Let the Adventures Begin

What better way is there to spend a long 4th of July weekend than backpacking in Colorado and summiting Mt. Elbert, the 2nd tallest peak in the continental US? We began our hike up the switchbacks toward the continental divide trail, where we planned to make basecamp, so that we were away from all of the car campers. While the hike was fairly steep, it was not even close the steepest trail I’ve hiked and I thought I was in pretty good hiking shape.  Despite all of that, not long into the hike I was having a very hard time getting a full breath. I had no idea why this trail was kicking my butt. Eventually, like the little engine that could, I made it to the top at 14,439 ft right as a snowstorm was rolling in...and so did Atlas. As it turns out, I struggled so much because I was about a month pregnant – I just did not know it yet. And so the adventures and challenges with my active lifestyle while pregnant began.

I was determined to not let something like growing a little human being stop me from maintaining my adventurous lifestyle, but I also didn’t want to risk harming my growing baby. I came to terms with the fact that I’d be hanging in the ski lodge for the ski season instead of tearing up black diamonds, especially since Atlas was due February 19^th.  I still wanted to keep hiking, backpacking, climbing, and snowshoeing as much as possible. The hardest part during the first month or two was keeping the pregnancy a secret. For example, how do you justify not climbing when you’ve just hiked a steep 1.5 miles to the crag? Blaming it on little sleep and “just not feelin’ it today” would have to do.

I continued to climb until about 25 weeks pregnant, when the harness just wouldn’t fit right anymore. Lead climbing was out of the question, and after a sketch day (per the norm) multi-pitch trad climbing in the Sandias, it became apparent that multi-pitch trad climbing and the approaches the climbs in the Sandias were probably not a good idea either.

But, that still allowed me to be a top rope tough girl – both at our local climbing gym as well as the local sport climbing crags. 

At 18 weeks pregnant, I started to be fully aware at how few routes I’d be able to climb. We went to Diablo Canyon outside of Santa Fe and really wanted to climb Post Moderate, a 165 foot 5.9 climb. When I reached the mid-point, I had to make a decision: stop here and rappel down, or push it to the top. I went for it and made it! However, that was all I climbed that day, as I was completely exhausted. By Halloween, I was done climbing, unless I wanted to invest in a full body harness, which would just be goofy.

The big challenge was keeping our backpacking trip in Glacier National Park on track. Before I became pregnant, we already had summer plans to do a grueling 5-7 day backpacking trip in Glacier National Park with our friend Joe McCoy.  Despite being 16 weeks pregnant, Justin and Joe wanted to attempt a much more ambitious trip than I thought I could handle. It was difficult sticking to my guns, but we ultimately decided on a trip that would be both adventurous and doable for me, given my current condition.  One logistical hurdle was that while my backpack still fit me, I had to really watch how much weight I carried – Justin had to carry a larger proportion of our gear than usual.  That quickly became the least of my concerns. Never before have I craved fresh food (versus dehydrated meals and snacks) so early on during a backpacking trip. Picking thimbleberry along the trail while bear calling, since I was alone as a result of my internal break at any sign of an incline, was delicious, but wasn’t enough to satisfy Atlas. To put icing on the cake, sleeping on a pad when you have to sleep on your side, and the constant need to pee throughout the night got old very fast.

Because of permitting issues in the park, we did two 3 day trips, rather than 1 long trip, which worked out for the better. One benefit to hiking so much slower than usual (which was a difficult pill to swallow), was that it forced me to really take in and appreciate the amazing views that Glacier has to offer.

On day two, we hiked about 5 miles to our second camp at Gunsight Lake. Since we arrived pretty early in the day, and couldn’t do the through hike we were hoping for, we did a day hike up the ridge toward Gunsight Pass. Always in the back of my mind was the fear of accidently overexerting myself and harming my growing baby. Thus, before we went over the pass, I told the guys I’d wait for them at a good rest spot, and took a nice, much needed nap, while they played farther up the trail. All-in-all, we backpacked 26.4 miles and day hiked 14 miles (10 of which was in a single day) over the course of 7 days —not too shabby for a lethargic pregnant woman. Click here for more pictures from this trip.

With my growing belly and the shorter days, we had to settle for shorter day hikes by November. When the snow finally fell in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, I relished the opportunity to get out and add some variety to my hiking. It was time to start snowshoeing! The challenge at this point was to find clothes that would still fit…fortunately for me, I could either not button my pants or Justin had an old pair of snow pants that fit my protruding belly.

 

Each trip was about 3 miles, not too shabby! Unfortunately, a hike in mid-January triggered early contractions (at 35 weeks) and I was put on bed rest. While bed rest was for the better, it proved to be very frustrating, given my independence and drive to be active.  But, as soon as I was given the all clear from our midwife, I was back on the trail at 38 weeks. We continued to do casual hikes, and 2 days after one such hike, Atlas was born at-home after 4 hours of labor. Click here to read more about that and see amazing photos by SarahLove Photography.

As to be expected, I had to take a bit of time to recover, so we took our first hike as a family when Atlas was only 3 ½ weeks old. The plan was to do a light stroll in the foothills, but things with us never go according to plan. Somehow we chose a route that went straight up the mountain, or so it felt to me and it didn’t help that Justin was in the midst of training to climb Mount Rainier, so the hike did not seem very difficult to him.  It felt great to get outside again.

By the time Atlas was 5 weeks old (click here for pictures) we went out climbing together and by the time he was 4 ½ months old (click here for pictures) we tackled our first backpacking trip. I won’t go into too much detail on the post-baby outings, in case we decide to expand on them in future blogs, but I will say, the main challenge was breastfeeding while hiking.

Throughout the pregnancy and the post-partum months to follow, one of the biggest obstacles for both Justin and I was accepting that we couldn’t do as much as we used to be able to, no matter how much we wished it were true. We ultimately came to terms with it and took it one stride at a time, enjoying the view along the way.