Top of the World, Lake Peak
Two days ago I woke up at 9am and prepared my lunch for my big expedition.
For the past month I've been running my mouth about climbing to the top of the mountains that I see everyday. My buddy, Vajra, decided to take me up there once and for all. 
We drove up the Sangre de Cristo mountains which are surrounded by beautiful National Forest, and stopped just before the Santa Fe Ski Basin. Vajra borrowed this diesel truck that sounded like a chopper. 
Here are the players. First, Vajra, doing his Toyota jumps.
He is an experienced hiker, you can tell by the outfit.
And Ira. This guy was more my speed. 
And off we were. Vajra didn't start telling me the details until we began the hike.
Details I would have loved to know before I agree to all of this. Details like, there's an elevation gain of 2,100 feet in 3.5 miles. Or details like, some rock scrambling may need to be done. Or details like, after 3 hours up we will be at 12,404 feet.
It didn't help that there was 6 inches of snow on the ground and I was wearing Sambas.
Here I am, the weak link, "c'mon Enrique, you can do it." Sorry, Im not used to hopping over 25 fallen tree trunks in 15 minutes.
I forgot about my wooziness, heavy breathing, and morris code beating heart when I entered this Aspen maze.
Looks like they have eyes.
After breaking out of the aspens we got to see some landscapes.
My feet were frozen.
And I was still behind the pack.
To my credit, I did pause a lot to take pictures.
Of lonely rolled up fences.
And ski lifts itching to circulate.
Getting higher.
More frozen lifts.
I could hear Vajra yelling down to me, "Enrique, you're doing great, this is Deception peak." "Do you know why they call it Deception Peak?"
My guess was that once you get to the top of this so called Deception Peak, you are are deceived.
Great. I busted my ass to catch up. I could finally make out their silhouettes. By this time my calves had combusted and disappeared into the thin air with my sanity.
Ira was to my left, slowing down as we conquered Deception.
I turned around to see myself looking down at the Radio Towers that seemed impossible to reach when we began the hike. I couldn't believe we had passed them already.
Deception Peak.
"Ok, Enrique, now we just have to shimmy along this ridge to get to the Peak."
Uhhhhh...ok...(delirious smile).
A bit of rock scrambling and vertigo in cahoots to give me a heart attack.
"C'mon!" 
The last test. The slip and fall and you're dead test. The so called "Stairway to Heaven."
I went for it.
Vajra led the way. I mimicked his every step. Mental. Physical. Metaphysical?
I layed down on the rock with my left arm and legs clinched with all my might to take a picture of Nambe Lake below me and the barren desert and its canyons in the distance.
Since my face was only inches from the rock as I crawled to the top, I was able to spot this Geological Survey metal thing on the rock. I found this fascinating.
And there they were, waiting for me at the top.
Even though I had stopped moving, I felt like I was still moving.
I closed my eyes, took some deep breaths and recited some quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh, and I was able to calm down and open my eyes. I mumbled something out of my mouth to the guys, "I imagine this hike would be easier if there wasn't snow on the ground and I wasn't wearing soccer shoes, right?"
They were hysterical.
I was speechless up there. To the north you see Taos and the Truchas Mountains.
And to the West you see Nambe Lake and the vast desert.
Here I am thinking about all the shit that I have to do, didn't do, and shit that
fucked me up over the past year.
And here I am letting it all go.
And here is the Tuna with Peruvian Yellow pepper, provolone, and spinach on sourdough sandwhich that I am about to slam into my grill.
They are too. But I think they got their goods from Whole Foods.
Some super food trail mix for the hike back down.
Then, thunder. It's almost as if the mountain waited for me to get up there,
think, breathe, let go, and eat before it decided to kick me off. The clouds came in quickly,
and Vajra, Mr. Nepal Himalayan hike-master, suggested we get down ASAP.
Look at that dark gray brush stroke.
I didn't want to get down so quick but we headed towards deception.
The clouds and thunder were amazing.
The last bit of sun.
Some hikers appeared when we got to Deception.
They took a look at my gear and said, "Dude, thats hard-core."
Ha!
They had a cool dog.
I walked under the lonely lifts again.
My feet were frozen. I believe that was a good thing because I had rolled my ankle at least 5 times by this point and I couldn't feel a thing.
It started raining in the desert.
The sun appeared again for a second and made me smile.
And then the mountain took over.
Until it turned black and started snowing. The mountain was kickin' my ass, I felt like a puppet on a thousand strings, moving every joint in awful, painful directions. Thank baby Jesus I was almost down.
Back in the car and on the way down to the Fe we battled the snow storm.
It was rad. I was sitting in the back seat feeling like I had just received a deep tissue massage.
I got dropped off a block away due to the size of the truck and stumbled to the Zaguán. The sun was setting and the storm was approaching. I woke up the next morning unable to move, Santa Fe had a blanket of snow on it, but I felt the best I have in years. Thanks Vajra and Ira for such a spiritual trip.
posted by Enrique at
5:17 PM
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