Rocky Mountain High!

♫♪ Rocky Mountain High ♫♪...Ben Lomond!

No, it doesn't have quite the same ring to it as ♫ Colorado ♪, but it was still music to my ears!

WOW!  Not sure if there are words to describe my experience last week as I did my long run as a trail run to the peak of Ben Lomond.  Elevation 10,000 feet!  I am not a super experienced trail runner.  I don't even own trail running shoes.  I have made it to the top of mountains before, but mostly straight hiking or on a four wheeler.  Never on a run.  So this was an 

A M A Z I N G 

new experience for me.

I got up at 4:30 a.m. and Jen picked me up around 5:00 a.m.  It was about a 30 minute drive and so by the time we got stuff ready and situated it was probably about 5:45 before we started on the mountain.  We parked by North Ogden Divide.  The heat has been so intense lately that we knew had to get an early start to try and beat the heat.   I really didn't know what to expect, but I had gone with Jen on a 10 miler run last summer to White Rock in Perry and I couldn't believe the views there and how pretty it was.  So when she suggested we do this one to help with our hill training, I was totally on board!  

The views are unbelievable.  You MUST click to enlarge these shots.  I am not sure I have ever seen such breathtaking views in my life.  Well, okay except when I went sky diving in Hawaii.  That view was incredible!  But, there really is nothing like being on top of a mountain and the view from 10,000 feet either!  I really had no idea how astoundingly gorgeous this run was going to be!  There wasn't a single boring sight the entire distance!  We had planned on it being a 16 miler since the trail we took is 8.2 miles up.  But it ended up being close to 18 miles because we did a bit more distance once we got to the top. 

 The scenery was just so gorgeous!  It went from meadow looking with fields of wild flowers, to mountain looking with pine trees and that amazing mountain scent.  I was taken back by the beauty of it all.  It was a pretty steep climb and we did a lot of hiking on the way up.  That was okay because it was just so beautiful, and that gave us a little more time to soak it all in.

 Aren't these pictures so spectacular!?

We ran into a man and a dog right after we started and he saw a buck, and told us where it was, but we couldn't see it.  I was really excited to see the mountain goats.  Jen had been up here one other time and saw mountain goats so I was looking forward to that.  We saw a grouse and tons of chipmunks and squirrels, and even a rattlesnake on our way down!  THAT WAS COOL!  I never thought I'd say THAT, but it really was cool because he was just laying out coiled up on the trail when we came upon him and when Jen finally saw him, he was only four feet (if that) away!  We weren't sure if he was a rattlesnake at first because his coloring was so vibrant unlike any other rattlesnake I've seen and so I was surprised when he started rattling his rattles.  He was very non-aggressive and just slithered into the brush as he was warning us with his rattle.  Of course, the FIRST thing I said was, "Get your camera! Take a picture!"  Jen was pretty frozen making sure he wasn't going to get angry and my phone was dead and so sadly we didn't get a photo.  He was pretty fast getting out of our way.  The closest thing I could find online of what he looked like is this:

He had more dark spots on him though than this, and he was actually quite pretty!  And I think it really helped alleviate one of my biggest fears!  We have so many rattlesnakes on my mountain - which is my backyard - and so I am pretty paranoid of finding one!  I really can't even run the mountain in the summer if I'm alone.  It just terrifies me.  So seeing this guy, was actually a good thing because I saw that he just wanted to get away from us and didn't want to hurt us. Another fear conquered! 

I think this picture is my favorite one of the running part.  It was just so utterly GORGEOUS!  This may be my all time favorite running shot.

Just stunning views!  The view below was incredible!  It wasn't an easy climb and I was getting pretty tired and really wanted to get to the top, but I could see the peak and it always seemed So. Far. Away.  The trail does a lot of switch-backing and so it just seemed like it took forever to get there.  Those first three miles seemed like they were never going to end!

BUT...alas they did!  

We made it!

Top of Ben Lomond Peak!  10,000 feet elevation! 

There were two men at the top when we got there and one was a DWR ranger.  They had come from over Willard Peak way, which was only a 2-3 mile hike.  They were from Mantua and very nice and even took these photos of us!  We were so lucky to find someone up there so we could get some great pix!

See what I mean?!!!

These jumping shots will be my favorite all time photos of any run!

"Those who would climb to a lofty height must go by steps, not leaps."

--St. Gregory the Great

The leaping is reserved for when you reach the top!

It really looks like we are flying and at least 50 feet in the air!  The guy that took them was a rookie at iPhone cameras too but he did such a great job on these!  I LOVE THEM!  I want to get one blown up and framed!

First time at the top of Ben Lomond Peak!  What an exhilarating experience! 

Being on the top of a mountain just makes you feel SO alive!  I love this photo too because you can see how far down it is over that cliff I'm standing on.

We decided to head over across the top a little ways in hopes of spotting the mountain goats.  We saw some on the side of a rocky ledge on our way up, but they took off and were pretty far away and so we wanted to get a closer view.  Unfortunately, we never did, except through some binos.  This is a picture Jen got of them last time she went up there.  They are soooooooooooo cute!

We did however run into some more peeps from our city that Jen knew really well that had came over from Inspiration Peak, (Willard Peak), the 3 mile route.  The sissy way!  hah  I knew them from association.  One is my youngest son's friend and another is married to a friend of mine, but I didn't know that at the time.  Jen knew the dad of the group.  They were quite entertaining to talk to and asked us if we had weapons to protect ourselves and Jen enthusiastically said, "Yes! Pepper Spray!"  They shot that down by saying we were nuts to just carry that instead of a real weapon...meaning a gun.  They said they wouldn't let their wives up there without one.  We thought they were saying we needed it to protect ourselves from wild animals, but they were meaning wild men.  Not to be naive or anything, but most crazies aren't going to hike up 8 miles to attack people in the mountains.  We weren't too worried.  They also told us we were going to get caught in a storm on our way back down and that we would be in trouble because that happened to two girls last year and they died.  We just laughed and told them we ran a marathon last year in a downpour at 42 degrees!  We emphasized it was 26.2 miles and we only had about 9 miles to get to our car.  They were pretty much telling us we were stupid.  I guess they weren't aware of Jen's self defense training and the fact that she could have taken any one of them down in a flash! ☺ We just laughed and told them we needed to get going because it was starting to get REALLY chilly!  The wind was blowing like crazy at the top and we did see some dark clouds rolling in.  We were actually hoping it would rain on us.   

The Willard Peak "sissy" way... ☺

The rain never transpired with the exception of a few sprinkles.  We choose a really good day to do this because the temps were much cooler than normal and the cloud cover really helped us with the heat.  By the time we got to the car though, we were ready to be done and extremely hot!

The run down was so amazingly beautiful. I couldn't take it all in.  Sometimes I just had to stop and look and soak it in.

I REALLY enjoyed this run.  It is definitely in my top five runs of all time.  Just the feel of being on top of a mountain and knowing you climbed it by foot, is such an amazing feeling!  There are just no words to describe it really.  It just made me feel so alive and like I had really accomplished something.  It's one of those exhilarating things that not many people get to experience (like sky diving), and so it feels very special.  I really loved it.  I know why John Denver wrote that song Rocky Mountain High now, because that is what I experienced.  I got high from the highness of it all!  And I'm still feeling the high even a week later!

When we drove off and looked up at how high and far away the peak was, we were in disbelief that we had actually climbed/ran to the top of that!  So cool!

I was VERY sore after.  It felt a lot like after a marathon and the recovery was slow, but it was so worth it!  I hope someday I can become a really good trail runner because I really enjoyed this.  Rattlesnake and all!

Nothing like getting high up high in nature!

*Monday Memos*

*Monday Memos*

 

                           (If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge -if print is too small, you need glasses! ☺)

dear mckay, I am very impressed you got yourself up at 4:30 a.m. to head off to camp. I am even more impressed that I got myself up to tell you goodbye.  I even stayed up!  In the first picture you still look half asleep.  I don't blame you!  4:30 is too early!  Man, I am going to miss you this week!  You are heading off to a week long camp at the Wind Rivers for your very last High Adventure camp.  Instead of heading off to a camp next year, you will be heading off on a mission for two years!  I do not like that thought.  Wow, how time has flown.  

I'm so happy you have such great buds!

dear bird who flew in my house as I was trying to head out the door, wow. what. a. mess!  I was heading out to go meet Karen and Mackenzie, when I saw Mr. Cat on the kitchen table. He knows he is in big trouble if he does that and so as soon as he saw me, he hopped off.  I soon realized why he was on the table.  There was a robin stuck in my window that was frantically trying to find it's way out but was disoriented.  As luck would have it I just barely redid the decors in that window and of course the dang bird pooped all over the window seal.  SHEESH!  He made a horrible mess!  The only consolation is that the poop was purple!  Yes, PURPLE POOP!  How can I be upset over purple poop?  I mean seriously?  He had obviously been eating our purple berries.  What are the odds of a bird getting in my house and then getting trapped in my brand new decors and then making a huge mess all over out of purple poop?!!!  Not very good.  The funny thing is part of my new decors is a tree branch thingy that really confused the poor guy. He probably wasn't sure if he was in or out.  I called in back up and Dave arrived shortly thereafter with some nets.  He didn't realize he was in the lower window.  We have had birds inside before but they are usually in the upper windows.  When he saw him he just grabbed him with his bare hand and let him go outside and off he flew to go eat more purple berries so he can make more purple poop!

 And what was Mr. Cat doing all this time?  Well, let's just say he wasn't helping out the situation much.  Notice pictures below. ↓

dear girl's day out, I was so exited to be heading to Karen's to pick her and Mackenzie up for a shopping day and lunch at Farmington Station.  I love the shops there and we had a lot of fun looking around.  I did most of my retail damage in Home Goods - I LOVE that store!  We had fun looking around at everything.  We hit a few more stores and then headed to The Habit for lunch.  Great food!  We shopped a few more stores and then I dropped them off and headed home to check out the damage I did to the pocket book.  Not too bad.  It's always so much fun to spend time with them.

dear weeds with a lot of potential, I have been picking you lovely frail things for a few days in order to make a centerpiece for our Relief Society taster's table this week.  I have to first spray you with hairspray so you won't totally go flying away before I can get you home.  Once home I just spray paint you.  I was very happy with the way you turned out.  The idea was to make you look like fireworks.  I think I achieved that effect.

The pan has rice in it that I colored to go in the bottom of the vase.

 I think you looked so pretty on the table.

The red and blue stuff underneath the vase is some burlap ribbon I got at Walmart that I weaved. And the vase is filled with the rice I dyed red and blue, along with some white.

We also had a shoe drive that I was in charge of.  I am sending all these shoes to Soles for Souls. The sisters were very generous in their donations. Now I just have to get them to Kamas Utah soon.  Hopefully a few of us will take a little road trip up there to deliver them.

dear mr. cat, gosh look at that face.  Look at that belly.  It's just begging to be rubbed. Impossible not to love this guy!

dear sistas, oh my gosh what a great lunch!  We had a HUGE turnout and it was so much fun!  My good friend Lisa finally came and so I was so happy.  She is one of the funniest people I know and I have really missed her.  She is still the same and had me laughing all the time.  Shauna also was able to make it who now lives in Maine and so that was really fun to have her here!  I didn't get to talk to her as much because there were so many of us (13!) that it was hard to really chat.  We did have fun though.  We have our 35th class reunion coming up in a couple of weeks and sadly almost none of these guys are going.

 One of the best parts of the day was when Carla told us that she sent a text to her hub saying, "Meet me in Hooper" and it auto-corrected to Lesbian Hookers.  We got a great laugh out of that because then I had everyone speak into the voice control on my phone saying Meet me in Hooper to see if it would get it right.  It didn't get it right even once!  It came up with:  Let's meet in the bar - Lesbian Hooker - let's meet in silver - need a number- let's meet in the park - let me let me- not meeting her -let's meet in Hubbard - let's meet and have her  meeting - let's me in the hopper - me meet
Yeah you probably had to be there!  But trust me, it was hilarious.

Cheers!

It looks like we weren't able to focus today.  A former classmate stopped by to say hi and took the photo but it didn't turn out. 
Kathy brought us mustaches to pose with and even though she was short a couple, we still went crazy with them.

I love these crazy women!

I can't believe my eyes were closed in the one Dawn chose to cutesy all up.  Oh well... it's a good one anyway!

 
Here's the little video Linda put together:
 

dear swig cookie, oh my yum! THANK YOU DAWN for bringing me the real thing all the way back from St. George!  You are amazing to even think to do that!  Not only did you get me the Swig sugar cookie, but also a chocolate one that is to die for!  I finally got to try the real thing and I was impressed!  And on top of all that you also got me a Crunch bar!  Crunch bars are honeycomb covered in milk chocolate and thee best candy on the planet!  Dawn and I both have an addiction to them....well, any kind of honeycomb!  My grandma Mae got me hooked on honeycomb.  I tried to savor all of you so you would last longer.  When I get a really good treat I will try and make it last for days.  So I just eat little bits here and there.  These didn't make it very long.  Both were gone in a day and a half, but I have held out on the candy bar and I intend to make it last me another few days!  It's so nice to have great friends!

Wish I knew why some of my pictures rotate after I add them.

dear manic manican, you are looking spell binding this week.  

dear running in the hood, running in July has a few problems.  First of all, it's always extremely hot so I have to get up really early before the temps rise too high or I'll die!  Second, I find myself stopping constantly to pick up a penny only to realize that it's not a penny but a top that went on a firework. Not many peeps clean up after they light fireworks because I see the remains in the road everywhere!  I actually DID find a real penny after probably 10 or so attempts to pick up the look-a-like firework remains.  They are the exact same size and color of a penny. The top picture on the left is the firework remains.  The one on the right is the real penny.

If I am ever near the swings on my way home, I always stop and do a bit of swinging.  Swinging is so fun and relaxing and I could do it all day!  The bottom picture is of a bunch of cows.  It was the craziest thing ever.  One cow started to call the others and they all came running in to the center and gathered there. I have never seen anything like it.  Then all of a sudden about four huge birds came flying out of the field. Not sure what was happening, but something was.  Then the cows started to chase those birds.  Bizarre-ness. Running is always an adventure!

dear ben lomond peak, I made it to the top of you! WOW! WOW! WOW!  What an exhilarating experience!  I had no idea it would be as tough as it was or that it would take as long as it did, but it was worth it and I loved every minute of it.  Jen and I ran it on Thursday morning for our long run.  18 mile round trip!  Unreal how amazing it felt to be on the top of a mountain at 10,000 feet elevation!  Unreal how sore I was the next day! I am doing a full post on this experience and so watch for it.  But here's a little preview:

dear lunch out, this makes my fourth day out to lunch this week!  It's been crazy, but fun!  I do love to go out to lunch!  Bonnie and I took Mona out on Friday because she is having her hip replaced on Monday.  It was a lot of fun and we tried to help Mona out with a few of her concerns.  I hope we were able to.  I love talking to Bonnie and we chatted in my driveway for over an hour after we dropped Mona off.  She is such a great example to me and I look up to her in so many ways.  She has such a gift with how to say things that need to be said in a tactful and loving way.  I wish I could be more like her.  She is one of those friends that you are grateful to have.  I learn a lot from her.

dear mckay, you made it home from your last high adventure camp safe and sound!  Albeit, very dirty!  I really missed having you around. You sounded like you had a great time and I'm glad. I just wish I could get more information and details out of you about your trip!  You've never been one to just yack and yack about things.  Hopefully I will get some good info at church tomorrow from your leaders.

Your camp was at the Wind Rivers.  These pictures below I got from one of your leaders and I had no idea it was so gorgeous up there.  WOW!  I hope you appreciated the beauty of it all.  And according to one of your leaders, you aren't afraid of anything.  I need to get more details on that one...I think anyway. On second thought maybe I don't want to know!

Brother Huff told me that you all had chosen different names while you were there and yours was Kuiscos.  Cooper was Butt-ch, and Carson was Dave.  I can't remember the other boys.  The hang ten sign you are signaling ↓ means money and was the group's camp sign for some reason.  I will most likely never know.  You also went on a 19 mile hike up a mountain.  Sounds like we were doing the same thing!  Anyway, that is the info I got from your leaders.  What I got from you is mainly that you had fun and didn't catch any fish or see any snakes or bears.

 Great group of boys and leaders!

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I actually posted this Monday Memos on Monday!
Go me!