My First Solo Adventure: Bierstadt
Photos from 2016
If you met me in the last four years, you may have assumed I’ve always been a solo adventurer, loading up the truck alone, ready to head out on the road with a pup or two.
But that hasn’t always been the case.
Growing up, my family instilled a love of the outdoors and travel in me at a young age. I grew up camping, off-roading, and running through the forests behind our house with my sisters. When I was finally at university, I struggled a lot with discovering myself and trying to pick a path, any path, to take in life.
At eighteen, I was taking a semester off from school to try and find my next step. Living in Colorado, you grow up hearing about 14ers and you learn pretty quickly how respected those who accomplish them are. I’m not sure exactly why, but I decided I needed to hike 14ers.
So I loaded up with granola bars, two Nalgenes, and maybe a pack of bandaids in preparation for hiking Mount Bierstadt. My family didn’t have adventures like this, far away from anyone who could help and if we were, we were in a truck with safety gear. I didn’t know what to bring with me on a hike up a mountain.
We got to the trailhead early. Wearing a threadbare Columbia fleece and Nike Frees, I saddled the dogs with their own packs carrying water, treats, and poop bags before pulling on my old North Face backpack I lugged around three years of high school. When we started, a few hikers and I quickly saw a mama moose and her baby standing in a lake off to the left of the trail. We made a wall between her and my two big huskies to diffuse the situation.
What a way to start.
There weren’t that many people on the trail that I can remember. Maybe there were and I was so engrossed in my own experience that I don’t remember how crowded the trail was.
The hike up Mount Bierstadt is a 7.5-mile round-trip with an elevation gain of over 2,850 feet. I was in “fine” shape from whatever exercise I was doing in college but I wasn’t prepared for how little air there was. I ran into a family who had flown in from Texas the day before and were clearly in over their heads. As they slumped over rocks gasping for air, they asked how anyone could do this.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I’ve lived here most of my life and it’s kicking my ass, too.”
Granted, I was a little more acclimated but I was still grappling with the mental challenge of putting one foot in front of the other. Bierstadt is known for being an “easy” 14er, of course, it’s all relative. But for 18-year-old me with my two dogs, I felt like I was climbing Everest. I honestly have no record or memory of how long it took to reach the top but I remember being so overjoyed that we made it. I had never been somewhere so exposed and grande before. When we started heading down, I ran a few steps here and there, feeling so much pride and joy swelling up inside of me.
It’s funny to look back on now because I’ve completed several 14ers since and each one has taught me something about myself. Hiking Mount Beristadt alone with my two dogs at eighteen taught me that I’m capable of doing whatever I set my mind to. I learned that there is so much freedom and wildness to be felt in the outdoors and that day set my soul on fire to experience as much of the natural world as I can.
What was your first solo adventure? Let me know in the comments or on social media!
