10.15.2007

10,064 feet

For the first time in over a year I made it back above 10,000 feet!

We headed up Mt. Baldy, which I found out is actually named Mount San Antonio, yesterday. We were supposed to wake up at 3:45 and meet Kurtiss at 4:30 to get on to road. So when Mandi woke me up at 4:30 saying Kurtiss was calling my phone I freaked out. Stupid alarm clock! I was tired too because my Ass of a neighbor decided to have one of his little concerts Saturday night starting around midnight!

So we scrambled to get ready and I think we were on the road by 5:30.

We got to the Mt. Baldy Ranger Station right at 7AM which happens to be when they open. Picked up our adventure pass and headed to the trail head. Beware, this road is TWISTY! But it's a short drive to Manker Flats where we were to start.

The plan was to take the Manker Flats/Ski Hut trail up and down for total of 8.4 miles and almost 8000 feet elevation gain and loss. The trail starts out pretty mild on a closed road. About 1/2 a mile up there is a barely noticeable trail that takes off on the left. We saw it because a trail runner took off up that trail. From this point the trail is pretty steep and relentless all the way to the top.

We tried to stop about every hour and ate something at every stop. I carried about 40 pounds. 20 pounds of dumbbells, 1.5 gallons of water and some food and sundries. I felt good all way to the top but I definitely felt the altitude near the top! We made it up in 3:45 and I think I could have pushed a little harder.

Near the top where it was steep enough I was able to get into a rhythm with my rest-stepping. I also practiced my pressure breathing quite a bit. I was surprised when I got to the summit because I was expecting a false summit first. When I got there I looked around and there was nowhere to go but down. Plus as I neared the top I could hear crowd noises. Not just a few voices but full on crowd noises! Such is the nature of a wilderness experience in the LA/OC/Riverside area. There were about 40 people on top and one of them was smoking a cigar! It stunk!

The view from the top was great though. We could see in almost every direction and the whole inland empire was covered in a layer of clouds thousands of feet below us. We were bathed in warm sun while on top. Of course I didn't put sunscreen on so I have a burned neck and raccoon eyes from my glacier glasses...

We came down the same way we went up and it was slower than I thought it would be. Descending loose scree on a steep trail is never any fun. It took almost three hours to come down and we were all pretty tired when we got to the truck.

A day later and I feel pretty good. I feel like I could go back up today if I had to. Little sore in the calves and quads and my neck is sore too.

The next time I head up for that hike, or maybe San Jacinto, I'll use the big backpack. I loaded my day pack with 40 pounds and that's just a bit too much to be carrying just on my shoulders. 40 pounds is a lot more comfortable when you can carry a lot of that weight on your hips. I'll also use my sunscreen!

R

10.12.2007

More Gym, More Hikes

The other day at the gym I did 30 minutes of intervals on the stairs at level 14. Puking was an option but I made it through... I followed that up with 20 minutes on the stationary bike.

Last night I met Kurtiss at Iron Mountain, we both carried around 35 or 40 pounds. Kurtiss wore plastics and paid the price for that... We were up in 61 minutes and down in 50. It was a good workout and I felt better afterwards than I did last week. I just got back from the gym, 30 minutes at level 13 on the stairs and 20 minutes on the bike.

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to the Miramar Air Show and Sunday morning early we'll hit Baldy, which I found out is actually called Mt. San Antonio and is the third highest peak in SoCal at 10,064 feet.

I'm hoping to do a Thursday evening hike every week until the week before I leave for Ecuador. I enjoy getting out and I can really feel the difference between carrying weight up and down a real trail and climbing stairs in the gym. This was something lacking in my preparation for Rainier last year so I hope this helps me somewhat. I'm also hoping to get in a few more climbs of higher peaks where I can put in 5 to 7 hours of good hard hiking. But we'll see if my schedule allows for that.

I'll check in again after Sunday. It's Raiders week... GO CHARGERS!

10.08.2007

Good Hard Hikes!

So last week I went and did Iron Mountain. I tried to keep pushing myself the whole way. I was probably carrying about 35 pounds, which isn't much but it's something. It was a bit hot.

I did the 3.5 miles up in 55 minutes. It took another 45 minutes to come back down. It felt good and I pushed it hard enough to get a good workout out of it. I hope to be able to do that again this Thursday. I definitely want to spend some more time walking down hill!

Next Sunday Kurtiss and I will run up and down Mount Baldy. I haven't done it so I'm not sure what to expect. I plan on carrying at least 35 pounds again, maybe a little bit more. I'm not going to wear plastics though. I'll just wear my hiking boots. Since this hike is up and down I think this might be better than San Jacinto, even though San J. is much more elevation gain.

Last weekend I went up to Palomar Mountain to look at the telescope with my family. I could feel the 6000' up there.... hmmmmm....

Until next time,
R

10.04.2007

Training hikes and things

In an effort to be boring I'll say my training continues as usual. Lots of stairs, stationary bike, leg workouts and core work. Feeling pretty good. Have not lost an ounce in months. It's a strange thing that I'd rather not talk about....

I'm going to leave work a bit early today and head up to Iron Mountain for a training hike with about 30 pounds in my pack. It's only seven miles, and it's only 2500 feet gain, and it's at nearly sea level, but hey, I live in San Diego and it's what I've got... So I plan on pushing it pretty hard to get something out of it.

Looks like next weekend Kurtiss and I might get in a hike up and down Mount Baldy. As the weather changes I'm hoping to get out to Mt. San Jacinto soon too. Things have been pretty quiet over Gerry's way but I know he's been busy...

The Chiropractic continues. I can't say I'm pain free but I do feel changes going on, and while I still feel pain daily it's a bit different now. My confidence is raised and I've committed to about a year of working with this guy.

I have begun to consider details for Ecuador. Some random thoughts and questions I have:

*** I know we need about 7 lunches but I wonder if we will be able to do some shopping down there or should I pack 7 lunches and take em down with me. Since I'll want some fruit seems like I'll need to get that down there. But montezumas concerns me with that scenario...

*** I know airlines don't like shoulder straps on bags checked. So I was thinking about my backpack, there are many straps hanging off of it. I talked to Gerry about that and for his Rainier trip he bought a Travel Bag for his pack. Basically it's like a big duffel that your pack fits in and doesn't have any extraneous straps hanging off of it. And it's lockable. So I think I'll pick up one of those.

*** I was also thinking about summit days. We'll be staying in public huts the nights before summit day. I don't imagine we'll want to leave anything in the huts. That means we'll be taking nearly a full pack to the summit and back... Ugh...

*** During the period we'll be in Ecuador there is an "Excess Baggage Embargo" on by the airlines. This means we are only allowed two 50 pound bags to be checked. I can get buy with checking 100 pounds, but I wonder if I'll have to limit my souvenir shopping while down there because of that...

*** I have been wondering if my blackberry will work down there. I'm not taking a laptop of course so I want to find out if my cell phone and email features will work from my blackberry. It looks like the cell phone will work, with some hefty roaming charging but I'm not sure if the email features will work.

That's all for now. I hope to report how the hikes goes later today.

R