Thelma and Louise - Sept 29, '98

Hi Natalie and Mort.

I thought I would continue to confirm the fact Susan married a crazy person and has joined him in the crazy way of life. The first time I did a 14er I was mostly aware of how hard it is and was not sure I liked it but the more I do the more I want to climb.  It is so beautiful on top. And each climb is an adventure. I really enjoyed this past weekend. We left Friday after school and got caught in rush hour traffic. It took at least an extra hour maybe two to get to the Lake Como jeep road. We met Mary Kay and Craig and started the adventure by camping overnight.

The next morning we got up had coffee and acted like time was no concern at all. (mistake)  The plan was to drive up the jeep road until we felt we should stop and unload the dirt bike. Then I would shuttle everyone up to lake Como and the hike to the top of Blanca could begin. The road after about two miles was tough enough that two jeeps were stuck in the road ahead of us. So that became the drop off point. It was still two miles more to get to lake Como. So first I let Craig off then went back and got Mary Kay then went back and got Susan. I took her above the drop off point but could not ride her double the last mile before the lake. I rode on up to the lake very hard and stopped at blue lake and waited for them to come. 

Craig and I hike fast so we still had time to get to the top of Blanca.  We did it was great and we looked over at Ellingwood and decided we would see how long it took to get into the saddle between the two mountains. Blanca on Top at 4 pm down to the knife ridge saddle at 4:30pm Dark at 7:00pm.  So in the saddle we decided we would hike for 15 min up the Mountain and see how far we could make it. Unless we could be on top by 5:00 pm it would get too late for us to get back down before dark. I knew I had to ride the Motor cycle off some fairly big boulder drops about like
ridding off a car and I didn't want to do that in the dark especially since my headlight was broken off the motorcycle during Ralph's crash.  Anyway for us to climb 15 min up is like a big fish taking a test bite of the worm. We took the bait but we also climbed very well and made the top by 5:00.   We knew we would need to be back to the bike by 6:00 and it would still be pushing the dark meter. If the speed of light is 186,000 miles per what is the speed of Dark (Stephan Wright) We got to the bike at 6:00pm and I tried to ride Craig double down the mtn. Not possible. I had nothing left in my arms.

I wasn't sure I could ride down myself. I did but it was hard. I also felt bad leaving Craig near Lake Como and going on without him. I knew he would be hiking down the hardest jeep road in Colorado (Dawson's guide to 14ers) in the dark. I was about half a mile above the spot we left the car when Susan and Mary Kay and the s10 Blazer appeared.  From then on on this trip they became known as Thelma and Louise or the supper woman. They were driving up the jeep road,  it was turning dark and the motorcycle trailer was still attached. Impressive! I unhooked the trailer, chained the cycle to the trailer and we headed up the jeep road from hell. We got to the point just below the spot the jeepers had been stuck the first time we saw them. We stopped at that point. I waited at the car and Mary Kay and Susan (the super woman) hiked up the road with flashlights to meet Craig. It was very dark by the time we all were at the Blazer again.

The Dinner that night was as good as it can ever be. Linguine with white clam sauce Better than anything on the menu at Pasta Jays. Red wine beer and great company. This was a great adventure.

Mike