Last Friday I made the 3-hour drive over beautiful Independence Pass to attend the Colorado Book Awards ceremony in Aspen, Colorado.  The first Terra Incognita novel, The Edge of the World, was one of four novels nominated in its category.  I arrived early enough to check into my room and have a quick lunch, then I went off to the ceremony, held in an arts center.  The Colorado Book Awards were part of the week-long Aspen Reads literary festival, and I met many other authors and booksellers and signed copies of Edge of the World.  I didn’t win, but the award went to my friend James van Pelt for his short story collection, The Radio Magician and Other Stories.

After the reception I spent some time in my room, with a spectacular view of the Elk Mountains (some of the most classic Colorado peaks, featured in many photos and postcards), where I edited a few more chapters in The Key to Creation (nearly finished with Draft 4).  I had a nice seafood dinner in town, edited some more, then went to bed early for an early departure—all planned so that I could climb a high peak on my way home the following day.

Driving back to Colorado Springs over the winding and narrow Independence Pass, I located the dirt forest road (2.7 miles) which led to a rough 4WD road (1.3 more miles) and a gate and a wide open high meadow (11,700 ft elevation), where I parked the car, donned my pack, and headed out on the faint trail–not much more than a general route–up Grizzly Peak, the highest peak in the state below 14,000 ft.  At 13,994 ft, Grizzly was once considered a Fourteener, but more accurate measurements dethroned it.

This is a rarely climbed peak, without a trail at all once I got to the high meadows.  As the road petered out at some extensive mine ruins, I set out across the marsh and snow-covered basin. The route was to find my way up to the saddle on the right of the photo above, then walk the ridge to the main summit.

When I reached the top of the ridge and scrambled along it most of the way, I came upon two other hikers (the only others I saw the whole day) coming up from a different basin, scaling the snowfield on another side of Grizzly Peak.  And I thought my hike was a challenge!

I did make it to the top, only six feet shy of 14,000 ft and had my lunch while the snow-climbers also arrived at the summit—a good opportunity to have my photo taken at the top (since I frequently climb alone, I don’t always get a summit shot).

Because I’m in between novels right now, I used the opportunity of this hike to write a new science fiction short story, tentatively titled “A Delicate Balance.”  I rarely do short stories anymore, but I’ve had this one in mind for a while.  I’ll edit it in between other projects.

The next day, while my legs and feet were still sore, our friends Dr. Harry Kloor and Rayna Napali came out to visit us from LA.  I first met Harry when we went to a shuttle launch at the Kennedy Space Center in 1997 and we’ve kept in touch ever since.  His new 3-D IMAX animated movie, Quantum Quest, will debut in theaters this fall.  (He debuted a draft DVD in our living room last Tuesday!)  It’s a science-based adventure to get kids interested in science, very much in the same spirit as the “Star Challengers” series (me, Rebecca, and June Scobee Rodgers) due out this fall.

Without giving Harry much time to acclimate, I took him out the following day on a climb of Mount Evans (14,264 ft), a superb hike on a popular mountain…much less strenuous than Grizzly Peak, but still quite a challenge for a flatlander.

Harry didn’t have a problem with the difficulty of the trail, but the lack of oxygen over 12,000 ft was a bit much for his smog-addled lungs.  Nevertheless, he trudged his way all the way to the summit.  Mt Evans is also home to quite a few Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and mountain goats, and we could walk right up to them.

After almost five hours, we did reach the summit, just as afternoon thunderstorms started to set in.  But that didn’t stop our celebration at the top.

On the way home, we picked up Thai food for Rebecca and Rayna (who had spent a relaxing day at home), and we stopped at the Golden City Brewery, one of my favorite small breweries in Colorado, to fill up the growler with an excellent IPA.

The following day, we just hung out, and Harry and I brainstormed several film and TV projects.  In the afternoon, with slanting golden sunlight, we all took a drive and a hike through the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, then had dinner at a Moroccan restaurant, Tajine Alaimi, and came back home so Harry could screen “Quantum Quest” for us.

Next day, we did a little more brainstorming on projects, drafted some treatments, and Harry and I each did work on some of our own projects, then we took them back to the airport.  On the drive back home, Rebecca and I hammered out the last details on the outline of Star Challengers #2.

All in all, a week with plenty of exercise for the muscles and the creative brain.  Tonight, time just to relax a little…

KJA