Hiking with Misha.
Today I went hiking with Misha.
When I picked him up he was insistant that we bring two GIANT bottles of water and lots of beef jerkey (because it has salt) because he was worried that we might get heat stroke. We also brought a blanket, sandwhiches and some potato chips for when we reached the top. We were going to make a day of it. Misha spent most of the drive up there talking about ways to avoid heat stroke and dehydration and he ordered his sandwhich without mayo for fear that it would spoil during the long hike in the hot sun.
We get up to Evergreen and the temperature drops like 10 degrees, which was such a relief after this last week in Denver. We planned to hike up the mountain just behind Misha's parents house. Some of you may be familiar with it. It's about 2 miles from the base to the summit (I think) and at the peak it's got this huge rock cliff which is nice to sit on and look at the view from. It's a good little hike, the slope is about a 60 degree angle, so it takes it out of you. Especially if you are on the far side of 20 with matching beer bellies and smokers coughs.
We park the car near the base and start up. I notice the giant black cloud looming overhead and say to Misha, "You think we should bring the umbrella?" Quoth Misha: "Nah, we won't need it." (that's what we call ironic foreshadowing)
Half way up the mountain it starts raining. Which is nice. We're really fucking hot. It's just kind of sprinkling. We take a little break on a rock outcropping because we don't want to scrabble over the field of huge boulders just before the peak in the rain... which should (we think) let up in a bit. We're all sweaty and Misha says, "first thing I'm doing when I get home is taking a fucking shower!"
After an hour and a half or so we reach the summit. It's still sprinkling. We climb over the afore mentioned boulders, which are only a little slippery, with very little trouble. We pause to admire the view about 10 yards from the peak and suddenly the sky opens up. It's really nice. Very refreshing. We both like the rain and open our arms to the sky to really enjoy it. We decide that it's better not to attempt to climb back down in the rain because the rocks will be too slippery and we don't want to risk breaking an ankle or fracturing a skull. So we'll pause here until this little torrent lets up (in about 10 minutes we think) and then we'll continue on to the very top where we'll spread our blanket, eat our sandwhiches and take some pictures while we relax after the hard climb.
Cut to 35 minutes later. We are shivering and drenched, huddled together for warmth against a large rock, cringing at every roll of thunder and trying desperatley not to be the tallest things in the area. The lightning is so close we can smell the ozone. In the last 10 minutes it's been right over our heads. In the last five minutes we've been bombarded by hailstones the size of quarters. "And you were going to take a shower," I say.
After a while we decide that we'd be better off taking our chances with the wet rocks then with the lightning. We climb back down, on our hands and knees in some places and we each slipped a few times, but fortunatley we suffered no serious injuries. We walk for an hour (already drenched) in the rain until we reach the road. Misha pauses to wring out his shirt. We looked like we'd just stood in the shower with all our clothes on. Our fingers were all pruney. It was fucking freezing, but at least the hail had quit.
We get back to the car. My umbrella (from the foreshadowing, remember?) is in the back seat, dry as a fucking bone. We sit in the car with the heat on and eat our soaking wet, completley smooshed $6.00 sandwhiches. Then we high tailed it for home, a warm shower, and a dryer. Sunstroke my ass! It turned out we were more in danger of hypothermia.
And actually, it was the most fun either of us have had in weeks!
When I picked him up he was insistant that we bring two GIANT bottles of water and lots of beef jerkey (because it has salt) because he was worried that we might get heat stroke. We also brought a blanket, sandwhiches and some potato chips for when we reached the top. We were going to make a day of it. Misha spent most of the drive up there talking about ways to avoid heat stroke and dehydration and he ordered his sandwhich without mayo for fear that it would spoil during the long hike in the hot sun.
We get up to Evergreen and the temperature drops like 10 degrees, which was such a relief after this last week in Denver. We planned to hike up the mountain just behind Misha's parents house. Some of you may be familiar with it. It's about 2 miles from the base to the summit (I think) and at the peak it's got this huge rock cliff which is nice to sit on and look at the view from. It's a good little hike, the slope is about a 60 degree angle, so it takes it out of you. Especially if you are on the far side of 20 with matching beer bellies and smokers coughs.
We park the car near the base and start up. I notice the giant black cloud looming overhead and say to Misha, "You think we should bring the umbrella?" Quoth Misha: "Nah, we won't need it." (that's what we call ironic foreshadowing)
Half way up the mountain it starts raining. Which is nice. We're really fucking hot. It's just kind of sprinkling. We take a little break on a rock outcropping because we don't want to scrabble over the field of huge boulders just before the peak in the rain... which should (we think) let up in a bit. We're all sweaty and Misha says, "first thing I'm doing when I get home is taking a fucking shower!"
After an hour and a half or so we reach the summit. It's still sprinkling. We climb over the afore mentioned boulders, which are only a little slippery, with very little trouble. We pause to admire the view about 10 yards from the peak and suddenly the sky opens up. It's really nice. Very refreshing. We both like the rain and open our arms to the sky to really enjoy it. We decide that it's better not to attempt to climb back down in the rain because the rocks will be too slippery and we don't want to risk breaking an ankle or fracturing a skull. So we'll pause here until this little torrent lets up (in about 10 minutes we think) and then we'll continue on to the very top where we'll spread our blanket, eat our sandwhiches and take some pictures while we relax after the hard climb.
Cut to 35 minutes later. We are shivering and drenched, huddled together for warmth against a large rock, cringing at every roll of thunder and trying desperatley not to be the tallest things in the area. The lightning is so close we can smell the ozone. In the last 10 minutes it's been right over our heads. In the last five minutes we've been bombarded by hailstones the size of quarters. "And you were going to take a shower," I say.
After a while we decide that we'd be better off taking our chances with the wet rocks then with the lightning. We climb back down, on our hands and knees in some places and we each slipped a few times, but fortunatley we suffered no serious injuries. We walk for an hour (already drenched) in the rain until we reach the road. Misha pauses to wring out his shirt. We looked like we'd just stood in the shower with all our clothes on. Our fingers were all pruney. It was fucking freezing, but at least the hail had quit.
We get back to the car. My umbrella (from the foreshadowing, remember?) is in the back seat, dry as a fucking bone. We sit in the car with the heat on and eat our soaking wet, completley smooshed $6.00 sandwhiches. Then we high tailed it for home, a warm shower, and a dryer. Sunstroke my ass! It turned out we were more in danger of hypothermia.
And actually, it was the most fun either of us have had in weeks!