Another quick update

Hi!

Well, I'm trying to upload some photos from Rocky Mountain National Park, but I keep getting an "internal error". Troubleshooting has been unsuccessful, so I'll have to try again another day.

Summary of last week:

We ran every day, hiked up many trails, passed beaucoup other hikers and tourists (wow, that's a lot of people out enjoying the outdoors!), and saw some beautiful scenery.

We started off with an ascent of Longs Peak (14,259 ft) without really knowing what we were getting into. Also without any commitment as far as getting to the top. Both were probably good things. John helped me up the technical parts and I amazed myself by making it up some "interesting" challenges. Even more so by getting back down. John had already summited once when he came back to find me, and the second time he got to the top there was another hiker who had seen him go up twice. The comment was "I'm going to kick you in the head!" I sure wish I could get away with funny exclamations like that!

The next day we did repeats across the way on the Twin Sisters trail. That was a mistake, because there were a bunch of hikers that saw us a bunch of times, and by the third repeat I got really tired of trying to explain what craziness we were doing. One woman threatened to call John's mother. Ah well, it was great training otherwise.

We finally got smart and headed over to the main part of the park, around Bear Lake. Danny came to visit on Wednesday and he and John explored waterfalls and lakes. I headed up Flattop Mountain and to the top of Hallett Peak. Very cool. Over the next couple days we saw almost every mountain lake and waterfall, from Black Lake to Emerald Lake, around to Bierstadt, over Granite Pass, up Estes Cone, and a side trip to Spruce Lake. If you can cover a lot of distance in one day, you can generally avoid seeing the same people more than once and having to explain yourself.

Although John did run into the "kick you in the head" hiker from our day up on Longs Peak. He was wearing a shirt that said "You haven't really lived until you've nearly died - Longs Peak." Too funny!

I think we got some good GTA training in - I sure hope so, at least, I cannot imagine what else we could be doing...

We are in Laramie WY this week for some "Laramie Daze" orienteering. Monday-Friday they are holding training events, then this weekend is the US Championships. We ran around "the plains" for the first time today - lots of open area, rolling terrain, sage and shrubs to slow you down, and interesting challenges. Hopefully I'll get used to it by this weekend. Having fun so far!

Internet access is limited this week, but we'll check in when we can. Hope everyone else is staying cool and having a fun summer too!