Well, I’m back.
I spent a little over a week in Colorado. I did a little recon on Fort Carson and found out where I will most likely be assigned. Apparently I won’t be going to Iraq right away like I thought. It looks like I will be going to the 1/503rd, so I won’t be going mechanized like I thought either. That could all change, but that’s what G1 told me.
All this is neither good nor bad, just different from what I was expecting. I was hoping to go to Iraq, but I can’t deny that it’ll be better to have a little prep time, not to mention easier on the family. I was excited about going mechanized, but I’ve always been light infantry so the learning curve won’t be as steep.
Colorado is still as awesomungous as I remembered it.
Denver is great, spent a few days there. Went down to Carson and Colorado Springs to look around. Housing is expensive, but I knew that already. The food is the best. PF Changs, Red Robin, and more great mexican food than you can imagine.
The main part of my trip began when I met up with two friends of mine from high school and flew down to the Durango / Pagosa Springs area.
The highlight was definitely climbing Mount Uncompahgre. Mount Uncompahgre is the highest peak in the San Juan Range, and the 6th highest peak in Colorado. It is over 14,300 feet in elevation. It is normally one of the easier “fourteeners” in Colorado. It kicked my ass.
In the end, I was taking a break about every 5-10 steps. It took us about 6 ½ hours to make the hike from the Nellie Creek trailhead to the summit and back. The map says it’s about three miles up, six round trip. It seems like a lot more. Part of this may be because it snowed heavily the night before and we were trudging through anywhere from 4-6 inches of snow the whole time. Actually it seemed much deeper on top, so it might have been more.
It was completely worth it.
I think doing your first “fourteener” is like getting your first tattoo. I’ve only been down a few days and I’m already thinking about the next one. I think it’ll be a lot more fun when I live at 6,000 feet instead of near sea level also. Both my friends have already done Gray’s Peak near Denver, so I might do that one next to start “catching up”
Anyway, I have to take my lazy butt to work tomorrow, so I guess I should go get ready. I’ll write a little more later this week.
