Last Thursday morning we headed for the hills to partake in the 50-50-1 climb for cancer research to Granite Peak (team name="Bearded Goats" ).  The trip began with the invention of a new birthday song, "Baaa-py Birthday," sang loud and clear by the Goats over a cell phone in the parking lot of the Dew Drop In--our last stop for greasy guts.  We arrived at Emerald Lake with a short 3 mi hike up to Mystic Lake for the 1st night, and our hired chef, Jeremy, grilled us up the best New York steaks EVER, allowing us to drop some poundage for the greuling day on Friday.  Thursday's lessons: vaseline is not a good lubricant for all mechanical items (especially water filters!); bears like toiletries. 

     Waking Friday with the soon-to-be familiar smell of oatmeal drifting through the air, the long weekend of water pumping from one filter began.  Brooke, Susie and I took turns pumping from the glasslike water, minus the occasional trout-ripple, with the sun shining over the snow capped peaks in the distance--what a beautiful morning!  Goodbye Mystic, hello 26 switchbacks from hell.  Not only did we count every one of them, but also gave them a theme or a song based on the number.  Us Goats really know how to have a good time :).  The top of the switchbacks marked the start of our weekend "shortcuts", which meant, "why take the trail when we can just go straight up (or down)?"  Finally we reached the Froze-to-death plateau, giving us hope that we would soon reach camp at the base of Tempest mtn.  Just a couple more gigantic loose boulders, a few more snowfields, another boggy mess of runoff, and we finally hit the destination--a perfect scouted-by-Jeff campsite.  After a quick intro to the mountain goats and a well-deserved dinner, we hit the sack early to prep for the Saturday 4 am wakeup.   Friday's lessons: geography does not teach a person what a plateau REALLY is; goats enjoy urinetherapy; and, bowel movements are a hot topic when camping. 

     Four o'clock came fast Sat morning and we awoke to a beautiful sunrise.  The plateau was calm except for the bustling of Bearded Goats preparing for summit day.  Angie N and I had contemplated giving up and playing cards for the day, but our stubborn spirits outweighed the fluid in our knees and blisters so we took off with the bunch.  As we climbed across the unforgiving rock beds, our 1st close and personal view of the Peak came into sight as well as a few high mountain lakes (that we were WAY above!).  Amazing!  After a couple hours of sidehilling across sliding boulders, I paused to think "What in the @#$* am I doing...My knee is killing me, I have blisters on my blisters, and I have to make it 11 mi out of here tomorrow??"  Unfortunately, logic thumb-wrestled determination and it won--I quit the summit and instead climbed to the top of Tempest mountain to watch my team continue.  I could not see them from the top, however, I could hear their voices plain as day which was very eerie being that far away.  So, I began yelling and making goat noises, but they were unable to hear me at all.  I still don't understand the dynamics of sound travel.  After making my way back to camp around 11am I crashed in the tent for a few hours and most likely saved our gear from being eaten by ravaging goats, then got up to pump water and make dinner for the crew.  Fortunately, later that evening everyone arrived torn and tattered but with news of 3 successful peak baggers--Jeff, Susie, and Jeremy.  Saturday's lessons: goats eat gear; once you get up, you have to get back down; and, teamwork is what its all about. 

     We slept in Sunday morning and took our time eating and packing up our gear, and I wished a chopper would save me from the 11 mi of downhill ahead.  Long story short, we made it back to Mystic lake and those of us who were so inclined lost some clothes and jumped in the refreshingly cold water.  At the bottom, Jeff had prepared the truck with a nice Scapegoat microbrew for cheers to our accomplishment.  We made a much needed stop at the Grizzly Bar on the drive home for steak, seafood, burgers, drinks, and dessert.  Sunday's lessons: there is nowhere better to eat lunch than in an alpine "meadow"; freeze-dried backpacking food wreaks havoc on the intestines; the 50-50-1 climb will become a yearly tradition (when we move to Oklahoma); and, I had a wonderful time--thanks to all my fellow Bearded Goats...