mtn.goat
New member
Well as is usual I set my sights just a little bit too high on the magnitude of the backpacking trip I was planning for Labor Day weekend. I won't go into specifics but it got trimmed back quite a bit when I realized that:
1. Backpacking (even though I had a pack weight of only about 20-30lbs with food and water) is slower and impacts the legs more than I had realized when compared to dayhiking
2. Why kill yourself putting in big mileage days when you can enjoy a lighter mileage day and spend time on the summits and "stopping to smell the flowers" so to speak.
I backpacked into Lake Colden Thursday night from Upper Works being amazed at how wet everything was. It seemed that the HP received quite a bit more rain from the remnants of Hurricane Katrina than I had expected. I quickly set up camp and fell asleep in my hammock (the first time I had used it) and woke the next morning finding my bear cannister untouched and feeling very refreshed. I am a new believer/convert to hammock backpacking... what a great night of sleep!
I set out for Marcy and found the summit completely socked in clouds and the winds gusting quite hard. I cruised down and over to Haystack just in time for the sun to finally start breaking up the clouds (so much for the upper 70's and clear forecast
). The winds were gusting really good and felt as though they were trying to blow me off the summit of Haystack numerous times. It was quite erie because the western side of haystack was clear (probably due to the ferocious winds) but on the east side the clouds kept racing up the side making it to the summit and then being driven back by the winds. It was like a game of tug of war with the middle being the summit. The clouds kept swirling around. I can't explain why but it felt very unnerving so I headed down and over to Basin. Summited Basin and the fog/clouds had cleared and the sun felt great! I started to realize that I was going to be trimming my mileage back because I could feel the added effects of the load on my legs (although the 3000-4000' of vertical that I had already climbed probably didn't help much ). Took some pictures with my new digital camera, sat around for a bit then headed over to saddleback where I pretty much did the same thing. The weather had cleared up quite a bit and I enjoyed the view from saddleback for a 1/2 hour or more. I forgot how nice it is to have no real destination or timeline and be able to just relax and enjoy a great view and the sun of course. Feeling that 4 peaks was enough I descended to Ore Bed Leanto and got a great nites sleep and enjoyed some freezedried Pad Thai.
I woke up Saturday knowing that I wanted to sleep in my bed that night and take a shower and eat some pizza so after examining the map (and seeing quite a few spots of blue in the sky) decided to head back to Upper Works via Panther Gorge. I should have noticed that the clouds were whipping by but proceeded up to Gothics in a little more than an hour (I was in the zone) and found myself once again getting blasted by the wind and in a total whiteout. I sped over to Pyramid and as I descended the clouds began to break. I found that ultralight is the way to go (this was my first true test of my new gear) and loved how I could actually jump down some of the large rocks and actually run down the some of the sections (I'll detail my findings in another post). I made it to Sawteeth in time for the clouds to clear leaving amazing views once again. I took some pictures and then started to head back to Panther Gorge and eventually Upper Works (or so I thought). I somehow missed the turnoff trail and ended up descending down the "scenic trail." I did a great picture but was very pissed when I found myself at the AMR land and realized that I had not only missed the trail I intended to take but that I had to turn around and climb up a 1000 feet or so back up to Sawteeth. I headed back up shooting over to the summit to take some more pics of Pyramid/Gothics and then headed down. I'm not sure what the name of this trail is but it was a pleasure to head down. A nice soft duff and very easy on the knees. It was now 12:30 and I was getting worried that with my "sidetrip" that I wouldn't get to my car until dark. This part of the day was the worst and the lowest that I got.
My mind had "thrown in the towel" and everything else followed suit. Realizing that it was after 1:00 and that I still had roughly 3000' of vertical to go before I even reached the col between skylight and marcy (and then had another 9.5 miles after that) really killed my spirit. Having finished a very good introspective/spiritual/etc etc book about the aboriginies the previous day I found myself thinking about some of the lessons the author had learned and I realized something. Things happen for a reason in our lives and no matter how much we wish we could turn back the clock and undo something or make a different decision we have to deal with what has happened and proceed on. We chose that path to learn a lesson or test ourselves and besides the more I realized it you almost always end up at the goal eventually anyway even if it was more circituitous route. I sat down took stock of the situation realized that my body was still "fresh" that my knees and feet felt fine and that it was all in my head and started setting small goals. For instance to get to the top of Barlett Ridge by a certain time and then just kept shooting for the next point. I realized that this would be a good test of my conditioning and body and started enjoying the uphill climbs and cruising along in a great mood! I made it to the Marcy/Skylight col by 2:40 talked to some people there for a bit then I amazed myself (and proving to myself that it had all been in my head).. "turning on the afterburners" (as Lurkette would say) and completing the remaining 9.5 miles in only 3 hours! I couldn't believe how good I felt and it was amazing to see the huge packs people carry as they grunted and struggled to hike along the trail.
All in all a great 2 1/4 days of backpacking.. 38-39 miles 10,000+ of vertical and some amazing lessons learned.. and i finally got to put my new ultralight gear/style to the test. Here's some pictures from the trip. Let me know what you think of them. There's a teaser below!
1. Backpacking (even though I had a pack weight of only about 20-30lbs with food and water) is slower and impacts the legs more than I had realized when compared to dayhiking
2. Why kill yourself putting in big mileage days when you can enjoy a lighter mileage day and spend time on the summits and "stopping to smell the flowers" so to speak.
I backpacked into Lake Colden Thursday night from Upper Works being amazed at how wet everything was. It seemed that the HP received quite a bit more rain from the remnants of Hurricane Katrina than I had expected. I quickly set up camp and fell asleep in my hammock (the first time I had used it) and woke the next morning finding my bear cannister untouched and feeling very refreshed. I am a new believer/convert to hammock backpacking... what a great night of sleep!
I set out for Marcy and found the summit completely socked in clouds and the winds gusting quite hard. I cruised down and over to Haystack just in time for the sun to finally start breaking up the clouds (so much for the upper 70's and clear forecast
). The winds were gusting really good and felt as though they were trying to blow me off the summit of Haystack numerous times. It was quite erie because the western side of haystack was clear (probably due to the ferocious winds) but on the east side the clouds kept racing up the side making it to the summit and then being driven back by the winds. It was like a game of tug of war with the middle being the summit. The clouds kept swirling around. I can't explain why but it felt very unnerving so I headed down and over to Basin. Summited Basin and the fog/clouds had cleared and the sun felt great! I started to realize that I was going to be trimming my mileage back because I could feel the added effects of the load on my legs (although the 3000-4000' of vertical that I had already climbed probably didn't help much ). Took some pictures with my new digital camera, sat around for a bit then headed over to saddleback where I pretty much did the same thing. The weather had cleared up quite a bit and I enjoyed the view from saddleback for a 1/2 hour or more. I forgot how nice it is to have no real destination or timeline and be able to just relax and enjoy a great view and the sun of course. Feeling that 4 peaks was enough I descended to Ore Bed Leanto and got a great nites sleep and enjoyed some freezedried Pad Thai.I woke up Saturday knowing that I wanted to sleep in my bed that night and take a shower and eat some pizza so after examining the map (and seeing quite a few spots of blue in the sky) decided to head back to Upper Works via Panther Gorge. I should have noticed that the clouds were whipping by but proceeded up to Gothics in a little more than an hour (I was in the zone) and found myself once again getting blasted by the wind and in a total whiteout. I sped over to Pyramid and as I descended the clouds began to break. I found that ultralight is the way to go (this was my first true test of my new gear) and loved how I could actually jump down some of the large rocks and actually run down the some of the sections (I'll detail my findings in another post). I made it to Sawteeth in time for the clouds to clear leaving amazing views once again. I took some pictures and then started to head back to Panther Gorge and eventually Upper Works (or so I thought). I somehow missed the turnoff trail and ended up descending down the "scenic trail." I did a great picture but was very pissed when I found myself at the AMR land and realized that I had not only missed the trail I intended to take but that I had to turn around and climb up a 1000 feet or so back up to Sawteeth. I headed back up shooting over to the summit to take some more pics of Pyramid/Gothics and then headed down. I'm not sure what the name of this trail is but it was a pleasure to head down. A nice soft duff and very easy on the knees. It was now 12:30 and I was getting worried that with my "sidetrip" that I wouldn't get to my car until dark. This part of the day was the worst and the lowest that I got.
My mind had "thrown in the towel" and everything else followed suit. Realizing that it was after 1:00 and that I still had roughly 3000' of vertical to go before I even reached the col between skylight and marcy (and then had another 9.5 miles after that) really killed my spirit. Having finished a very good introspective/spiritual/etc etc book about the aboriginies the previous day I found myself thinking about some of the lessons the author had learned and I realized something. Things happen for a reason in our lives and no matter how much we wish we could turn back the clock and undo something or make a different decision we have to deal with what has happened and proceed on. We chose that path to learn a lesson or test ourselves and besides the more I realized it you almost always end up at the goal eventually anyway even if it was more circituitous route. I sat down took stock of the situation realized that my body was still "fresh" that my knees and feet felt fine and that it was all in my head and started setting small goals. For instance to get to the top of Barlett Ridge by a certain time and then just kept shooting for the next point. I realized that this would be a good test of my conditioning and body and started enjoying the uphill climbs and cruising along in a great mood!
I made it to the Marcy/Skylight col by 2:40 talked to some people there for a bit then I amazed myself (and proving to myself that it had all been in my head).. "turning on the afterburners" (as Lurkette would say) and completing the remaining 9.5 miles in only 3 hours! I couldn't believe how good I felt and it was amazing to see the huge packs people carry as they grunted and struggled to hike along the trail.All in all a great 2 1/4 days of backpacking.. 38-39 miles 10,000+ of vertical and some amazing lessons learned.. and i finally got to put my new ultralight gear/style to the test. Here's some pictures from the trip. Let me know what you think of them. There's a teaser below!
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