Semester 49: 1st Expedition

Written by: Davis, Nico, Siri, Stacey, & Emma

Group A: This is Davis writing on behalf of Group A in reflection of our first expedition. Our troop of ten students and four instructors spent 16 days in the Sawatch range climbing mountains, cooking rations, catering to our hunger with salami and Sunbutter. We were quickly immersed in the “ways of the wild” by spending 45 minutes in lightning position within the first two hours of getting dropped off at the Lackawanna Gulch on day one, followed by rain from the (unexpectedly) elongated monsoon season for a further 36 hours. While we had to think fast to set up our tarps that night, we walked slow and steady in the challenging weather, and eventually arrived over a ridge. Right then, the weather lifted, and we saw our first peek of sunlight in two days. Our first rest day consisted of a day hike and a two-hour group kitchen session to make backcountry pizza in a hailstorm and finished with another night hiding from the rain in our pyramid tarps. Fortunately, it seemed that the sky had emptied every last drop of rain the first couple days of the expedition, and we were able to retire our rain gear about halfway through the trip. However, as soon as we escaped the storms, we entered the woods, both metaphorically and literally. Re-rationing our food on day seven was slightly spoiled by moldy bagels and over half of our number experiencing semi-debilitating illness, but was salvaged by the four Oreo cookies we were given while we picked up the new rations. From there, it was all uphill and spirits were raised at the prospect of the celebration of Luke’s birthday and another rest day at Heart-Shaped Lake. The celebration was moving, sport wading in the lake was exhilarating (picking leeches off our toes was even more so) and the view of Leadville from high up was gorgeous. We wrapped our trip up with bushwhacking and bee stings and chose Umbrella by Rihanna as our homecoming song as we drove back to campus.

Group B: Today was a rest day woop woop. I woke up at 5:15 for a beautiful sunrise with my tarp group; the stars covered the sky until the yellow light beams poured over the mountains reflecting onto Mount Massive behind our campsite. Caleb, Noa, and I cheffed up some oat cakes, which was not our favorite breakfast from the expedition but it didn’t matter. The smell of brown sugar, cinnamon, and oatmeal wafted into our noses while the sun struck our cold faces. A wave crashed over me full of warmth and gratitude. I have made friends here that I will cherish forever. Later in the day, the thirteen of us trucked up to Heart-Shaped Lake where a few homies and I tried skipping some rocks along the surface of the clear water. I sat down on a comfy patch of grass to sketch a drawing of the view, but the drawing was postponed because a few of us decided to go for a hike toward the peak of Mount Massive. We hopped from one rock to another as we made our way around the lake, and then started to dig the balls of our feet into the ground as we rapidly gained elevation. Eventually, we crossed a river and made it to the top of a lookout. We took pictures of our shoes floating over Leadville, recorded a little vlog, and I ate my first candy bar of the trip.

Group C: We woke up well before the sun to attempt the north summit of Mount Massive, the third highest peak in the lower 48 states. This was a day I had been anticipating for the entire trip, and I hoped that the weather would be in our favor as we climbed to 14,000 feet. We started hiking as the sun rose over Leadville. In the golden early morning light, we hiked along a ridge until we reached a large bowl that etched the Continental Divide. I headed up the mountain, and my breath felt more short with every step. Every time I stopped to catch my breath, I looked behind me to see far away mountain ranges behind Leadville, and a little closer in a clearing of greenery, HMI. As the peak inched closer, I thought about why I was walking up a mountain, and why I wanted so badly to be up there. It was hard for me to justify any reason to peak mountains other than it just being plain cool. I felt strong going up that mountain, and maybe there’s reason in that, too. I was trying to convince myself that it wasn’t about how high I climbed, or even if I made it to a peak at all, but rather the experience and the journey, and all that cliché. But, when I reached the top, the journey felt very insignificant. I like to think I could see all of Colorado in front of me. I have never been so impressed by rock, I was mesmerized by all the different forms it can take on one mountain. Once the entire group reached the summit, we all ate “summit Snickers,” and there was even a game of hacky sack. To our left, on the main peak of Mount Massive, we could see a small crowd growing, maybe for their Labor Day hike. We stayed up on North Massive and basked in the uninterrupted sun for a while. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, not one over the miles and miles of mountains. When it was finally time to head back down, we chose a different route that took us along the Continental Divide before curving down and back to our campsite on a heart-shaped lake. We all struggled to solve riddles (primarily one involving three light switches) as we traversed boulder fields in the midday sun.

Group D: The morning of August 25, 2022 was filled with a whirlpool of emotions when my expedition group stepped off the bus to begin our very first HMI expedition—nervousness, excitement, joy, sadness, worry, and eagerness were just a few of the many. For me, the sight of a green backpack that appeared two times my size was enough to make me want to catch a flight back to New York. I vividly remember walking no more than 0.1 miles and already wanting to quit. Little did I know what the 16 days ahead of me would hold. The first week was full of so many memories and themes. Rain, a lot of it. A Birthday. Dirty marsh parasite-filled water. An evacuation. Lots of cheese. Hair braiding. And back cracks of course. Jill never failed to make us laugh. One of her greatest moments was as Sir Master Game Master Sir in an intense game of Silent Football, one of our favorite games to play at camp each night Our very first pizza night was splendid, filled with so much laughter as well as pizza scramble—maybe next time we´ll try not to mix up the pancake mix and pizza dough mix. The second week included brownie bribes, yet another birthday, trust falls and no rain! We visited beautiful lakes such as St. Kevin, Heart-Shaped Lake and Windsor Lake. There were many rocks to be skipped, as well as some peaceful solo time to be had. The last night of the expedition was unforgettable. As a group, each one of us recounted a day of expedition. I had the pleasure of discussing Day 11, one of the most memorable days of my life. It involved waterslides, marsh showers, dam building, and MANY 30 minute breaks. That day taught me that our expeditions were not solely about getting to our next destination, but rather enjoying the small moments with the people that made our expedition so special.

Group E: The day of the unnamed pass will live in infamy within the hearts of expedition group E. Given the option between a five mile hike with the potential of a pretty gnarly river crossing and a three mile uphill pass, the choice was clear. The three mile option was unanimous within the group. The morning of the pass started off mellow with a hearty breakfast of undercooked hash-browns, bagels, and dense oatmeal with brown sugar. After breakfast we split our expedition group into two hiking crews. My group, led by the brave Kate, set off second for the day, and spirits were high while we bushwhacked through the valley. We took a scenic break between two rivers that we used as guide rails to find the pass. When we finally were able to see the steep rocky face, we decided to chunk out the journey into a few parts. The first part was to climb a steep grassy hill to get to a small plateau before we could get to the rock scramble. Much to our surprise, this was actually the hardest part of the whole hike. Something about the steep flat hill really knocked the wind out of my group and me. When we finally reached the plateau, we realized that we had caught up to the first group and decided to let them go ahead. There was a nice sense of accomplishment as we took this time to have lunch. Then it was time to start the climb. It started out as a fun scramble. As we got about halfway up the face to a landmark, things changed. It felt like the rocks wanted to snatch our legs out from under us. After about an hour of intense hiking(that sometimes looked like crawling), we finally reached the top. This was a huge moment of relief, joy, excitement, and pride. We all partook in a group hug at the top of the mountain. Kaya also was able to capture the state of our scraped-up shins in her vlog. Our shins reflected the hard work and dedication each of us put into getting up that pass.