BorealChickadee
New member
Girls on Allen (44)
September 1, 2007
6:25 to 4:12 ( 9 ¾ hours)
Unadogger (Sabrina) knew that my next peak had to be Allen in order to have #46 Skylight (which will be in the next few weeks). So she invited me to join her, High On Life (Nancy) and Leaf (Courtney) for Allen. What she failed to mention was she sent out invitations to 18 others for the same day. When we arrived the night before, Allen’s lot was almost full!
Nancy made sure we were on the trail at 6:25 making record time (at least for this pokey little puppy). The miles flew by with our leader in high gear. Terra, the wonder dog, bounced around making us all ask what was in her water, because we wanted some too. Note to self: Get a camelback if I hike with wonder women again because they don’t have to pause to get a drink.
The path was so easy to follow without 6 inches of fresh leaves, like Paul and I had in October. I easily found the spot where we turned around and decided to give it up for that day last fall. There’s a comparison shot in the pictures of the fire observer’s cabin from October and now. We met a couple going out that said they left their poles at a campsite. I found them on the way back, Courtney got the honors of carrying them out and we left them as they asked at the register. We really hope they came back for them.
The algae on the slide is just as slippery as everyone predicted so I very carefully picked my way up the mountain. Every once in a while there’d be this call coming down the mountain “Judy?”. “Yup, I’m here”. They can’t get rid of me that easy! After my fall on Saddleback I’m really chicken about taking another tumble. On the slide other groups started to catch up to us, but I did manage to go faster than a few people.
Okay, so just because they were missing a leg or two doesn’t mean they don’t count. Just kidding. I got to the summit about eight minutes behind the wonder women so I didn’t do too badly after all. I also got down eight minutes slower than them but I didn’t fall like someone who shall remain anonymous.
Allen makes #44 for me, with Gray/Skylight coming up soon. It’s something in the 20s for Sabrina, maybe 7 for Courtney and part of an all seasons round for Nancy.
Grand Central Station on Allen: At one point there were 18 people in the little summit area plus 3 more at the viewpoints. When Sabrina holds a party, she really parties! I’ve been alone (or just with Paul) on the vast majority of the peaks and never, ever have I ever been on a peak with so many people! I couldn’t believe it was Allen everyone was on!
The views to the east are fabulous and took me absolutely by surprise. Courtney and I went down the path to check them out and were in awe. We were yelling to Nancy and Sabrina to get down there, they had to see those views. I’d left my map in the pack at the summit and while we were there I thought it was Elk Lake we were looking at but later when I checked the map it’s Boreas Ponds.
What Happens On The Trail, Stays On The Trail: After lunch we left the summit at 11:57 and left the waterfall at 1:06. Now that the hard stuff was over the fun began! This is where for the next mile after mile it became a girls fest! And did we have fun! Oh I learned an awful lot on those miles back to the cars. Sabrina filled me in on all sorts of things. Some even made non-stop Nancy turn around (which had to slow her down by milliseconds, I’m assuming)! Heck by the end of the night I’d become a woman of the 21st century. Hiking information was about 10th on the importance list! As Sabrina said “What happens on the trail, stays on the trail”. Las Vegas had nothing on us! It was a rollicking good time and those miles disappeared like sucre a la crème on a hot summer day.
It was pretty unbelievable to me that we were signing back in at 4:12 after 18 miles. But the party wasn’t over, no not by a long shot. We had four more hours before bedtime so we pulled up roots and moved the caravan over to the Santanonis for party in the parking lot. My 3 candle candlelantern cast a warm light once the sun went down. No, no alcohol there, just real good food, lots of laughing, some serious talk, strong women enjoying life to its fullest until we couldn’t keep our eyes open any more. The best of times.
I offered up my pack for scrutiny and took some serious ribbing about my over preparedness. My pack weighed twice the others. Ugh. I really need to work on that!
My “things I learned on Allen” list is mighty long but I think the funniest thing was not what I learned but when I used the phrase “cat’s pajamas” and Courtney announced she had to start using that!
The other three would be hiking the Santas on Sunday but I chose to make my way back home Sunday morning. Paul had decided to come home from college for the holiday weekend and was disappointed I was going away. College food is good, but Mom’s is better. I’d also only been home 36 hours between trips so I needed to go back home.
I’ve rarely hiked with other people and never on anything as serious or long as this hike (with others). The ultimate compliment came when they told me I was a strong hiker. I had no idea. This was the first peak I’ve done with someone other than Paul, by myself or years ago I did two with my sister.
I had the luxury of getting at least an hour of sleep more than the crew and in the morning while sipping hot cocoa a couple (packing up for the Santas) started talking to me. Lo and behold they lived in the same village as I do!
So Girls On Allen was, as Sabrina said, a “we’re all in this together” trip, even Terra.
Pictures
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=k9z7mf1.6m4qnr9h&Uy=obdzgr&Ux=0
Poles update 9/3/07 Poles and owner will soon be reunited.
September 1, 2007
6:25 to 4:12 ( 9 ¾ hours)
Unadogger (Sabrina) knew that my next peak had to be Allen in order to have #46 Skylight (which will be in the next few weeks). So she invited me to join her, High On Life (Nancy) and Leaf (Courtney) for Allen. What she failed to mention was she sent out invitations to 18 others for the same day. When we arrived the night before, Allen’s lot was almost full!
Nancy made sure we were on the trail at 6:25 making record time (at least for this pokey little puppy). The miles flew by with our leader in high gear. Terra, the wonder dog, bounced around making us all ask what was in her water, because we wanted some too. Note to self: Get a camelback if I hike with wonder women again because they don’t have to pause to get a drink.
The path was so easy to follow without 6 inches of fresh leaves, like Paul and I had in October. I easily found the spot where we turned around and decided to give it up for that day last fall. There’s a comparison shot in the pictures of the fire observer’s cabin from October and now. We met a couple going out that said they left their poles at a campsite. I found them on the way back, Courtney got the honors of carrying them out and we left them as they asked at the register. We really hope they came back for them.
The algae on the slide is just as slippery as everyone predicted so I very carefully picked my way up the mountain. Every once in a while there’d be this call coming down the mountain “Judy?”. “Yup, I’m here”. They can’t get rid of me that easy! After my fall on Saddleback I’m really chicken about taking another tumble. On the slide other groups started to catch up to us, but I did manage to go faster than a few people.
Okay, so just because they were missing a leg or two doesn’t mean they don’t count. Just kidding. I got to the summit about eight minutes behind the wonder women so I didn’t do too badly after all. I also got down eight minutes slower than them but I didn’t fall like someone who shall remain anonymous.Allen makes #44 for me, with Gray/Skylight coming up soon. It’s something in the 20s for Sabrina, maybe 7 for Courtney and part of an all seasons round for Nancy.
Grand Central Station on Allen: At one point there were 18 people in the little summit area plus 3 more at the viewpoints. When Sabrina holds a party, she really parties! I’ve been alone (or just with Paul) on the vast majority of the peaks and never, ever have I ever been on a peak with so many people! I couldn’t believe it was Allen everyone was on!
The views to the east are fabulous and took me absolutely by surprise. Courtney and I went down the path to check them out and were in awe. We were yelling to Nancy and Sabrina to get down there, they had to see those views. I’d left my map in the pack at the summit and while we were there I thought it was Elk Lake we were looking at but later when I checked the map it’s Boreas Ponds.
What Happens On The Trail, Stays On The Trail: After lunch we left the summit at 11:57 and left the waterfall at 1:06. Now that the hard stuff was over the fun began! This is where for the next mile after mile it became a girls fest! And did we have fun! Oh I learned an awful lot on those miles back to the cars.
Sabrina filled me in on all sorts of things. Some even made non-stop Nancy turn around (which had to slow her down by milliseconds, I’m assuming)! Heck by the end of the night I’d become a woman of the 21st century. Hiking information was about 10th on the importance list! As Sabrina said “What happens on the trail, stays on the trail”. Las Vegas had nothing on us! It was a rollicking good time and those miles disappeared like sucre a la crème on a hot summer day. It was pretty unbelievable to me that we were signing back in at 4:12 after 18 miles. But the party wasn’t over, no not by a long shot. We had four more hours before bedtime so we pulled up roots and moved the caravan over to the Santanonis for party in the parking lot. My 3 candle candlelantern cast a warm light once the sun went down. No, no alcohol there, just real good food, lots of laughing, some serious talk, strong women enjoying life to its fullest until we couldn’t keep our eyes open any more. The best of times.
I offered up my pack for scrutiny and took some serious ribbing about my over preparedness. My pack weighed twice the others. Ugh. I really need to work on that!
My “things I learned on Allen” list is mighty long but I think the funniest thing was not what I learned but when I used the phrase “cat’s pajamas” and Courtney announced she had to start using that!
The other three would be hiking the Santas on Sunday but I chose to make my way back home Sunday morning. Paul had decided to come home from college for the holiday weekend and was disappointed I was going away. College food is good, but Mom’s is better. I’d also only been home 36 hours between trips so I needed to go back home.
I’ve rarely hiked with other people and never on anything as serious or long as this hike (with others). The ultimate compliment came when they told me I was a strong hiker. I had no idea. This was the first peak I’ve done with someone other than Paul, by myself or years ago I did two with my sister.
I had the luxury of getting at least an hour of sleep more than the crew and in the morning while sipping hot cocoa a couple (packing up for the Santas) started talking to me. Lo and behold they lived in the same village as I do!
So Girls On Allen was, as Sabrina said, a “we’re all in this together” trip, even Terra.
Pictures
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=k9z7mf1.6m4qnr9h&Uy=obdzgr&Ux=0
Poles update 9/3/07 Poles and owner will soon be reunited.
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