The Incline!

So this is the Incline. The Incline is a mile long vertical hike that some people in our group do once a week. I hike a least once a week but I have only done the incline this one time. We set off at about 1pm. The first time I looked up at the steps I was outwardly going, "Ready guys!", inwardly however I was going, "You've got to be crazy! We're doing this for fun!?":)

This is our group starting off. We were excited and the weather was perfect so off we went.

Because the incline is so steep you have to take a lot of breaks because your body can't adjust to the lack of oxygen fast enough. At this point on the hike we were pushing ourselves to move from one heavenly patch of shade to the next before taking a break. This usually meant making it about 15 steps, and yes the entire hike is steps!

From left to right this is Amy, my roommate Brittany, and then me! This is us resting in the shade, of which there was not much!

This is about the half way point, at which we were trying to feel stronger than we felt. For about the first three fourths of the hike you feel like you are going to die, at least that's what everyone kept telling me. I thought that the last fourth was pretty rough myself, although, at that point there is something in you that just knows that you won't turn around before reaching the top.

This is the final leg. Amy and I were making it about 10 steps at a time at this point. Amy is wonderful and she is on my team but this was the first time that we were really able to get to know each other. Because of this, and our need for oxygen, we kept taking long breaks and getting into conversations. The hike is only supposed to take about 2 hours if your going slower but we took 3! It was great. The view was amazing and we took plenty of time to enjoy it and each other on the way up!

These flowers were all over at the top. It amazes me to see these beautiful plants growing out of gravel. Most of Colorado is either red dirt or rock, and yet these plants creep up through the cracks and cover everything. It is a beautiful reminder that life and beauty will prevail. God is not stopped by the rocky terrain of our lives. He will break through and the result is more beautiful than anything that we would have imagined or our picture perfect scenarios could have produced!

And then of course there is the view, which is what drives us. The physical accomplishment is amazing but ultimately I think that the promise of a breath taking view is what gets you to the top. The opportunity to get high enough to see the fullness of God's beauty! It was a great experience.