“Cause baby there ain’t no mountain high enough

Ain’t no valley low enough

Ain’t no river wide enough

To keep me from getting to you babe”-Marvin Gaye

6 days, four peaks, 50 miles; we were almost done. Waking up on a beautiful Friday morning we began our descent back down to the trailhead. The morning’s breakfast featured a personal favorite, cliff bars and powdered milk. One of the best things about the hike back down was how close we could get to deer. Growing up in Central PA, deer are usually quite scared of humans because of hunting, however that particular part of the National Park was a non-hunting area, therefore the deer would get quite close to campsites and other areas where people were present.

Eventually after about a mile and a half of switchbacks, we made our way back down to the base of the mountain which an elevation of 8,000 ft. The air felt “soupy” compared to what we just experienced at points above 13,000 ft (for perspective, Denver is 5,280 ft and State College is 1,100 ft). We crossed the “sketchy” beaver dam from earlier in the week and continued to hike along the riverbed.

Since our outfitter was not picking us until the next day, we made camp at the closest point to the trailhead that we were legally allowed to camp. Perched along a stream with no-thunderstorms in cite, I decided to finally clean and my clothes up. I placed my clothes in a dry bag, filled it with the stream water and camp soap and shacked the bag around like a makeshift washing machine. I then rinsed the clothes and put them out to dry. I then bathed myself in the stream and without going into too much detail, it was quite cold but felt good after several days.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing in my hammock. The next morning, we woke up and were on the road by 10:00. Our outfitter took us to Colorado Springs where we rented two minivans and then headed to the nearby resort town of Cañon City where we would spend the next couple days rafting and zip-lining before heading home. We stayed at a KAO (Kampgrounds of America) which is mostly filled with people from North Carolina and their grand-kids along with a few very lost Japanese families.

Having been away from cell service for a week, my phone had at least 500 notifications. I learned that France won the World Cup, Chance the Rapper release a new album, Trump met with Putin, my parents went to Vegas, and it had rained non-stop back home. Most importantly, I learned I would be living in Porter Hall in Pollock in a few weeks’ time and would be rooming with a guy from Annapolis, Maryland who would end up becoming one of my best friends. It was a reminder that while one of the greatest adventures of my life was coming to a close, there was still many adventures yet to come.