Part #2 of My Crosscountry Adventure

[sli74]

Long Post Alert:

I figured it was time to post the trip report for the 2nd half of my cross-country trip before too many more months passed us by . . . . Probably most of you might not remember the details of the first report and it is buried somewhere in the archives if anyone is interested. As I did last time, below is a summary of my trip for those who don’t want to wade through all of my long trip report.


June 25-July 5 – Mostly hanging out with family and friends with a couple of hikes
July 1, 2004 – Attempted to day hike Longs Peak
July 4, 2004 – Day hiked Arapaho Pass with an attempt of the peak
July 5, 2004 – Wheeler Peak, NM day hike
July 6, 2004 – Carlsbad Caverns daytrip
July 7, 2004 – Guadalupe Peak, TX and White Sands NP, NM day hikes
July 9, 2004 – Humphrey’s Peak, AZ day hike
July 13-15, 2004 – Mount Whitney Backpacking Trip
July 17, 2004 – Drove to San Jose and picked up Laura from the airport
July 18-23, 2004 – Backpacked JMT section with LauraMZ, Paige, Theresa and Kris
July 24-28, 2004 – Drove back East with Laura

My pictures are on my webshots page (not all of them are titled and captioned yet)
community.webshots.com/user/sli74

 

[sli74]

June 25-July 4

I had hiked a number of highpoints, canyons and 14ers and was feeling pretty beat when I got a nice little break for down time in Colorado spending time with an aunt, uncle, 2 cousins and a good friend from Albany. I dropped Donna off with a friend of hers and made my way to Fort Collins, then Denver and finally Boulder.

I decided while in Denver to take a crack at Longs Peak and set out from my cousin’s place in Denver at about 2:30 am for the LONG drive to Longs Peak. I got there in time to get started up the trail before the crack of dawn since the roundtrip distance is 16 miles. I debated for a while before getting on the trail about what gear to bring along with me. I had packed my crampons and ice-axe but after a little thought decided to leave those behind. I knew if I had them I would use them when needed and I didn’t want to be solo on Longs in conditions that would require them so I left them behind.

Daybreak was just around the corner but I started out with a headlamp as it was still dark and enjoyed the hike up to the view of the cliffs on Longs. This was at the junction with the Chasm Lake Trail and it was just breathtaking. By this point the sun was already up and after a few pictures, I headed onward to the boulder field. The trail heading up there was more of a stream than a trail as the melting snow ran downhill. The hiking in Colorado is pretty much all views all the time. I can’t begin to describe how beautiful it was and the temps were perfect for hiking. I could see dark clouds gathering in the distance and kept a close eye on them as I didn’t want a repeat of the Belford Oxford trip with Donna the week prior.

But the weather wasn’t going to be my main concern as I found out upon reaching the boulder field. Hikers descending were bringing reports of difficult trail conditions up ahead. However, after a short break at the campsites at the boulder field, I headed up towards the Keyhole. I was almost at the Keyhole when 4 very large, in shape, well equipped men coming in the opposite direction stopped to answer my questions about the trail beyond. They had crampons, ropes, helmets, etc and when I asked if they’d summated they said “No, we got about a 0.1 miles beyond the Keyhole and turned around because we would’ve had to rope into each other and get out the ice axes and we didn’t want to push our luck today” . . . surprisingly they didn’t say anything to me about my lack of gear, which given the fact that I wasn’t carrying anything I needed for snow and ice was a shock. I told them I was going to head back since I had reached my point of comfort and they agreed that was probably a good decision. I figured I had no rope and no one to be roped to so I would have to return to climb Longs another time . . . BUMMER!!!

But the trip back was really easy and I met and talked to a bunch of really nice folks and made it to my car by just about 3 pm and I think to the Keyhole and back is about 12 miles or so and that was just fine by me . . . beautiful day of hiking and I was still back in Denver in time to go out for dinner with my cousin and his fiancé, YIPPEEE !!!

On the Fourth of July, my friend Rachel, her husband Thad and I hiked up Arapaho Pass and turned around short of the summit because of incoming afternoon thunderheads. That hike was absolutely breathtaking and easy enough even for non-hikers. The wildflowers were in full bloom and I was beaming from ear to ear as we chatted and hiked and spent the Fourth of July hiking the Fourth of July trail . . . very appropriate indeed.

 

[sli74]

July 5 – July 6

I started a whirlwind highpointing trip on July 5th. I got up and set out from Rachel and Thad’s place in Denver at 4:30am and Thad being the “absolutely most wonderful person in the whole wide world” woke up early with me and made me a strong coffee while I packed my car. Then to my surprise handed me $60 and insisted that I not camp while in New Mexico . . . he said he didn’t want my budget to dictate my safety and though it was a sweet thought I wanted to do this whole trip without monetary help from family or friends but he kept insisting and so I took it assuring him that I wouldn’t stay anyplace unsafe and wouldn’t camp in New Mexico. . . I gotta say I that I have some of the best people in my life for friends . . . and that Rachel is a lucky woman.

I drove from Denver to the trailhead for Wheeler Peak, the highpoint in New Mexico and got there to begin my hike by about 10:30am . . . the sun was beating down on me and I was sweating by the time I was hiking 2 minutes. Given the late start I chose to hike the “quickest route to the summit” which goes by Williams Lake and I would be cursing this choice later. The entire trip is supposed to be a little more than 6 miles I think and the first 2 miles or so took me just about an hour and got me to the beautiful Williams Lake which lies at the base of a steep climb to the summit of Wheeler Peak. I made very good time until treeline at which point my ascent slowed considerably until I was barely making any progress.

While making my way up the switchbacks, 3-4 times rocks the size of footballs came within a foot or two of me, scaring the living daylights out of me. These rocks came down making quite a bit of noise and the hiker directly in front of me had to jump out of the way at one point to avoid being hit my the large rock. As I got near the end of the switchbacks I realized the falling rocks were no act of nature but rather 2 teenagers, a boy and a girl about 14-16 years of age. Now, I usually don’t ever tell anybody what to or not to do while on the trail. I normally keep my mouth shut but it just was too dangerous a situation NOT to say anything . . . I had been talking to a family at the Lake who were about 5-10 minutes behind me at that point and their son was a small sized 7 year old and a blow to his little head by a rock the size of a football would result in a VERY bad situation so I politely explained to the teens that maybe they hadn’t noticed the switchback below but that the direction of their rock throwing was resulting in hikers below being in the “direct line of fire”. I also told them that there was a little 7 year old boy coming up behind me and he was likely to get hurt if they kept throwing the rocks. I even thanked them and wished them a good day. Within seconds of my walking away from them, I heard them snicker, make a rude comment about me and continue to throw rocks down the switchbacks. I couldn’t actually believe that these kids old enough to know better were smiling at me and proceeding to endanger the lives of the hikers below. Why do people insist on bringing such children out there? The funny thing was that I almost stopped and told the couple descending up ahead to be careful of the rocks but didn’t only to turn around and find out that they were with the obnoxious teens, I hope I do a better job of raising my kids when I have them, ugh !!!

Anyway, I probably would’ve dwelt on those obnoxious teens for a lot longer had it not been for the intensely steep scree slope that loomed ahead of me. For the next 2 hours I STRUGGLED my way up the steep slope to the summit of Wheeler. I didn’t even get any pictures of the steep sections because one wrong move and I’d slip down losing about 10 minutes of elevation gained in a matter of a few seconds. Every 3 steps forward was usually accompanied by 2 steps back. After the slow moving ascent, I finally made it to the summit to enjoy the windy but gorgeous views.

On top of Wheeler I met a dad and his 5 year old son who had come up the other way and I was astonished at how this tiny little boy had climbed with his own 2 legs all the way up there, AMAZING !!! Anyway, the descent was quicker though I did fall on my butt a number of times and I finally made it back to my car stopping to chat with a few hikers who were originally from NH.

I was exhausted by the time I got to the hostel in Taos and barely stayed awake to shower and help a woman from Japan, Yoshka, get information about getting to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. The poor girl had basically been “lured” to visit this guy twice her age who was now trying to take advantage of her and she made him drop her off at the hostel and didn’t know where to go or what to do. I told her if she wanted to leave with me the next morning at 4 am I would give her a ride to Flagstaff where I was eventually headed but that I first had to go to Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Peak in Texas. She couldn’t leave that early the next day so I explained about Greyhound buses and gave her info for the hostels in Flagstaff and about tours to the Navaho and Hopi Reservations and the Grand Canyon. I went to bed after chatting with her because I had to get up early to hit the road . . .

Tuesday morning July 6, I had to get started before the break of dawn again and was on the road by 4:30am headed through Roswell (ooohhh) . . . to Carlsbad Caverns. I was well on my way deep into the Caverns before I realized that this was the first time I had been in a “cave” of any sort in YEARS since I lost someone dear to me in a caving accident. I didn’t stay too long there but did get a chance to see the formations inside, it is really worth a visit, mind-blowing that all that exists underground, very cool (I will have to get back into caving one of these days, I realized I miss it). Leaving Carlsbad I drove to the campground at the base of Guadalupe Peak. The heat and its intensity was new to me since I had been hiking in mostly higher elevations further North.

 

[sli74]

July 7 – July 9

For a third morning in a row, I woke up and packed and got on the trail by close to daybreak. It was extremely cloudy and foggy and I had to pay attention to remain on the trail. The number and grades of the switchbacked trails out West make for very easy footing and thus easy hiking. Eventually I hiked high enough to be above the clouds which was a cool experience, haven’t done that in a while . . . I got up to the summit and had it all to myself for about 30 minutes. After taking a number of pictures I headed back down knowing I had a LONG drive ahead of me and I wasn’t yet sure of my destination for the night.

Initially I had thought I would drive via El Paso, TX and Tuscon, AZ and Phoenix to get to Flagstaff but while hiking Wheeler Peak, one of the other hikers had mentioned hiking at the White Sands National Park in New Mexico and since that sounded interesting I drove up north through New Mexico making a detour to hike the 5 mile loop in the “backcountry” of White Sands park. It was ABSOLUTELY worth the detour and I can’t recommend it enough. Walking in sand for 5 miles after having spent the morning hiking Guadalupe was definitely trying my body but I had a blast and this unplanned part of my trip was one of the best parts. Make sure to see the pictures of the White Sands, it is an awesome place.

I left White Sands and knew I had just barely enough time to make it to the Hostel in Truth or Consequences before it closed at 10 pm. Now on the way into White Sands there had been a “border patrol” stop where the officer had asked me what I was doing there and let me through after I answered all his questions. He had searched the truck in front of me. Now, I know that as a scientist my geography knowledge sucks BUT I was really confused as to what border was actually in the middle of NM? I really wanted to ask him what is this the border to? . . . But didn’t want to piss off the VERY stern officer, so I just smiled, said thank you and went onto my hiking. However, about an hour south of Truth or Consequences as I am already running VERY late, there is yet another “border crossing” stop and here the officer gives me a hard time for almost 10 minutes. Here is how it went . . .

Officer: Let me see your license.
Me: Here you go, sir . . .
Officer: Where are you going?
Me: I am going to a hostel in Truth or Consequences.
Officer: A hospital?
Me: No a hostel
Officer: A HOSPITAL?
Me: No, sir . . . a hostel . . . H-O-S-T-E-L
Officer: A hotel?
Me: Sorta I guess . . . Kinda like a hotel but cheaper with bunk beds . . . a hostel.
(Why do I bother?)
Officer: Why are you going there?
Me: I am headed to Flagstaff, AZ to hike Humphrey’s Peak and I just need a place to
sleep for the night so I am staying at the hostel.
Officer: Arizona? Why Arizona?
Me: To hike . . .
Officer (looking at my license): You are a LONG way from home (Brilliant, ain't he?)
Me: Yes, sir . . . I am on vacation.
Officer: Are you here on business?
Me: No, on vacation (did he not hear me the first time?)
Officer: What other states are you going to on this vacation?
Me: AZ and CA and then I am heading back home
Officer: What states have you been in already?
Me: You want to know all of them? I drove across the country.
Officer: Yes . . .
Me: Okay . . . I’ll try my best . . . MA, NY, PA, OH, IN, IA, NE, CO, WY, UT and I
may have missed a couple I am not sure.

And this went on and on and on for more than 10 minutes. At this point I was getting really worried about not making it to the hostel on time . . . and I had promised Thad that I wouldn’t sleep in my car in NM and Arizona was a REALLY far drive still and I couldn’t really afford the prices for the motels in the area . . .
And the interrogation continued

Officer: That is a LOT of stuff you have in the backseat
Me: Well sir, I am on a 2 month trip across the country, I need a lot of stuff
Officer: What’s in the trunk?
Me: Camping gear, sir
Officer: Can I look in there?
Me: Sure, but stuff might fall out, I packed hastily this morning . . .
Officer: Just pop your trunk m’am
Me: Sure (praying that all my crap doesn’t come tumbling out)
Officer: Okay you are free to go . . .

What the HECK is this the border to anyway . . . is really what I wanted to know but I didn’t want to push his already stressed out buttons so I drove to the hostel and made it there just in time before they closed. Now I had been hiking in hot temps all day, I had sand in my tevas since I hiked White Sands in them and I just wanted to get cleaned up so after I showered and changed I went out to the courtyard to hang out with the hostel residents who were really nice people and as I sat there talking to one of the girls, I asked her what was with the border patrol stops because they detained me for a while. . . and when I told her the story, she just started laughing and asked me if I really wanted to know. I said yes because I was confused what border was in the middle of New Mexico and so proceeded to explain to me Miss Naïve and Gullible that those were drug checkpoints and that there was a LOT of crystal meth that comes into the US from Mexico and the border patrol guy had obviously assumed I was Mexican . . . ahhh, drugs, I get it now. Me? A Drug Dealer? Ha Ha . . . so I was glad to finally know.

On the 8th, I drove to Flagstaff, AZ and settled into the hostel there for what was to be 2 nights and ended up being 4 nights (I understand now how lifelong bums are created) and I could’ve stayed there forever . . . I hiked Humphrey’s Peak on the 9th and it was an easy hike and I once again had the summit all to myself meaning for attempts at self portraits. It was beautiful day both temps and views. I stayed at the summit for almost 45 minutes huddles inside the rock fort to stay out of the wind which was howling at the summit . . . before I got chilly and had to leave.

Once back at the hostel I met up with Yoshka, the Japanese girl from Taos and we must’ve looked silly all laughing and hugging as if we were long lost friends. She and I and Greg from England hung out and a few other people joined us over the next few days and it was really hard to leave the fun little group and be on my way but Mount Whitney was calling my name and I actually had a permit which I couldn’t pass up so I said my goodbyes on the 12th of July and got on the road to California . . . whoo hoo . . .

 

[sli74]

July 13 – July 15

This was the trip I had been waiting for all year; the plans for this one began back in 2003 when I decided I wanted to climb Whitney this year (2004) and got myself knee deep in the crap you gotta do to get a permit. I drove from Flagstaff and by the time I was in California I began getting this strange feeling in my stomach, it took me a couple of hours to realize that the feeling was nervousness . . . I was actually scared for the first time since getting through the first day on the road back in May and I couldn’t quite place why suddenly I was nervous. Well, I just continued to feel more and more anxious as the evening went on . . . I packed up all my stuff in the car with any scent at all and placed it all into my cooler (which I put in the bear boxes at the trailhead) and I got my pack for the trip all put together and went to bed for a restless night of sleep.

I woke up at 7am and packed up my tent and sleeping bag. Got to the trailhead and the nerves had then turned into excitement. I couldn’t wait to get on the trail. I was on the trail by 9 am and just as I was getting on the trail I saw 2 women standing there talking and said a quick Hello to them as they gave me a strange look that I couldn’t tell was because I was alone.

I had a pleasant hike up to Lone Pine Lake and just before getting there the 2 women and a third who were all hiking together caught up to me. They asked if I was alone and I told them that I was and they expressed a little concern over that and hiked on. When I caught up to them at the lake, we chatted and I found out that their names were Gail, Pam and Michelle and that they were planning to head up to Trail Camp for the night as well. We all had pretty much the same plans to hike to the summit from Trail Camp the next day and then spend a second night at Trail Camp and then out. As I got to know them better, their mothering instincts kicked in and they kept telling me that I could stick with them so I didn’t have to be alone. They were all very nice women and I was glad to have some company though being by myself was old hat by now.

I left a little before them and made it up to Outpost Camp pretty quickly. Once there I realized that the reports of 50-70 mph winds were no joke. Hikers descending from the summit and from trail camp were bringing news of high winds and that combined with the exposure at trail camp did not bode well for my tent. I had already ripped a hole into my tarptent at Bryce Canyon with winds that were probably about 30 mph, maybe a little more and I didn’t want to test it out at Trail Camp. By the time G, P and M showed up at Outpost Camp I had decided that I was going to stay there and make the longer ascent to the summit the next day instead of testing my tent in the high winds. They discussed it for a while and then decided to take a nap before making a final decision. While they napped I tried to put up my tent.

I had set this tent up in under 5 minutes the first time after it arrived and had gotten the setup time to just about 3 minutes in the course of my trip but not this day. The winds were blowing about 40-50 mph and after an hour of struggling with the tent and trying to pitch it in 6 different spots, I was about to burst into tears. But just about when I was starting to get really frustrated, 2 guys came over and asked me if I needed help and I said yes and in about 15 minutes the 3 of us had the tent set up and I worked on building a wall of rocks to protect the tent from the wind. When the ladies woke up from their nap they also decided to set up at Outpost camp since Gail was having a tough time with adjusting to the altitude.

Later in the afternoon, the three of them went up to Mirror Lake to get Gail used to hike at that elevation but I stayed behind to organize my tent and read a little. My back was to the mesh part of my tent when I heard a voice call out “Howdy Folks” and I turned around (unfortunately) just in time to see a guy in his 50s walk by with nothing on but socks, boots and a backpack . . . yuck !! The ladies came back with a funny story about running into him on the trail and having Michelle run away from him screaming as he kept repeating “Its okay, I’m just a nudist” . . . it was all very funny, he had apparently only made it a third of the way up the switchbacks because, get this . . . “he got cold” . . . maybe someone ought to tell him that is why we wear clothes . . . oohhh, new concept. Anyway, it was really funny. That night we sat around sharing our treats, I gave them chocolate and they gave me gin and lemonade . . . yummy!

The next day I got started at 5am and made my way up past the Trailside Meadow to Trail Camp and then up the switchbacks to Trail Crest and finally up to the summit and I was finally standing on top of the continental United States and I gotta say it was pretty darn amazing. It was crowded up there but still it felt really good to be up there. I hung out for about 30-45 minutes before I left to head back down. On the way down I met Michelle who was on her way up and about 30 minutes from the summit . . . she said that Gail had altitude issues and so her and Pam turned back part way up the switchbacks so I headed down and told Michelle I would wait for her at Trail Camp but after taking a 45 minute nap at Trail Camp, I wasn’t sure if she’d walked right by me without seeing me so I headed back to Outpost Camp.

When I got there 11 hours after starting up in the morning, Pam and Gail were there to cheer for me and then about 30 minutes later we decided to hike up towards Mirror Lake to look for Michelle and half way up to the Lake we ran into her and all of us went back to camp for more gin and lemonade and dinner. We had dinner with 3 guys who had decided to do the trip without a stove so we shared our extra hot meals with them and had the time of our lives. It was fun and I told them I’d come back next year to help Gail celebrate her 50th b-day by climbing Mount Whitney. The next day we all hiked out to our cars which were untouched by the bears and said our goodbyes.

I drove to Yosemite only to discover that fires were raging there and the trail to Half Dome was closed ruining my plans for July 16th which then ended up being a lazy day that I spent at Yosemite Bug Hostel doing laundry and checking email and just reading and chilling. The next day July 17th, I drove to San Jose and picked up Laura from VFTT who had flown in to hike a section of the John Muir with my friend Paige and 2 of her friends.

 

[sli74]

July 18-23

I was so happy to see Laura I almost knocked her over with my hug when she arrived at the airport. She was exhausted and rightfully so since she had driven all the way from Maine to Albany and then caught a plane with a connection to get to San Jose. But before we could go back and relax we needed to go grocery shopping which was an adventure in itself and we ended up spending more time just being confused and walking around in circles than we did actually shopping.

Finally, we went back to the motel room in Modesto and organized some of our stuff before getting some shuteye . . . the next day our early start became later and later and later and by the time we got our permits and got on the JMT it was 4:30 and we had a 4-6 mile hike ahead of us . . . ouch . . . but after some interesting bear canister issues that Laura had, that I happily documented with my camera we had a beautiful hike to our campsite near the intersection with the Vogelsang Pass trail where Paige and her friends were to meet us the following day. Laura and I, well really Laura, successfully light a campfire and we had a grand old time just staying warm by the fire and talking.

The following day Paige and her 2 friends Kris and Theresa joined us and Laura and I packed up and we headed another 2 miles into Lyell Canyon and camped at the base of Donahue Pass. We had another fire and relaxed allowing Laura and Theresa who were both feeling the effects of the altitude to get some adjustment time. On day 3 we made our way over Donahue Pass with a couple of very interesting river crossings that Paige made sure to document as I am not the most graceful river crosser. This night Laura found us a breathtaking campsite from where we had open views of mountains, rivers and the stars and also the soothing rushing water of the river flowing near us. It was gorgeous and our fire goddesses once again built a beautiful campfire by which we shared food and chocolate.

On day 4 we had a very short hike as we changed our plans and decided to hike out via the River Trail instead of the JMT and since the hike was so short we had a chance to swim and sun bathe and really get a lot of relaxation time. We camped near Ruby Lake and it was a delight and I highly recommend it. And for the final night of camping we made a kinda scary river crossing to a beautiful and spacious campsite a few 100 feet from a thundering waterfall. We finished up by hiking out to Red Meadows where we were treated to hot mineral baths and real food. It was a wonderful trip and made me realize that I wanted to hike the entire JMT someday soon.

After shuttling the cars back we, Laura and I spent that night hanging out with Paige and her 3 beautiful little girls and her husband before hitting the road the next morning after feasting on Dave’s breakfast on our way back to the East Coast.

 

[sli74]

July 24 - July 28

Laura and I drove back home making quick sightseeing stops at the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Laura was great company and we made real good time on the way back. Thank you Laura for a great time and for your wonderful company on the long ride back East. We’ll have to plan our next big adventure real soon.

Well, anyone who made it through all the way to the end, you have more patience than I and you’ll have to keep your eyes open for my LT trip report.

sli74

 

[HikerBob]

Sli - you are without doubt an adventurer! Congratulations on an epic summer of hiking.

I'm sorry I missed catching up with you on your recent LT exploit but I'm sure others managed to bump into you. Can't wait to read the report and view the pics.

Bob

 

[poison ivy]

What a great summer adventure! I am so happy that you had a chance to live your dream. Congrats!

- Ivy

 

[Rik]

I'm jealous! What a great trip!

 

[Doc McPeak]

Another great report! Fires put the kabosh on Half Dome for us last year too. And we ended up doing the Vogelsangs (Pass, Lake, and Peak) and returning via that section of the JMT. Glad the bears didn't give you any trouble either.

And the LT, too!? You're a trekking machine. Way to go ......

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Great report on a super trip; funny stuff too! How many state high points is that for you now, Sli? High Pointers 2005 Konvention in NH (Labor Day weekend at Purity Spring Resort in East Madision and Mt. Washington).

 

[sli74]

Re: Re: July 13 – July 15

Oh my God! Hiking Goddess actually let some guys help her! That cracked me up. From hiking with you, I know that must have nearly killed you! A little help now and then never hurts (as I found out on Wittenberg).

You are one tough Angel! That is a fantastic epic adventure. If you are headed back to Whitney next year, I'm in!

Sherpa, you know I'd accept help when I need it, I just like being able to do things on my own is all . . . but you know that

HikerBob, I will have my next rambling trip report up sometime next week and then you'll be subjected to another long read

Doc M, I guess the fires are pretty frequent out there. I should've done something else but I was so bummed about Half Dome that I just sat around instead but I did get a chance to check out the hostel.

Dr. D, I only have 19 of them done but I hope to get another 5-6 in the next year . . . I will be glad if I can get 45 out of the 50 over the next 10 years so I am almost half way to that goal.

Rik, Don't hate me because I'm lucky

sli74

BTW, I added paragraphs like Teejay suggested (Thanks TJ) and I hope that makes the reading a little easier.

 

[Jay H]

Wheeee, sounds like a blast. Glad you had such a fine time Seema. ..and a funny "border crossing" story too boot.

I remember seeing one of those "candid camera" programs where the people set up a Canadian Border crossing like in the middle of Utah or something, complete with RCMP mounties and Canadian flags... Was funny to watch.

Anyway, not sure if I mentioned it but I saw WR#1 at the Devil's Tombstone parking lot on saturday when me, Fred, and Al were driving up Rt 214 to do our waterfall hike!

Next year, I'll be planning the Escarpment trail dayhike, it's a bit north of the Devil's path and isn't as tough but the views are pretty much just as good.... Hope you can make it!

Jay

 

[TomEske]

Very Cool.

Seema, what an unbelievable trip. Glad you had such a great time. Wish I had read this before I saw you last week, I would have had a ton of questions. You are an incredible person, indeed. "Hiking Godess" is a suitable title, I think (a bit sexist perhaps, but it still fits).
I got a good look at Wheeler Peak when I was on Mt. Phillips last month, Nice hike that I would like to do some time. My son (Pete, you met him. Remember, he is scared of Devil's horns?) and I want to go out to Colorado and do some 14ers. My brother lives in Denver also.
I remain in awe of your tenacity. As a male of (almost) 50 years, I don't think I have the guts or determination you have, but you set the bar pretty high.
(side note to Jay: I think you are busting Seema's horns (pun fully intended) here, I saw WR#1 and #2 sitting on the porch labor day weekend celebrating another season of keeping the tourists at bay, just before closing up shop. Jay, let me know when you have some tentative dates for the Escarpment, I think I can work up to training for this, and if Seema is going, I want to give it a shot because she is always telling me she is a "slow hiker". I figure if I can train hard enough to keep up with her I'll be in much better shape than I am now.)
Seema, thanks for taking the time to write such a wonderful report. It made for a very enjoyable evening of reading instead of joining the wife in watching that mindless tube. Life wins out over fantasy yet again. Now I look forward to the LP report even more.
I wish much luck to you in the coming months as your life takes new turns. I'm certain things will roll your way because you will make them so.
Tom

 

[prino]

Great Report Seema!
That story with the "Border Control" guy cracked me up. It sounds as though he'd never crossed the "Border" himself.

Phil

 

[bigmoose]

And to think -
The "high point" of my big trip out west in 1973 was buying six packs of the "legendary" Coors Beer, unavailable out East at the time....
Wished I'd been into the climbing game back then...saw a lot of fantastic mountains, climbed none.
Now, however, I get to travel and climb vicariously through your excellent travelogue, Seema. Wonderful reading...keep it comin'!
JT

 

[sli74]

Tom,

Thank you so VERY much for your kind words, it has been quite a year for me and I am sure I will be treasuring my experiences for a long time to come . . . I highly recommend Colorado for hiking, I am going to try and get a week of hiking there every 2 years or so and hike those 14ers. I am sure Pete will have a blast as well as there are no devil's horns to be encountered there

Prino,

Yeah, that border patrol guy really was something else.


bigmoose,

never underestimate the power of beer . . . You know it is never too late to get back out West and climb some of those mountains you only saw . . .

sli74

 

[Puma concolor]

As Dr. D mentioned, the HP Konvention is in NH next year. I'm looking forward to the Club Presidential Traverse as a way of meeting and making contacts with like-minded folks from the Northeast for when I get into those last 5 - which is still several years away. Not a lot of serious HPers from the Capital District - you should definitely make a showing. Awesome trip by the way Sli. I think everyone here is at least a little jealous.

 

[sli74]

Dr. D or Mark S,

I went to the highpointers website and see info about this year's convention in Washington but don't see info on the NH convention, maybe I didn't look hard enough. Could you post a link or tell me where I can find the info, I would love to have it. I don't know too many other highpointers and it would be fun. I started Highpointing Nov 1999 and haven't had the time or money to travel very far until this year and now don't know when I will be headed on my next Highpointing venture.

I had wanted to do the Nevada highpoint while I was in the area but got scared off by the guides mentioning that people have gotten lost there.

Anyway, let me know where the info for the NH Convention can be found. Thanks,

sli74