Which MSers want to hike up what inspired America the beautiful....on July 4?

[garyp]

Greetings all:

This idea has been kicking around in my head for at least a month now, if not more.

I am a 15+ year MS sufferer. About 18 months ago, I hiked up Pikes Peak with 4 wonderful college friends of mine. What an experience it was. And how liberating - despite being all in our mid-40s (and above) with varying states of physical conditioning we were all able to reach the summit. And for me...an MSer, even more so.

So, decided to put the idea out there of such a hike up to an iconic summit to be conducted over July 4th weekend by a group of MSers - and see how many positive responses come back! Depending on the number interested...can take the next step, or abandon the idea!

Outline of plan below:

- Would probably need 5 or more people to commit to this
- Arrive in Divide, CO on Fridya July 1 or Saturday July 2
- Divide about 60 mins from Colorado Springs airport, 2 hours from Denver airport (a Southwest Airlines airport)
- Camp in Mueller State Park (in Divide) for 2 days (Saturday/Sunday) to acclimimate to the altitude - and enjoy the scenery!
- Hike up Pikes Peak in Monday, July 4
- Route is the northwest slopes route : http://www.14ers.com/routemain.php?r...eak=Pikes+Peak
- trail ahead about 20 minutes from Mueller
- 13 mile round trip, 4,000 feet elevation gain
- this is a class 2 trail, so is a hike...not a climb
- trails are wide and well used. Look at the "Large Photos" section of the 14ers.com link above -as close to an interstate as hiking trails get!
- first 2 hours and the last hour are the most difficult with reasonably stick inclines- the rest is reasonably flat with slow incline
- if one or more people struggling, can just return to trail head in a group of 2 or more
- as there is also a road up to the top of Pikes Pike, can meet family and friends at the summit!And even get a ride down with them if so inclined
- I know a few non-MSers in CO who are active hikers. One of them has a mother with MS, the other actively works with the MS community through his business. May be able to persuade one of them to come with us to provide any needed additional strength.

So..is possibly interested, respond to this post! Mueller State Park campground has already started to fill up with it being July 4th weekend!

[ActiveMSers]

This is a super cool idea, Gary. I'm a bit gimped up these days to give it a go, but next year who knows? I hiked 40 minutes straight today without rest--great for me, not so good for PP, ha.

I know we have lots of folks from CO here, so I'm curious how many will be interested.

[Marinadca]

I love the idea! I'm not really a hiker, but like to bike and walk so, maybe I could do it.

However.... I am not a camper, so I wonder if there any non-outdoor options for sleeping....

[garyp]

Marinadca:

So, there are 3 cabins for rent at Mueller State Park:

http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/Muell...abinsHome.aspx

...they cannot be booked online, so cannot tell if they are already booked or not. They can only be booked through the reserveamerica.com call center at 1-800-678-2267.

There is a 6 month booking window - so these cabins have been open for booking beginning July 1 since January 1..so they may have gone by now.

There is also a KOA at Cripple Creek about 11 miles away - and that has cabins as well. Link to that is the following:

http://www.reserveamerica.com/campgr...&parkId=190308

Would advise though holding off on reserving a cabin pending determining if a sufficient number of people can make this trip! However...if these places will accept a reservation with a very minimal deposit and then allow you to walk away from the reservation later with only a loss of deposit, then might be worth pursuing just to keep your options open.

To gauge interest, I have also sent communications to the CO chapter of the NMSS to see if they can send out a communication to local MS patients.