I’ve come accustomed to making snap decisions, erring on the side of adventure, and have yet to regret any of the choices this has led me to make.
This brings me to right now. I’m about to leave to Colorado for a week in a little less than two hours. I was supposed to take this trip in 9 days with one of my Young Life guys who is heading to college in the fall. Long story short some plans came up on his end which would have forced us to cut the trip short which we were planning on doing. He was a little stressed and said, while looking forward to the trip, he wished it was a different time so we didn’t have to cut it short.
Last night I was driving to the beach around 6pm I half jokingly texted him saying we could just leave this weekend. He said he could leave tomorrow (which is now today). I said ok and started planning the trip when I got home from the beach around 10pm.
And now we’re leaving in an hour and a half.
I had a pretty good idea of what we would do, places to hike and who we would stay with in Colorado Springs and Denver, but hadn’t hammered out the details yet. I had to give myself a little pep talk to not freak out and then buckle down.
First thing was to remind myself I want to have fun and live a good life. To do this right now I have to remember all we need is a place to go and a way to get there.
So after some quick thinking (like REALLY QUICK) and research we know roughly where we’ll camp, what we’ll hike and more than anything are going in with a strong sense of adventure structured around a loose plan. This fits both of our personalities perfectly.
So here’s the plan (as of now)
Friday: Drive
Saturday: Colorado Springs
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King Chef for breakfast
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Rest/Relax/visit DHP
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Chipotle for Lunch (I know there are lots of Chipotle’s and it’s not THAT special but I don’t live near one it becomes a “must go to” destination whenever I’m near)
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Garden of the Gods
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Saturday Night Activity with DHP?
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Sleep at my friend Nik’s house
Sunday: Drive to Great Sand Dunes National park (2h45m)
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Set up camp
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Hike
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Dinner
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Relax
Monday: Drive to Mt. Massive Campsite (3h10m)
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Visit Frontier Ranch?
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Set up camp
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Dinner in town or at Camp
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Relax
Tuesday: Hike Mt. Massive (13.2 mile route)
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Pack in lunch
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Return for dinner at camp or in Leadville (45 min drive)
Wednesday: Hike Mt. Elbert (9 or 11mile route)
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Pack in lunch
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Return for dinner at camp or in Leadville
Thursday: Drive to Denver
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Stop in Breckenridge for lunch
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Hang out with Chris/Ali in Denver… Rockies game or downtown
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Spend the night Chris’ House
Friday: Drive back to Michigan
It always helps to have plans and have them written out, even if there is little detail (I have more info on the actual hikes/routes we’ll take) I more so like to intentionally go into things planning on not having a plan. The only reason I have this much is probably so I can put certain people’s minds to rest who are not actually going on the trip.
But for now we have all we need. Gas money, a tent, and a loose plan. Can’t wait!
Keep up with Andrew and I on Instagram usernames: travisrieth and ahaverdink_
Below are a couple of the places we’re going to visit (it’s ok… be jealous)
Going to sand dunes in Colorado! A little different than our Michigan breed. We’re hoping to get in a little hiking and possibly some sand boarding.
Mt. Massive and Elbert are the 2 highest peaks in Colorado and the 2nd and 3rd highest peaks in the lower 48)
I AM PART 