Longs Peak is a ginormous mountain! It stands well over two miles above the sea, at exactly 14,259 ft....And it was dominated. Being one of the toughest 14ers in Colorado and given its height and susceptibility to afternoon lightening strikes I, along with 9 others, began our ascent at 2:00 AM. The hike begins at a little over 9,000 ft. and it totals a mere 7.5 miles; the first 5.5 miles being relatively easy for an acclimated hiker. This took us about 3 hours (this picture is taken from about this point). The next half a mile you are scrambling from bolder to bolder to reach the key hole. The key hole is were you cross from the face of Longs in this picture, to the back side where you no less then risk you life for two hours pulling, crawling, and tight rope walking the last 1.5 miles. It was at this point that I questioned my motivation for attempting this feat and realized that we were not going to get a helicopter lift off the top or find an easy way down. Cheating death, we summitted at the bright and early hour of 7:30 AM. The summit was literally breath taking and amazing and I could think of nothing better to do then take a nap! Why I climbed 7.5 miles and ascended about 1 mile high to take a nap on the jagged rocks of Longs peak, I have no idea. But that's all I wanted to do. As for the way down, I would have actually preferred to descend by continuing to go up but this was not really possible. We left the summit at roughly 9:00 AM and arrived back at our cars at exactly 1:11 PM, which was 11 hours and 11 minutes after we began. Personally, this was one of the most challenging things I have done and an experience that I think everyone should have just once.As for Peace Corps news and happenings there is none to speak of. Just going through the formalities and paperwork (I have quickly learned it is never ending) that they require. I have also been researching and reading as much as I can about the Dominican Republic. The more I read the more happy I am with my placement and the more excited I get for that September 7th departure date. I'm learning about the geography of the DR which is the most diverse in the Caribbean. There are beaches, mountain ranges, tropical forests, and even desert. I've read about, and am interested in hearing, this type of music called "son" which is Cuban but supposidly from the Dominican originally, although "merengue" and "bachata" are the two most popular music genres in the DR. If your interested in DR news check out www.dr1.com which is an English language site or www.listin.com.do for news if you want to practice your Spanish.
