Last week I asked for some awesome mountains in the Colorado Rockies. This is what I got:

This is the view from the top of Mount Elbert, the highest mountain in Colorado and the second-highest in the lower 48 at 14,443 feet.

The hike to the top took an excessive six hours. Jon was expecting it to take about half that time, but it was not only my first fourteener but also my first American mountain. I didn’t have the strength or stamina to make this a quick or easy journey, but I made it, without any problems other than some bug bites, sore calf muscles and exceedingly swollen hands, which have now returned to normal.