Baldy: It's A Mountain

This one will be short and sweet.  The pictures will do all of the talking!  Or is it that they will do most of the writing?  Well, whatever there is more of is what they will do!

Our second trip to Glorieta, NM brought us to the edge.  A few of us had an idea.  An idea of triumph and greatness.  Some might have said we were out of our minds, but we would not be deterred.  It was our chance at glory!  We were going to hike to the top of a mountain…no big deal!

By the time we started there were only two of us left.  I don't know how we lost the rest of our group so early.  What I do know is that it was tragic, sad, and a great excuse to make fun of everyone who backed out.  We missed them dearly, but we had to go on without them.  We had 10 miles of hiking to do and our loss couldn't hold us back.  

We set out early in the morning with only our determination, two Powerades, a few bottles of water, and some snacks (don't worry mom, they were healthy snacks).  The funny thing is we really didn't know how far we had to go or how long it would take.  All we knew was we had to be back in time for soundcheck.

This was just the beginning.

When we first set out it seemed as though the hike would be easy.  The trail seemed pretty tame.  It seemed like a relaxing afternoon.

X marks the end of easy.

Thinking we were bound to be close, I was feeling good.

We took a break around the halfway point.

I think this is around 3/4 along the way.
That city looking spot towards the right-center is where we started.

Could we REALLY say we reached the top without climbing this tower?

No, we couldn't, so we did what any law-abiding citizen would do.
We climbed it!

Remember that city looking spot?  We almost cried when we remembered that we still had to walk back.
It was worth it, though!

Not only did we make it back from the elevation of 11,000 ft.* in time for soundcheck, but we actually made it back in time to shower a get some food!  This was definitely one of the best days of the summer!

*We started at around 7,500 ft.  None of this changes the fact that we found a ranger trail used to drive trucks to the summit.  WE COULD HAVE DRIVEN!!