Pike's Peak

Yesterday I woke up at 5:40 a.m. and got ready for a fun day hiking Pike's Peak. I was under the impression that we would drive to the base of the mountain and then take huge switchbacks that would be slight upward climbs (I heard it'd be easier than the Incline, just longer). However, to my dismay, we started at the hotel and then spent the next seven and a half hours trecking up all sorts of terrain of varrying difficulty; towards the end trudging through rain, snow, and hail. It was a fourteen mile hike and at about the twelve mile mark a lightning storm rolled in... Um, yeah, that was a bit scary, especially since we were actually inside the clouds of the storm. Because of the intense cold and lack of shelter we had to keep going, but there were two times when I felt electric charges on my forehead. It was so wierd, and I still don't understand the science behind it, but needless to say it motivated us to make it to the top as quickly as we could. By 2:30 we emerged from the trail victorious, and I felt it only appropriate to raise the Aquabats sign in a display of victory :)