The Royal Arch: It had a crown and everything!

Well this post is ridiculously overdue.

Go ahead, hate on me for not updating.

No, but really. Honestly, nothing all that exciting has happened these last few days. I had an amazing opportunity to work an event so I have been doing tha the past 2 days and tomorrow, I've joined a gym, gone there, applied for jobs, and, well, that's about it. Climbing has been nonexistant mainly because I think I pulled a tendon in my left ring finger so I have it taped up and decided to actually try and stay off of it for a week. Clearly I don't think things through first, because I always get hurt.

BUT! What I can talk about is me and Paul's first hike. It was a 3.6 mile roundtrip hike up to the Royal Arch which is this insane rock formation that is just a huge arch that overlooks the entire city. It kind of reminds me of the arch from The Giant Rope Swing youtube video (which, if you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you watch it...NOW. Pause reading my blog, go to Youtube, crank up the volume and watch.)

The hike, located in Chautauqua Park, also where you find the infamous Flatirons, was about 1200 feet up in elevation but at the top we were at a total of about 6,800 feet. Here's the kicker. Again, I totally forgot about the altitutde. Well, I didn't forget, but for some reason, I didn't think it would affect me. Welp, I was wrong. Typically I can hike 15 miles in a day with tons of hills, heat, humidity, and a pack on my back, and really not have any major issues. Well about 1 mile up this hike, I was dying! I mean, stopping to catch my breath every few hundred feet, chugging water, no humidity, and a lot of steep stairs. It's crazy what the altitutde will do to you. Again, like everything I did in Boulder, the hike was absolutely beautiful, despite the ridiculous amount of stairs, heat, and ridiculous scrambles we had to go through.

 Flatirons

 

Stairs to Hell

Once we got up to the top of the mountain and finally reached the Royal Arch (there is actually another summit that is called the "false summit" because everything  gets there all excited to be done and you find out you have another huge hill to actually climb before you can see anything) So after our quick, yet necessary, moaning and groaning about the fact that it was scorching hot and we weren't done was over, we continued on and finally, after about 15 more minutes, we saw the Royal Arch, and holy shit was it incredible. The view was surreal, the arch was as if it were a frameand the view of Boulder was the art that was placed in the middle of it. Kind of like stepping into a painting. There were perfect sitting rocks everywhere so Paul and I sat down (I found  this perfect little spot for my butt. I never wanted to leave), and enjoyed the view for a while amongst a ton of chipmunks. It was truly unbelievable, even if it was a short but brutal hike.

It really does blow my mind every time how absolutely beautiful nature is. The simplicity of the mountains, and the serenity of all the nature surrounding. Boulder is truly an amazing place. I haven't had to to really explore outside the city yet, but I do have a list, and I will accomplish that list no matter what.

"It's the Moments that make the Journey"