Hiking with Jerod

In June, I took on a challenging solo hike, and for the first time, I didn’t finish. My belief is that the high altitude (approaching 13,000 feet without much acclimation time beforehand) did me in. Surely my lack of physical fitness wasn’t the most limiting factor (chuckles permitted). Regardless of the reason, this - unimportant but slightly emotional - failure caused me to reflect on my priorities for hiking, one of my favorite free-time activities. One of the main outcomes from my reflections was that I wanted/needed to transition from a me-focused mindset in trying to find the perfect hikes to do in solitude, to more of a we-focused mindset with hiking. And the biggest beneficiary, at least at this point in time, is Jerod, our middle child. He loves good challenges and adventures. We had an amazing hiking experience together in 2024, which involved a couple of moose sightings and incredible mountain views.

Hike planning has been brutal this year. Since it usually requires a 2.5-hour drive, at minimum, to get to a good trailhead, and afternoon storms are a common hazard, it is always a bit tricky. But with limited day options available this year due to busy schedules for both of us and seemingly more days than usual with rain/thunderstorms forecasted, plans were repeatedly postponed. Jerod and I weren’t able to do a hike together until Labor Day weekend.

One cool thing about Jerod is he doesn’t shy away from early start times. When I said we should leave at 3:00 a.m., he didn’t hesitate; he just asked that I wake him up at 2:50.

We left on time and drove a different route than we would return on later in the day, my favorite way to do a trip. Jerod slept half of the way, and we ended up being the FIRST ones to the parking area. This is a notable first for me in Colorado. Trails within close proximity to Denver and Boulder tend to busy, with a surprising number of hardcore folks starting VERY early to beat the crowds and avoid afternoon storms.

This Twin Sisters hike was challenging, with consistent elevation gain, transitioning from forest to completely exposed. For the first half of the hike, we had repeated views of Longs Peak just to the west. At the top, we had an incredible 360-degree view of endless peaks all around. The highlight was the opportunity to do some scrambling and create our own path around the peak. Jerod made it look easy. I enjoyed it too.

This was definitely Jerod’s toughest hike to date, yet he hummed for most of the up and down of it, evidence of his enjoyment. We were above 11,000 feet at the end, having climbed more than 2400 feet from our starting point. In the days following the hike, my continued leg soreness was countered with comments from him like, “You’re still sore?! I was just a little bit tired on the day of the hike. That’s all.”

Jerod had high hopes of seeing some fancy cars on the trip home, his ultimate joy these days. Every road trip involves obsessively watching for them. Though he would have loved to see more, he was somewhat satisfied after spotting two Porsches, a GT3 and a GT3 RS.

I thank the Lord for these wonderful opportunities. I hope 2026 will bring some special hikes together.