Longs Peak

I was eight years old the first time I climbed Longs Peak. My brother took me along the walking path through the Keyhole. It was very hard. I still see the narrow paths and long expanse of the Boulder Field in my dreams sometimes.

I was discouraged at the top, but a hiker on his way down told me that he thought I’d be the youngest person on the summit that day. That was enough for me to finish the climb.

The view was magnificent! On the way down, it began to hail, and a few dozen of us trapped on the mountain waited it out in a small rock shelter.