Ed'n Lauky
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2007
- Messages
- 1,802
- Reaction score
- 168
With winter coming to an end Duffy and I decided to tackle the Lincoln—Lafayette loop. The winds at that altitude were supposed to be between 35-45 mph and the day otherwise looked pretty good.
The GREAT part of our trip was that as we were in the parking lot preparing to leave a car came cruising through. The driver and passenger looked extremely familiar from pictures I had seen although I had never met them. It was Tom and Atticus on their way to Moriah and just checking things out at the Lafayette parking lot. I flagged them down and we talked for a while. I had wanted for so long to meet them and my chance finally came. Atticus was even a bit smaller than I had pictured him which in my mind only made his hiking feats all the more remarkable. Did I say he was small? Well he wasn’t too small to tell an Airedale that if he didn’t mind his Ps and Qs he would rearrange his face. That little fellow’s sure got character. After a short chat, Tom and Atticus piled back in the car and headed for Moriah and we headed off for Lincoln and Lafayette.
The GOOD part of the trip was that the trail was in superb form. It has been well broken in and the snow on the trail was well consolidated. For the first hour I wore snowshoes, but it was increasingly evident that crampons would be more efficient and I switched to them and left them on the rest of the day. For the entire loop I might have slipped of the trail and post holed maybe four or five times. If you stay on the center of the trail there is no post holing.
The BAD part of the trip was that when I got up this morning I felt slightly nauseated. I passed it off as morning sickness. That’s the way it works isn’t it? I flunked out of biology while studying aphids and I was never quite sure if it worked that way with all species. But I digress. I made myself eat breakfast, which just seemed to sit in my stomach. Latter when I drank my usual liter of prehike Gatorade, it also nauseated me. I was sure that when I got hiking that it would pass, but it didn’t. In fact, the farther I went the worse it got leading to some dry heaves which greatly concerned a passing hiker I hadn’t seen. His concern for me was actually quite touching. One of the big problems with the nausea was that I had to force myself to drink and I actually drank much less than usual. As for eating it was impossible, not even a granola bar would go down.
All that led to the UGLY part of the trip. Round about 11:30 I absolutely hit the wall. I just had nothing left; the tank was empty and I had not even reached the summit. Again I wrongly thought it would pass. It got really nasty as I made my way up Lincoln. The temperature that had been balmy below the tree line turned wicked up on the ridge. I had been expecting winds of no more than 45 mph, but these winds were of the blow you over gale force type and my legs just weren’t cooperating. There was a bit of a reprieve going down Lincoln but as we headed up Lafayette things got really bad. I think I must be bipolar because I found myself talking to myself. One part of me was screaming just lie down and curl up, you need rest. The other part was saying, ‘Look Ed, you got yourself into this mess; you can blame well get yourself out. Suck it up and get going.’ Fortunately I listened to the second part of me. Putting one foot in front of the other I finally made it to the top. The wind was terrific. Clouds were coming in and the blowing snow felt like hale or even sand. Once we got heading down things were not good, but nevertheless much better. Praise the Lord for gravity—when you’re going down! When I reached the shelter my body again cried out for rest. I sat for a few minutes and tried to eat a granola bar which I couldn’t get down so I threw it to Duffy and said let’s get going. Fortunately it is mostly downhill from the hut to the parking lot and we made it out without too much trouble. As I headed for home I had a terrible craving for a milkshake so I stopped at McDonalds in Lincoln and picked one up. It really helped. I realized then that I must have been suffering from hypoglycemia. I was also no doubt dehydrated. I didn’t mention that while I was struggling up on the ridge, Duffy was having an absolutely great time. Everyone who passed us commented about what a great time he was having, on the snow, the ice, the ledges, in the wind; he treated it all as if it were a springtime romp in the lower woods.
When I arrived home and told my story I was expecting a little sermon about why didn’t I turn around when I wasn’t feeling well. I actually got a slightly different version about why did I even leave the house when I wasn’t feeling well. The thing is, it’s March 10, winter ends in about a week. I hadn’t been able to get out last week and then doesn’t morning sickness usually pass in a couple of hours?
The GREAT part of our trip was that as we were in the parking lot preparing to leave a car came cruising through. The driver and passenger looked extremely familiar from pictures I had seen although I had never met them. It was Tom and Atticus on their way to Moriah and just checking things out at the Lafayette parking lot. I flagged them down and we talked for a while. I had wanted for so long to meet them and my chance finally came. Atticus was even a bit smaller than I had pictured him which in my mind only made his hiking feats all the more remarkable. Did I say he was small? Well he wasn’t too small to tell an Airedale that if he didn’t mind his Ps and Qs he would rearrange his face. That little fellow’s sure got character. After a short chat, Tom and Atticus piled back in the car and headed for Moriah and we headed off for Lincoln and Lafayette.
The GOOD part of the trip was that the trail was in superb form. It has been well broken in and the snow on the trail was well consolidated. For the first hour I wore snowshoes, but it was increasingly evident that crampons would be more efficient and I switched to them and left them on the rest of the day. For the entire loop I might have slipped of the trail and post holed maybe four or five times. If you stay on the center of the trail there is no post holing.
The BAD part of the trip was that when I got up this morning I felt slightly nauseated. I passed it off as morning sickness. That’s the way it works isn’t it? I flunked out of biology while studying aphids and I was never quite sure if it worked that way with all species. But I digress. I made myself eat breakfast, which just seemed to sit in my stomach. Latter when I drank my usual liter of prehike Gatorade, it also nauseated me. I was sure that when I got hiking that it would pass, but it didn’t. In fact, the farther I went the worse it got leading to some dry heaves which greatly concerned a passing hiker I hadn’t seen. His concern for me was actually quite touching. One of the big problems with the nausea was that I had to force myself to drink and I actually drank much less than usual. As for eating it was impossible, not even a granola bar would go down.
All that led to the UGLY part of the trip. Round about 11:30 I absolutely hit the wall. I just had nothing left; the tank was empty and I had not even reached the summit. Again I wrongly thought it would pass. It got really nasty as I made my way up Lincoln. The temperature that had been balmy below the tree line turned wicked up on the ridge. I had been expecting winds of no more than 45 mph, but these winds were of the blow you over gale force type and my legs just weren’t cooperating. There was a bit of a reprieve going down Lincoln but as we headed up Lafayette things got really bad. I think I must be bipolar because I found myself talking to myself. One part of me was screaming just lie down and curl up, you need rest. The other part was saying, ‘Look Ed, you got yourself into this mess; you can blame well get yourself out. Suck it up and get going.’ Fortunately I listened to the second part of me. Putting one foot in front of the other I finally made it to the top. The wind was terrific. Clouds were coming in and the blowing snow felt like hale or even sand. Once we got heading down things were not good, but nevertheless much better. Praise the Lord for gravity—when you’re going down! When I reached the shelter my body again cried out for rest. I sat for a few minutes and tried to eat a granola bar which I couldn’t get down so I threw it to Duffy and said let’s get going. Fortunately it is mostly downhill from the hut to the parking lot and we made it out without too much trouble. As I headed for home I had a terrible craving for a milkshake so I stopped at McDonalds in Lincoln and picked one up. It really helped. I realized then that I must have been suffering from hypoglycemia. I was also no doubt dehydrated. I didn’t mention that while I was struggling up on the ridge, Duffy was having an absolutely great time. Everyone who passed us commented about what a great time he was having, on the snow, the ice, the ledges, in the wind; he treated it all as if it were a springtime romp in the lower woods.
When I arrived home and told my story I was expecting a little sermon about why didn’t I turn around when I wasn’t feeling well. I actually got a slightly different version about why did I even leave the house when I wasn’t feeling well. The thing is, it’s March 10, winter ends in about a week. I hadn’t been able to get out last week and then doesn’t morning sickness usually pass in a couple of hours?
