sapblatt
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- Joined
- Oct 22, 2004
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Day from hell
New speed record
Bataan Death March
Will it ever end?
Three miles down Boott Spur = three hours
Leave house at 3am - get home at 10:30 pm
Mentally toughest hike I have ever done
50 + mph wind
Thunder
Rain (downpour/monsoon variety)
Tough day
Rols' road walk back for car
Would do it all over again in a second
Rols picked me up at 3am (new car is still in the shop...) and we headed up fo the Glen Ellis lot to meet LarryD for 6am...by the time we got it all together and started moving it was about 6:25. Weather was beautiful for July - about 60 degrees, light wind, mostly sunny.
We headed up the Glen Boulder Trail (new one for me and Larry - Rols had done it before - saditically, he brought his kids up it when they were young!) The lower parts were a little wet and the there were a couple of interesting scrambles a little below "the Rock." Those types where you cannot put your foot where you want to. I briefly paniced
until Larry slapped me - well, actually he told me what to do and it went well. The boulder is impressive - even more so than it is looking from route 16. We took a brief break there and enjoyed the views before heading on towards Slide Peak.
This part of the hike is when we first realized it may be windy today. As we got on the ridge the wind became quite steady - lower down it was probably in the 30 mph range. As we made our way along the ridge Larry's hat jettisoned off his head and down into the gulf. It was his favorite K-Mart cotton ball cap and we will be setting up a fund at a later date to get him a new one. Wind kept a coming as we turned onto the Davis Path - this stretch is nice as the grades are gentle and the wind is at your back. We made good time over towards the Camel Trail. I should mention we had no real agenda today beyond going up Glen Boulder and down Boott Spur. So be the great logical thinkers that we are, we head over to Lakes and decide to skip Washington and we take a quick run up Monroe. The wind was fierce coming across the plateau on the Camel Trail, but going up Monroe was easy until the summit where the wind was quite strong. We descended back to Lakes and observed a bare foot hiker (too each their own ) and had lunch and refilled some water before heading back to Boott Spur.
The worst wind of the day was during the return via the Camel Trail and Davis Path. I was constantly moving to the right side of the trail just to be pushed back to the left side. It was at this point we started getting real silly - which on the surface seems silly, but it really helped keep you mentally focused on the descent by making light of the situation. Some of our better tactics were Larry's ability to create new profanity - sometimes all of the swears that you know just cannot cover the feelings of the situation! We also theorized what the names of the various Presi's would be had the Germans won the war (next time we may try the Japanese.) In the end, it was best that they lost.
Finally on the Boott Spur Trail for the three hour quad burn. This trail is so incredibly beautiful and about as steep as you can get without being a slide or a headwall. The clouds were speeding by over Tuck's as we slowly descended. The one plus here was that as we dipped down the wind stopped - nothing like a 5500 foot wind breaker! As the day from hell contined the steepness kept going, the clouds kept rolling and of course, the rain ( 0 % chance of rain today) came down hard. The add a little extra color and flavor to the day we had a dozen or so thunderclaps mixed in. On the plus side, the heavy rain did not come until we got into the trees, and the thunder did not seem to be on top of us (famous last words.)
We continued our slog down the wet rocks, narrow trail, slippery roots, drenched bogs and greased ladder. When I said this was the mentally toughest hike I had ever had I was referring to the idea that when you have been out for so many hours and every rock and root is like ice it is tough to just stay focused and to truly give a damn about each step. It is tempting to try and go faster and ignore the slipperyness, but a serious fall awaited at almost every step on the way down... Eventually we hit Shangra La - well, actually the Tuckerman Ravine Trail and took it quickly down to Pinkham. Rols walked to Glen Ellis to get the car - after 12 hours out we decided that the Diretissima would have to wait for another day.
As for the speed record, well, you may not know this but our group set the all time slow speed record for this hike. 10.5 miles, 4200 feet elevation, 12 hours. It has never been hiked that slow before. We hope to challenge ourselves and our record and do it even slower next time - at least we got to enjoy all of the views.
LarryD and Rols - thank you for another great hike. I really did get the hiccups because I was laughing so hard! And Rols - thanks for the ride - I do not know how you do it - cafeine perhaps!
New speed record
Bataan Death March
Will it ever end?
Three miles down Boott Spur = three hours
Leave house at 3am - get home at 10:30 pm
Mentally toughest hike I have ever done
50 + mph wind
Thunder
Rain (downpour/monsoon variety)
Tough day
Rols' road walk back for car
Would do it all over again in a second
Rols picked me up at 3am (new car is still in the shop...) and we headed up fo the Glen Ellis lot to meet LarryD for 6am...by the time we got it all together and started moving it was about 6:25. Weather was beautiful for July - about 60 degrees, light wind, mostly sunny.
We headed up the Glen Boulder Trail (new one for me and Larry - Rols had done it before - saditically, he brought his kids up it when they were young!) The lower parts were a little wet and the there were a couple of interesting scrambles a little below "the Rock." Those types where you cannot put your foot where you want to. I briefly paniced
until Larry slapped me - well, actually he told me what to do and it went well. The boulder is impressive - even more so than it is looking from route 16. We took a brief break there and enjoyed the views before heading on towards Slide Peak. This part of the hike is when we first realized it may be windy today. As we got on the ridge the wind became quite steady - lower down it was probably in the 30 mph range. As we made our way along the ridge Larry's hat jettisoned off his head and down into the gulf. It was his favorite K-Mart cotton ball cap and we will be setting up a fund at a later date to get him a new one.
Wind kept a coming as we turned onto the Davis Path - this stretch is nice as the grades are gentle and the wind is at your back. We made good time over towards the Camel Trail. I should mention we had no real agenda today beyond going up Glen Boulder and down Boott Spur. So be the great logical thinkers that we are, we head over to Lakes and decide to skip Washington and we take a quick run up Monroe. The wind was fierce coming across the plateau on the Camel Trail, but going up Monroe was easy until the summit where the wind was quite strong. We descended back to Lakes and observed a bare foot hiker (too each their own ) and had lunch and refilled some water before heading back to Boott Spur.The worst wind of the day was during the return via the Camel Trail and Davis Path. I was constantly moving to the right side of the trail just to be pushed back to the left side. It was at this point we started getting real silly - which on the surface seems silly, but it really helped keep you mentally focused on the descent by making light of the situation. Some of our better tactics were Larry's ability to create new profanity - sometimes all of the swears that you know just cannot cover the feelings of the situation!
We also theorized what the names of the various Presi's would be had the Germans won the war (next time we may try the Japanese.) In the end, it was best that they lost. Finally on the Boott Spur Trail for the three hour quad burn. This trail is so incredibly beautiful and about as steep as you can get without being a slide or a headwall. The clouds were speeding by over Tuck's as we slowly descended. The one plus here was that as we dipped down the wind stopped - nothing like a 5500 foot wind breaker! As the day from hell contined the steepness kept going, the clouds kept rolling and of course, the rain ( 0 % chance of rain today) came down hard. The add a little extra color and flavor to the day we had a dozen or so thunderclaps mixed in. On the plus side, the heavy rain did not come until we got into the trees, and the thunder did not seem to be on top of us (famous last words.)
We continued our slog down the wet rocks, narrow trail, slippery roots, drenched bogs and greased ladder. When I said this was the mentally toughest hike I had ever had I was referring to the idea that when you have been out for so many hours and every rock and root is like ice it is tough to just stay focused and to truly give a damn about each step. It is tempting to try and go faster and ignore the slipperyness, but a serious fall awaited at almost every step on the way down... Eventually we hit Shangra La - well, actually the Tuckerman Ravine Trail and took it quickly down to Pinkham. Rols walked to Glen Ellis to get the car - after 12 hours out we decided that the Diretissima would have to wait for another day.
As for the speed record, well, you may not know this but our group set the all time slow speed record for this hike. 10.5 miles, 4200 feet elevation, 12 hours. It has never been hiked that slow before. We hope to challenge ourselves and our record and do it even slower next time - at least we got to enjoy all of the views.
LarryD and Rols - thank you for another great hike. I really did get the hiccups because I was laughing so hard! And Rols - thanks for the ride - I do not know how you do it - cafeine perhaps!
