Mummy Mishaps

This Wednesday, I had the intention of hiking the Mummy Marathon. This is a group of six peaks in the Mummy Range in the north central part of Rocky Mountain National Park. We left the YMCA at 12:30 am with the intention of returning probably 20 hours later. We started hiking about 1:15 and we were off. It was pitch black, but as we hiked, the stars started to reveal themselves and made for a beautiful night. As we hiked across the barren grassy tundra, we ran into the eyes of a few creatures. One of which was most likely a bobcat. Soon after that, we went up Chapin Peak. Chapin is about 12,500 feet tall. The view was neat, as we could see the lights from about a billion different cities. Maybe not that many, but you could definitely see Estes Park, Loveland, Longmont, Fort Collins, and Denver. It was pretty breathtaking to be honest. After that, we hauled our way up Chiquita Peak. That was a tough one. At this point in the hike, I was feeling the weight of my pack. I was carrying more than I should've and it was just weighing me down. I was by far the slowest up and I felt just crummy knowing I was the weakest link. The pair in front of Jennee and myself kept rushing ahead because of their sheer excitement for the hike. When we made it to the top of Chiquita, we sat behind a rock wall protecting us from the wind for a while. It was intensely windy and cold up there. At night, with no trees to protect you, the winds are ridiculous. As we headed towards Mount Ypsilon, we started to catch some twilight. As Jennee and I reached the false summit of Chiquita, we got to see the sunrise. It was breathtaking, as you can see. It completely was worth getting up that early. When we got to the summit of Ypsilon, naptime was in order. So we took naps, signed the register of who'd been to the top, and decided what to do next...

This is where the hike got frustrating for me (as if it wasn't enough). I knew that it was going to be rough for me, and Jennee knew even better. With the pair in front going fast, and myself going slow, she was really torn about what to do. I told her that it was up to her what she did. We decided to go back, while the other pair went forward. It was a tough thing for me to do. My pride totally was like, "this is stupid! Let's go!" But I was feeling the sickness of the last week and a half or so and the weight of my backpack. So we went back at a leisurely pace. We ended up back at the trailhead at about 10:30, 9 hours after we started. It was a long day already, but it had just started (at least time wise). As we drove down, I realized more and more how frustrated I was to not do the other peaks. Even now, I look at them from the YMCA and wonder what it would've been like. It ended up being a good decision not to go, but it still ate at me. I'm really learning how to recognize my pride and hopefully tackle it. So I didn't do Fairchild, Hague, or Mummy Peak.

My pride is a HUGE thing for me. Many times, I'll let it control me. It could be anything from school work, to hikes, to leading small groups, to racing somewhere, to competing harder. A lot of my pride comes from my competative side, and I'm not even sure where that comes from. It is pretty odd. It feels like I should not be prideful :) (duh!) I really need to learn what causes it. Even when I don't do something, I can compare and say, "Oh, I did THIS instead." It's ridiculous. I need to just kill the pride, I'm just not sure how. It seems like I really need to be conscious of when I am doing stuff that is prideful and to really take the extreme and stop myself. Even if that means doing nothing to make sure that I can humble myself.

1 Peter 5:5 says, "...All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'"