The Railsback Family: The hike...

So where was I? Oh right, the hike. So on a beautiful late morning, we decided it would be fun to hike to the top of Mt. Crested Butte. We had two backpacky devices, four adults (Cole isn't in this photo) and five small kids. Now, you can hike from the bottom for an 11 mile round trip, or you can take the ski lift up and get to the summit with a three mile round trip.

We took the ski lift. This gives you some idea of how high the ski lift will get you and what is left.

The kids were excited for the ride.

I learned that ski lifts make me a little nervous. Where is the call bell for when this one lunges off the lift to her certain death?

All wasted worries. We survived the ride and started up the summit trail.

The girls were eager hikers, ready to climb to the top of a mountain.

They were really excited when they started finding patches of snow. In retrospect, this picture proves that we should've noted a darkening sky.

... But we didn't. So here we are, still on the easy part of the trail. More snow. More rocks. More happy hikers.

The trail started getting steeper and more challenging, especially with a 32 pound kid on your back throwing off your center of gravity. To be fair, Clifton carried her a lot of the way, but had his race the next day, so when it started to get harder I was trying to help him spare his legs for the race.

But the girls pushed through and did great.

We made it to a little you-think-you're-at-the-summit-but-you-totally-aren't, and had to make a decision. The last trip down on the ski lift was at 2:45 and we needed enough time to get back down. Then there was the little business of the fact that it was thundering. When we started seeing lightning, the decision was made.

We took one quick victory shot...and Chelsea and I started heading down with her two daughters and Annika and Sarah.

Clifton, Cole and Naomi were going to see how far they could get since Naomi was pretty desperate to get to the summit.

So they got they got even a little further up.

Meanwhile, we're working our way down with the other girls. It's slow moving when you're on a steep, rocky trail. It's even slower moving when the thunder and lightning start to move in over you and kids become paralyzed with fear. So now Chelsea and I have four kids, at least some of whom are crying (it's a blur, I know for sure ours were)... And I start wondering if Naomi and Clifton are okay.

We keep having to move off to the side to let others pass us because the path (which is mostly just a series of rocks) is too narrow to navigate more than one person at a time. One helpful guy told us, "You guys had better get down fast," as if we could move any faster. I'm trying to count the time between lightning and thunder and am realizing it's within a couple Mississippi's. I'm doing my best to keep my cool, but inside I'm feeling panicky, realizing we have no business to be above 12,000 feet at 2pm. This was just awful planning. This is what we hear on the news. Fresh in my mind was this, which happened just days before we left for Crested Butte.

As we made our way down the rocks, the rain drops started falling. Increase kids' crying. Increase my panic. Now we're cold and wet. But at least it wasn't hail. Until it was. Small pebbles of hail pelting us. Sarah's screaming in my ear, which, as it turns out, does nothing to calm me down. I can now see Clifton making his way down with Naomi. I keep telling Annika (and myself), "We are okay. You are okay." At some point I started saying things like, "I will not let you get hurt. I promise." Which of course is something I can't really promise. But you find yourself making all kinds of promises to your kids when they are that kind of scared.

It felt like we were the last people making our way down, but a couple came from behind, stopped, took off their backpacks and pulled out their rain gear to give to our girls. And I could've just about cried (if I hadn't been trying so hard not to cry). They said they were their "extra coats," gave them to the girls, and then kept moving.

We spent about ten minutes in the hail before we came to a spot where a large boulder created a small area of protection from the hail, but the area was small and already 80% full. But, again, the kindness of strangers... A man came out and helped me down the slope, tucking me under the rock. The rest of the kids followed, Some of the guys gave up their spots so that the kids could tuck in while coats were held overhead.

Chelsea and Cole are making it look easy. Cole mostly wanted to keep his phone dry. :)

Someone in their group even had fruit snacks which they offered to our girls. People were so, so kind. When the hail subsided, Naomi (in her oversized rain gear from a stranger) managed to dry up tears and give a thumbs up.

Thankfully we were walking the direction of blue skies and the trail became easy again, so kids could be convinced that the worst was over.

Here's our we-survived-a-thunderstorm-with-hail-above-treeline photo. The kids may not want to go on a hike again with us for a long time. I tried to convince them it was a pretty amazing adventure.

The ski lift had been stopped due to the storm, so there was some fear that we might be hiking down... And then there was talk of us getting driven down. But there was enough of a break in the weather that they turned on the lift to fling us and the other 50 people stuck on the mountain down at about three times the speed that the lift normally runs.