Dave Bear
New member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2007
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My daughter Kimberly “K2” has been keeping me on a steady diet of summits every weekend lately. She has even been getting up some in afternoons to bag shorter hikes, sometimes the day after a long one! Having recently done Isolation, Owl’sHead and then a Twins, Galehead Garfield loop she told me she wanted to do a hike that “made her feel like she had pushed herself and come home with sore muscles”! She is almost 30 years younger and less than half my weight but I can be near as stubborn.
So I looked at what she has left on the NH4K summits and saw an oppurtunity to give her that kind of hike. It had some bail out options and I carry two-way radios so if she chose to continues she could and we would meet up at the end or I could hike in and meet her. She scared me a bit by threatening a 5am start because she had to get up for work on Monday at 4:30am. I had the holiday for a recovery option.
Plans finalized we headed up to relatives in Milan and stayed there. The early rise left us “toes on trail” at 6:15am instead of 5. Yeah! We went in Nineteen Mile Brook Trail and started off with Wildcat A. My first time up it without snow and I found it much easier up. There were great views down to the hut and over to Carter Dome. Looking North she couldn’t see Gorham but knew that was our intented destination. We stopped briefly at the hut and then proceeded to our second big climb of the day up Carter Dome. I love that there are interesting spots like Pulpit Rock to stop at because they give me an excuse for a breather and some photo ops. The summit is much better under snow so you don’t see all the clutter. The trails were not very crowded and probably many were driven to air conditioned homes. The breeze was too light to help with the heat or the bugs but better than nothing!
We continued on to Hight and took a break to eat and enjoy this treasure of a summit! 360 degree views and plenty of room on top for people to spread out. Looks like a sweet spot for a BBQ picnic someday! On down to Zeta Pass where we met a Thru-hiker “Alpine” looking for water from the small streams. I felt so guilty not having brought any trail magic, not even a candy bar! Last year on the 4th of July Bear’s Grill went up Pierce, part way up Ike and cooked for a happy crowd at Mizpah. Perhaps next year I can return to the tradition. It feels so good to help the AT hikers out! On the way up from Zeta we met Russ and Laurie “Peesalot” from VFTT. We had met at the awards ceremony and Russ quickly recognized us. Great to see you on the trail and hear how your backpack was going!
Crossing the Carters we ran into more folks at South including Jim Crawford, a pleasure as always, and tried not to lose momentum all the way to Imp Trail. Here we sat and ate again and discussed whether to continue over Moriah or go down and through Camp Dodge. Stony Brook would be a long hike to either vehicle. We both decided we had enough left to double the mileage we had done and most of the elevation was finished. So on we went over North Carter and down, down, down, all along knowing we needed to regain it. The rocks were pretty dry so the down-climbing was actually fun but the heat was dehydrating us as much as the miles. We filtered water before Imp spur and began the climb to Moriah. Along the way we met a lone hiker, Tim who was going to finish his NH4Ks on Moriah. Tim leap-frogged a bit and then began to disappear. The ledges had become much steeper today and Kim actually began to push me up one. Wow did I need it!
I had been hiking with a knee brace because Garfield Ridge had twisted my left knee. This is the one I usually step up first and pull up my weight with. The whole hike I had switched to using my right and it began to take a toll. We did make it to Moriah before Tim headed on and were able to congratulate him. Kim had gained 5 more summits and now only has 10 left to finish the NH4Ks. She has done all of them with a smile and perserverance beyond compare! Well done Kim! I am so proud and fortunate to have you for a hiking partner!
Leaving Moriah a short way down the trail to Mt Surprise my right leg quad muscle cramped very badly. My wife happened to be testing with Kim at the time and said to her “Bring home your dad alive!” As I yelped from the pain she sent a message back, “Too late, I just killed him!”Lucky for me the pain subsided and I was even able to jog some of the way down. We caught up to Tim and reached the trailhead at exactly 8:15pm. 19 miles over 7000ft and 14hours of great hiking with my daughter was bigger than all the fireworks I saw on the way home! We are so privileged with freedom that the limits of what we can do are boundless, including strain every muscle of our being so we know we have pushed ourselves and endured it! It’s a hurt that can feel good and kept on giving all week long! Go Kim, Go! I’ll do my damnedest to keep up!
Some pics from the trail and sorry I have not kept up posting her whirlwind of hikes with me:
http://family.webshots.com/slideshow/578108302ilJgEi
So I looked at what she has left on the NH4K summits and saw an oppurtunity to give her that kind of hike. It had some bail out options and I carry two-way radios so if she chose to continues she could and we would meet up at the end or I could hike in and meet her. She scared me a bit by threatening a 5am start because she had to get up for work on Monday at 4:30am. I had the holiday for a recovery option.
Plans finalized we headed up to relatives in Milan and stayed there. The early rise left us “toes on trail” at 6:15am instead of 5. Yeah! We went in Nineteen Mile Brook Trail and started off with Wildcat A. My first time up it without snow and I found it much easier up. There were great views down to the hut and over to Carter Dome. Looking North she couldn’t see Gorham but knew that was our intented destination. We stopped briefly at the hut and then proceeded to our second big climb of the day up Carter Dome. I love that there are interesting spots like Pulpit Rock to stop at because they give me an excuse for a breather and some photo ops. The summit is much better under snow so you don’t see all the clutter. The trails were not very crowded and probably many were driven to air conditioned homes. The breeze was too light to help with the heat or the bugs but better than nothing!
We continued on to Hight and took a break to eat and enjoy this treasure of a summit! 360 degree views and plenty of room on top for people to spread out. Looks like a sweet spot for a BBQ picnic someday! On down to Zeta Pass where we met a Thru-hiker “Alpine” looking for water from the small streams. I felt so guilty not having brought any trail magic, not even a candy bar! Last year on the 4th of July Bear’s Grill went up Pierce, part way up Ike and cooked for a happy crowd at Mizpah. Perhaps next year I can return to the tradition. It feels so good to help the AT hikers out! On the way up from Zeta we met Russ and Laurie “Peesalot” from VFTT. We had met at the awards ceremony and Russ quickly recognized us. Great to see you on the trail and hear how your backpack was going!
Crossing the Carters we ran into more folks at South including Jim Crawford, a pleasure as always, and tried not to lose momentum all the way to Imp Trail. Here we sat and ate again and discussed whether to continue over Moriah or go down and through Camp Dodge. Stony Brook would be a long hike to either vehicle. We both decided we had enough left to double the mileage we had done and most of the elevation was finished. So on we went over North Carter and down, down, down, all along knowing we needed to regain it. The rocks were pretty dry so the down-climbing was actually fun but the heat was dehydrating us as much as the miles. We filtered water before Imp spur and began the climb to Moriah. Along the way we met a lone hiker, Tim who was going to finish his NH4Ks on Moriah. Tim leap-frogged a bit and then began to disappear. The ledges had become much steeper today and Kim actually began to push me up one. Wow did I need it!
I had been hiking with a knee brace because Garfield Ridge had twisted my left knee. This is the one I usually step up first and pull up my weight with. The whole hike I had switched to using my right and it began to take a toll. We did make it to Moriah before Tim headed on and were able to congratulate him. Kim had gained 5 more summits and now only has 10 left to finish the NH4Ks. She has done all of them with a smile and perserverance beyond compare! Well done Kim! I am so proud and fortunate to have you for a hiking partner!
Leaving Moriah a short way down the trail to Mt Surprise my right leg quad muscle cramped very badly. My wife happened to be testing with Kim at the time and said to her “Bring home your dad alive!” As I yelped from the pain she sent a message back, “Too late, I just killed him!”Lucky for me the pain subsided and I was even able to jog some of the way down. We caught up to Tim and reached the trailhead at exactly 8:15pm. 19 miles over 7000ft and 14hours of great hiking with my daughter was bigger than all the fireworks I saw on the way home! We are so privileged with freedom that the limits of what we can do are boundless, including strain every muscle of our being so we know we have pushed ourselves and endured it! It’s a hurt that can feel good and kept on giving all week long! Go Kim, Go! I’ll do my damnedest to keep up!
Some pics from the trail and sorry I have not kept up posting her whirlwind of hikes with me:
http://family.webshots.com/slideshow/578108302ilJgEi
