Happy holidays! It’s June 19 Juneteenth, one of my most favorite American holidays, if not the most, because it’s not a celebration for a single person or particular religion, but it’s for everyone’s freedom, particularly for black people. I was planning on getting back on the trail as usual. I realized how important this Holiday is and I wanted to do something special to commemorate, respect, appreciate and celebrate this holiday.
Last night, Amos was talking about Mt. Massive (14,421 ft), the second tallest peak in Colorado. He mentioned how special the mountain was for him and how easy it was to access the trailhead from his home. I passed the junction to the summit on the CDT two days ago, and I was in such a groove to keep going. I thought about how amazing it would be to take a zero day and climb Mt. Massive.
It was spontaneous. When I saw Amos in the morning, I told him my plan and he thought that was a great idea and told me that I could stay another night. Perfect!
Before we headed out, he took me to the gear room to look for a replacement part of my broken tip of my hiking pole. Right when we were wondering, Tom, the facility staff, came into the gear room and he said, “I have a broken tip in my shop. We can go over there.” In 10 minutes while Amos and I were chatting, Tom worked on getting a hiking pole tip into my hiking pole and fixed the problem. Another trail magic by another trail angel magically appeared to help me!
My friend Carrie showed up with my resupply around 10 AM and she took me to the fish hatchery trailhead. This is not a common way to summit Mt. Massive. From the hatchery I can take Highline Trail, Amos‘s favorite trail, and then once you reach the base of the ridgeline to Mt. Massive, off-trail hike to reach the summit. Tom mentioned that this way was a more direct approach. I thought it would be quiet and still have solitude in the mountain on this holiday.
Mt. Massive symbolized many things as I was thinking about the meaning of this holiday. Climbing from 10,000 feet to over 14,000 feet is labor. When I think of labor I think about Black people’s free labor that built the foundations of our country. From buildings to roads to social services, Black people were forced to provide the labor. Climbing mountains is not forced but chosen labor. What a privilege to have this freedom as a person of color. Secondly, the name of the mountain: Massive is not somebody’s last name. Typically in a wilderness, the original name of the place is replaced by colonizer and often named after some white man’s last name, but massive is not the name of a white guy. It’s named because the mountain is massive. When I look at the top of the mountain, I am in awe with how wide and high the peaks are. I hope for the day that everyone can be free, and achieve their dream. Thirdly, I think about the massive effort for justice and peace, big or small, that went into getting to where we are today. I am a beneficiary of that effort. Just think about how a middle age Asian woman could hike by herself for thousands of miles in the wilderness of which definition doesn’t even include women! Lastly, it’s a reminder that we have more to do. More massive and consistent force is needed to create a change to end suffering of people and the Earth. We all belong to nature. Nature reflects who we are – various colors, shapes, sizes, niches, roles, interdependency and connection. I hope we will continue to learn from nature how we should exist on this planet and I hope I have a niche and role to demonstrate what that looks like and what that feels like through my journey.
There was still quite a bit of snow once I began off-trail traveling but totally manageable. Wildflowers were everywhere and made me smile as I climbed. I inched my way to the summit and finally, I stood on the top of the mountains. The view was incredible. I wondered if all 14ers would give a feeling of being on the top of the world. I could see Twin Lakes where I came from three days ago. I could see all the way to San Juan to the south and where I am going to the north. I took my time on the summit and thought about the amount of freedom I have. Literally, the sky’s the limit.
I felt light and flying as I descended from the summit. I only had a daypack and I used a steep snow slope to slide down from the mountains as much as I could. Snow is an obstacle when it is soft and ascending but if it is hard, I could use it to descend from the mountains very quickly.
I made it down and Amos picked me up from the fish hatchery. “Isn’t it a good mountain?,” said Amos. Yes, it was a good mountain. Well, more than good. What a great mountain that helped me make the meaning of this special holiday.
Happy Juneteenth!
