Our backpacks are packed and we are ready to go! Dan's dad is driving us up to Mammoth tomorrow and we hit the trail on Tuesday!!!!!
Follow our progress with the Spot Messenger at http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=09HgqZ1IC3uIRXGKhThMI1EQJEm1Z6Oq3
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
We got a SPOT!!
Well my dad has bought us a SPOT Messenger. If you don't know what that is, it is a GPS device that will allow us to transmit or GPS coordinates to a website continually throughout the trip. This way people in the outside world can view our progress and confirm that we have not yet been eaten by bears. There is even a "911" feature on the SPOT that would transmit our location to emergency services so we can be rescued in case we needed it.
Link for the tracking page will be up soon.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Mission Trails... after dark
We've seen a lot of Mission Trails this past week... but because of our work schedules, much of it has been at night. The four of us (and Harlan!) hiked 6-7 miles up Mt. Fortuna. We couldn't have asked for a better night... the sky was even clear enough to see the stars. We encountered some wildlife on the trail including a "meadow" (Bryan's term for a mouse) and earthworm-like snake that appeared to not have a head. Upon further investigation we determined that it did indeed have a head. Bryan made a special request for Dan not to kick headless snakes at him in the future. Dan agreed to this request.
Last night Dan and I left the car at about 7 PM and hiked up to the Kwaay Paay summit and rappelled down the rocks on the other side. The adventure took a little longer than we had planned (possibly due to my inability to put on a climbing harness) and the second rappel and hike back were completed sans daylight. The hike up was pretty steep, and I was definitely feeling the previous weekend in my legs. Which brings me to my next point...
Kind of a spur of the moment decision... but Dan and I participated in an adventure race last weekend up in the Lagunas with Tony (one of Dan's buddies from work). We were given maps and plotted all the checkpoints then took off on our mountain bikes. We could immediately feel the 6000 ft elevation and wicked hot temperatures and knew we were in for a long day. Our team (Team Que Bueno!) made it to the transition area and started the 11 mile trekking section first. Thanks to the navigation skills of two Eagle Scouts... we found the first few checkpoints easily. After a long and quite bloody bushwhacking section we were passed by another team of three who seemed to have found an easier way across the mountain. We were close behind the team until Tony's IT band started acting up, making it extremely painful to run up or down hills (quite a disadvantage when you are in the mountains). We walked for a while but Tony eventually told us to leave him because his knee problems were not getting any better. Dan and I took off, finishing the run and starting out on the bikes, still behind the other team. It was a tough and HOT 20 or so miles but thanks to our sweet mountain biking skillz we managed to pass the other team (without seeing them... yeah weird) and finished in first place with a time of 7 hours 11 minutes. After the race many people were impressed to hear that this was Dan's first adventure race and only my second and the team we had passed was made up of some very seasoned racers (one of them even had ADVNTR RCR or something on his license plate). Any way, Tony's knee is okay, just needs some rest and rehab. Out legs are pretty beat up and bloody, resembling what would happen if you stuck your leg into a bucket of angry cats. But....
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming...Wow! What a ride!" ~Melvin Trotter
one of my favs.
Oh yeah... T-minus 10 days until we leave for the JMT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last night Dan and I left the car at about 7 PM and hiked up to the Kwaay Paay summit and rappelled down the rocks on the other side. The adventure took a little longer than we had planned (possibly due to my inability to put on a climbing harness) and the second rappel and hike back were completed sans daylight. The hike up was pretty steep, and I was definitely feeling the previous weekend in my legs. Which brings me to my next point...
Kind of a spur of the moment decision... but Dan and I participated in an adventure race last weekend up in the Lagunas with Tony (one of Dan's buddies from work). We were given maps and plotted all the checkpoints then took off on our mountain bikes. We could immediately feel the 6000 ft elevation and wicked hot temperatures and knew we were in for a long day. Our team (Team Que Bueno!) made it to the transition area and started the 11 mile trekking section first. Thanks to the navigation skills of two Eagle Scouts... we found the first few checkpoints easily. After a long and quite bloody bushwhacking section we were passed by another team of three who seemed to have found an easier way across the mountain. We were close behind the team until Tony's IT band started acting up, making it extremely painful to run up or down hills (quite a disadvantage when you are in the mountains). We walked for a while but Tony eventually told us to leave him because his knee problems were not getting any better. Dan and I took off, finishing the run and starting out on the bikes, still behind the other team. It was a tough and HOT 20 or so miles but thanks to our sweet mountain biking skillz we managed to pass the other team (without seeing them... yeah weird) and finished in first place with a time of 7 hours 11 minutes. After the race many people were impressed to hear that this was Dan's first adventure race and only my second and the team we had passed was made up of some very seasoned racers (one of them even had ADVNTR RCR or something on his license plate). Any way, Tony's knee is okay, just needs some rest and rehab. Out legs are pretty beat up and bloody, resembling what would happen if you stuck your leg into a bucket of angry cats. But....
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming...Wow! What a ride!" ~Melvin Trotter
one of my favs.
Oh yeah... T-minus 10 days until we leave for the JMT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Hard Days
I was looking over the itinerary the other day and I found the two hardest days of the trip.
The first is day 16: Deer Meadow to Kings river. We travel 13 miles and cross over Mather Pass (12,100 ft). The climb to Mather Pass will require gaining over 3200 ft in 7.5 miles.
Most of the hike is fairly steep with an ascent up "the golden staircase".
I also found this awesome site that has panoramas of many places along the JMT and throughout the Sierras. Here's Mather Pass.
The second hard day is 20: This will be fun. 14.5 miles with a gain of around 3500 ft over the highest pass of the trip, Forester Pass (13,200 ft). The good news is that the day before we have a rest day at Cottonwood Lakes. We should be well rested and in good shape for this one.
Here's the panorama on top of Forester Pass.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
New Rule
There has been a new rule created for the trip.
Rule 1.2.64: Silly Hats Only
Please follow the rules.
If you are low on cash from spending so much money on new gear and trip food, this is acceptable, but frowned upon.
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