On Top of the World!

Today, I felt what it's like to be on top of the world.

And I will forever carry that feeling inside of me. The really great thing about playing in The Rockies on a weekday is that there's no crowd. Also, it is the end of the season; so I got extremely lucky; it wasn't congested with tourists and there was no traffic. But let me start at the beginning...

When I woke up this morning, my first thought was "must have coffee. Now." After the first thought was satisfied, my second though was "must go to the mountains. Now." So I climbed in my car and headed out. Driving through the mountains for the first time by myself was a little nerve-wrecking, and I must admit I was the person all the other cars were cursing cause they were stuck behind me going 20-mph. My drive at the foothills of the Rockies looked a bit like this:

Beautiful views from the road with GUARD RAILS (this will be important later)!

Little creeks and rivers filled with fresh glacier water.

Beautiful foothills!

I just kept thinking how beautiful everything was. And it seemed like everything just kept getting more and more beautiful. I was very much in "bliss-heaven-everything is perfect with the world"- land. I even made a little bird friend.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG4ILSgrSCQ)

I had two choices:

1. Go deeper into the foothills and explore the lakes and waterfalls.

2. Go up high into the mountains and follow the Trail Ridge Road, which is the highest road in the country taking you up to 12,183 ft above sea level. This also means that the weather is extremely unpredictable since at that elevation you are far above and beyond tree level (meaning there's absolutely no barrier to the elements, especially lightning).

So of course, because I have Marty and I'm never really sure what his limits are (even though he continues to surprise me time and time again), I chose to go deeper into the foothills and check out the waters of the Rockies. This is what I found (after hours of hiking I should add):

Beautiful mountain lakes.

I made a friend!

Rushing waters.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejghfv3NwzU)

Beautiful meadows at the foothills.

Well after hiking for a few hours without water (yea, i didn't really think ahead on this one), I said "Screw it. Marty, we're going up!" So I started the little trooper up and off we went! Marty was rockin' it! He just kept going, and going, and going (apparently he loves to do that, considering I drove 13 hours straight just a few days ago), and before we knew it we were up a little further than before:

View from about 9,000 feet above sea level.

You can really see the roads here!

At this point, I meant to turn around but a little voice inside of me kept saying "keep going. You'll be fine." So I listened and I kept going. I felt a little flutter of nervousness when I passed a sign saying

CAUTION
BEYOND THIS POINT WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE UNPREDICTABLE
SNOW IS POSSIBLE
PLEASE BUCKLE UP AND DRIVE SAFETLY


But I kept going anyways. And then the road turned to this:

And now the road became a whole new threat because there are NO GUARD RAILS! But...I still kept going. Breathing and going and listening to the little voice inside myself for reassurance. And I am so glad that I did! It wasn't easy. It was scary. But it was so worth it!

This picture was taken off a trail that started at a pulloff by the road. There was no one there so I was able to just sit alone in silence for a bit a soak it all in. I then grabbed my canupa (pipe) and prayed for awhile. It was incredible. Very powerful.

SNOW! Below me!

Stunning views. This picture was at approximately 12,300 feet above sea level.

So at the end, Marty and I made it to the highest peak in the park (~12,300 feet). It was also where the very first picture of this blog post (the only picture I'm in) was taken. It was cold, roughly 40 degrees, with winds of about 40-mph. I was definitely not dressed for the weather (I left my sweaters and winter hats in the car which was parked a ways down), but I handled it quite well. I'm pretty sure I was in bliss la-la land and didn't care how cold I was. It was so incredible and so powerful. It was exactly what I needed. I can't wait to come back and actually hike some of the trails and sleep in the clouds.

B. up high in the clouds!

The drive down the mountain was a piece of cake. I felt like a pro. I had the windows down with the music blasting and just cruising along. Guard rails or no guard rails I'm officially a guru at navigating mountains.

Today was a great day. I feel so full. It was exactly what I needed. I am unstoppable; completely fearless. I mean, I climbed to the top of the world. I can do anything.

Tomorrow, I will be arriving in Salt Lake City. I'll be there just in time for The Yoga Fest. Three days of yoga; blissFULLness. I will also be around people (I've become accustomed to being alone on the road the past few days) who share similar views and lifestyles. It will definitely be a change. I'll keep you all updates when time and energy permits.

Until next time, take care and be good to yourselves!