"I'm sitting on top of the world, just rolling along, just rolling along...
I'm quitting the blues of the world, just singing a song, just singing a song..."
These were the song lyrics that came to mind as I crested the top of the Crags this past week in Colorado Springs when visiting friends. The Crags are on the western slope of Pike's Peak and brought us up to an elevation of about 10,800 ft. Whew! I quickly found out how much different hiking at a high altitude is from what we're used to here in Michigan...I was out of breath in no time! I learned to just pace myself, drink plenty of water and rest when I needed to. The path was sometimes steep, but mostly a gradual incline through meadows of beautiful Aspen and the hardy Colorado pine trees. What was interesting was the Crags themselves...they are named that because of their craggy rock formations on the sides of the mountain. Their surface is very crumbly, which made walking down them especially tricky because you could slip on the loose gravel they easily produced. So I learned to walk on my tiptoes when the terrain was steep; otherwise your heels could slip out from under you.
The view from the top was unbelievable! It was a clear, sunny day without a cloud in the sky. We could see for miles and miles (that's another song that continually popped into my head...my mind is such a jukebox!), seeing several lakes and miles upon miles of open land, as well as the ring of mountains all around us. I've never seen a bluer sky, either. I felt tired when we reached the top of the Crags, but it was a good kind of tired. It made me feel healthy and physically well again, and thankful to have come through all that has been put before me these past months with such fortitude. It was another kind of challenge that I chose to conquer and be enriched from. Thank you, Karin and David, for sharing this special place with us!
P.S. How do I know the lyrics to such an old song? I was in a barbershop quartet in college and this was one of our songs!
I'm quitting the blues of the world, just singing a song, just singing a song..."
These were the song lyrics that came to mind as I crested the top of the Crags this past week in Colorado Springs when visiting friends. The Crags are on the western slope of Pike's Peak and brought us up to an elevation of about 10,800 ft. Whew! I quickly found out how much different hiking at a high altitude is from what we're used to here in Michigan...I was out of breath in no time! I learned to just pace myself, drink plenty of water and rest when I needed to. The path was sometimes steep, but mostly a gradual incline through meadows of beautiful Aspen and the hardy Colorado pine trees. What was interesting was the Crags themselves...they are named that because of their craggy rock formations on the sides of the mountain. Their surface is very crumbly, which made walking down them especially tricky because you could slip on the loose gravel they easily produced. So I learned to walk on my tiptoes when the terrain was steep; otherwise your heels could slip out from under you.
The view from the top was unbelievable! It was a clear, sunny day without a cloud in the sky. We could see for miles and miles (that's another song that continually popped into my head...my mind is such a jukebox!), seeing several lakes and miles upon miles of open land, as well as the ring of mountains all around us. I've never seen a bluer sky, either. I felt tired when we reached the top of the Crags, but it was a good kind of tired. It made me feel healthy and physically well again, and thankful to have come through all that has been put before me these past months with such fortitude. It was another kind of challenge that I chose to conquer and be enriched from. Thank you, Karin and David, for sharing this special place with us!
P.S. How do I know the lyrics to such an old song? I was in a barbershop quartet in college and this was one of our songs!
