Mt. Ida via Milner PassDistance Hiked: 9 mi
Elevation: 10,759-12,844 ft
Elevation Gain: 2,085 ft
Distance This Season: 81.45 mi
Elevation Gain This Season: 19,044 ft
Susan and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 4am sharp all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (ha) and moseyed over to the lobby where a yummy breakfast and lunch were provided by Kirk's Outfitters. I was pretty much wearing every piece of clothing I had brought with me to the park since I was not prepared for such chilly weather and had a nice conglomeration of Team NM's extra gear. With Susan's rainpants and ear warmers, Jake's headlamp, and Richard's gloves I was ready to rumble.
The drive to the trailhead took about an hour along Trail Ridge Road. It was pitch black outside but after getting out of the bus and taking turns at the porta-pots the sky started to get light enough to see without headlamps. I was pretty flippin excited about using one though so I insisted on using it for the first five minutes of the hike even though everyone had stowed theirs away.
The trail climbed very steeply for about 1.5 miles until we reached the timber line and then was a very gentle grade for the remainder. Our group consisted of 4 San Franciscans, 2 Rocky Mountainers, and 3 New Mexicans so the pace was kept slow enough that no one was having difficulty acclimating, and I found that although I had to concentrate extremely hard to keep my breathing deep enough, I acclimated very well on this first steep part with no crazy headaches or dizziness or anything!
The trail had some great views of the Continental Divide in the morning sun. When we left Estes in the morning it was about 30 degrees but felt a lot warmer once we got the blood flowing. The wind chill was pretty bitter, but luckily we had the wind behind us for the hike up and didn't get too chilly. We passed over a ridge which a few of us had enough curiousity to peek over and got a gorgeous view of a beautiful green valley with a huge herd of elk grazing near the lakes.
After a while, the trail turned into a big rock field with lots of scrambling to be done. We hopped from rock to rock until the summit was so close we could taste it! By this point it had gotten a little more windy and cold so I eagerly blazed through the rocks to be one of the first to catch a glimpse from the summit.
The two groups joined together at the top and had a power lunch on a ledge just under the ridge to escape the cold winds and were eager to speed back down the mountain. It was so cold I had to eat my lunch with my gloves on to keep my fingers from going numb!
As we started to head back down the mountain, the wind suddenly went from seriously cold to extremely cold and strong. Although we tried scrambling back down as fast as we could, the wind was so intense at times even the strongest hikers couldn't find the strength to move one leg in front of the other. the wind stayed pretty consistent over the four miles of unprotected trail along the side of the mountain at somewhere around 60-70mph with extreme gusts literally pushing hikers over. I could feel the wind going up one nostril and banging around in my brains and my morale was getting pretty low.After what seemed like an endless journey of doom, we finally found the shelter of a few large boulders and everyone collapsed, removing their gear and scarfing down food and water. We didn't stay for long, however and started the trek back to the alpine line where we celebrated our successful journey and shedded our wind gear.
The ride back down from Milner's Pass along Trail Ridge Road was beautiful. We completely missed it on the way up due to the early hour. I remember passing a group of mountains to the right and stating "Woah, those are some serious mountains over there!" Our guide informed us that "those serious mountains over there" were Mt. Ida and neighboring mountains and I was like, "Sheesh! It's a good thing we drove up here in the dark, otherwise I would have spent those 7 hours at the trailhead!"
When we got back into town I was greeted with hugs and laughs from Uncle Jim and Robert and we wasted no time in getting some celebration ice cream and walking around Estes. Later on, Billy Mac and John met up with us for the Celebration dinner at the lodge which was very delicious in spite of the loud dance music. It was such a great feeling to have them come out to support me. Thanks so much for coming guys!I felt really proud at how much I've improved during the season mostly due to the advice from hike leaders Angela, Glen and Chuck and also from the emotional support of all of my friends and family. I've never been part of a great cause like this one and was very happy to be a part of it and to meet such fun fellow hikers. Thanks again to everyone for being you. You can see lots more pictures from the trip at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.
P.S. The event has passed and the season is almost over, but It's never too late to donate to a great cause!
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