Week 78 Feb. 25 & 26 - Dark Canyon

Total Distance: Approximately 20~24 miles with a heavy pack; 10~15 with a day pack.
Elevation Gain: Approximately: 1500 ft (down on Day 1), minimal in-between, and 1500 ft (back up Day 7).
Time: Tues. 2/21 - Mon. 2/27
Weather: Amazing. Mostly sunny to sunny the whole time.  Cold nights and a one really windy day.

I went into Dark Canyon on Tuesday Feb. 21st for a 7 day and 6 night backpacking trip.  For the first time on any long backpacking trip, I kept a journal.  I did a decent job staying current with it.  I am going to copy the entries I wrote into the blog.  Here we go...

Tues. 2/21 - Dark Canyon - Day 1

The first day of a 7 day 6 night backpacking trip started on Tuesday.  We took awhile to get out of the Hanksville Inn and on the road, but we were finally walking on the trail by 10:20 am.  After about 10 minutes a kid remembered the tent in the car.  He ran back and we all were seriously moving again by closer to 11 am.  This is the 3rd time in 4 years I have done this same trip.  The first year was Feb. of 2009.  We spent 6 days and 5 nights in Dark Canyon.  Mostly alternating days with full packs and day packs.  Last year, I was in Dark Canyon for 7 days and 6 nights which overlapped with Week 26 (the half-way point).  This year's trip was off to a splendid start.  We day hiked on Sunday, overnighted at a car camping spot, day hiked on Monday, took a night in Hanksville, and were off finally with everything we needed.  The next hour went by like it always had.  We walked the Sundance Trail about 2 miles around a rim of a canyon to a talus rock slope that defends about 1200 feet in a little less than a mile.  We took a nice, long snack break and started our walk down around 12:50 pm.

The decent into the canyon began like all other years.  It was sunny and warm on the south facing slope.  It was slow going for a few of us.  I saw Creighton ahead with 8 kids close behind.  I had 3 students a little ways behind me, and my other co-leader was with one student a little further up.  As I occasionally look back to see the other 3 following me, I am enjoying a spectacular day in the canyon.  I kept going down.  Then, around 1:30 pm, it happened.

I heard a student scream and looked back to see a student on the ground crying.  I called out to her and told her to talk to me.  She just kept crying and not responding.  I threw down my pack and quickly got up to her.  She said her ankle hurt, and she had heard a pop.  I took off both her boots and socks.  I could see her right ankle was already swelling.  I asked if she could have hurt her back when she fell and checked down her spine.  I then told her to tell me if it hurt if I touched her ankle.  I barely pressed the outside of her ankle and she screamed.  I called to Creighton, who was gathered with the 8 students a bit below on a giant rock, perfect to take a rest and regather the group.  He ran right up.  He looked at the ankle and talked with the young lady, and he confirmed my fear: we needed to evac the student.  Our other co-leader was over soon, and we all agreed upon and planned an evac.

Creighton ran up to the top of the rim with a satellite phone (and all our forms and numbers) because we could not get a signal on the slope.  My co-leader and I took a set of vitals and gave the student 800 mg of ibuprofen.  We took out her rest pad and tried to make her more comfortable. Then we waited to hear what Creighton would find out.  We were about half-way between the rim and the base of the canyon.  My other leader and I were discussing options and changes to the route for me to more easily join back up with the group, when Creighton had come back down.  He had gotten ahold of the San Juan County Sheriff who would come out with the Search and Rescue team. He was going to meet them at the trailhead.  I would stay with the injured person and get to the hospital to figure out how to get her home.  My other co-leader would take the other kids to our first campsite, only 20~30 minutes from the base of the talus slope, and she would wait there where Creighton would rejoin that evening, hopefully.  By now it was around 2:30 pm.  Creighton took off for the trailhead.  The kids were on the rest rock below, and two of the seniors were entertaining the group.  My co-leader and I could hear them laughing.  Kids came up and down to chat with the injured kid, and we waited.  Around 4:15 pm, my co-leader and I agreed, they need to move.  It was getting dark, especially down in the canyon where they had to go, and it was starting to get colder.  We ran through the details of the plan again, gave each other a hug, and wished each other a safe journey.  I took some layers and personal food in my day pack, and I had the students pack too if I needed anything else.  The 11 other students and my other co-leader took off for camp, while shuttling my pack.

The injured kid and I were now sitting alone.  She was fine as long as her ankle stayed immobilized.  We were chatting and waiting, when we saw and heard a helicopter.  The helicopter flew above and around us.  I was standing waving my arms while holding my bright colored orange jacket.  I was confident the chopper saw us.  Soon, I could see 3 men heading down the slope.  They were carrying a big backboard.  The helicopter was back, and another 2 men were heading down.  By 5:30 pm, there were 6 adult men (including me) with the injured student.  Two of the men were EMTs with the helicopter pilot.  The other 3 were San Juan County Search and Rescue.  The EMTs were now in charge.  I read them my SOAP note (an assessment of the situation, I was trained to do at a WMI Wilderness First Aid course).  The EMTs were happy with my training.  They began giving a stronger pain medication through an IV set up on the left hand.  We then padded and stabilized her right ankle.  We then moved her to the backboard and strapped her in.  By 6 pm we were ready to move down.  The choice to go up or down was still a question.  The EMTs in communication with the pilot agreed on down.  The pilot came into the canyon and landed on a rock near the base of the slope.  It was perched on rock that was barely big enough.  The entire party was impressed.  The EMTs tied a rope to the top of the litter, and one S&R guy would body belay the student, so we wouldn't lose her if we lost hold of the litter.  The other 5 of us began carrying her down.  This might be one of the most physically demanding and exhausting tasks I have ever done.  It took us 3 hours to get to the helicopter.  Once we got down to the chopper, the EMTs gave more pain meeds, and got the student into cabin safely.  They had Cliff Bars, Gatorade, and water.  During the litter carry, Creighton came by with a broken headlamp some S&R guys had given him at the trailhead.  He asked if he should help carry the litter, but I told him he needed to be with the other kids and our other leader.  He took off down the slope, where he was able to get to his pack, right before it was almost too dark.

By 9 pm, the student was in the helicopter, and the team was ready to fly to Moab, 30~40 minutes away by helicopter.  They were obviously not returning so late to pick anyone up, so the 3 S&R guys and I had to hike out, back to the trailhead.  We spread out alined the slope and climbed up looking for site of the injury, where one guy left his pack and where my day pack and the kid's pack was.  We were able to find it and continue up.  I reached the top of the rim around 10 pm.  Two S&R guys were still working their way up.  It was the first time since 1:30 pm when I felt like the kid was going to be fine.  I was eating some almonds, when I looked up at the sky.  It was the night of a new moon, and the night sky was breath-taking.  While I hated the reason I was sitting there, I was blown away by its beauty.  By 10:20 we were all gathered on the rim.  We walked the trail on the top and were back to the cars around 11:40 pm.  There I met a big crew of S&R guys and the sheriff.  After I shared a lot of info with the sheriff, I gave a lot of thank yous and hand shakes to the fine volunteers of the San Juan County Search and Rescue.  They all packed up, and I took a rental van, and followed them to Highway 95.  I was on the road by 12:30 am.  I drove to Moab and was at the hospital by 4am.  The student was asleep, and the hospital set up a place for me to sleep.  After a few minutes of text messages and phone calls, the heaviness of sleep out weighed the adrenaline of the day.  I slept for the next 5 hours.

Wed. 2/22 - Moab Regional Hospital - Day 2

I spent all day with the student and communicating with all sorts of people: school administrators, parents, nurses, the orthopedic surgeon, my parents, and, of course, the student.  During the day, the kid and I talked, laughed, napped, and watched some movies. The plan was for me to stay until the kid's parents could get there at which point I would return with the group.  Creighton, my other co-leader, and I agreed that they would base camp 3 nights at the first site (instead of 2 as the original plan) to give me a chance to join up easier.  The kid's parents took the fastest flights from Sea-Tac to Moab and arrived around 9 pm.  I sadly left the student (I felt like we had become so close) and drove to back to the trailhead.  I was parked next to the other two vans by 12:30 am.  I slept in the car and woke at 5:30 am.

Thurs. 2/24 - Dark Canyon - Day 3

I geared up in the car and walked out to a frigid, dark morning.  I needed a headlamp to see, but I could see the sky lightening up in the east.  I did a few jumping jacks to get warm, and took off for the first camp, my watch read 5:58 am.  Thirty minutes into the hike there was enough light I could turn off my headlamp (which was actually the injured student's lamp, I had left mine in my full pack).  I was at the top of the rim by 7:05 am.  I began walking down the talus slope.  All I could think about was how 36 hours earlier, I was on this slope involved in a crazy litter carry down to a helicopter.  At 7:20 am, I was about half-way down, when I realized I was only a few feet away from the scene of the injury.  I took a moment to just think about all that had happened.  I kept on walking down, slowly.  I was at the base of the slope by 7:40 am.  I was walking toward the camp, and I could see people milling about.  I shouted something that now I cannot even remember.  Creighton and my other co-leader came running over to me.  We embraced in a big hug, and I fought back the welling of tears in my eyes.  I could not have imagined a better reunion.  People gathered about me as I told the story, and I listened to their tales too.

We decided to stay a 3rd night anyway, since I had already hiked a good 5 miles and was a little tired.  We day hiked up Lost Canyon and hung out around camp.  It felt like home to be back.

Fri. 2/24 - Dark Canyon - Day 4

We packed up and moved camp up Dark Canyon, to the base of Young's Canyon.  A great hike with a full pack that always blows me away with its beauty and diversity of terrain.  I was in the back with a very heavy pack.  It took me over 6 hours to walk 7 miles up the canyon.  I had another great evening, with an amazing meal and a couple of games of cribbage with my co-leader.  I was in my tent by 9:30 pm, asleep before 10 pm, and slept until 8 am.

Sat. 2/25 - Dark Canyon - Day 5

Up at 8 am, and the kids had already started hot water.  Breakfast and baked goodies in our bellies had us day hiking up Dark Canyon by 10 am.  At noon, we stopped for lunch.  It was warm, but windy.  Around 12:30 pm, the kids began moving back towards camp.  I stayed behind to journal and have a little solo time.  As I write this it is 1:10 pm and I told Creighton and my other co-leader I would start walking back around 1:30 pm.  I am going to sit here in the sun until then…

I had a great walk back to camp.  I stopped at a seep where I filled up my water bottle with naturally filtered water.  There is a place where water is dripping out of a rock wall.  It has found a way through a few hundred feet of sand and rock which acts like a filter.  I have never treated this water and have never had giardia either.  I made it back to camp around 3 pm and went for a dip in the pools in Young's Canyon.  After drying off in the sun, I put on a new shirt.  I felt great and sat in the sun above the pool for about 20 minutes.  I came back into camp, played a few games of cribbage with some kids.  I ate another delicious dinner, sat around camp, and enjoyed a small fire Creighton had made.

Creighton, the 4 female campers, and I stayed around the fire until 10 pm, when everyone but me went to bed.  It is now 10:15 pm, and I am the only one not in my tent.  I am watching the small fire and feeling its warmth on my shins and the rest of my body.  It is chilly, even with a fire right in front of me.  I am reminded of a warning Aldo Leopold wrote in A Sand County Almanac, "[t]here are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm: one is thinking food comes from the grocery, the other is thinking heat comes from the furnace."  Right now, in this moment by the fire at the base of Young's Canyon, I know where heat comes from.  It comes from the years and years that the pinion pine I am burning trapped carbon dioxide and changed it over into mass as it grew up on the hill above our camp.  I am so thankful for all the work this tree, the sun, and the canyon did for me to feel warmth this evening.

Sun. 2/26 - Dark Canyon - Day 6

Up at 7 am and had camp broken down and packed up by 10 am.  We backpacked down to the base of Lost Canyon for our last night in this magical place.  It took four and half hours.  I spent most of the time alone, enjoying how great my pack felt.  I had finally eaten enough to get this pack feeling good.

Made it into camp and sat around in the sun.  Surprise, but we had another amazing meal, then we shared our Orchids and Onions around a candle.  I am always so touched by what student's get out of this trip.  While we, the leaders, never specifically say we want to change their lives, I think it happens on this trip.  I know my life is always impacted by this place.  Its beauty and its rawness wear away the defenses of my heart.  And I am always left at the end, fully open and loving the world and those around me.

My other co-leader and I played a little cribbage, and then we went to bed.  I feel asleep to the sounds of our students laughing and gearing up for a night of sleep outside their tents.  I am almost 100% positive I feel asleep with a smile on my face.

Mon. 2.27 - Dark Canyon - Day 7

We had a phenomenal morning with a bunch of breakfast brownies.  Creighton and and I were packing up slowly...  sad to leave such a magical place.

We all started walking by 10:20 am, we were at the base of the talus, rock slope at 11 am, and I was up on the rim by noon.  We all had a huge lunch break, where we made crazy sandwiches using all our remaining food.  We started walking around 1 pm.  I was the trailhead by 2:30 pm.  Creighton, my other co-leader, and I shared in a big hug.  I felt the welling of tears, but I think I was able to hide these from everyone.

Another glorious trip in one of my favorite places in the world.

Orchid: Walking into camp on Thursday morning or getting the kid into the helicopter.

Onion: The accident.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 77 Feb. 19 - Capitol Reef National Park

Total Distance: Approximately 10.5 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 2000 ft.
Time: 9:30 am - 3:00 pm
Weather: Cool, mostly cloudy, light snow early, sunshine late, and very windy.

I'm in Utah again this February with 12 students and the same 2 other adults from my school as last year (one of which is Creighton). We are doing the same 7 day 6 night backpacking trip into Dark Canyon, but that didn't start until Tuesday the 21st. We flew into Salt Lake City on Saturday, bought all of our groceries, and drove south to Torrey, UT. We spent the night in a hotel, and the plan was to day hike in Capitol Reef on Sunday.

We were up and on the road by 8:15 am and in the Visitor's Center of Capitol Reef by 8:30 am.  After watching a short video which detailed some of the history and unique geological features of the park and a stroll through the gift shop, we were back on the road to go see some roadside petroglyphs.  These were amazing.  After that, we jumped back in the vans, and were at the trailhead for Navajo Knobs and Hickman's Bridge by 9:20 am.    The kids and Creighton took off for Hickman's Bridge while my other co-;leader and I were still fiddling with our gear.  We got moving around 9:30 am.

The trail starts right next to the Fremont River.  We walk along the river for about 60 yards, then we turn to the left and start a small climb into the park.  The trail climbs slowly, then it reaches a junction: left to Hickman's Bridge right to Navajo Knobs.  Creighton was waiting here for us, when he saw we were on the right track, he ran ahead to the kids.  My other co-leader and I took off to the bridge, and the overcast skies started dropping a light snow.  We had a nice mile walk to the natural bridge, as the little snow flurries were dancing all around us.  As we came around a bend, the bridge came into view, a beautiful, natural arch the stretched across the small canyon we had hiked into.  We walked up to, underneath, and past the beautiful bridge.  Amazed, moved, and excited, we took off back to the junction to head up to Navajo Knobs.

Our hike up to the knobs began with a crazy flurry of big snowflakes.  As one of my hiking buddies likes to say, "it is like we are walking in a snow globe."  Luckily the snow was short lived, but it did remain overcast, windy, and chilly.  The hike was a steady up hill that curved and bent around the rim of a plateau.  The hike was fun and beautiful, but as I write these words, it is a few days after the hike, and the memories have begun to fade.

Orchid: Rim overlook on the way up to Navajo Knobs.

Onion: My feet were sore at the end of the hike.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 76 Feb. 12 - Rampart Ridge, kind of

Total Distance: Approximately 10 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 3000 ft.
Time: 9:45 am - 4:15 pm
Weather: Mostly cloudy, cool, very little periods of light snow.

My buddy, Creighton, and I had talked during the week at work about hiking together this weekend.  We went to see the Upper School's winter musical Friday night and chose Sunday.  It was supposed to be the better weather day, and we both had work to do this weekend.  We talked late Saturday night and settled on snowshoeing up to Mount Margaret, only 90 minutes away and only 9 miles round trip.  We had no problems getting to the trailhead.  We were there by 9:30 am.  We geared up and took off by 9:45.

The hike starts off on a snow covered road that parallels I-90.  We carried our snowshoes for about 15 minutes, then as we made a turn up the slope, we stopped to put our snowshoes on.  We climbed up the road and it switched-back a few times.  We got to a left, right split, and we had read in the trail book to stay left.  Looking at Google maps when I got home, this was the "wrong turn."  The road curved around the south and west of the ridge that makes Mount Margaret.  We continued walking along, when we saw the road continue up, and a trail curve around to a ridge that separates Mount Margret from Gold Creek.  I asked Creighton if he wanted to just try and walk up to the top of that ridge, and he was up for it.

We came around the south-east side of the ridge, climbing gradually.  We then came out on the west side and had an amazing view of Keechelus Lake and the other peaks to the west.  We began climbing up the south aspect of the ridge, and in no time Creighton was topping out, while I was left slowly kicking steps up.  We got to some great views, and kept climbing.  As we came around to the north side, we were greeted with great views of Kendall Peak, Alaska Mountain, and Snoqualmie Mountain.  Creighton suggested we climb a little further, and before I knew it, I was alone slowly trying to get up the mountain.  When I got near the top, Creighton was hollering from up a little ways further.  He said it was not very nice where he was, so I stopped right where I was and took a nice long break.

I was drenched with sweat.  My shirt and pullover were soaking wet.  I took off everything but the shirt and put on a down jacket.  We took a snack break and after about 30 minutes took off back for the car.  The first 20 minutes of the decent was tough.  We were in the trees and the snow was icy and hard.  When we came out of the trees, we found the snow a little softer from being "in the sun" for the day.  We bombed down many a steep slope, back the way we came.  We were back at our car about 2 and half hours after we began the decent.

Orchid: Great day with my friend, Creighton.

Onion: Not managing for sweat, and not having a spare shirt for the hike out.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 75 Feb. 5 - Carbon Glacier, again

Total Distance: Approximately 17 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 1640 ft.
Time: 10:30 am - 5:30 pm
Weather: Partly cloudy, cool, occasional sunbreaks.

I was up late with again no plan on where to go.  I was hiking alone, and I wanted someplace close, and I wanted to be out on Super Bowl Sunday while most people were inside.  I settled on the Carbon Glacier, the lowest elevation glacier in the lower 48.  It used to be a good 7 mile hike from the Ipsut Creek trailhead, but the road to the Ipsut Creek Campground washed out years ago.  Now there is a 5 mile road hike just to get to the trailhead.

I got to the Carbon River parking lot at 10:15 am.  I forgot my gaiters, and I did not want to take my snowshoes.  I was geared up and walking by 10:30 am.  As I took off, a ranger stopped me and asked where I was heading.  I said to the glacier and he asked if I was running.  I said no, just not going to take a lot of breaks.  He encouraged me to be carful and not get into any dangerous situation.  I thanked him and told him I had a turn-around time to be back at 6pm.  I walked off, and calculated the time I had to turn around so I would be back by 6 pm.  I figured if I was not at the glacier by 2:15 pm, I would have to turn around.

The beginning of the hike is on a road, but through old growth forest.  I was loving the sunshine streaming through in the mid-morning.  It was a beautiful day, and I had the whole place to myself.  About 2 miles up the road, the snow started to be a constant.  Like last week, the snow was packed down and crunchy, so my snowshoes were not needed.  I was at the Ipsut Creek by 11:50 am.  The hike becomes a trail here, and the snow was still packed enough to make walking easy without snow gear.  An hour later I was crossing the Carbon River.  There are glorious views of Mt. Rainier as you cross here.  The sun was out, the sky was blue, and the wilderness seemed empty except for me.  As I climbed up the north side of the river, I hit the trail marker that indicated I was 1.5 miles away, and it was only 1:02 pm.

This was the toughest stretch of snow.  the snow was deep enough in places that I was post-holing occasionally, sometimes thigh deep.  The last stretch was the worst, where I actually was crawling on my knees to disperse my weight and sink less.  I made it to the glacier at 2 pm.  The glacier was magnificent, covered in snow, below Mt. Rainier, shining in the mid-day sun.  I enjoyed a 15 minute break, said goodbye to the glacier, and walked out.  The walk out took 15 minutes less than the walk up.  I made up that time on the 1.5 mile stretch from the river to the glacier.

Orchid: Setting a pace, and making my goal.

Onion:  No gaiters means wet socks and feet after post-holing.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 74 Jan. 29 - North Fork of the Skokomish River, again

Total Distance: Approximately 8 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 1000 ft.
Time: 9:00 am - 12:45 pm
Weather: Overcast, cool, light rain with periods of heavier rain.

Another weekend had me not dreading going out on a hike but terribly excited either.  I should have gone on Saturday too, and I knew it.  But Friday night had me out for dinner with a friend, then stopping by and seeing others, and I didn't get to bed until late.  I slept in and thought considerably about ending my streak at 73.  Later that day, hanging out with my same friend from the dinner the night before, I was kind of complaining about how I had to go hike the next day.  She mentioned she had thought about asking to join me on a hike for the last year or so but never had.  Needing a reason to plan a hike, I eagerly agreed and began thinking of where we could go for a hike.  I thought a walk up the North Fork of the Skokomish out of the Staircase campground near Lake Cushman would be a nice gradual trail up a lower river valley, and we wouldn't have to worry about snow.  It is about a 2 hour drive, and we both had stuff to do in the evening, so we were on the road at 7 am.

We got to the National Park entrance around 8:50 am to find the road closed.  That left 1.2 miles of road to walk before we even got to the trailhead.  The road had good grooves from park vehicles, but there was still a good amount of snow.

By the time we got to the trailhead, we were walking on snow.  Thankfully the snow was packed down and pretty hard, so we did not need snowshoes (which neither of us had).  We walked up the river in the pouring rain.  We made it, to what I think was Madeline Creek about a mile below the turn off to Flapjack Lakes.  We turned around and began our walk out.  We stopped at an opening on the way down, and I looked out at what was truly a beautiful scene.  I closed my eyes and heard nothing but the wilderness.  For a brief moment, I was reminded why I love hiking and was so happy to be out in the woods.

Orchid: Hiking with a good friend for the first time.

Onion: Weather and lack of motivation to hike prior to the hike.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 73 Jan. 22 - Rainbow Falls State Park

Total Distance: Approximately 3 miles
Elevation Gain: Approximately 200 ft.
Time: 9:00 am - 10:30 am
Weather: Overcast, cool, periods of light rain.

Wow, if there was ever a week when I thought the streak of hikes might end, this was it.  It all started on Tuesday evening when we had a ton of snow dropped in the lowlands of Western Washington.  The snow ended up canceling school on Wednesday.  Then we were treated to freezing rain the next evening and all day Thursday, canceling school for a second day in a row.  Then the predicted warm up late Thursday afternoon never really came, and a few down trees left my school without power and a third snow day.  All this time off was great, but I was not very excited to leave my house.  The roads were bad, and tree debris was everywhere.  By today, most everything was gone off main roads, but since when are trailheads off main roads.  I was not particularly enthused to go get out in some nasty conditions.  I heard on the weather reports that the snow was not as bad to the south, so I got on wta.org and looked for a hike down south.  I found a good 15 miler called Bell's Mountain about 3 hours away.  This morning I was early enough, but I did not want to drive 3 hours.  I looked again on wta.org and settled on Rainbow Falls State Park.

Took a little over an hour to get there, but about 30 minutes finding out where to park and where to hike.  If you follow the signs to the park, you wind up on the north side of the Chehalis River.  The park was covered with down limbs, but it appeared some state workers had already cleared out the major blowdowns.  I found the hiker parking lot where another truck had just arrived.  The two men were looking to hike too, and the saw that the foot bridge across the river was not there any more.  The seemed to know that it had been out for a while.  I geared up anyway, then drove around back to the south side of the river to park on the side of the road.  The side of the road had parking but was packed with debris and snow.  I managed to get parked safely from the flow of traffic.  I crossed the highway and found a large picnic area.  An obvious trail went south up the hill off to the right of the covered picnic area.  I read online all these trails loop around to the beginning and the falls were at the end.

As I turned from the picnic area up, I was immediately shocked by the amount of downed trees and limbs.  The snow was covered with green limbs, and several blowdowns had fallen over the trail.  I began walking then would stop and climb over or crawl under downed trees.  The hike was a real bushwhack.  I found a trail junction and went left.  This trail looped back around eventually to the sam picnic area.  Not wanted to be done quite yet, I went back up along that trail, took a right at a junction I had passed earlier.  Walked up for awhile, then I hit the same trail I had been on to start with.  At this point, I was wet, tired, and sick of bushwhacking.  I never found the falls for which this park is named, but I did wander through an old growth forest that somehow wasn't chopped down in the early part of the 20th century.  The biggest trees, seemed to be find holding on with all the snow and ice.  I took a left and came back down the way I had begun the day.

Orchid: Having the park to myself.

Onion: Not wanting to hike at all.

Picture:

Google Map

Week 72.1 Jan. 16 - Putah Creek, Blue Ridge Loop Trail

Total Distance: Approximately 5.5 miles

Elevation Gain: Approximately 1300 ft. 

Time: 10:30 am - 12:45 pm

Weather: Clear and cool, warm in the sun; great hiking weather.

Since our hike on Saturday was cut short (and because I think my friend wanted to prove to himself that Saturday was a fluke), my buddy and I went for a hike in the coastal range west of the Sacramento valley on Monday.  The drive was only about 30 minutes, and when we got there, the lot was almost full.

We took off to an old homestead about a mile off Highway 128 up a creek drainage.  We stayed on the east side of blue ridge and climbed up the southeast corner ridge.  My friend was in the lead the whole time kicking my butt up the hill.  We climbed about 1300 ft over the course of a mile and a half.  We then walked north along the ridge.

It was an amazingly beautiful day.  We had views across the valley to the east, where we could faintly see the Sierras.  We had great views to the west, where we could see Lake Berryessa.  We began the walk down around noon.  The decent switched-back along the northeast side of blue ridge and was in the sun almost the entire time we went down.  It was great to bask in the sunshine on a beautiful hike.  We were back down at the road around 12:45 pm.

Orchid: A successful hike with my good friend.

Onion: Not managing my layers and being too sweaty on the ridge.

Picture:

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Week 72 Jan. 14 - Pyramid Peak attempt

Total Distance: Approximately 1 mile
Elevation Gain: Approximately 100 ft. (almost 7000 ft in the car in a 2 hour drive)
Time: 8:00 am - 9:30 am
Weather: Cold and clear morning, a beautiful sunrise over a ridge.

I flew down to California to see my buddy who was on the first hike of these 72. He lives in Davis and we have not hung out in almost a year. He is a big runner and hiker, and we had plans for a big day, climbing to almost 10000 ft.  We drove east from Davis towards South Lake Tahoe, but around Kyburz we turned north and drove 4 miles up a mountain road to our trailhead.

The hike was 6 miles out one way with 3000 ft. of elevation gain. That means our trailhead was a little less than 7000 ft.  It was cold. We geared up and began walking around 8am.  The trail starts nice and wide through an open area with lots of little campsites.  Soon the trail narrows and begins meandering through the Eldorado Forest. We were walking for about 15 minutes when my friend said he needed to take a break. I turned around and saw a shade of green in my friend's face that is never a good indication. As he described how he was feeling, the only thing that made sense was altitude sickness. We spent about 30 minutes hydrating and snacking lightly, and he still felt awful.  The only smart choice was to turn around and get back down.

We walked back slowly and made it to the car around 9:30 am. I figured we walked about a mile. I took his keys and began driving down. On the way out, my friend got worse. We pulled over to let his stomach settle down.  After about 10 minutes he felt a bit better, and we continued the drive down.  Once we got to the highway, he was feeling more like himself.  We drove to Lake Tahoe and had a delicious breakfast.

Orchid: Getting back to the highway and seeing my friend doing much better. 

Onion: Being worried about my friend when we were back at the car and things were getting worse. 

Picture:

Google map