I have always considered myself to be adventurous and I have always enjoyed the outdoors.  For some reason I can't explain, I don't like to tell people that I was a Scout growing up.  My love for the outdoors  started with Scouts though.  My brothers were in it, and I eventually became one.  It started with small camp outs, father teaching me to make a fire or both my parents showing me how to set up a tent and tie knots.  The first mountain that I climbed was Spanish Peaks in the Sangre De Cristo range in Colorado.  It was invigorating,  something that I had never felt before.  Granted this mountain is not a fourteener, but ever since my encounter with this peak,  the first time I had seen a mountain with my own eyes.  Even seeing a wild animal such as a bear walking through our campsite,  it always calls me back.  I know it sounds insane to most people, but to those who climb and enjoy the sanctuary of the wilderness, the aloneness is the forest, and freedom you feel on top of those majestic peaks.  You understand then.

my favorite climb

As many of my friends and family know, I love to go hiking in climbing in the mountains.  One of my favorite climbs of all time is Maroon Bells.  The Bells are actually two peaks in Colorado in the Elk Range of the Rockies.  North Maroon stands at 14,014 feet in elevation, and Maroon Peak stands at 14,156 feet.  From the Trailhead you start at Maroon Lake, and to the top of the peak it is a 12 mile hike with a gain of 4,800 feet.  The rocks are unstable with frequent slides, and the exposure is intense.  Many climbers come to the Bells, and many have lost their lives, but the beauty of the mountain and the challenge of reaching the top keeps bringing climbers everyday.  I wanted to share some of my photos from the trip, and I am also going to show other peoples pictures from the web as well.

 

Songs I would like to perform.

I used to perform back in High School and I miss it.  I decided that one of things I am going to start doing is picking up the guitar and start playing again.  I am not that great and pretty rusty, but I would like to practice and maybe perform at an open mic night.  Here is one of the songs that I would like to perform.  It is titled 'I Still Miss Someone,' and it was performed by Johnny Cash.  Enjoy.

  

Handies Peak

Hello everyone,
      I was scanning through 14ers.com when I came across a forum that said "Handies needs hikers."  This sparked a little bit of interest to me because Handies Peak was the first 14er that I had ever climbed.  The mountain sits at 14,048 feet in between the Uncompahgre and Weminuche Wilderness Areas.  The mountain sits on 71,800 acres of roadless wilderness.  It is magnificent.  Now the OHV, or Off-Highway Vehicles, are threatening the beautiful landscape, and thankfully there are people such as the Colorado Environmental Coalition that are fighting to save it.  I decided after reading the article that I would share my photos once more of my trip up Handies Peak in 2009, enjoy.  

Inspired

Hello everyone,
      It is me again, Grant.  I have decided to restart my blog because my old one had no direction.  It was unorganized, confusing at times, and just did not make me happy about what I had put out.  For the past week and a half I have been in bed with the flu and a bacterial infection, and it has given me a lot of time to think.  I decided I am going to be open about everything in this blog.  I do not know why I am sharing this with the world, but it just needs to happen.  Over the past few years I feel like I have been through a lot.  My parents divorce,  horrible relationships, and medical illness and injuries.  I never really took the time to think about it, but it really put me into depression.  I lost interest in a lot of things that I used to enjoy, and I want it back.  I want the joy and happiness back, I want my health back, I want my adventures back, and I want my friends and family back.  Thanks to the inspiration from my partner, Kristen,  I decided that this blog will be the slow start to bringing it all back.  I am going to talk about anything I want on this blog.  I will share web links, music, videos, including videos and songs by me.  I am going to share my feelings about topics that are going on now.  I will give trip reports from my camping trips.  Give reviews on climbing, cycling, and camping gear.  Start and share my hobbies with you.  Make to-do lists.  Maybe interview someone.  Respond to current events.  Share how-to's or diy's, and also show photographs and art from the web and ones that I did.  I am even going to talk a little about fashion too.   I can not wait to start this new journey, and hope that this sparks interest for you to follow.