From Electric Peak
by Jon Emery
Title
From Electric Peak
Artist
Jon Emery
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
A paragraph won't do this justice, but this is the dumbest thing I've ever done. John and I were working at Yellowstone Park one summer in college and heard about this cool mountain trail that led up Electric Peak in the Gallatin Range in southern Montana. We spent the entire summer hiking and scrambling up trails to get in shape and prepare for the ascent. When we went to reserve the tent site at the base of the mountain there were none available. The summer was almost over and it was our last chance to attempt the climb. The problem, aside from our stubbornness, was that without having a tent site it turned into a one day ordeal, meaning that the hike would be roughly 22-24 miles over poorly marked trails (thus the 2 mile variance) up to a peak that stood just over 11,000 feet (over 3,500 feet higher than the parking lot). All told, we ended up hiking over 20 miles and 7,000 vertical feet that day! Once past the tree line, we were blown raw by the wind and covered in dust. At times the trail thread a needle with drop-offs on either side several hundred feet down. On the way back, long after running out of water, we drank river water and prayed that it wouldn't come back up later and fought off some pretty persistent mosquitos. When we got back to the parking lot, we colapsed physically and mentally. It was by far, the dumbest thing I have ever done, even with over 250 miles of hiking prep the 10 weeks prior.
Uploaded
April 25th, 2013
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Viewed 130 Times - Last Visitor from Fairfield, CT on 04/19/2024 at 4:33 PM
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Comments (1)
Nicole Allen Berning
Amazing shot and story that goes with it!!! Definitely sounds like one of the dumbest things you have ever done. I felt like mom as I was reading it :).
Jon Emery replied:
Ha!! Yeah, it was pretty crazy. Though I never go so far down a trail that I can't make it back out, that was the closest we ever came to complete exhaustion!