DeCaLiBron Trail

Russell and I set the goal to hike the DeCaLiBron Trail this summer.  This is an awesome trail that allows you to hike four 14ers on one trip.   My last 14ers nearly kicked my booty, and I did the thing where I swore I wouldn't do it again even though I knew I would-hike those 14ers again.  We ended up bringing the whole family to Fairplay where we met up with my parents and niece and nephew.  My parents recently bought a camper, so this way we could avoid the tent camping that is often necessary when hiking 14ers.

July seemed to bring on the rain and thunderstorms, and we were constantly watching the weather for this hike up until we woke up at 230 the morning the day of the hike.  Luckily we had the best weather we could have....clear skies and the downpour happened after we were back at the camper post hiking shower.  We started our hike going up Bross, which is the opposite way lots of people do this trail.  I preferred to go up the scree on Bross rather than down.  It ended up being tricky and there was a significant elevation gain.  However, once we were up we stayed up for the next two 14ers.  We watched the sunrise and were able to summit the first 3 14ers without anyone on the summit-so amazing.

I wasn't exactly prepared for the last 14er-Mt Democrat.  We hiked down quite a bit before we started our hike up.  Mid way through I was in the mood to quit.  You know the downside of hiking in the daylight is that you can most definitely see where you have to go, and it's up STRAIGHT up.  Russell stepped up his encouragement game with me, and was able to support me as I finished up to the summit.  It was quite the popular mountain, with many people continuing onward to finish the next three mountains.  I was so thankful to be coming down knowing we were finished!  I was able to rock my decent.  This sometimes is the case and I swear it's because I'm so thankful to be coming down.  I know that within hours my feet will be naked, I will be showered, and ingesting something delicious.  

Despite my resistance mid-way through my last mountain, this was my best feeling 14er experience.  I had three practice hikes before these 14ers, coupled with a decent workout plan at home.  I also used my sticks this time around.  I felt like this allowed me to utilize my arms more, which are some of my better assets.  I also could navigate going down better with the sticks.  We finished in 7 hours, not bad for a 7.25 mile hike.

  

One of my favorite    memories from this trip was when we finished and pulled over to put our feet in the mountain stream.  There is no other way to calm the feet down after a hike like that then  mountain water......so gorgeous.   We ended the day with some beers in Fairplay and hanging out with our family!

Til next year 14ers:)

Momma