Here is the next excerpt. Stay tuned for more next week.

I realized how out of shape I was and how out of breath I was. I asked to stop for a minute to quit panting so hard. 

“Wow, I am so out of shape,” said.

Hanna replied, “You’re at higher altitude that in Iowa and there’s less oxygen. You’ll be fine, just need to acclimate to altitude is all; it’ll take a few days.”

Getting my breath, which I had to do several more time, we got to the summit. The view was so amazing. You could look east out onto the plains and to the west, seemingly endless mountains fading into the distance. We sat, had some snacks, water, and enjoyed this amazing place. There was a fire lookout tower right next to where we were, but it was locked. Finally, we needed to head back down. Right around a tall rock, we spied a mountain goat grazing on some tufts of grass. He saw us, considered us for a moment and nonchalantly continued his grazing. We each took some pictures and continued back to the van. There was so much to see, I knew I wouldn’t ever be able to capture everything I was seeing and silently convinced myself to cut back on picture taking.