Neil
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- Apr 26, 2004
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All my hiking plans got dashed to bits this past weekend so I decided to try my hand at "Durahiking", something I'd never done before. Some durahiker friends of mine had just completed one such hike and because I had a spreadsheet that showed all of their times I decided to re-do their exact route and compare my results to theirs. I had no idea just how far I would get but after completing most of the route I would at least have a few bailout options. My main weakness was that I had only hiked twice in the past month and the 2 hikes were relatively short ones. On the plus side I had been running hard and the day after a particularly tough workout felt no residual effects.
The itinerary: Ausable club- Sawteeth-Upper Lake-Haystack-Basin-Saddleback-Gothics-Armstrong-UWJ-LWJ-Ausable Club
As I crossed through the AMR gate I pushed the button on my heart rate monitor and the data collection began. I figured the HRM would help me control my pace. Pace was the big question mark, how hard to push? No sense starting out like a racehourse and squandering limited energy supplies to save 5 minutes now which might cost an hour later in the day. I hadn't a clue how to pace myself for such a big day so I would rely on a combination of common sense and my heart rate - and see.
Having Tom and Joe's results would give me feedback at each checkpoint but I refrained from looking at their times for each leg for fear of overextending myself by trying to maintain their pace. Hike your own hike.
I was up on Sawteeth in 2:11 which was 2 minutes off the pace. I would have sworn I was hiking too slowly but now I had a good handle on how hard to work. Quite moderately in fact but with a steady push to it.
The trail from Sawteeth to Upper Lake is beautiful, obviously it sees little traffic and made me think of the small section of Pinnacle Ridge I did this summer with Timmus. Before descending deep into the trees the view angle of Saddleback-Basin is unique. What a rugged place! Coming down off of Sawteeth gave me a sense that now I was really committing myself to the hike.
I decided to check my map and see what was in store from Upper Lake to Haystack. The 3000 climb to the summit looked to be in 3 parts. A moderate grade for 1000 feet then a steep grade up to the top of Bartlett Ridge and the grand finale up the last 1000 feet or so to the summit. I had gone down this trail (Haystack to Panther Gorge) with a full pack 3 years ago and I was curious as to what it looked like on the way up.
All along the route I felt very good, I simply held the pace and kept an eye on my heart rate. The only sour note was the weather which had deteriorated. Ground level clouds were whisking by and everything was socked right in. I was about 500 vertical feet below the summit when I met 2 fully dressed guys who were coming down. I was still wearing my soaking wet shorts and t-shirt and one of the guys says, "It's really cold up there". At tree line I put on my protective shell clothing and a pair of gloves. The wind on top was howling to beat the band and it was pelting rain. Going down was a little nuts. Imagine you can't really see all that well due to water droplets and fog on your glasses and the wind keeps making you stagger like a drunk as you descend the wet and slippery rock. Rather interesting but at least it's not very steep up there. I was 5 minutes from treeline when I met 2 guys who were heading up. One of them was wearing a flimsy shirt and track pants. I saw he wasn't wearing a pack. We had a little pow-wow whereupon I informed them that it was really effing cold and windy up top and they wisely turned back.
After the junction I found the trail to the Haystack-Basin col to be rather difficult due to all the rocks and boulders. I had been spoiled by the trail from Upper Lake to Bartlett ridge I guess. After a long (ie. 15 minute) break for food and water pumping at Snowbird I continued to the beginning of the climb up Basin. Basin is one tough cookie no matter which side you go up (or down). The rock was wet and for the first time all day I was feeling the fatigue. I slipped in a couple of places and that made me realize how far away I was. I slowed down and took a couple of short breaks. I walked over the summit and then the going got tough. My (new) boots and the wet slabby rock didn't adhere very well and I kept slipping. I couldn't see very well and I was soaked to the skin, my pack was heavy with rain water (I had a cover but didn't think to put it on. It was time to slow down, big time and carefully pick my way down to the Basin-Saddleback col. The descent was a real drain on my dwindling energy supplies. I had been eating steadily all day and had consumed 3 quarts of gaitor-aid and a quart of water but by now I had somewhere around 7000 feet of vertical behind me. I made up my mind to bail down the Weld Trail from Gothics. Going up the wet cold rock on Saddleback was very tough and I had to stop 3 times sucking air while the pounding in my chest subsided. "Keep it fun", I kept reminding myself.
Once over the summit I started thinking about Gothics and more wet rock. Now that I had decided not to deal with the descents off of Armstrong and UWJ all I could think of was how nice it would be to walk on the road. The fatigue was a lot worse too. That cable route is something else! I did it 2 years ago on a nice sunny day from Orebed and it was so easy! Now my right quad was cramping up and I found it to be very, very difficult. I dropped my pack at the trail junction to Pyramid and went to the summit for a fine view of cloud, wind and rain and turned my back towards the rest of the Lower Range. Now that I had pulled the plug on the rest of the hike I very slowly and with much deliberate, knee sparing use of my poles lowered myself to the Sawteeth col and then to Lower Lake. The road walk was such a relief! It took me 5 more minutes to walk down the road as it did to walk up it that morning!
The itinerary: Ausable club- Sawteeth-Upper Lake-Haystack-Basin-Saddleback-Gothics-Armstrong-UWJ-LWJ-Ausable Club
As I crossed through the AMR gate I pushed the button on my heart rate monitor and the data collection began. I figured the HRM would help me control my pace. Pace was the big question mark, how hard to push? No sense starting out like a racehourse and squandering limited energy supplies to save 5 minutes now which might cost an hour later in the day. I hadn't a clue how to pace myself for such a big day so I would rely on a combination of common sense and my heart rate - and see.
Having Tom and Joe's results would give me feedback at each checkpoint but I refrained from looking at their times for each leg for fear of overextending myself by trying to maintain their pace. Hike your own hike.
I was up on Sawteeth in 2:11 which was 2 minutes off the pace. I would have sworn I was hiking too slowly but now I had a good handle on how hard to work. Quite moderately in fact but with a steady push to it.
The trail from Sawteeth to Upper Lake is beautiful, obviously it sees little traffic and made me think of the small section of Pinnacle Ridge I did this summer with Timmus. Before descending deep into the trees the view angle of Saddleback-Basin is unique. What a rugged place! Coming down off of Sawteeth gave me a sense that now I was really committing myself to the hike.
I decided to check my map and see what was in store from Upper Lake to Haystack. The 3000 climb to the summit looked to be in 3 parts. A moderate grade for 1000 feet then a steep grade up to the top of Bartlett Ridge and the grand finale up the last 1000 feet or so to the summit. I had gone down this trail (Haystack to Panther Gorge) with a full pack 3 years ago and I was curious as to what it looked like on the way up.
All along the route I felt very good, I simply held the pace and kept an eye on my heart rate. The only sour note was the weather which had deteriorated. Ground level clouds were whisking by and everything was socked right in. I was about 500 vertical feet below the summit when I met 2 fully dressed guys who were coming down. I was still wearing my soaking wet shorts and t-shirt and one of the guys says, "It's really cold up there". At tree line I put on my protective shell clothing and a pair of gloves. The wind on top was howling to beat the band and it was pelting rain. Going down was a little nuts. Imagine you can't really see all that well due to water droplets and fog on your glasses and the wind keeps making you stagger like a drunk as you descend the wet and slippery rock. Rather interesting but at least it's not very steep up there. I was 5 minutes from treeline when I met 2 guys who were heading up. One of them was wearing a flimsy shirt and track pants. I saw he wasn't wearing a pack. We had a little pow-wow whereupon I informed them that it was really effing cold and windy up top and they wisely turned back.
After the junction I found the trail to the Haystack-Basin col to be rather difficult due to all the rocks and boulders. I had been spoiled by the trail from Upper Lake to Bartlett ridge I guess. After a long (ie. 15 minute) break for food and water pumping at Snowbird I continued to the beginning of the climb up Basin. Basin is one tough cookie no matter which side you go up (or down). The rock was wet and for the first time all day I was feeling the fatigue. I slipped in a couple of places and that made me realize how far away I was. I slowed down and took a couple of short breaks. I walked over the summit and then the going got tough. My (new) boots and the wet slabby rock didn't adhere very well and I kept slipping. I couldn't see very well and I was soaked to the skin, my pack was heavy with rain water (I had a cover but didn't think to put it on. It was time to slow down, big time and carefully pick my way down to the Basin-Saddleback col. The descent was a real drain on my dwindling energy supplies. I had been eating steadily all day and had consumed 3 quarts of gaitor-aid and a quart of water but by now I had somewhere around 7000 feet of vertical behind me. I made up my mind to bail down the Weld Trail from Gothics. Going up the wet cold rock on Saddleback was very tough and I had to stop 3 times sucking air while the pounding in my chest subsided. "Keep it fun", I kept reminding myself.
Once over the summit I started thinking about Gothics and more wet rock. Now that I had decided not to deal with the descents off of Armstrong and UWJ all I could think of was how nice it would be to walk on the road. The fatigue was a lot worse too. That cable route is something else! I did it 2 years ago on a nice sunny day from Orebed and it was so easy! Now my right quad was cramping up and I found it to be very, very difficult. I dropped my pack at the trail junction to Pyramid and went to the summit for a fine view of cloud, wind and rain and turned my back towards the rest of the Lower Range. Now that I had pulled the plug on the rest of the hike I very slowly and with much deliberate, knee sparing use of my poles lowered myself to the Sawteeth col and then to Lower Lake. The road walk was such a relief! It took me 5 more minutes to walk down the road as it did to walk up it that morning!
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