You are currently browsing the Girls Trek Too articles for September, 2009.
with Cara Lopez Lee, author of They Only Eat Their Husbands, a memoir of adventure in Alaska & around the world
At 6:15 a.m. it’s still twilight on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Indigo clings to everything: Redoubt Volcano’s ice-bitten crags across Kachemak Bay, and the evergreen hills and marsh grasses hemming nearby Deep Creek. Layers of clouds loll over the chilly August morning. A promising day for fly fishing, but not for comfort.
As Dale’s ancient Acura threads the rock-bulging, water-split canyon of Highway 7, Longs Peak and Mount Meeker command our attention. Together, they’re a two-headed, snow-wrinkled king who dwarfs his surrounding Rocky Mountain courtiers. Longs (14,255 feet) is the most climbed, and most deadly, 14er in Colorado. Beginning hikers are often unprepared for the long slog and steep spots, while expert climbers sometimes make lethal missteps – falling, getting caught in snowstorms, being struck by lightning. But we’re not hiking Longs Peak.
