Month: November 2017

Ignorance is bliss…

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Katie sitting on the top of Half Dome

They say ignorance is bliss, and for our friend Katie, her first backpacking adventure really was a blissfully ignorant experience. But for Kat and I, her “hiking chaperones”, not so much. Last summer Kat and I hiked the John Muir Trail (JMT). For the 2 years building up to our hike, Katie watched us plan and prepare every detail  for  this super intense thru hike and as she took it all in, decided she wanted to have a taste of our adventure. She had never backpacked and wasn’t much of a hiker but what she had was great athletic ability as a swimmer and cyclist and a shared sense of wanting something fun and challenging outdoors; our hiking plans had definitely  piqued her interest. The plan was for Katie to tag along for the ride and join us for our first 2 acclimation nights at Curry Camp in Yosemite where we would officially start our thru hike. We then went one step further and told Katie she should start out with us on our JMT hike and camp with us our first night at Little Yosemite Valley. It was the perfect plan and Katie was stoked and so were we…this was an epic adventure and we were happy to share in the excitement.

Upon arriving at Yosemite, Kat and I watched as the euphoria of being in nature and especially of being in breathtakingly beautiful  Yosemite take  hold of Katie. Before our very eyes, we were watching a hiking newbie as she was  overcome and overwhelmed by something she had never witnessed or experienced…she was seeing things and feeling things that she never knew she was missing but quickly realizing she needed in her life. Her excitement reminded me of a 4-year-old seeing Disneyland for the first time…but even better because there’s not much left that excites a 50 year to this level!

We spent 2 days  acclimatizing and mentally preparing for a hike of a lifetime.  They say that the hardest part of the John Muir Trail is the first 4.3 miles hiking out of the Yosemite Valley. It’s an elevation gain of 2100′ feet and its carrying a 35 lb pack on your not yet developed “trail legs” that gets you and I would whole heartedly agree with that assessment. Its straight up steep, climbing overly tall granite steps . Having left at dawn, we arrived at Little Yosemite Valley early, made first nights camp and relaxed for a bit, swimming in the Merced River, kicking back on the banks of the river, especially enjoyable coming from the dry dusty desert. We were feeling proud of our first day on the trail. But  we couldn’t leave well enough alone and decided although we were beat from our hike up, we just needed to get in the presence of  Half Dome, Yosemite’s tallest granite peak. Bravely admitting it just wasn’t in the cards to climb up this scary beast on this trip (for me, I just knew I wouldn’t have the strength to make it up 600′ of straight up chains) but still, we wanted to get close to H.D. and see for ourselves this wondrous peak known both for its beauty and it’s adrenaline  inducing thrill of making it to the top without plummeting to one’s death. It’s intense and you have to be on your game, and I had no game left that first day. We set off from L.Y.V. at 3:00 in the afternoon and made our way up the trail with the general idea of going as far as the sub-dome and then we would turn around. But very soon after we started out, Katie, who hadn’t hiked with a 35lb pack on her back that day got another shot of her new-found euphoric energy at the thought of seeing Half Dome, started hiking faster than us, pulling ahead and as quickly as you can say , “never separate from your hiking group”, she was gone and out of sight from us. Oh-kee-dokie. Kat and I didn’t love that she’d done that, but like I said, Katie is athletic, she’s smart…but…she’s not a hiker…and it was getting a little late to summit Half Dome and the icing on the cake; ominous thunder heads were forming quickly in the not too far off horizon. Sudden and fast moving  storms are the #1 way people die on Half Dome; when lightning strikes on that wide open granite, the valleys biggest and highest lightning rod, people have no place to take shelter.  Kat and I picked up our pace thinking we would catch up to Katie but we didn’t. We continued on and as we were passing people coming down from H.D. we started asking if they had seen a petite blond in a bright blue jacket. They would all pause to think, but ultimately respond with a “no”. We kept hiking up the trail and thats when I started noticing little trails that went off the main trail. I was getting a stomach ache. We kept hiking and asking, always with the same answer, “no, we haven’t seen her.” Luckily dusk was a few hours away since it was summer but the clouds were creeping in closer and closer and we were getting panicky. Which wrong trail did Katie take? Will she know how to find her way back? Is she scared being all alone and lost? Does she have enough water? Will a bear eat her? Will her husband kill us when we have to break the news to him that we lost his wife? By this time I was on the verge of throwing up. My already wobbly legs were getting weaker and weaker as the minutes passed. Kat was handling this much different…she was swearing with clenched fists, ready to take Katie out (if we ever saw her again). We came upon our 10th group of hikers who we  just happened to have hiked with earlier in the day. We stopped and traded a few pleasantries about meeting on the trail again and then quickly changed the  subject and once again asked if they’d seen Katie who they knew from earlier in the day. This time we got a different answer…”yes, we saw her going up as we were coming down.” I’m sure all the other groups had been too deep into their own Half Dome hiking experience to notice Katie but our new trail friends probably stopped to say hello again and thats why they noticed her. At the news that Katie had been spotted, I nearly started crying with joy. Kat now was able to really let loose knowing she wouldn’t regret her words since Katie was actually  still alive.

Hearing that Katie was safe and now headed all the way up Half Dome, Kat and I knew there was nothing we could do, that she’d be a few hours. Knowing we still needed  to filter water, collect our camp water, make dinner and  re-pack our bear canisters and prep for the next full day of hiking, we headed back down to our camp site so that we weren’t doing these tasks in the dark. The clouds were still a worry but I trusted that if the threat grew eminent, a “real” hiker would kindly grab Katie by the hand and yank her down as fast as they could go…she wouldnt be left behind.

Dusk fell and no sign of Katie but very soon after full on nightfall,  2 headlamps walked towards our campsite, one being Katie and the other being her new hiking buddy who just happened to be a world traveling hiker, quite famous on Instagram. She met him on the way up, also picking up another solo hiker on the way. And according to Katie, she spent several hours in the company of two of the most interesting and intellectual people she had ever met.  Part of what made her new friends so interesting was their wanderlust for nature and hiking and their lack of materialism that backpacking reminds us so beautifully of.  It was another piece of the puzzle that Katie didn’t realize she was missing, but was happily discovering thru yet another chance meeting of  enlightened backpackers who were happy to share what those of us who love the backcountry know.

To say that Katie enjoyed her Half Dome climb would truly be the understatement of the century. You couldn’t wipe the grin off her face, her feet were barely touching the ground…the woman was high as a kite!!! I explained as kindly as I could that she literally broke every backpacking/hiking rule in the book while Kat unleashed  on her ( in a scary but  loving momma bear way)…how it effected us as her hiking partners and what she did was the ultimate in selfishness. But it didn’t matter. Katie was too drunk on nature and she could barely concentrate  on what we were saying. She was giddy with the joy that nature always delivers. She interupted our lectures several times to relive her Half Dome assent…she couldn’t believe that this type of experience was out there waiting for the taking! It was infectious and we loved experiencing Katies first taste of nature with her…it had been a long time since our own first step into nature that would forever change us and it was fun to experience it again through someone else’s eyes. Lecture over. It was pointless.

Day 2 we woke up, had coffee and breakfast, packed up and walked Katie to the fork in the trail. Kat and I would turn right and continue another 207 miles to the summit of Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48 and Katie would turn left, taking the 4.3 mile trail back to Yosemite Valley. The three  of us hugged and said our farewells, turned in opposite directions and set off…2 of us about to embarked on the most epic 211 mile of our life, one just completing the most epic hike of her life thus far, crushing Half Dome. And discovering her new found love of nature.

~Gwen

Who you meet on the trail…..

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The full moon was on the 4th of November 2017 and three of us set out for an overnight at Hutches Pools. We rode the tram (kinda cheating) up to the top from the parking area of Sabino Canyon. Off the tram we were with backpacks strapped on and then hiked in the rest of way. Gwen and I had first gone to Hutches Pools two years ago as our “shake-out trip” for the John Muir Trail. We had purchased all our gear for our 210-mile thru-hike, but we had yet to use it so Mother’s Day we hiked in as a gift to ourselves and spent the night. We were familiar with Sabino Canyon. Our favorite tough hike is Blackett’s which is 1.7 miles long situated off Phoneline Trail. In its short 1.7 miles to the end of Blackett’s the elevation gain is 1700’. That trail offers the most bang for the buck of a workout. Phoneline is just a nice, long trail with splendid views of the canyon where you can see folks walking the road, the tram traveling up and down it and the creek flowing in the monsoon season and after rainfall or snow-melt. Sabino Canyon’s most popular water hole trail is Seven Falls that meanders across the creek 7 times before climbing a few switch backs to get to the mid-section of the canyon wall and continue to hike up the canyon to the end where water run-off is spectacular if you time it right and it’s refreshing if nothing else. Until my first trip to Hutches Pools I thought Seven Falls was the greatest in the canyon, but you can’t camp there, and you can at Hutches. So off we went to seek a quiet bright night lit by the full moon.

The some of the trail to Hutches Pool is part of the Arizona Trail that leads north from the Mexican border reaching all the way to the Utah state line. The first time Gwen and I hiked it we ran into an ultra-light hiker who was standing near a ‘y’ in the trail. We asked him where he was going as we were passing by and he replied “Utah”. Wow! We thought he’d say Hutches Pools or back to Sabino Canyon, but nope…. he was in route to Utah. That was cool. I think that might have been our first experience with a thru-hiker on a trail. We were going to be thru-hikers come that July, but we needed to do an overnight first to test our gear so up the trail we continued. Hutches Pools offers a tranquil beauty of a fresh deep pool surrounded by rocks and the opening has a small sandy beach. For our first experience overnight in our new tents, quilts and backpacks at Hutches was perfect so revisiting it was a welcomed reprieve from the city as it is so close and yet so remote. The three of us were excited to spend a Saturday hanging in our hammocks prior to the full moon. A few other friends wanted a day hike, so they hiked in with us, ate their snacks with us and then headed back as we found comfort in our hammocks.

We rested a while and then decided to set up our tents. With fall in full swing dark comes early, around 630. That meant ‘back-packers midnight’. So, all three of same brand orange back packer’s tents were set up in camp that was a bit off the trail and a walk to the actual pools. Gwen and I had found a spot we liked and returned to the same one because we had a huge boulder as wind protection, it sat near a stream (not flowing in November) and we sat back off the trail so if there were to be other hikers at Hutches Pools they wouldn’t be coming through our camp. We had eaten our snacks and our lunch, walked up to the pools and took pictures, set our camp and as the sun was starting to set we made our diners. The feeling of being out in the middle of no-where with everything you need carried in our backs and no noise pollution of civilization set the mood for relaxation and enjoyment. Luckily, our group was the only pool visitors that day, other than the two distance runners who quickly ran to the pool, rested, and returned to the trail to run back to Sabino Canyon. The little paradise was all ours to enjoy.

We all made our dinner and ate with our sporks. We were chatting and listening with gaps of quietness in our conversation. Dinner was cleaned up quick and the sun had fully set. The moon had yet to completely rise so a cast of darkness was coming through the canyon. We settled back in our hammocks to await the moon rise but as time passed and the moon had yet to rise above the canyon walls we all decided we were too tired to wait and we should go to bed. As we were getting ready to bed down we brushed our teeth and situated our belongings I looked up and saw a headlamp come through the trees not where usual traffic would be off the trail. I was startled and realized my bear spray laid in my tent which was now between me and the person in the dark walking straight into our camp. My best response was to say “hello?” only to be answered by a tired and anxious males voice also saying “hello?”.

He stumbled into our camp with what appeared to be exhaustion and asked if he was at Hutches Pools. We said “yes”. I asked, “where did you hike in from?”

He responded, “from the top of the Catalinas up by Summerhaven ski resort.”

“What time did you start?”

He replied with a sigh of relief “8 a.m. this morning. Is there a spot for me to camp around here?”

We all answered at once “Yes”. And then decided it would be best to guide him to the pools in the dark with our headlamps and solar lanterns to make is easier to see and show him a spot near the water a distance from our camp. He was thankful for our attention and we all said good night as we left him taking his back pack off in the dark by himself.

The three of us chatted about him. Brenda was worried about him as he looked like an older gentleman all by himself, but Gwen and I both agreed he had probably been hiking and backpacking since he was a youth.

It was now back-packer’s midnight and we each crawled into our tents into our bedrolls that sat on top of our sleeping pads and we waited for sleep.

Of course, we all were fast asleep before the moon rose but as usual I had to get up to pee in the middle of the night, or I thought it was still night. When I rolled out of my tent and stood up I was amazed as to how bright the dark had become with the moon hanging high in the sky. It looked as bright as day. Wow. That was beautiful. I did my normal squat and crawled back into bed. I had to put my quilt over my eyes to make it dark enough to fall back asleep with the glow of the moon illuminating my tent.

Morning came, and we were breaking camp after our breakfast. The night hiker wondered back into our camp to say thank you for last night’s hospitality showing him a camp site. He was a soft-spoken man with an English accent. We started a conversation with him asking him details of his hike, his hiking history and eventually bid him farewell. As he walked farther from us and out of our sight we continued to discuss him and his story.

“David” had started on the Arizona Trail 5 weeks earlier at the Utah Stateline and needed to finish at the Mexican border within 10 days to catch his flight back home to Canada. He had in fact been hiking and back packing his whole life. He had started when he was about 10 in England, but he had lived in Canada for over 50 years. He was a young 70-year-old who last year had completed the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 6 months. He had also trekked the Appalachian Trail. He said he preferred long thru hikes and wasn’t aware of which hike would be his next one. He had been outfitted in an old exterior framed canvas backpack which seemed perfectly sufficient for him. Yikes…. I don’t think they even sell that equipment type anymore. I inquired about what his family thought about his thru hike and time away from home and he said he had no family.  He explained that he found a lot of the thru hikers he had come to meet through his travels also were solo which seemed to allow for their choices of how they spend their time…. on the trails…in the middle of nowhere often alone perfectly ok. We found it all very interesting.

What struck me about meeting him out there was that he was as much of interest as the beauty or the diversity of the landscape we had hiked through. The depth of character and wealth of information he offered I found intriguing. I’m often motivated by ‘wonder’ and I feel at peace in Mother Nature looking at all she offers me to ‘wonder’ about. Yet after speaking to David I reflected on the ‘wonder’ of the souls we meet while out on the trails……and what makes ‘those’ people be the ones you cross paths with? I don’t know … but what I do know is that there seems to be a ‘liked mind-ness’ out on the trails and to be able to share ‘that’ with strangers seems like an additional benefit to hiking.

Looking forward to meeting more hikers on the trails….

-Kat

Holidays hips and giggles

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Cranberry-pistachio biscotti dipped in white chocolate

The holidays seem to be in full throttle after Halloween which makes for an exciting time of the year as it quickly buzzes by to start a new one. I love the holidays. I love everything about the holidays. Especially my holiday baking which starts in October and goes through November. I enjoy making cookies, biscotti and candy for Holiday gifts for friends and family. I’m nearly finished with 9 different cookies, two different biscotti’s and four different chocolates from caramel covered in it to seafoam both dark and milk. Something happens to me during this time of year and my clothes revolt in tightness. 2017 was an interesting year for me weight wise anyways.  I had a fungus that spread like wild fire on my face that was eventually treated with prednisone for 6 weeks prior to and while I was in the jungles of Guatemala eating the native food available which consisted of corn with more corn and the occasional boiled squash or blackberry leaves. It all seemed like a recipe for twenty pounds to find their way into my life and stick to my mid-section. It could cast a dark shadow on the holiday feasts or I can be realistic about it and approach it with wisdom (and caution). But wisdom sounds smarter and a bit more positive.

Since I am not the only one in my tribe with extra pounds showing up on the scale I have support in my efforts and attack plan. We have made a pact to go easy between now and the New Year as our goal is to stay in good condition until then. In January we will start fresh with a new exercise routine. One member of our tribe has already hit her goals of trimming not just weight but inches from her body. She looks and feels fantastic (Congrats Laura). She made a goal and stuck to it prior to the rush of the holidays. Her plan was working out an hour a day, six days a week, doing a different fitness class everyday stirring her body up enough to drop the extra insulation. She is an inspiration. Having workout buddies sure makes the journey to fitness and health a lot more enjoyable plus it helps for accountability. Between now and the New Year my time is going to be split between the mountains (where my boyfriend lives) and Tucson where all my friends live. Being in two places while splitting my time makes a routine difficult to follow but I am not making excuses.

My plan is Laura’s work out plan with two other tribe members who also have crazy travel and work schedules between now and the New Year. We have all agreed to exercise at least five times a week and attempt a calorie deficiency daily to try to get ahead of the game or at least not get behind with more weight gain through New Year’s. Even though I am not in the same town all the time a motivating text between us with words of encouragement can keep me and them on task. My text sent today stated how I missed our workouts together but that I have been trying to hike everyday while in the mountains. The fall weather is far from cold. And I feel like when I’m hiking I’m weight lifting to cus I’m carrying an extra 20 pounds around with me on my belly. I also said I’m looking forward to our January plans. And I received a text reminding me of our 2018 hiking plans. We have booked a 2-night stay at the bottom of the Grand Canyon in February. That’s a great goal to firm up for because hiking in is easy but the hike out can be daunting if your carrying a lot more than your needed gear. We also have plans to hike in March north of the Grand Canyon in southern Utah at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Keeping ourselves on track and making goals seems to be what maintains motivation among us.

I know that the older we get the easier and faster the weight piles on and then the task of getting it off seems to take almost twice as long. Given that I am going to be “double-nickels” next April; 50 and I have had a few years getting acquainted. I’m understanding the process of aging better and really hope that 2018 and I have a more mutually beneficial relationship when it come to the weight yo-yo. I’m making 55 my year to “get it” and hopefully it sticks. (I also know I will not be taking prednisone anytime soon as that seems to be the ingredient to pack on the extra pounds, but my face rash is resolved-that’s good news)

Maybe this time of year with the holidays hard to ignore and the year ending soon I reflect on what I want to change in the coming year more often. I feel at my age what seems to be of the greatest importance is my overall health and humor. So, I will embrace 2018 with a new exercise routine to shed the extra poundage. And until then I will exercise as consistently as possible given my schedule, reduce my portions and prime myself with my workout buddies for the coming year. Of course, doing all the above laughing all the way. Laughter is life and light to the soul. I just wish sometimes that laughing so hard could count as exercise and I’d lose weight. It’s gotta be good for the ab’s. Without ever taking myself too seriously I look forward to an agreed upon plan for the coming year! I am excited for the hiking trips planned and look forward to even more happening in July for a long through hike in Northern California. All I can think is let’s just do it!

Whose with me?

Kat

cairn noun \ ˈkern \ : a heap of stones piled up as a memorial or as a landmark

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I love cairns.
Little cairns, big cairns,  artistic cairns, sloppy cairns. There. I said it: I Love Cairns!  The topic of cairns causes a lot of friction amongst the backcountry loving community who generally are very mellow people. The #1 reason some are apposed to seeing them while hiking is because it goes against LNT (Leave No Trace) which is hands down the most important tenant that responsible backpackers and hikers practice. I myself practice LNT whole heartedly but when it comes to cairns I find them to be comforting. Knowing that those who went before me on the trail thought that the next person behind them may have potential trouble locating exactly where to go, this gesture connects our fellow hikers, a very caring group. Yes of course if you look hard enough, if you bush whack around long enough, if you go in enough circles, the trail always miraculously appears but for the new hiker or the unsure, it truly helps mark where to go. My girlfriend Su is a prime example of a woman who is new to desert hiking and finds cairns to be the signal that she doesn’t need to panic just because the trail isn’t in the obvious spot it should be. Yes, cairns leave proof of human activity, disrupting mother nature as she intended her rocks to sit, but I also feel there is great potential to keep some directionally challenged hikers from getting lost. Maybe I am looking at it too pragmatically but at my age I understand that things can go wrong on the trail and if I had to choose between a person staying on the trail vs. looking at rocks stacked at unnatural attention, I would side with the person. And honestly, I think Mother Nature would too.
~Gwen

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Kat finding the trail thanks to a trusty Cairn left by a previous backpacker.