Our first Colorado 14er!

Do you know what a 14er is? Ok I didn't either. So you can understand how shocked I was when I committed to hiking one with Brandon and then found out what all that entailed!

Brandon has been obsessed with Colorado since I have known him. He is an avid snowboarder but had never been to Colorado in the summertime so when I had a work trip arise, he tagged along and insisted we hike our first 14er together!

We landed in Denver on a Thursday afternoon and after checking into our hotel, we decided to explore Larimer Square and browse some cute shops and restaurants. I loved the relaxed feel of the little city square and love how healthy the town is.

We grabbed some late night snacks and drinks at TAG which had a comfortable outdoor patio.

The next day I had a pretty packed day with work and was busy until about 3 or 4pm so Brandon worked out of the hotel and picked up a rental car. Once I was done with my work duties, we hit the open road to Breckenridge.

Brandon rented a Subaru so we would fit in with the locals!

We stayed in a little condo I found on VRBO through Ski Country Resorts! The room was around $300 for 2 nights at Trails End Condominiums which was wonderful since we knew we would mainly just be showering and sleeping there as we had a packed weekend planned.

We checked into the condo and walked down to the little downtown area to find a grocery store for some breakfast food and snacks for the morning and our hike.

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The next morning came QUICK! We had to get up around 3:30 AM so we could get ready and out the door to be on the mountain at 5 AM! We cooked some breakfast, got dressed in our layers and head lamps and were ready to go. Shockingly we were about the 15th car in the lot and on the mountain.... at 5AM! We chose to hike Mount Quandary which is 14,265 feet UP!

Sunrise about an hour up the mountain!

You can find plenty of blogs with all of the things you need for hiking a 14er!

Things I would recommend packing/wearing:

Layers: Tank for hot, fleece for cold, anorak for wind- you will encounter all of these climates

Gloves: Mainly for the early morning at the base of the mountain and the very top

Hiking Shoes: the sturdier the bottom, the better

Camelbak: so nice to not have to continually stop to get out your water

Headlamp: Very important for the early morning trails

Backpack: You need something to carry the layers you take off, the water and all the snacks you should bring

Snacks/Pills: I brought bars, bananas and some elevation/electrolyte tablets

First Aid Kid: I tend to always bring one with Brandon since he is accident prone

Camera/Phone: You have to document all the stunning views

Watch/HR monitor: You need to keep track of afternoon storms and you'd be surprised how quick your HR gets up especially on the climb

Look at all those calories!!!

Wish I would have brought:

Hiking Poles! So many pros had these and they descended down the mountain so quickly!

Sunscreen: I have some in my face lotion but you definitely can get pretty pink up there

Beer: Several locals brought some for a nice reward at the top! :)

The hike up was beautiful and we saw so many climates. The first couple hours is very cold and dark with headlamps and layers. Then you get out of the tree cover and it's very warm so you are down to tank tops and sweating. Once you get closer to the top the elevation and wind cause it to be very cold and windy so you are back to layers. (Shocked we didn't get sick!)

We saw this momma and her baby on the way. Very cute but do not approach!!

Once we got to the top we were blown away by the scenery and just how truly beat we were! It took about 4 hours to get up from 10,000 feet to 14,265 feet! The last 1,000 vertical feet was truly the hardest and where we felt the most lack of oxygen.

Getting down the mountain was trickier than we had imagined. It took about 4 hours to get up and 3 or so to get back down. You want to get on the mountain so early so you can avoid afternoon thunderstorms which can be very dangerous if you are above the tree line. We made it back down around noon and our bodies were jolted from the pounding of going downhill probably more than uphill.

After our full day of adventure, we ate a ton of food, napped and then explored the little downtown Breckenridge. We ate at the Motherloaded Tavern and it was just the comfort food we needed!

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The next day we decided we wanted to drive around and see as much of Colorado's beautiful scenery as we could! We hit the road to see the Rockies and lets just say it was some of the most beautiful sights I have seen!

Our drive around Colorado was about 5 hours so we just barely missed our afternoon flight back to Atlanta. We know we will definitely be back in the summer to hike another 14er!

But first... back to this pouty little guy: