Hike
July 05, 2008 / Saturday
Online Brain Has Missing Record Oh Noes
After doing an extensive search of my blog, I realized that I did a backpacking (yes, backpacking, not car camping) trip in Yosemite five years ago this weekend and I NEGLECTED TO BLOG ABOUT IT.
WTF, me?
Okay, let me recap what I still remember.
- I decided that trip that I didn't like schlepping 30+ pounds of gear for miles and miles. It hurts.
- That game where you take turns naming famous people based on some letter rules to get your mind off the pain of schlepping 30+ pounds of gear for miles and miles.
- People got eaten alive by mosquitoes, except for those of us with 98% DEET.
- The DEET melted the paint off my Nalgene bottle.
- I have no idea where that Nalgene bottle is now.
- Putting snow in my hat 'cause it was hot out.
- A bazillion dead mosquitoes in the car when we got back.
- The proper thing to say when enjoying the view at the top of a mountain you worked really hard to get to the top of: "You can't drive to this!"
- I thought that at Trail Crest earlier this week.
- Woops, wrong trip.
There, I have now (partially) righted this wrong.
09:23 PM | Hike:Trips| Comments (1)
Mt. Whitney Trip
After months of planning and training, we finally made the trip to Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,496 feet. Did we make it? I'm not telling. At least not until later.
Sunday - Off To Whitney Portal
Got off to a rough start on Sunday when I woke up at 9:19 and was told that our departure time had been moved up from noon to 10 AM. I was NOT PLEASED. Come to think of it, I'm still not pleased, but I have a lot to write, so I'll just pretend I'm pleased now and move on.
Blew through everything I had left to do, loaded up the car, stopped at TJ's so Aaron could pick up some trail mix, arrived at Loren and Esther's, loaded up the truck, and headed out around 10:30. We stopped for lunch at Quizno's, a bunch of times in Yosemite for pictures, and finally at the Eastern Sierra InterAgency Visitor Center in Lone Pine at 5:52, 8 minutes before closing.
At the visitor center, we picked up our wilderness permits, got some advice on nice day hikes in the area, and waved goodbye to modern plumbing. I also grabbed a pamphlet about abandoned mines and how they harbor radioactive mountain lions with hantavirus, explosives, and deadly gases. Or was it that the mountain lions release explosive deadly gases? In any case, they made it sound dangerous. Mission accomplished.
We bought some firewood in Lone Pine and drove up (and up, and up) Whitney Portal Road, which, as the name suggests, took us to the Whitney Portal Campground. The campsites were decent: each site had parking for two cars, a table, a fire pit, a bear locker, and room for at least two tents. The hole in the ground toilets were fairly clean as far as hole in the ground toilets go, and there was a nice stream nearby to wash off (a bit) in. The only downside was that we were near the campground hosts, who deemed themselves exempt from Quiet Hours and ran their loud freakin' generator every night between the hours of 9 PM and 2 AM.
Public service announcement for the people of the internet: the host is located between camp 37 and the restroom to its right on this here giant map. Best to camp away from there, or bring earplugs if you can't, because if you decide to go and complain about the noise, the host with the handlebar mustache will answer and quite possibly knock your fuckin' head off. His words.
Set up camp, cooked some kabobs over the fire, ate, cleaned up, put earplugs in, and went to sleep to the sound of muffled generator hum.
Monday - John Muir Wilderness Acclimation Hike
Woke up at 8 something thinking it was Sunday. Had some pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausages for breakfast, then headed out for a hike along the Cottonwood Lakes Trail. If I remember correctly, we ended up doing an out and back ~9 mile hike from around 10,000 feet to 11,000 feet. We hiked until we reached Muir Lake, which was super pretty. We ate lunch there before turning back.
On the drive back to Whitney Portal, we stopped and played on the rocks at Alabama Hills. Lots of scrambling and a bit of bouldering for those of us who were so inclined. Much fun.
After a run to the store in Lone Pine for ice and baby wipes (they didn't sell Wet Ones), we headed back to camp for a fajita dinner. Yummy. I should make these more often at home. :)
Bedtime was kind of rough. Everyone retired early, I wasn't one bit sleepy, and all I could think about was how much I wanted a shower. My Snoopy baby wipes were no match for sunblock, bug repellent, and sweat.
The generator came on, my earplugs went in, and eventually I fell asleep.
Tuesday - Rest Day
Since we had gone to bed pretty early the night before, we got up with the sun just a little after 6 AM. Breakfast was omelets, hash browns, bacon, and sausage, followed by a few hours of downtime. I read a bit about St. Petersburg and learned that (1) I can't drink the tap water there (2) I should bring my bottle of 98% DEET and (3) there are random uncovered holes in the ground that I could fall into. Gee, that really makes me look forward to my trip there later this month!
Around 11, we hiked up along the stream to Whitney Portal Trailhead to see if we could find some ice cream at the Portal Store. The trail was quite nice, and while the store had no ice cream, it had a good assortment of touristy items and hiking essentials.
We returned to camp for a make-your-own pasta salad lunch. This was followed by more downtime, which led to boredom, which caused me to gather and pile rocks near our campsite, which led to the creation of a new game: stack rocks, knock over rocks, keep score, repeat.
Dinnertime came and we had salad, pasta, and garlic bread, followed by s'mores for dessert. I roasted two marshmallows not realizing that only one was needed for a s'more, and ended up making a double decker. I foolishly ate the entire thing and promptly felt sick.
We made sandwiches for the next day and went to bed before dark. Early start tomorrow.
Wednesday - The Big Day
I had set my alarm for 3 but forgotten to turn it on. No matter; I woke up at 2:58 and counted down the seconds before waking Aaron up and turning on the light. We grabbed our stuff, drove up to the trailhead, and weighed our packs. Esther's weighed in at a whopping 20 pounds, Loren's at 18, and mine and Aaron's at 14. I had room, so I took a Gatorade and a couple other items from Esther to help distribute the load. I reweighed my pack: 16.5 pounds. We started on up the trail around 3:50.
I thought about those 16.5 pounds in the first half hour of the hike. It was noticeable and heavy. I thought about how my weight now including the pack was still slightly less than my weight at the end of my first semester of college. (Way too much cafeteria mystery meat.) I remembered that I couldn't run down the block without getting winded back then. I wasn't fat, but I was soft, full of useless weight. Now, not so much. I much prefer now to then.
We hiked, ate, and when the sun started to come up, took pictures and admired the views. We made decent time to Trail Camp, where we stopped to eat, filter water, and use the "facilities" (i.e. duck behind a remote rock). This was at 12,000 feet, and for the most part, everyone felt okay. I didn't have a huge appetite, but I did manage to finish my breakfast bagel and some trail mix.
Next up were "the switchbacks". Forget all those other switchbacks we took to get up to Trail Camp; the 96 switchbacks from here up to Trail Crest were the real deal. They're known to be tough, and they lived up to their name, especially when we got about halfway up. That's when the altitude started getting to some of us. Esther's head started hurting, so she took an Aleve. I was feeling slightly nauseated, but not too bad other than that. Our pace slowed way down and we took lots of rests, but we eventually made it to Trail Crest, at 13,600 feet. The view up here, my gosh, it was amazing. We could see over both sides of the mountain.
By this time, Esther was feeling really ill, and we stopped for a long time here to try to convince her to turn back. (I volunteered to descend with her, since I was second in line in terms of people illin'.) Her head was pounding and she couldn't hold down water or food. She refused to quit, though, and, feeling slightly better after emptying her stomach, chose to push on.
There's a bit of a descent before resuming the climb on the final stretch of trail to the summit. We made it down, then back up a ways, before stopping again. We could see the summit from where we were, but Esther felt horrible. She really didn't want to, but after much debate decided she had to turn back. She had really fought hard to get to this point; I have much respect for her "no quit" attitude.
I was feeling tired but mostly okay at this point, so Aaron and I pushed on toward the summit. We were running behind schedule, and I tried to go faster to make it to the top before our turnaround time. In retrospect, I think this really did me in. It wasn't long before I had trouble putting one foot in front of the other, felt sick to my stomach, and wobbled with lightheadedness on the jagged rocky trail with steep drops on both sides. About half a mile from the summit, I stopped to rest.
While I forced down an energy bar, Aaron kept looking at the summit and saying, "It's so far. Look at how small the people are up there." He was nervous about time, too. I asked him if he wanted to turn back but he couldn't decide. Finally, I decided. I knew I could eventually make it up there, but I wasn't sure that if I did I would be able to make it back. Dying at the summit wasn't exactly what I was trying to achieve, so there it was: we were turning back.
Remember the short descent from Trail Crest heading toward the summit? The ascent on the way back was more difficult than anything else that day. I stopped several times simply because I couldn't walk anymore, and each time I wanted to just lie down and sleep. That said, the thought of sleep scared the hell out of me, because I was afraid I'd never wake up again. That's how crappy I felt.
We eventually did make it back to Trail Crest, but the descent on the other side was no easier. While I could see okay, I couldn't process what I was seeing. My brain simply didn't have the facilities to decide where to put my feet. That, and I couldn't move very fast. (I handed Aaron an Aleve at some point, and even though I was trying as hard as I could to move my arm, watching myself hand over the pills was like watching a clip in slow motion.) I really wanted to throw up but forced myself not to; I didn't want to lose what little fluid I had in me.
After what felt like an eternity, we made it back to Trail Camp. Aaron stopped to eat while I just laid down and closed my eyes. I needed to eat, but couldn't. As we started moving again, I got a Hammer Gel from Aaron. It probably took me 15 minutes to eat.
With more oxygen and some calories in me, I started to reanimate. As we neared 11,500 feet, I picked up the pace and we booked it on down the mountain. My feet were really starting to hurt, but I really wanted to get back to camp, now that I finally believed that we were going to make it back. I'm usually very careful on trails because my ankles are prone to twists and sprains, but with my brain working again I focused hard and bounded from rock to drop to rock all the way down. I didn't even bother to slow down at creek crossings, though I did pause every couple minutes for Aaron to close the gap. How strange; I'm usually the one left behind wondering where the hell he went.
Just after 7:30, we made it back to the parking lot, where Loren and Esther were waiting for us in the truck. Total time on the trail: 15 hours, 45 minutes. We missed burgers at the Portal Store by 10 minutes, but managed to pick up some cold drinks before they closed. My feet hurt so badly I could barely walk, but I was happy to be off the mountain.
Back at camp, Aaron convinced me to eat some leftover pasta salad. It tasted blech, but I don't think anything would have tasted decent at that point. Cleaned up a bit and went to bed. It took me forever to fall asleep because my feet were throbbing, but eventually I did.
It was a long, tough day, but I did get a few positives out of it. For one thing, I got a lot better at using my poles (plant, push, balance, swing), conserving energy (smaller paces and picking intermediate stones to step up on), and maintaining momentum on the downhill (pick your steps ahead of time and just flow). For another, I really dig my gear. I have nothing but good things to say about my Leki poles, Gregory Z30 pack, Petzl headlamp, REI Sahara pants, and UA HeatGear long sleeve. Oh, and my Neutrogena spray on SPF 70 sunblock rocked. It smells nice, it's light, and I barely tanned, despite spending hours up there with the super strong sun.
Since I didn't make it to the top, I didn't get to look for the geocache at the summit. But I when I do make it, I will leave something damned good for the next finder.
What's that? I didn't suffer enough? I want to do this again? No, not this exactly. When I do it again, I want to reach the summit. Just so I know that I can.
Thursday - The Drive Back Home
Woke up around 7, ate some cereal, packed up, and loaded up the truck. We stopped by the visitor center in Lone Pine so Loren and Esther could check out some climbing books. MODERN PLUMBING, I'VE MISSED YOU SO. I used plenty of soap to wash my hands and spent the next hour huffing soapy goodness off them every few minutes.
When we reached Bishop, we made a detour to check out Buttermilks, a bouldering spot about 15 minutes outside of town. After that, we stopped at a pizza place in town for lunch.
After lunch, we continued on until the Mammoth Lakes area, when Loren remembered some nearby hot springs he had visited a few years back. We figured something so close to us while so far away from home was worth visiting, so we made a detour to check that out too. The plan was to jump in (carefully) and wash off a bit, but when we got there we found out that the hot springs had been closed for a couple years now due to "increased geothermal activity". Still, it was pretty cool to see the bubbly water and learn about what makes it hot. There were a couple guys there who had intended to go in the water, but after stepping in they found it was hotter than expected and thought better of it.
Back in the truck we went, and headed for Yosemite. We didn't make nearly as many stops as we did on our way out on Sunday, but we did pull off at Olmsted Point for a few pictures.
After Yosemite, we made one more stop for dinner at Rubio's, and then it was back to Loren and Esther's, where we grabbed all our stuff from the truck and booked it on home.
The Wrap-up
Dangit, we didn't make it to the top. Still, I'm glad for the experience. I'm also glad I didn't get stuck on the trail at 14,000 feet. I slept 12 hours the night we returned, and spent all of July 4th at home processing pictures and feeling terrible. My nose wouldn't stop running and my stomach felt queasy the entire day. Today, I feel a little better, but my stomach still doesn't want food. Not sure what's going on, but I'm making myself eat anyhow.
Tomorrow, I hope to feel better so I can go mountain biking. :)
And of course, pictures to go with this post. Here are my and Aaron's Flickr sets for this trip.
04:08 PM | Hike:Trips| Comments (7)
June 23, 2008 / Monday
It's Not Exactly Easy On Foot, Either
Paid a return visit to Las Trampas yesterday. This time, I was smart enough not to bring my bike. Aaron and I pulled up with our hiking gear and went for a ~7 mile loop up over Rocky Ridge and back. We'd originally planned to go for a 12 or 13 mile hike, but alas, no time. Story of every weekend.
Though short as far as hikes go, it still gave us a pretty good workout. We did a decent uphill to the top of the ridge, headed south a ways, then descended to the other side on a loose and somewhat tricky switchback. Boy, was I glad I had my poles. The bottom of that trail met up with a vastly different trail: a fireroad that looked to go straight up the mountain, back to the top of the ridge. Eat trail mix, drink water, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. Four legs good. Two legs bad. Finally, we made it back to the top of the ridge. We wrapped up the loop on some rolling hills and headed back to the car.
On our way up the big giant wall of a fireroad, we saw a guy in a long sleeve shirt running down. How was he not slipping? This hill was steep! Later, as we neared the parking lot, he ran by us from behind. "Did you run all the way down the big giant hill and back?" I asked. The answer? Yes. We chatted briefly, and then he continued on. How did he do that? I saw the answer as he ran off: he had calves the size of my quads. Yikes.
So that's it, our final training hike before heading off to Whitney. We'll do some short loops while we acclimate at Whitney Portal, but nothing more than a few miles. I can't believe that's next week. Lots to prepare!
This rock was kinda neat:
June 16, 2008 / Monday
Point Reyes Lighthouse & Tomales Point
We started off our day at the Bear Valley Inn, a cute little eco and bike friendly bed and breakfast in Olema. We had a nice breakfast of pancakes, bacon, fruit, and yogurt with the other guests, then paid a visit to Tomales Bay Foods for some sandwiches to eat on our hike: a fancy chicken thing for Aaron and a fancy veggie thing (cheese and olives and mushrooms) for me.
We then headed out to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. Aaron had warned that it would be windy there, but despite that warning I hadn't actually expected to be blown sideways. Still, the winds were "calm" enough that the steps to the lighthouse were open, and we were able to walk down for a visit.
After the lighthouse, we headed for the Tomales Point Trail. It was breezy at times, but nothing compared to the wind at the lighthouse. We saw lots of elk, and a couple had fuzzy antlers that I wanted to pet. Also fuzzy were the caterpillars and the Cobweb Thistle, which were so webby they appeared white. Totally weird. We also encountered a skunk, which actually looked quite cute as it bounded down the trail. Made me want to pet it. Hooray for self restraint.
It was a bit foggy when we started the hike, but the sky cleared up nicely as we neared the point. It was beautiful but windy there. We hunkered down behind a hill, ate our sandwiches, and headed back. More sand, flowers, cypress trees, bumblebees, and purple mini wheat looking things. My feet hurt, which was a sign that I'm not hiking enough. I need to toughen up my feet for Whitney! Maybe this means I should hike next weekend, too.
I leave you with the following "Where's Vivo?" photo:
[ Update: Aaron's photos for this post are here. It includes shots of the aforementioned Cobweb Thistle, fuzzy caterpillar, and bounding skunk. ]
May 31, 2008 / Saturday
Pinnacles National Monument
We continued our Whitney training this week with a hike at Pinnacles. Wake-up time: 6:30. Normally, this would be an ungodly wake-up for me, but a week of morning meetings has me thinking that's not so early after all. Went to bed early the night before and rolled right out of bed when the alarm went off. Piece of cake!
We entered the park through the East entrance and started our hike from the Bear Gulch Visitor Center. Up to Scout Peak we went, then up the steep and narrow part of the High Peaks Trail, which was pretty cool. There were steps carved into the rock along hand rails to help people along. We then descended along the Tunnel Trail, which, as the name suggests, included a sizable tunnel carved through the rock. Next, a pit stop at the parking lot on the other side of the park, followed by a visit to the Balconies Cave. I finally got to use the super cool headlamp I got for Christmas. :)
After the cave, we stopped for lunch, then discussed route options back to the car. A couple of us had boot issues, so we chose the shorter of the two routes and booked it on back to the car for a total mileage of 9.4 miles. Not quite as many miles as we'd hoped for, but a good hike nonetheless.
We talked to a nice ranger during our stop at the far parking lot. We saw her later at the visitor center, and observed the following exchange between her and a tourist...
Tourist: Excuse me, can you tell me where the monument is?
Ranger: You're IN the monument.
I guess the tourist had been expecting some sort of drive up and take a picture statue thing. I've been laughing about it randomly ever since.
As is tradition, I found an animal to count and name. I now present to you the list of lizards we encountered on today's hike:
- Lizzy - What else would you name a lizard?
- Scurry - I saw it. It scurried.
- Chase - I chased it down the trail. It scurried also, but that name was already taken.
- Zippy - This little lizard did not scurry. It zipped away.
- Godzilla - This lizard was HUGE. Godzilla huge.
- Stupid - We found this one with half its body sticking out of a hole. Loren slowly waved his boot at it, and instead of hiding in the hole it took off and ran in Aaron's direction.
- Spidey - It ran on a rock wall!
- Planck - I saw it on one of the planks of a wooden bridge. The extra 'c' is in honor of Max. You know, that guy with the constant.
- Venom - It was just hanging out on a rock wall, not caring that we were there. Cooler than Spidey. Way cooler.
- Stubby - This one was in the process of growing back its tail.
Oh! I totally forgot to talk about the scenery. The giant rocks (okay, mountains) there are awesome, and I was totally blown away by the whole volcano-that-moved thing. Plate tectonics FTW!
Meet Godzilla. It's not nearly as big as I remember it to be, but all the other lizards before it were really little!
• • •
I forgot to waah about my pains.
Pain 1: I tweaked my right ankle again. I did this during last week's hike, too. My ankles suck. They sprain easily, and I am paranoid about hurting them on uneven terrain. My last big sprain was on a backpacking trip. Off-roading by foot is dangerous!
Pain 2: After tweaking said ankle, I relaced my boots super duper tight, which after a couple miles, caused swelling and soreness in the tendon that runs down my leg and into my foot. Good job, me.
May 24, 2008 / Saturday
Newtmania!
Woke up at 7 this morning to go for a hike at Sanborn-Skyline County Park with Aaron's friend Esther and her husband Loren, who are joining us up Mt. Whitney in July. 7 is early for me, but 4:30 is even earlier, and since that's when we're going to have to start the hike up Whitney, we might as well get some practice hiking in the morning.
I brought my poles, which were once again totally awesome on the uphill. I found them pretty useful on the downhill, too, once I figured out how I wanted to use them. The only downside is that they got a fair amount of exposure to trailside poison oak, so I have to be pretty careful with them. I don't know if I'm sensitive to urushiol, but Aaron is, so I guess I won't be jabbing him with the poles anytime soon.
Speaking of poison, we encountered quite a few newts on the trail, which I didn't know were poisonous until I got home and looked them up. Honestly, I thought they were cute, and even wondered if I could take one home as a pet. I tried to pet one, but my finger was numb from the cold, so it didn't feel like anything. Aaron tried to pick one up later on, and said it felt like a cold gummy bear. At least it felt like something; as it turns out, their skin secretes tetrodotoxin, that deadly pufferfish toxin that makes you numb in small doses and kills you at higher ones. Tetrodotoxin, at our local parks! Craziness.
As with the banana slugs at Portola Redwoods back in December, I decided to name each newt we encountered. The list is as follows:
- Crawly - I saw a newt. It crawled.
- Slow Poke - I saw another newt. It crawled slowly.
- Swimmer - Esther noted how it moved like it was swimming in slow motion.
- Stealth - I passed by it, stopped, turned around, and there it was, in the middle of the trail.
- Chicken - Why did the newt cross the road? Because it was a chicken!
- Newton - Newton the newt! Loren came up with this one.
- Roadblock - It just stood there in the middle of the trail. If we'd stepped on it I'd have named it Speedbump.
- Sienna - It was dark, like burnt sienna.
- Isaac - Sir Isaac Newt. Loren came up with this one too.
- Gordo - This newt was fat!
- Chocolate - Named for its color.
- Scramble - It was scrambling to get off the trail.
- Statue - It stood there totally still. This is the one I tried to pet.
- Burger - I didn't see it and accidentally flipped it with my pole. Aaron then tried to pick it up. Woops.
Speaking of burgers, we had lunch at Kirk's Steakburgers afterward, and finished early enough to go on another hike on our usual afternoon schedule.
Instead, we went home, where I am now battling the urge to nap. I can't nap; the sun is out! Daylight's a wastin'!
Here's Swimmer, doing the crawl:
May 05, 2008 / Monday
Mission Peak
I finally did Mission Peak, but not on a bike as I'd expected. I made it up there on my feet. My feet! And why? Because Aaron had this crazy idea about hiking up Mt. Whitney this summer. He went as far as to get a permit to do so, and that permit date (July 2nd) is rapidly approaching. We need to hike more, and NOW.
This crazy idea has been something of a boon to my gear addiction. It was the perfect excuse for a sweet technical day pack (Gregory Z30) and a pair of nifty ultralight hiking poles (Leki Thermolite). This crazy idea has been a boon to REI, too.
I haven't tried out the backpack yet, but I did take my new poles on today's hike. I'd wondered whether they would do more harm than good (after all, it's more weight to carry), but I really do love them on the uphills. It definitely keeps my legs fresher and helps me keep a nice rhythm and pace. They keep me from getting bored and walking slooowly, too. (Yes, I find hiking boring. No wheels, no edges, yawwwn.) The jury's out on whether I like them going downhill; I didn't have a chance to figure out how to use them in that direction since I let Aaron borrow them. He hates downhills, and seemed to find the poles helpful. I'll count that as a yay up and down.
The hike up took 75 minutes, which included time for me to complain about being hungry and then stop to eat. It was moderate to steepish, boring but short enough to be over quickly. The poles helped a ton on the extra steep section just before the summit; I just scrambled up on all fours. Up top, it was incredibly windy. And cold. And windy. Waah.
On the way back down, we encountered a bunch of cows. They were eating. Some of them pooped. Some of them mooed. I tried to take a picture of a pooping cow but failed. Just as well; Aaron thought that pooping cow pictures would sully his camera anyhow.
Near the bottom of the hill, I noticed that my fingers were plump (plump for me, at least). It was difficult to make a tight fist (is this how people with really fat hands feel?), and the fleshy pad on the final joint was puffed up, which reminded me of alien fingers. Just color me green! I think I'll use my poles on the next descent; it'll keep my arms from swinging and my fingers from getting fat.
I'm reading up on the Whitney climb. It doesn't look too bad, except for the fact that the peak is at 14,505 feet. My legs burn just walking my snowboard to the ski lift line in Tahoe; hiking up a mountain at an even higher altitude is going to be interesting.
March 05, 2008 / Wednesday
Loch Lomond Recreational Area
Aaron wanted me to blog about our hike this weekend. I told him I didn't know what to say, so here's his recap:
I went for a hike.
It was steep.
There was a pretty lake.
It was good to get out because it had been a month.
We went on that Big Trees Trail and there numbers but no big trees.
No big trees! Liars!
So Aaron has this Bay Area hiking guide book, and it said there was a scenic 5.2 mile hike of "moderate" difficulty at Loch Lomond. The park opens every year on March 1st, and since we happened upon that entry on February 29th, we figured we'd pay them a visit on opening day.
We arrived, picked up a map, parked, and set out on the guide book route. The first part of the hike was on a trail along the reservoir. There were people everywhere fishing along the banks. Not much of a nature getaway, but all the people disappeared soon after we turned onto the Highland trail. This trail went up and up and up, and it was steep. Moderate, my ass! Toward the end of the hike we spotted the following on the map we picked up at the gate: "Highland Loop Terrain: extremely rugged and steep." I guess the guy who wrote the guide book was either extremely rugged, or on crack.
Lying guide book aside, we got a great workout, some nice pictures, and a nice day out in the beautiful weather. Not a bad way to kick off March!
December 24, 2007 / Monday
Slugfest In The Woods
Went for a hike today at Portola Redwoods State Park. It was the most deserted hike ever. No one hikes the day before Christmas. Imagine that!
We did a loop up to the summit, back down, crossed a creek, visited a waterfall, crossed the creek again, and made it back to the car, this time without running out of light. Huzzah!
Along the way, we enountered 15 banana slugs. I counted. I named each of them, too. Here they are, in order:
- Sluggy - Ooh! A banana slug! I shall name it... Sluggy.
- Sluggy 2 - Ooh! Another slug! I shall name it... Sluggy 2.
- Sluggy The 3rd - Sluggy 3 doesn't sound dignified enough. How about... Sluggy The 3rd!
- Orgy Slug - Aaron suggested quarternary slug, which reminded me of quarternary protein structures, which made me think of, well, a slug orgy.
- Funf - German for five. I'm so creative.
- Sixxy - Again, I demonstrate my creativity.
- Dwarf (Is Dead) - Dwarf, because there are seven dwarves, although this one seemed kind of dead. I gave it some water, but that didn't seem to help. I hope it's okay.
- Lucky - The Chinese word for eight sounds like the word for fortune.
- Nerf - The French word for nine always reminded me of Nerf, so Nerf it is!
- Zen - I like this word, and it's similar to the German word for ten without being German.
- Snake Eyes - Eleven, 11, one one.
- Iggy - Twelve, dozen, eggs, I say eggs "iggs", voila!
- Baker - As in, baker's dozen. I found this guy hanging out on a banana peel.
- Grim Reaper - The Chinese pronunciation of fourteen sounds similar to "you are definitely going to die".
- Green Slime - I didn't know what to name number fifteen. Remember what happens when you say "I don't know" on You Can't Do That On Television?
Counting is fun! I kind of felt like we were on a road trip.
Oh, and banana slugs don't taste like bananas.
Say hello to Iggy:
December 10, 2007 / Monday
Weekend Update
'Cause I wanna be like Andrea.
Friday - Decided to leave work just after the magical security switchover hour of 7 and found that I couldn't get my bike out of the company bike room. Went back to my desk, wrote an angry e-mail, went to look for the facilities guy, didn't find him, went back to my desk, edited the rarr from my e-mail, sent it, and headed to my car. Found a coworker pushing his kaput car into a parking space. I'd planned to shop a bit before my game, but since I had time gave I him a ride home instead. Headed to Fremont, made a pit stop at REI. Went into my bag to get my REI card and smelled burning plastic. Discovered my laptop trying to kill itself. Turned the thing off, blew on it, and hoped that it'd be okay (it is). Went to my Blue game. Blogged my Blue game.
Saturday - Got up really late, ate a bagel, and went for a hike to find the big crack in the ground at Nisene Marks. Started way too late, never made it to where we were trying to go (I think we got close, though), and ended up walking back to the car in the dark. Next hike/ride I'm imposing a go/no go time. I hate getting caught in the dark. Went to the Yahoo! Year End Party, where I snagged a nifty multicolor LED ice cube. (The whole party was done up about as niftily as said cube.) Headed to the city for the Prefuse 73 show at Slim's. Good study music, strange live music. Headed back down to the Y!YEP 'cause Aaron wanted more food and an ice cube too. Headed home and went to bed at two something. Oof, late.
Sunday - Got up really really late and went to Body Worlds 2 at the Tech Museum. It was pretty much like the original BW exhibition, although they did have a pretty cool exploded man at this one. No circulatory system family, but they at least had a nifty plastinated capillary arm you could look at up close. Bought a couple postcards of a circulatory system chicken and rabbit. Clearly, I am a fan of plastinated circulatory systems. Went to dinner at Sino, where they dropped my so-so leftover ribs on the floor and offered me tasty chicken things as a consolation. The tasty chicken things made my night, and I've been randomly bouncing about them ever since.
*bounce*
April 30, 2007 / Monday
"W" Tree Rock Scramble
Tried to make it up the "W" Tree Rock Scramble at Sunol Regional Wilderness on Sunday, but ran out of time and had to turn back so I could make it to my Maroon game. I still have no idea how high or how far it goes. Perhaps I should find out before my next attempt.
Still, I got a few pictures from our visit. Don't those rocks look fun?
August 03, 2003 / Sunday
Big Sur & Sykes Hot Springs
Hi. It's Sunday. Back from my trip. I sprained my ankle. Dammit.
Ten minutes after my last blog post I hopped in my car and drove home. Doug came by, I hopped in his car, and we drove down to Monterey.
Had a soy latte on the way down.
Got to Monterey, checked in at the Monterey Plaza Hotel, got really hungry, ate some $5 hotel snack bar Pringles, waited a little while longer, and then went to dinner with the some folkses at the Sardine Factory.
Had lots of yummy food for dinner.
The next day, Doug woke up and said, "I left my boots at home." Home? Home, as in 118 miles away? Yup. I wasn't about to have him hike without boots (hiking, sure, but with a backpack?) so I offered to go get them while he did his presentation thing (which is why we were in Monterey in the first place). Off I went.
I got to honk at an ex-coworker on 101 so the trip was worth it.
Got boots, drove back to Monterey, picked up Doug, drove to Big Sur, got our permit, and hiked in. Found an awesome spot next to a stream with a mini waterfall nearby. Set up camp and started dinner.
Pasta Roni is great when you're in the woods.
The next morning, we hiked another 5 or so miles to Sykes Hot Springs. It was definitely worth the hike. Unfortunately, everyone there while we were there seemed to want clothes. A bit of a bummer. I would much rather have just stripped and jumped in. What's with people wanting to wear clothes all the time, anyway?
We should just all prance around naked.
Soaked until I was woozy from the heat, ate lunch, and headed back. I managed to bruise the inside of my left foot crossing the river. No biggie. I bruise easily, as those of you who know me well will attest to. Got back to camp, wrote a little in my journal while Doug took a nap, and started dinner.
Had burritos. They were fun.
Sunday morning. We woke up, we packed up, we started heading back. 2 or 3 miles into our hike, I managed to sprain my right ankle. I cut a big gash in my left knee in the process. Doug helped me clean and patch up my knee (shenks), I tightened my boot up more, and finished the hike out.
Man, I was dirrrty!
Drove up Highway 1 and stoped at Duarte's Tavern in Pescadero for a bowl of Cream of Artichoke / Cream of Green Chile soup, some awesome bread, a sandwich, some fries, and a slice of olallieberry pie. The lady who seated us (we think she's either very senior or has some sort of ownership power there) was super nice when she saw that I was hobbling (I was not walking very easily at this point). She asked me which ankle I had injured, put us in a corner booth so I could elevate my foot, and came back with a bag of ice for me ... all before I could ask!
The food was most excellent, by the way.
Drove back here (my place) after Duarte's. I'm gonna go clean up and take some Advil now. Bye.
06:15 PM | Food:Hike:Injuries:Trips| Comments (0)
June 10, 2002 / Monday
Yosemite
Back from Yosemite. Wish I didn't have to come back. My mind was so unburdened up there. Nothing but water and trees and stars and mosquitos. No phones ringing, no AIM windows popping up, no traffic jams, no people to dodge. I was happy there, bike and hike and cheese and crackers and waterfall and gorgeous view happy.
Left the Bay Area at 5 PM on Friday. Didn't want to miss the lovely Friday afternoon traffic, after all. I think we did a good job of catching every last minute of it.
Traffic cleared up about two hours later. The rest should have been cake. It sure seemed like it would be from the directions! 580E to 205E to 120E. How hard could that be?
Very hard if you miss the fork to 120 and go for miles and miles without realizing it. Oh, did I say miles? How about tens of miles? Tens of miles of windy road along the side of a mountain in pitch darkness. Two and a half hours of it, in fact.
That part of the trip went like this: Blah blah blah blah blah ... Whoa! Windy road! ... Blah blah blah ... So dark! ... Blah blah blah ... Hey, we're passing Strawberry! It looks just like the Strawberry we pass up in Tahoe ... Nah, it can't be the same Strawberry ... Blah blah ... You know, Yosemite shouldn't be this far away ... Hey look, a road sign ... 108 ... 108?! Where the hell ARE we?!
Dig map out. Oh-my-God a bit. Turn around:
Chuckle to self every 5 minutes in disbelief. Daaah! a bit. Chuckle some more. Only another two and a half hours to get back to the fork, right? Ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous! Daaah!
Back into town at 2 AM for some gas and some food. Denny's, of course. It was 2 AM, after all. Meat lover's skillet and coffee and wheat toast soaked in butter. Time to go out and try again.
I don't remember much of the drive into Yosemite. I was too tired. It was dark and the road was windy and I saw a river and a waterfall and then we were in the parking lot and the sun was coming up. Goddammit, it's not supposed to take 12 hours to get to Yosemite!
6 AM. Try to get some sleep.
7 AM. I hate kids. Especially when there are 4 of them outside your tent running around screaming their heads off.
8 to 10 AM. More kids. I think they were throwing rocks at each other.
11 AM. Uppie! Must go explore!
Ate a donut and got our bikes. Checked out lower Yosemite Falls. Ate some cheese and crackers. No, not the little handi-snack thingamadoohickeys. Had cheddar and gouda and garlic & herb water crackers. Dropped some water crackers in the water by accident. That's okay. They're water crackers, after all.
Biked some more. Froze a bit in cold mountain water. Hit a few trails in the woods. Mucked with my broken front brake a bit. Gave up on my broken front brake. Made it to a field underlooking the face of El Capitan. Some guy had a telescope set up there. I got to take a look. It's funny seeing climbers dangling off the side. They're so leedle up there!
Saturday night. Back at Camp Curry. What do campers eat for dinner? Ice cream and pizza! In that order, no less. Ice cream for dinner, pizza for dessert. Yum!
Tried to take advantage of the dark and stargaze a bit. My night vision sucks.
Stars schmars! Did you know you can turn your MagLite into a light saber? It literally shoots beams of light if you focus it right. Szhszhszhszhszhing!
Midnight. Time for schleep. The kids would be up and screaming again soon.
10 AM. Glah glah glah glah glah glah glah glah glah! A chorus of 5 year olds glahhing. Glaaaaah!
Donuts and beef jerky and ice cream for breakfast. Fuel for the hike ahead.
Where to? El Capitan! On second thought, let's do something slightly less ambitious. How about Yosemite Falls instead?
Less ambitious, haha. I can't freakin' walk today. That hike was painful!
Painful but worth it. It was beautiful up top. Beautiful and free of feeble people. They all turned back long before they could even see the top. More picnic room by the falls for me!
We even made it another mile past the falls to Yosemite Point. Got the bestest view of Half Dome from up there. Hopefully I'll post some pretty pictures for you all soon. Great wallpaper material!
And that's wallpaper for your desktop, not your walls, though I guess you could put the pics on your walls too. Oh hell, do whatever you want with them. Wear 'em on your shirt. Wear 'em on your head. Feed 'em to your fish.
I'm making no sense, I know.
Anyway, I'm back now. Not too happy about it. The mind started getting muddled once I got back to civilization. It got even worse when I stepped into my apartment. I was back. I didn't want to be.
It's amazing how by changing your surroundings you can remove yourself from all the problems in your life (or your head). Now I understand why some people just up and walk away from everything. No warnings, no goodbyes. No hint as to where they're going for people to track them down with. Leave and start fresh.
Hello, stranger. That's a nice clean slate you've got there.
