How I did it: My friend/ coworker organized the hike and I was invited along for the ride. I was invited a week in advance but didn't commit to go until the night before. I went out for drinks with coworkers after work and they begged me to come along. I gave in to the pressure and decided at about 6pm the night before the hike that I was going. I went home and packed some comfortable clothes to hike in, grabbed my hiking boots and socks, a few snacks: crackers, these fruit twist things, some trail mix, two water bottles and a gatorade. Then I was off, I spent the night at a coworker's house and we got up at 4:45am. About 15 minutes later than planned which lead to a hectic start. We met up with the event planner at her house in Golden around 5:50am (twenty minutes late) and waited on the rest of the group to show up.  We took two cars with 8 people up to Mt. Bierstadt. We began the trail around 7:30am. I had to split from the group along with one other person because I was not as in shape as the rest. They made it to the peak around 11:45am. I and my hiking buddy made it up right at 12:30pm. Bad weather was comming in from the west so we took 5 minutes and a picture break before begining our decent. The snow was melting by this time so some areas had become harder to traverse. Slipping on the way down was not only easy, but common.  Never the less we made it to the cars (and the rest room) by 3:00pm. We got back to the organizer's house in Golden by 4:30pm and had a picnic to celibrate.

Lessons & tips:

• Pick a mountain that is pretty easy for your first one, hike before hand so you are familiar with your pace, challenges, ect
• Dress in layers- it will be cold, there will be snow. Gloves and a winter hat are good ideas.
• Plan the trip in advance, a week minimum
• Figure out transit, allow flexibility in times
• Bring easy to eat snacks
• Follow leave no trace rules
• Bring water, more thna you think you'll need, at least 2 nalgenes worth
• Hike with a partner
• Take breaks when you need them, don't push through if you need to stop
• If you time it like we did, lunch on the peak would be ideal, but watch out for weather- safety is more important than hunger

Resources:

• www.14ers.com (a great resource)

• a camel back is a good idea- easy to access

• I saw a good number of people with GPS systems- but you don't need one

• a camera

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Sep 21, 2008, 06:27PM PDT | 0 comments | 1 cheer