Hopkins 4K for Cancer

June 25, 2007

by Tom Hintze
Entering Colorado immediately brought the mountains to mind, as gradual plains turned to gradual climbs and hills became words foreign to me- words like bluff and butte, words that John Wayne might pronounce, fingering his ten gallon hat and pointing into the distance at an Apache warrior's silhouette hanging on the horizon. THe change in elevation began to accelerate too, almost imperceptible at first, but growing more significant with each spent mile. Our usual two hundred to three hundred foot gains were replaced by climbs as steep as several thousand feet per day, and we would have to gain about a mile in altitude before we hit Boulder, so our ascents became quicker, and the landscape bore the expectant promise of another lookout on the horizon, the snow capped peaks, the ramparts in the sky.

Pulling into Yuma, you could tell that the mountains were only a days ride or so away. Surprisingly, too, the fields reminded us of Benkelman, our Nebraskan friends whose farm fields and open plains stretched for miles all around. Upon arriving at the church in Yuma, we were sent away to showers with host families and brought back to a supper of baked potatoes and chili, as well as receiving packages from home.