king tut
New member
After doing a nice 18 mile hike for the HaBaSa peaks last weekend, and perhaps feeling a bit inspired by reading all the exploits about the people doing the long hikes at breakneck speeds, I decided that I wanted to do a nice challenging hike in the Daks. So I set my alarm for just prior to 5 in the morning and made plans to go out and hike Dial, Nippletop, Colvin, and Blake. It appeared to be a 20 or so mille hike and maybe 6,000 to 7,000 vertical feet.
I hit the road a few minutes after five and made excellent time to the trailhead and got hiking a couple minutes prior to 7 in the morning. I parked off of rte 73 and hiked over to the Au Sable country club and into the Great Range valley. After about 1.5 miles or so, i took the trail up to Bear Den mountain. Man was it steep! I was carrying a good solid 20-30 pounds of water since I knew it was going to be a warm day and i did not want to suffer from dehydration/heat stroke again... So the trek up to Bear Den mountain was tough, but i finally made it up, only to go down a few hundred feet before ascending Dial Mt, my first 4k'er of the day at 4,020 feet. At this point, the steam was rising off of me, and I was sucking wind. I took a few minutes at the top to admire the views of the Great Range, which were spectacular. If i had remembered to pack my camera, i would have attached a georgous photo of the Wolfjaws, Armstrong, and the Gothics right here. I guess you will just have to use your imagination here.
After chugging some water, and eating some M & M's, i treaded off towards Nippletop. The climb was a genle few miles and I summited around 10:30 in the morning. At this point in the day I was feeling pretty good, but the heat of the day was starting to build. I took in some views and then headed on down toward Elk Pass. I had thought that my map had said it was a mile to get to the next junction, but I must have read it wrong because after a demoralizing hour later, I arrived at the junction to Colvin and Blake. The sign said that I had just gone 1.9 miles. That made more sense. I sat on a rock with steam pouring off of me and and decided what to do next. Colvin and Blake was only an extra 4.8 mile round trip for me from here, but i was starting to feel sapped from the heat. I kicked around the ideas of continuing on my hike to get these two peaks or to go on down the mountain, which would lead me to delicious food and beer! The thought of food and beer won over and I decided not to repeat my heat stroke adventures of the past few years.
I headed on down to Fish Hawk Cliffs and Indian Head. The views from Fish Hawk Cliffs were stunningly beautiful, and i took a mental picture in my head and vowed to come back with my camera to capture the beauty. When I got home, I paid a handsome sum to a local artist to sketch the image...
I do not believe that I overpaid for this art, and I am hanging a sketch on my fridge at this moment.
I hit the Lake Road another 20 or so minutes later, and I decided to pull out my MP3 player and rock out to some tunes while I bolted out of the valley. I made the last 3 + miles or so in about 40 minutes as I sang along with a little Outkast and others. Lend me some suga, i am your neighbor!
I made it back to my car around 2 in the afternoon, and then got home about 4'ish. I was pretty excited to be back home, and I enjoyed a few trips to the Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond with the significant other. I was pretty excited to explore the "beyond" section of BB&B. The night was finished off with some Lobster and Steamers dinner with newly acquired Yuengling beer! I really enjoyed this hike in the oven today, and got two new 46'ers done, about 15 miles of hiking and maybe 4,000 or so vertical of climbing. My death march can wait another day when it is not scorching hot outside. #'s 19 and 20 of the 46. A little Jim Cramer Booo-yah on that one!
I hit the road a few minutes after five and made excellent time to the trailhead and got hiking a couple minutes prior to 7 in the morning. I parked off of rte 73 and hiked over to the Au Sable country club and into the Great Range valley. After about 1.5 miles or so, i took the trail up to Bear Den mountain. Man was it steep! I was carrying a good solid 20-30 pounds of water since I knew it was going to be a warm day and i did not want to suffer from dehydration/heat stroke again... So the trek up to Bear Den mountain was tough, but i finally made it up, only to go down a few hundred feet before ascending Dial Mt, my first 4k'er of the day at 4,020 feet. At this point, the steam was rising off of me, and I was sucking wind. I took a few minutes at the top to admire the views of the Great Range, which were spectacular. If i had remembered to pack my camera, i would have attached a georgous photo of the Wolfjaws, Armstrong, and the Gothics right here. I guess you will just have to use your imagination here.
After chugging some water, and eating some M & M's, i treaded off towards Nippletop. The climb was a genle few miles and I summited around 10:30 in the morning. At this point in the day I was feeling pretty good, but the heat of the day was starting to build. I took in some views and then headed on down toward Elk Pass. I had thought that my map had said it was a mile to get to the next junction, but I must have read it wrong because after a demoralizing hour later, I arrived at the junction to Colvin and Blake. The sign said that I had just gone 1.9 miles. That made more sense. I sat on a rock with steam pouring off of me and and decided what to do next. Colvin and Blake was only an extra 4.8 mile round trip for me from here, but i was starting to feel sapped from the heat. I kicked around the ideas of continuing on my hike to get these two peaks or to go on down the mountain, which would lead me to delicious food and beer! The thought of food and beer won over and I decided not to repeat my heat stroke adventures of the past few years.
I headed on down to Fish Hawk Cliffs and Indian Head. The views from Fish Hawk Cliffs were stunningly beautiful, and i took a mental picture in my head and vowed to come back with my camera to capture the beauty. When I got home, I paid a handsome sum to a local artist to sketch the image...
I do not believe that I overpaid for this art, and I am hanging a sketch on my fridge at this moment.
I hit the Lake Road another 20 or so minutes later, and I decided to pull out my MP3 player and rock out to some tunes while I bolted out of the valley. I made the last 3 + miles or so in about 40 minutes as I sang along with a little Outkast and others. Lend me some suga, i am your neighbor!
I made it back to my car around 2 in the afternoon, and then got home about 4'ish. I was pretty excited to be back home, and I enjoyed a few trips to the Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond with the significant other. I was pretty excited to explore the "beyond" section of BB&B. The night was finished off with some Lobster and Steamers dinner with newly acquired Yuengling beer! I really enjoyed this hike in the oven today, and got two new 46'ers done, about 15 miles of hiking and maybe 4,000 or so vertical of climbing. My death march can wait another day when it is not scorching hot outside. #'s 19 and 20 of the 46. A little Jim Cramer Booo-yah on that one!
