A Hike in the Pioneers
This past weekend was packed with fun and goodness. From climbing out at a local crag for the first time (okay, I only got one pitch in after a bit of a car snafu, but it was still awesome and the car snafu oddly empowering - more on that later), to meeting a new friend (hi Thea!), to getting to go on a long-talked about backpacking trip with one of my best friends - the weekend was top notch.
Our hike took us up to Surprise Valley in the Pioneers where we camped at the lake. On Saturday we made it to the lake and then dropped our packs and headed up to Altair Peak. The last 11,000+ hike I’ve done was also with Taylor (pictured above) - but it was in much snowier conditions. This round involved more scrambling and less snow reading which for me, was a new challenge. Despite how much I enjoy sport climbing, feeling exposed at heights really freaks me out.
The whole hike up I told myself I could bail on the scrambling whenever I wanted to - but the closer we got, the more I felt like I just had to do it. And I did. And hot damn. It felt good. We got down from the peak around 8pm (ish), made dinner, watched the moon rise while talking about the merits of the new Star Wars movies, then headed for bed.
The next morning Taylor was psyched to climb two more peaks right next to Alstair. I was more excited about checking out the wildflower scene - it was absolutely incredible! Unfortunately I had blown it a bit by not bringing extra batteries (I had left my camera running a time lapse the night before which had pretty much sucked my only set of batteries dry), so I had to be somewhat sparing on the shots I snapped.
Enjoy some wildflower beauty below :)
More photos to come soon, but in the meantime, here are some portraits of friends and some silly hiking photos that make me smile.
