Why “Living High” at the Flying Y?
No, it’s not about drugs.
When Andy and I joined a tour group in Peru in 2018, the days spent in Cusco were magical. The combination of culture, history, and good food was intoxicating. We combed the hills of the city during our free hours, taking it all in.
As our tour group made its way to Machu Picchu, the adventure of it all increased. Andy and I took the option to do a one-day hike of the Inca Trail. (The whole four-day hike seemed like it might be more than I wanted.) The hike itself wasn’t technically difficult. For me the issue was the heights aspect. Seriously, does no one in the guide books think to mention the precipitous drop offs as you skirt the side of the mountains?
When we rejoined the rest of the tour group at Aguas Calientes, I felt pretty accomplished for having withstood my fear of heights on the trail. The next day the whole group explored the ruins at Machu Picchu. At one point the tour guide pulled out a pulse oximeter to test our blood oxygen levels. While no one was in dangerous levels, the majority of people tested in the high seventies to eighties. When it was our turn, Andy and I were both low nineties. The guide was surprised. Why were we doing so well when our tour mates were struggling? We both laughed. Because our primary home is at 6,388 feet of elevation and we spend about 1/5 of our lives at approximately 8,200 feet of elevation and we are pretty active at that elevation.
Having grown up here, this elevation is actually soothing to me. I love the thin mountain air. When we travel to a humid seaside climate I feel like I am choking at all of that nasty thick air. Throughout the years we did have some guests at the dude ranch who had to leave early because it was too hard for them to breathe.
Even in my own family, the elevation was difficult for some as they aged. My mom suffered from a lung disease in the last couple of decades of her life and ultimately had to start using oxygen full-time. In the last few years of her life she would only go to the ranch for a day trip as it was so hard for her to make the altitude change from our hometown to the ranch. Andy’s dad, also a Wyoming native, became very intolerant of elevation after he moved permanently to Florida. He is now eighty-six so he probably won’t be making any more trips home.
The football stadium at the University of Wyoming is brutal for teams from lower elevations. In our off years, Hawaii is sometimes the only team we can beat at home. At 7,220 feet of elevation, it is among the highest altitude universities in the U.S. Wyoming’s elevation is different throughout the state. When you are from a low elevation college town, it is hard to train for the feeling of exerting yourself with not enough oxygen.
The elevation is part of what makes this state not a great choice for everyone. Along with the wind and wildly unpredictable weather, the altitude is likely one of the bouncers for people who think of the more romantic reasons for moving to Wyoming. I may have identified the trifecta of reasons why we only have a population of slightly over 500,000 people.
So, when I say “living high,” it’s because of the view, the lifestyle, and also the elevation, which I love but not many people could tolerate.
At the end of the Machu Picchu tour, as we were set to fly back to Lima, one of the women in our group said that she couldn’t wait to be able to breathe again. I innocently asked if she had a cold. Andy rolled his eyes and told me that she couldn’t breathe because of the elevation. Oh, yeah, that.