A Slow Hike

I took a day off from work this week to go out and spend a little time on the trail.  I set my sites on the Hunts Loop trail off of Highway 7 north of Hot Springs.  It's only a 4 mile trail, so I decided to head up the Ouachita Trail for a mile and visit the Moonshine Shelter along the way, making the round trip just over 6 miles. My ulterior motive was to map the trail for addition to the Arkansas Hiker app.  Here's a few photos I took along the way.  It was fun to move slow and really focus on what was out there.  Of course I could only force myself to do that for the first mile!

10 Years of Hell

How in the world has this thing gone on for 10 years?  Easy, it's the best climbing competition in the country!  A combination of competition, Halloween costume party, family reunion and frat party, it is tough to beat 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell. I've been there for the past ten years and competed in every 24 Hour comp, plus the 12 hour competitions that were added 3 years ago. I am the only idiot to compete in 7 years of 24 and 3 yrs of 36 hour competitions. Why?  I have no earthly idea. It's fun for awhile.  But then it gets to be totally absurd around 3 a.m.  Followed by a couple of hours of "Why in the hell did I do this again?"

 I could go into all the training and preparation that goes into a successful year. Except there really wasn't any this year. Schedules and life prevented us from following our old routines.

We simply showed up and got dressed; drank a couple of beers and went climbing. We didn't start the day with any preconceived ideas of what we would be able to do.  We just climbed.

When we felt good we would climb something hard.

When we got tired we rested until we felt better. 

Super glue and tape kept my fingers from being completely trashed after 36 hours on the rock.

And when it was all over I told Andy never to let me climb the 36 again. 

Of course I emailed him the next week and took it all back.

I wouldn't miss it for the world.

The camaraderie of hanging out with other like minded fools is what makes it so great.

And the new friends who kept us awake and moving through the darkest hours of the night.

And the great party.  Who could miss it?

Another Year on Rainier

Things don't always go as planned.  I should have known from the beginning that this was not going to be the ordinary mountaineering trip when my flight was cancelled before I even left Little Rock.  But like any adventurer, I rolled with the punches and pulled out my cell phone.  A few calls and I was back on track, if not a few hours behind schedule.  I got to spend a bivy at O'Hare but eventually made it in to Seattle about 12 hours late.  Of course I realized in the air that my bag probably didn't make it on the same flight I did.  A few more hours of frantic waiting in the airport and my giant yellow duffle finally appeared from the friendly skies.

So, gear in hand i met up with the rest of my team and headed to the Paradise Lodge for some quick skills review and a little dinner. We were up well before dawn the next day, loaded and hiking up the Muir Snow field in route to our camp on the Ingraham Glacier.  The team consisted of my friend Bobbie from Colorado, Tina from Little Rock, and Bobbie's friend John from California that I met for the first time at the airport in Seattle.

The hike up the Muir Snow field is not much fun.  And for Tina it was her first time to actually use crampons on snow.  She mastered them like a champ.  But it was clear early in the day that John was having a little trouble.  I let Bobbie and Tina plod along and get better acquainted, while I stayed back with John and urged him on while secretly stealing gear from his pack. He had greatly over packed.

It was well past noon when we finally made it into Muir Camp.  By this time I was getting pretty worried about John.  His pace was extremely slow, and even after giving his pack to a nice young french fellow to carry the last half mile, he wasn't any quicker. When we made it to Muir, I immediately visited the rangers and asked them to check in on John.  They took him into their hut, filled him full of fluids and said he might have a touch of AMS.

Freddie our French Porter

It was a quick decision that John would stay at Muir while the rest of the team continued on to Ingraham Flats for the night.  We were behind schedule, but we still decided to push on.

It was finally time to rope up!  The boot pack to Ingraham was well established although littered with rock fall.  We had to step over a few minor crevasses, but the hike to camp went smooth.

We made it into camp with just enough time to select our tent sites before the sun dipped behind the summit and the winds picked up.  It was amazing how quickly the day went from blue bird skies to an all out gale.  It was a battle to get the tents up in winds that high.

By the time the tents were up and everyone inside, Tina and Bobbie were both battling to stay warm.  I began melting snow and delivering hot water to them so we could have dinner and bed down for the night.  The alarm was set for 12 a.m.

After little sleep in the O'Hare airport, and only a few hours at the Paradise Lodge, it didn't take me long to fall asleep. Unfortunately I slept the the 12:00 alarm as well.  I crawled out of my tent at 1 a.m. to find the winds still howling as bad as before. I had to shout loudly just for Tina and Bobbie to hear me outside of their tents. We quickly decided the summit was not in the cards for that night.

When we awoke the next morning the winds finally began to subside, but the extended weather forecast was not looking very promising. It was a hard decision, but we agreed that the this was not the year for us.  We headed down to pick up John at camp Muir and make our way down to Paradise.

After a hot meal and a warm bed, we came up with the bright idea of heading up to the Olympic Peninsula to explore and use up the rest of our time in Washington.

We spent some time exploring Fort Worden State Park, the Puget Sound and sea kayaking.

Although it didn't start out as a great trip, it did end as the best failed mountaineering trip I've ever been on!

Lost Creek Wilderness

I had planned a week on the Appalachian Trail. I was only a few days from departing when I got the message from my friend Bobbie in Colorado that her husband Harry had passed away after a long fight with brain cancer.  His memorial service would be that weekend. It didn't take me long to change my plans and turn my car from East to West. I would head to Colorado for the service and then spend the rest of the week hiking in the mountains.  It was still early spring so that really limited the choices of trails. Much of the high country was still covered with a good snow pack, and I didn't want to worry about snow shoes. So I decided to revisit one of my first back packing destinations in Colorado, the Lost Creek Wilderness. I planned a 54.5 mile loop connecting the Colorado Trail, Rolling Creek Trail, and the Wigwam Trail.  It was cross a few high passes but nothing more than 12,000 feet. I wasn't sure how much snow I would encounter, or how I would fare in the higher altitudes, so I packed for five days.  It only took me three.

Starting weight 29.53

Hiked 16.5 on day 1

Lost trail near bison peak

Took some work to find it

Nice camp site by stream

Forgot slap straps

Got wet feet in snow

In bed at 8:45

Day two 21 miles

Epic.  Made good time down Colorado trail.  Rolling creek trail was beautiful at the start and then snow covered and impossible higher up.  Lost the trail several times.  Wet feet post holing.

Eventually got down to wigwam trail and then goose creek. Nice camp by stream.  Good fire.

8 miles on Colorado trail

3 miles from wigwam trail to McCourdy park trail

Twin eagle to Hankins pass 2 mi

Hankins pass to lake park 2 mi.

Day 3. 17 miles rain hail thunder on Hankins pass

Final weight 19 lbs