Seeking the 54

Though I've never considered myself an avid writer, I have been moved more and more lately to look for an outlet to express my thoughts.  Part of this movement has been the time I've been spending on the sidewalks and the trails running mile after mile.  There's no better time for wholesome, meditative thought than when its you and the open road ahead.

I've given the blog thing a try in the past but never found myself with much to write about and quickly gave it up.  We'll see if this time is any different.  With many new interests swirling around in my life right now, however, I hope to find this to be an enjoyable and fruitful path of expression.


I'm still working on finding a clever or witty (ha ha) title for this blog.  We'll see how soon inspiration hits. For my first post, I'd like to tell a little of the story behind one of my great passions of the last two decades that has particularly peaked in the last few years.  That is my passion to hike all of Colorado's 54 14er summits.  Joyfully, this is also a passion shared in its whole with my father and brother as well as other friends and family members along the way.  

As of this moment my brother and I are only five short, our father six.  We have a game plan that could have us climbing our finisher in the summer of 2015.  This has us all very excited.  The Colorado Mountain Club used to have a list of all those who had reportedly finished them all, as of a few years ago it was around 1500 people. By now it could be perhaps be 2000 or more, especially consider unreported finishers.  Either way, for us personally this will be a very overwhelming and wonderful accomplishment.

We started this endeavor together in 1991.  My father actually started in the two years prior with his brother climbing Mt. Elbert and the Decalibro group.  He quickly fell in love and passed that love on to my brother and I and we have been working on this nearly every summer since.  We've had quite a few adventures along the way, most of which I have attempted to chronicle on my Hiking Blog.  

We are seeking to put our greatest remaining challenges into next summer's itinerary.  The peak that has us all worked up the most, one that is arguably the most difficult 14er, is Capitol Peak.  We are in the process now of studying the route and mentally, not to mention physically, preparing for that challenge next summer.  Snowmass Mountain and a return to North Maroon Peak are also on the list for 2014.  This would leave us with El Diente Peak, Wetterhorn Peak, and our intended finisher, Mount Evans for 2015.  

We've long tried to decide which peak to save for the Finisher.  At times we had thought to leave the hardest to last, Capitol.  We'd also given thought to the idea of finishing on Evans as the vehicle road to the top would allow others to join us.  After the summer 2013 hikes the feeling came that we'd like to feel confident and good about our remaining hikes in 2015 and so we would attempt to tackle the hardest remaining in 2014.  We'll see how this plan works out.

We'll be seeking prayers and best wishes as we look to finish this now 22+ year goal together.  And if you're able to get out to Colorado in July 2015 we'll be, Lord-willing, looking forward to a celebration atop Mt. Evans.