am due to no cell reception and us not being there yet) and began our trek up the mountain. We just kept hiking and hiking and hiking and hiking. I had to balance my way across a log bridge over a river, scramble some rocks (boulders rather), find paths that didn’t exist (via cairns), and keep an eye on wildlife (saw a chatty marmot and a mean muggin’ mountain goat). We got around 13,500 feet when we hit a talus field and the boulders were too steep and jagged for me to jump my way up the rest of the mountain. Mom could use her hands to climb but my paws don’t quite work the same way; mom tried to get me to go up the snow field next to the rocks while she climbed, but I wouldn’t have it. The girls made a decision for us to head back down to spare me since I couldn’t make it up and there was no way in heck mom could carry me with her pack the rest of the way up at that high of altitude (along with the timing it would take coupled with questionable weather). We trekked back down the mountain, snacked on some doggy trail treats, chugged some H2O, and Bentley and I passed out in the back of the car after the seven hours of hiking for the ride home. Mom plans to hit up La Plata Peak again with her friend Jen to finish the final climb sans doggies. We had one heck of an adventurous day, new experiences, and learned a lot. We love this place we call home!