Dan

Chasing

LET'S

GIVE

8/22/2013 Its Launch Day! Dan and Dan's Dad, Forrest are taking off to Pikes peak then head down to the Crestone's trailhead.

8/22/2013 Hi! I'm Dan's Mom, Cathy. Below are two pictures...the first is from one of Dan's training days, when he biked up to Mt. Evans. His son, Eddy, and I, drove to the top and met Dan there. The other picture was taken as Dan left to go on his big adventure today from Boulder.

8/24/2013 Dan called today. Yesterday, Friday, they hiked 24 hours and "peaked" five 14-ers! I didn't get a lot of details....except that they started at 3 a.m. and got back to the tent at almost 3 a.m. on Saturday, 8/24. Neither of them was feeling great for the whole day, probably due to being at such high altitude for so long, compounded with little sleep and issues with water. Dan said that the water filter saved them because even though they both brought a lot of water, they were running low late in the day and still had a lot of hiking left to do. They filtered water from a small trickle coming out of a rock. I received 3 SPOT locator messages indicating they were "o.k.", but I confess I was a bit worried when the last one I received was almost 8 p.m. and they were on top of Crestone Needle. I knew they had a long hike ahead in the dark to get back to the truck. Unfortunatley, Dan had forgot to bring his map of the Needle downclimb and they ended up lost for four hours as the temperatures dropped into the 30's and the wind rose to 30 mph. It took them four hours of tag teaming between cliffs and class 4-5 gullies before they found the correct route off the mountain. Dan said that there was quite a while when they were afraid for their lives. But they made it back and in one piece....it just took a lot longer than expected. The plan was to climb Mt. Lindsey today, Saturday. But Sunday is scheduled to be another grueling day, so they rested today anticipating that they would need their energy for three pretty difficult 14-ers on Sunday. Afternoon thunderstorms almost everyday add to the drama. Dan plans on hiking Mt. Lindsey sometime this week alone since it is a easier hike.

8/25/2013 Dan called tonight. Today he and Forrest hiked Little Bear, Mt. Blanca and Ellingwood. It was another LONG day. They were up at 3:30 a.m. and finished up around 9:30 p.m., so roughly 18 hours of hiking. Dan stated that Little Bear is considered one of the most dangerous 14-ers on a good weather day due to the loose rock and vertical climb = and today was bad, BAD, weather. The kind of weather when most people don't think about hiking. The visibility was approximately 30 to 50 feet at it's best. They were 100 feet below the summit, and couldn't see the summit, but eventually found it. They couldn't take the traverse over to Mt. Blanca because of the weather, so they had to descend Little Bear. It started pouring rain on the way down Little Bear. On the way up Mt. Blanca, the weather got really bad with high wind and sleet. They had to put on winter gear to keep dry and warm. When they almost reached the top of Mt. Blanca the weather cleared up so that they could summit without any problems. At this point they could see another storm rolling towards them, so they ran as fast ast they could across the ridge over to Ellingwood and reached the summit in "record time." Then it was just a very long hike back to the vehicle. My estimate from the SPOT signals and the time that they made it back to the truck, puts the descent from Ellingwood back to the truck to be approximately 5 hours. Dan is having some issues with his knees, but the altitude sickness issues are less than they were 2 days ago. Forrest is on his way back to Boulder as I write this for a long work week, and then we will both be heading back to Dan's location for next weekend. In the meantime, Dan will be hiking less strenuous 14-ers, which will give his body some time to recoup, hopefully, for the next weekend of difficult hiking.

8/22/2013 Today was DAY ONE of the BIG adventure! The only peak completed was Pikes Peak. The Peak is at 14,110 feet. Dan was born in the city at the base of Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs, almost 28 years ago!

8/26/2013 Received a SPOT message from Dan when he reached the peak of Mt. Lindsey, elevation = 14,042, at 3:31 p.m. This was a simple hike in terms of technicality. Dan sounds well.

8/27/2013 Received a SPOT message that Dan was on top of San Luis Peak, elevation = 14,014, at 12:30 p.m. He called that evening and we are concerned about a pulled or torn muscle that is giving him a lot of pain, especially on the descents. He said that San Luis is very remote with lots of wildlife, and that it is an easy hike relative to what he has been doing. He stated he took a lot of pictures...which I will post next week when I get back from seeing him this weekend.

8/28/2013 Received two SPOT messages today. The first was on top of Sunshine Peak, elevation = 14,001 @ 9:11 a.m. The second was from the top of Handies Peak, elevation = 14,048, at 2:07 p.m. Apparently the first SPOT message did not send, that would have been from the top of Red Cloud, elevation = 14,034, which Dan climbed first. He called later when he was moving the truck and camper to a new trailhead and had some reception and said that when he got up this morning his muscle or ligament or whatever was giving him pain was still pretty bad. So he prayed about it and thanked God for giving him this opportunity to do something awesome for His glory and to raise money for a charity. He told me that he decided he would try to hike and just see how it went. It was pretty painful to start with, but within a short time he noticed that pain was almost gone! He was very thankful that God spared him this injury and he is able to continue as hoped.

8/29/2013 #15 and #16, Wetterhorn, elevation = 14,309, and Uncompahgre, elevation = 14,015, Peaks. The climbs today were beautiful and not too eventful. The drive back from the trailhead, however, was quite eventful! There were no road signs on the side of the mountain where Dan started the drive that indicated the road was not fit for a pick up truck with a camper on top. When he finally made it to the other side, there were plenty of warnings though! Dan said it was pretty "hairy"!

8/30/2013 Today Dan had to catch the train in Durango, which was the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Steam Train, one of the few still working in the U.S. The train stops at a point and the hiking people all unload; they have to be back to board the train the following day by the time the train arrives, otherwise they have to wait till the next day. After getting off the train midpoint, Dan was able to climb two peaks that day: Eolus and N. Eolus, elevations of 14083 and 14039, respectively.

8/31/2013 After spending the night up on the mountain, Dan hiked Windom Peak(14,082), #19, and Sunlight Peak (14,059), #20. Sunlight Peak is rated class 3 at the top. Peaks are rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most difficult. At the top there is a place called the "Leap of Faith", which has a very deep crevice below it. See the picture below of Dan leaping the crevice. After hiking both peaks, Dan hiked down to board the train at 3 p.m., arriving back in Durango at 6:00 p.m. He then drove about 3 hours to meet up with his Dad just outside of Telluride and they drove to the trailhead for the hike the following day.

9/1/2013 Today is day 10 of Run Dan Run. Dan is doing pretty well. He pulled a muscle or did something to his thigh muscle a few days ago. He thought at that point that he might have to call it quits because it was extremely painful. He prayed about it and thanked God for the opportunity to hike the peaks he had been able to do and then left the healing to God's will. The next day he was still in quite a bit of pain, but he thought he would try to hike and just see how it goes. As the day went on, his pain lessened. By the end of the day, it was almost non-existent. That was 3 days ago....and he's still going strong - and praising God for answering his prayers!

Dan and his home on wheels crossing Bear Creek near Telluride on his way to another trailhead.

Images taken outside of Telluride, CO.

This is the road that Dan had to drive his truck and camper down after hiking.

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9/2/2013 Dan and his Dad, Forrest, hiked Mt. Sneffels, #24, this date. The weather was perfect!

9/3/2013 Dan and Forrest hiked Capital Peak this date. Elevation = 14130. They peaked at 11:20 a.m. Dan said this was a beautiful hike with a valley full of aspens. There was a "knife edge" at the top, but the rock was good, so it wasn't too dangerous.

9/4/2013 Dan and Forrest hiked Mt. Snowmass this date. The elevation = 14092. It was a long day, approximately 21 miles of hiking. As you can see below, this was not one of Dan's favorites!

9/5/2013 Two peaks today, together they are known as the Maroon Bells. The first was S. Maroon Peak, elevation = 14156. The first two pictures below show the hike on the way up to the peak. The third is at the top of the peak. These peaks were #27 and #28. This day's hike started at about 7 a.m. and ended at 6 p.m.. The traverse was "fun" according to Dan, but the whole day was a "long, challenging day". To get up to S. Maroon Peak, Dan said: "it was exhausting, really steep. At times it seemed it just went straight up". Together these two peaks rate a "5" on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being most difficult. Dan told me at the end of the day that now that these two peaks are finished he feels "relieved".

In the picture to the left, Dan is at the peak of North Maroon, elevation = 14156, with South Maroon behind him. The picture to the right is Dan and his Dad on top of North Maroon.

The picture to the left is Dan coming down to N. Maroon Peak. The picture below is Dan looking back at the traverse between the two peaks. On the right is his dad decending into the traverse from S. Maroon

9/6/2013. Pyramid Peak - elevation = 14018. This was a good day - the hike wasn't too hard and it was just plain fun!

We met these goats on the way up. The male looked at us as if to say: "follow me....I'll show you the quickest way up". So....we did!

In the picture on the right you can see him ahead of me.

To the left, #29!

To the right - I had to give the goat some credit....and he takes a great picture!

Heading back down the mountain, on a rock ledge.

9/17/13 UPDATE: Finished!!!! At 12:53 PM, Dan passed the 3,000 ft. downclimb mark on Longs Peak! God provided a legal way to the top of Longs and back. With a lot of ice on the backside it was a dangerous climb up, but the sun came out and it was an amazing way to finish!! $14,000ish raised for charity, 25 days, 22 hours, 16 minutes, 385.5 miles, 162,690 verticle feet. It truly was an amazing adventure with a wonderful finish!

9/7/2013. Castle / Conumndrum / Elbert! The highest mountain in the Elk Range, Castle, and the Highest Mountain in Colorado, Elbert! Dan didn't start the day planning on completing Elbert, but decided to try and shave some time off the clock and get it done ahead of schedule. God put the crunch on them as storms were moving in fast and furiously on the way up Elbert. However, with a Rainbow in sight Dan and his Dad both knew they would make it up, and back off, just fine, making the entire trip in less than four hours!

9/8/2013. After wrapping up Elbert shortly before dark, Dan's Dad headed back to Boulder for the week. Starting early the next day, Dan bagged Shavano, Tabeguache, and Antero. Antero turned into an adventure as Dan hitched a ride for part of the Antero road with a group of goat hunters, and then later on the way down with some nice guys in a jeep. The Antero road is 15 miles round trip, and 5200 ft. of verticle. Dan only needed 3000 ft. to adhere to the rules, so given that dark was coming, it was really nice getting a ride for 2000 ft. of the road! On the way down, Dan met a really nice woman named Susan who was "flying" down the mountain. They later had a good chat about climbing when Dan caught up to her at the base of the road.

9/9/2013. Princton and Yale! Dan started the "Colliegate" Peaks today. The previous night Dan's dad (who nabbed 31 of the hardest summits on this adventure) called to warn about some bad weather coming in. At this point nobody really knew that the front would lead to some of the worst weather and flooding in Colorado's history. Princeton was cold and windy, as the bad weather began to set in. Thinking that it was just a small front moving in, Dan began a very long week of running mountains in the rain, snow, and storms.

9/10/2013. Today Dan topped off Mt. Harvard and Mt. Columbia. Mt. Harvard is the third highest peak in Colorado at 14420 ft. Starting off in the rain and clouds, it rained continually throughout the morning. The traverse between the two is quite long and in Dan's words "rather ardouous when you can't see anything." Even though he climbed both of them, he apparently never really saw either mountain because of the clouds and weather. Upon returning to the truck, Dan met a group of people who wanted to know what he was doing, and after a brief conversation, they donated to RunDanRun / Save The Children on the spot! This was a good morale lift for an otherwise not so happy day!

9/11/2013. Another rainy day. Today Dan topped Oxford, Belford, and Missouri. Heading up Belford, starting at approximately 6:45 AM, the weather deteriorated as Dan passed a few intrepid hikers. At 9:39, the top of Belford had howling wind, flying sleet and the temperature was dropping. Dan met another Dan at the top of Belford who called him "crazy" as Dan studied the topo map and ran down the saddle to Oxford in the storm. He made the round trip to Oxford in a little over an hour and half. Going back to the Belford summit Dan spent a few minutes to pray and decide whether to head home or press on to try and find the saddle to Missouri in the storm. Although the weather wasn't letting up, and he was out of layers to put on, prayer seemed to confirm to press on. Heading down, the trail to Elkhorn pass improved and eventually the clouds started fading off. Dan noticed a "cloud wall" across the valley below as he headed up and made a final summit at 1:11 PM. The cloud wall seemed nothing short of a miracle as he headed back down and stayed dry and the weather was still free of lightening. After a few rough days alone, Dan was quite excited to see his Mom that evning for some moral support!

9/12/2013. Today's goal was to bag Huron and Laplata. Huron was only 14,003 ft. Seriously, couldn't somone just kick a rock off the top and make it a 13er? Although quite cold out, the weather was pretty clear in the morning on the way up Huron, so no shirt was the way to go! A couple of hikers tried racing Dan up to the top, but lost out by 20 minutes over an 1:40 total time to the top. The clouds and scenery were gorgeous on top of Huron! A few minutes to take pictures and then it was a run back down to get to Laplata before storms set in. Hopping in the truck with his mom, they quickly travelled to the southwest route up Laplata. There was lightening and rain as Dan started up the trail, but some time in prayer seemed to confirm that all would be fine. Laplata was a mess of swampy, wet alpine willows and a long rock scramble. Second to Snowmass, Laplata was Dan's least favorite mountain. However, feeling pretty spry, Dan made summit in less than two hours. Thunderstorms came in fast and furious as soon as he reached the top. So realizing that God was going to protect him, but also that God gave him speedy legs, he ran as fast as he could to get off the multi-mile summit ridge that was exposed to lightening, clearing the ridge by only a minute or two before the lightening storm hit. Safe again! Later that night it rained for about 11 hours straight, Dan was happy to have his mom around to talk to that night and keep him sane. Treat your mother right :)

9/13/2013. Mt. Massive (second tallest in Colorado) and Holy Cross. Today was the last day in the Sawatch range, which made Dan pretty happy. However this turned out to be a pretty long day with 19.5 miles of running, total gain was just short of 10,000 ft, and there was about four and half hours of driving. The morning started out in the clouds and rain at 10,000 ft. It then moderately cleared and ended with the first snowy summit of the trip. Dan made the top to Mt. Massive in 2 hours, 10 minutes, round trip in 3:40. Hopping in the truck with his Mom, Dan drove down the muddy road, dropping her off at her van, and they both drove up to Holy Cross, which he started up the trail at 3:10 PM. Dan and his family were a bit nervous as the weather was seriously deteriorating and Dan wouldn't be back before dark. Dan, feeling the pressure, made a rush for the summit, arriving at 5:45. On the way up there was a lightening cloud with continual clapping thunder building on the top of the peak and more weather moving in. Dan did some quick praying, asking for a weather miracle. As he approached the upper ridge, heading towards the summit, the clouds literally "split" as he pressed on! On the way down the sun even came out! Arriving back at 7:55PM, the total round trip was 4:45! Then for a long drive to Breckenridge where Dan met his Dad as they planned to finish the remaining few days together. Getting to the Quandary trailhead after 10, and whipping up some quick dinner, neither of them crawled in bed till after midnight, for a short, but sound, sleep.

9/14/13 Today was numerically the longest day of the entire trip. Six mountains, 11,100 ft. of vertical climbing, and three trailheads. Conquering the Tenmile range and Mosquito range in one day seemed daunting, but Dan and his Dad headed out at roughly 7:10 AM, making the summit in an hour and a half. Dan commented that he had only seen four people on the previous ten mountains, and on the way up Quandary, he passed close to 75 people! This was so odd. Dan and his Dad were the first people on top that day and quickly headed down passing the same 75 people again. They quickly drove over to the next trailhead, eating while driving. Arriving at two miles below the Kite Lake trailhead, the road had been completely destroyed by the storms. It really wasn't a big deal because they needed to park that low to adhere to the "Colorado Rule", but since

there was a river where the road once was, they had to "bushwack" through alpine willows, which led to them getting completely soaked feet and losing another half an hour that they couldn't afford to lose. Quickly heading up Democrat, lightening storms were moving in from both West and South, with thunder claps becoming more regular. After making it back to the Democrat-Cameron saddle, Dan did some praying about the weather and decided they had to keep going as dark clouds set in on top of them.

As they approached Cameron, the weather changed for the worse and visibility dropped. Thunder got closer and louder. Dan and his Dad actually crossed over the top of Cameron without realizing it was the top (Cameron is more like a bump than a peak). They climbed as fast as they could to the top of Lincoln. Nearing Lincoln, Dan's hat started clicking, then started zapping him with static electricity.

Arriving at the Sherman trailhead / road at 6:15 PM, Dan and his Dad quickly geared up with some warmer clothes, since the sun would be going down soon and there were still storms around. Both of them still felt pretty energetic, given the circumstances, and made it to the top shortly before dark, at 7:15 PM. After some quick pictures, they raced down as some clouds set in and darkness closed in. They made it back down at 8:20 PM. Dan checked their maps and they still needed another 1000 ft. of elevation for the Colorado rule. So they took off again and knocked off another 1000 feet of elevation, finishing the day at 9 PM!

Once on Lincoln, the thunder was closer and louder, the shocks became worse, and the rocks started loudly clacking and clicking as electricity built up from the lightening storm directly overhead. Spending a total of about 30 seconds on the summit and running for their lives, Dan figured that climbing up this peak at this time was perhaps a bad decision, and definitely not one to be repeated. The storms began to pass as they headed over to Bross, and they had relatively clear weather on the way back to the car, arriving a little after 5 PM. One more trailhead, one more mountain left.

9/15/13 Waking up to rain and cloudiness Dan and his dad drove from near Fairplay, over to the Grays and Torreys trailhead. Today started with the high hope of getting four mountains done, and to finish "the challenge" the next day. But the weather wasn't going to cooporate. Starting up the Grays trailhead, the rain turned to snow, which made the trip very slow, even with the rather glorious trail that heads up Grays. Topping Grays off in 1:50 fealt pretty good! They went as fast as possible over to Torreys, where the weather let up a little. On the way back down to the truck, an even harsher rain storm set in and it was just a downpour for about 30 minutes. Despite the weather, the round trip was made in 4:05!

Hopping in their vehicles they drove quickly to Idaho Springs to keep with the plan of a east summit of Evans and then a double traverse on Bierstadt. Heavy rain on I-70 slowed the drive. Once off on the exit, there was a sign proclaiming the road was closed due to the flooding. Dan quickly dug into the routes and found a basic route for a West approach to Bierstadt, they turned around and headed back up I-70, then on to Guanella pass. Arriving at the trailhead at 4 PM, and beginning up the trail at 4:25 PM, the weather was turning worse. The trail was soon cut off by an extremelly flooded creek. After 30 minutes of tromping through flooded swamps they found a way across. Soaked and with a snowstorm overhead, they started up. At around 5:40 PM Dan stopped and decided that between the coming darkness, the flooding, a snow and ice storm, increasing cloud cover, rapidly falling temperatures, and the fact that they really had no idea where they were going, and had never done the route before, it was time to turn around. So for the first time since the start, weather had won. Some deep thoughts were to be had, but prayers were definitely said for better weather starting tomorrow.

9/16/13 After the troubles from the day before it was a pleasant sight to see clearer skies in the morning! Dan and his Dad began their hike at around 7 AM, and were able to show a group of other perplexed hikers how to get across the flooded valley. The sun came out, making both of them quite relieved! Hiking as fast as possible, they soon met the snow and ice from the previous day's storm. Ice covered everything all the way to the top of Bierstadt. Making summit after three hours of slippery iciness was quite comforting. After a few minutes on top, the temperatures were dropping and clouds started to set in. Starting into the long, class three traverse, it was obvious that with the snow and ice, this was going to be a long hike. Crossing the Sawtooth wasn't as dangerous as they feared and the footing was good despite the ice. The trek over to Evans was slow and arduous as everything was slippery. Reaching Evans at 12:30 was a huge relief. The temperatures were still frigid, but the clouds seemed to be getting better. The way home was a slow swampy trek through the flooded valley. However, Dan was extremelly thrilled to get 56 peaks done in 24 days!! After getting all their soaked clothes off, they packed up and started the adventure to Longs Peak. Longs Peak was inside the closed Federal Disaster Zone, as all but one road heading in that direction was completely destroyed, and the remaining road was in rough shape. The army was still evacuating people by helicopter from the area that they needed to go. Meeting the Army roadblock, they were informed that they were not going to get through. After all this, it seemed like a terrible way to end. Dan went back and tried talking to the soldiers, but orders were orders; they weren't getting through. So Dan and his Dad drove back a few miles and found a place to camp. After a little discussion between the two, Forrest decided to go home. Dan had a long evening of reflection and prayer. He was extremelly thankful for the previous 56 peaks, but still, one short. Dan went back later that night and talked to the soldiers at the road block, but to no avail.