The Baker Circus: Handies Peak

Once the sun came up and we got our rhythm (walk 50 yards and take a break to breathe in the high altitude) it got easier.

After a while Nathaniel started complaining that his stomach was bothering him. We had been acclimating over the last two weeks so it took me awhile to catch on to the fact that he had altitude sickness. Once I did he and I chose to quit the climb and hike back to a lake we had passed and wait for the rest of the group to finish the last mile and come back.

The rest of the crew leaving us and and heading on to the summit.

I had brought a small bottle of oxygen (believe it or not, Walmat sells them!) just in case, after all I had just been sick two days before and still had a nasty cough. I let Nathaniel have a few puffs and with a little rest we decided to keep going. We could still see Sandy and the kids on the trail ahead of us. Once we started walking they saw us and started waving and encouraging us on. Nathaniel and I were pretty psyched at that point. The top was in view, still a ways off, but in sight and we thought we could make it. As we closed the gap with them we were getting pretty excited.

Once we got close we noticed that the kids had turned around an were coming back toward us. Wyatt and Timothy had freaked out going around a rock, and looking down the steep mountain had been enough for them. Sandy realized that the trail ahead was getting pretty steep and perhaps a bit to much for kids.

Plenty of other hikers had been passing us all day. I nicknamed them EFCCs. Extremely Fit Coloradan Coming. My way of telling Sandy we needed to step to the side and let someone pass. As various groups came back down the mountain we quizzed them on what the summit was like. Several told us that we were wise to turn around. The last bit of the trail was too steep for kids. That made us feel a little better about our decision. But, we did make it to 13,000 feet!