Deep in the Colorado Rocky Mountains lay the Rocky Mountain’s highest paved road elevation wise.

Independence Pass is what workers named it.  The road is 12,095 feet above sea level.  At the highest point of the road, there is a small area that is a parking lot and a bathroom.  Branching off the parking area is numerous hiking and rock climbing trails leading to the top of many unnamed mountain peaks.
 

On one of those hiking trails is where my story begins.  Half of the group had already gone down back to the resting area by our vans.  Only a dozen of my First Lutheran Church group remained, hiking up the mountain.  Our goal was to reach a very large boulder at the highest peak we could see from the base. We started following a pretty distinct trail that looked to lead somewhat close to our destination. 

“Alright, it is time for a break,” said our church chaperone.  We stopped and sat down in a grassy patch which had small purple flowers popping out of the soil.  I surveyed the trail and concluded that we had hiked at least a mile and a half.  Sweat started to creep down my back.  I pulled out my large canteen from my hiking backpack.  I drank a third of it and decided to save the rest of the water for washing my meal down at the top.  I thought to myself how great it would be to jump into one of the large runoff pools in the shallow valleys on the mountain across from us.  It was crazy how I was sweating even though there was a layer of snow not 100 meters above me.

After everyone had their break, we began to ascend up the mountain.  My brother, Mac; my neighbor, Brett; and my adventurous sides grew drastically as we were told that we could venture off and hike whatever trail we wanted to.  We were allowed to hike on our own as long as we promised to meet the rest of the group at the designated spot.

Mac, Brett, and I split from the group.  Smiles covered our faces as we sprinted quickly up the mountain, which now had some spots of snow.  As we hit a large part of the snow, being the adventurous people we were, we decided to have a little body sliding contest. We raced to the top of the snow, and we went one by one sliding down the snow face first.  It hurt quite a bit, but our adrenaline was pumping, so the small scratches didn’t bother us.  The snow was cold and soft on our almost sunburned skin as we were sliding down.  My brother had to make a quick evasive maneuver to stop himself from sliding further than soft snow.  As we all collected our laughs from the dangerous fun, we continued up the mountain, looking for other adventures to test our athleticism.

As we hiked up the mountain, we spotted what looked to be a very climbable small cliff.  Knowing we were amateur climbers and had no equipment, we took the less dangerous route.  We took all the fragile objects out of our bags and threw the bags to the top of the small cliff.  That made the climb more manageable.  I climbed the miniature cliff first.  It seemed to be a pretty easy maneuver to make because of my height. I just stuck my feet into different foot pockets, and reached up for a spots to grip with my hands.  It only took me around a minute to reach the top.

Mac and Brett had a tougher time reaching the top.  Mac was predominantly smaller, so he wasn’t able to climb the way Brett and I did.  Mac, with the willpower he had, made it to the top the fastest though.
At the top of the small cliff, we decided it was time for a break. We paused to gaze at our surroundings.  I never realized how high we had hiked.  Our vans were now as small as ants.  The sun made the pools of mountain runoff in distance shimmer.  The dull valley we drove through earlier now seemed elegant and large.   I took in a deep breath.  The air in the mountains was definitely thinner and purer than in Wisconsin.  I smelled the conifer trees on the neighboring mountains.  I looked at the tree line on the mountain to our right.  I was amazed at how the mountain was packed thick with conifers up a certain elevation.  After that, it was just bare, rocky ground.

After the short break, we continued to hike up the mountain.  We had to start watching our steps because the terrain seemed to become loose and fragile.  We possibly could have started an avalanche of small pebbles if we wanted to.  My feet and ankles started to hurt from the endless unsteady ground.  Our pace was slower than before.  Even though there was piles of snow around us and it was fairly cloudy and windy, we sweated profusely.  The outer layers of clothing we were wearing were now in our backpacks.  We were now wearing just tee shirts and shorts. 

Even though we were short on energy, we pushed on.  As we were becoming closer and closer to the top, I started seeing more animals.  That puzzled me because it should have been the other way around.  From what I knew, there should have been less animals as we hiked higher.

I located many different species of animals.  Mac and Brett tried to catch a rabbit they spotted, but they came up unsuccessful.  I looked up in the sky and saw many birds unfamiliar to the habitats in Wisconsin.  These birds were greater in size, and soared higher in the sky. Watching the hawks dive down and skim the water for fish was fascinating.  Only one of the hawks was able to catch their prey though.  I also saw the occasional rodent scurry by and scamper into a new burrow.  They were very large in size, and they seemed friendly than rats and mice in the Midwest. 

After about a half hour of hiking, Mac, Brett, and I finally made it to our destination.  We noticed that we made it there before the rest of the group, so we decided it would be hilarious if the rest of our church group found us on top of the enormous rock. We decided to climb all the way on top of the boulder.  The climb was fairly hard because there was not significant foot or hand holds.  We had to use pure grip strength and the help of another person to help hoist each other up. 

It was a tough climb, but it was worth it because the view at top was amazing.  I had a full 360 degree view of the beautiful Rocky Mountains.  The sun peaked out of the clouds and made all the vegetation brighter and fuller.  The snowcapped mountains gave of rivers of runoff pouring down the mountain into ponds.  The small ponds we could see shimmered, and the ponds were almost transparent.  Hawks flew around like they ran the world.  In the closer mountains, we could make out small patches of bright yellow and white flowers.  We saw large formations rocks that had fallen down the mountains.  We saw some large cloud advancing towards our location.  The weatherman did predict rain in the forecast. 

As the rest of our group finally reached us, they were amazed on how we climbed to the top of the boulder.  Mac told them how we did, and then we all pulled out our lunches.  It was one of the greatest lunches I have ever had.  The food wasn’t the greatest, but the location of where I ate the food was beyond my imagination.  We all ate our food peacefully, and then we began our descent back to the vans.

Just as we were starting our descent, rain started down pouring.  Everyone raced down the mountain as fast as possible.  We had to be careful because the terrain was now becoming wet.  Even though it was pouring rain, we all had smiles grinning on our sunburned faces.  We were having the time of lives.

As soon as we got down to the bottom of the van, the rain stopped.  A rainbow poked out of the sky.  The rainbow shined right over the mountain. The sight was beyond my imagination.

Once we were all in the vans, we retold our greatest memories from the experience.  Today, we still talk about some of our memories from that hike.  The hike was so much fun.  I wish I could go back and relive that moment of being on top of the world.

Works Cited
"Independence Pass." The American Southwest. N.p., Oct. 1997. Web. 21 Apr. 2016. .