Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Incline

Hello my readers! I have a special post for you today. I am taking this non wedding recap day to do a post about something I have always wanted to do and finally did this weekend!

Here in Colorado there is this thing called the incline. It used to be the Manitou Incline Railway, which was a cable car that climbed the mountain, but it is no longer being used for that purpose. A lot of it has been filled in with dirt, along with the original rail road ties to make steps. You can climb these steps all the way to the top, but it is definitely not an easy task.

Just to give you a little bit more info about what makes this thing so difficult to climb, it is a mile hike to the top with a 2000 ft elevation gain. And the grade or slope(whatever you want to call it) averages around 40% with one particular area being 68%. So, this is not something that is super easy.

So last Saturday, the Hubby and I set out to conquer the incline along with the bestie Lou and her husband. And their dogs of course!

At the bottom

We started our way up. It started out not so bad. I kept thinking that I was doing pretty well so far. I was keeping up with everyone. The bestie and her husband had done this before so they suggested picking a spot ahead of where you were and then getting to that spot and then resting. We kept doing this for a while. We got to a point where we were almost half way up and then it hit me. I felt like I was going to throw up.  A combination of the sudden change in altitude along with my food not being fully digested had my stomach not so happy. Needless to say, I had to rest for a little while. Luckily, I didn't throw up and we were able to get going again.

This was about half way up

I was really worried that I wasn't going to make it to the top, but I kept pushing through and I took all the time that I needed. It ended up taking me around two hours to get up to the top, but I got to the top and that was my goal and all that mattered. 

Aran and I at the top

Me and Lou at the top

Lou and her hubby at the top

Looking down at what I just climbed up

I felt so accomplished after doing this. I was so proud of myself for not giving up. And I was proud of Aran and I for getting out of the house instead of sitting on the couch. It was a great experience and I am excited to say that I can't wait to do it again, minus the whole almost throwing up part of course! 

After we got to the top we decided to take the Barr Trail back down instead of going back down the incline itself. It was a good 4 mile hike back down the trail, but it was gorgeous and we had a lot of fun. 

On the trail on the way back down



Tebowing while overlooking the city
I had to do it, haha!
Buster catching a ride down the trail



Is there anything like this that you have always wanted to do? Have you gotten to do it yet? Did you feel really accomplished?

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4 comments:

  1. Congrats! Wow! That is quite the incline! I don't know if I could do it!

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  2. i am so proud of you and stoked that you did the incline!! It was such a experience!!

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  3. That's awesome! Congrats on a great accomplishment!!

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