The Wallowa backpack trip keeps getting shorter and shorter, but at least I'm hopeful that I won't have to cancel. The 95-mile route to see the Minam Lodge and better understand a little family history (my aunt and uncle used to own it) is now on-hold until next year. I think I can at least get to the lakes basin for a 40-50 mile route. I'll have to figure out a few more long day hikes later to make up for lost mileage. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, as I have a vast collection of guidebooks with multiple bookmarks for dream trips. Anybody want to explore?
I am realizing that I'm still out of shape, however. I did an easy 8-miler on the roads yesterday, and an easy 5-miler at Mount Spokane this morning, and I am so sore! I'll have to mix my trail running with hiking, at least at the beginning, if I am to survive the nearly 11-mile per day average I'll need to reach 325 miles for the month of August. Well, if I managed 306 last year while injured, I'm sure I can tackle this while merely sore. So long as I don't end up re-injured! Now I just need more sponsors! Pretty please follow the link at the top and give the WTA some money for me! :)
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
July 17-23, 2011
I'm back from Camp Eureka where Jace & I led eight middle school and high school students on a week-long backpack trip. The first night was rough as we were attacked by mosquitoes that were completely immune to every variety of bug spray, but after that everything went fairly smoothly. I can hardly believe that an entire week has gone by.
I came home to some disapointing news, however. Deb is injured and now I'm doubtful about the chances of the cool Wallowa trip actually happening. It's part of Hike-a-Thon, so I really don't want to cancel, but I'm not sure I can find anyone else who's willing to do it & I don't know that I should do it solo. We had a 95.8 mile route planned, and it's hard to sell that to most people. :(
I came home to some disapointing news, however. Deb is injured and now I'm doubtful about the chances of the cool Wallowa trip actually happening. It's part of Hike-a-Thon, so I really don't want to cancel, but I'm not sure I can find anyone else who's willing to do it & I don't know that I should do it solo. We had a 95.8 mile route planned, and it's hard to sell that to most people. :(
Saturday, July 9, 2011
4th of July Weekend in the Wilderness
The plan: a July 1-5 hike from Phelps Creek to Spider Meadows to Spider Gap to Lyman Lakes to Image Lake to Buck Creek Pass to Trinity (loop). It would have been the fourth time I'd done it, the third time I'd done it on the 4th of July weekend, and the first time I'd done it by the recommended route.
The problem: so much snow! Patches within 1/2 mile of the trailhead turned into total coverage by mile two, and we found it three or four feet deep in Spider Meadows! It was good in the sense that we practically had Spider Meadows to ourselves Friday night (the only other camper was a forest service ranger)--how many people can say they found Spider Meadows devoid of campers on a holiday weekend!? However, we couldn't make it through Spider Gap on Saturday morning. It just felt a little too risky with the deep snow, steep route, and heavy packs. We decided to hike back out and pick a different hike.
The next problem: dead battery back at the trailhead. We camped out in the parking lot Saturday night. It is kinda picturesque, but I had to pitch my tent in between two parked cars--not exactly my favorite camping location. Fortunately, someone with jumper cables drove up early Sunday morning and we were able to continue the adventure!
How to pick a hike: I'm calling it Hiker's Roulette. We looked on the map and we looked through a guide book and we couldn't reach any decisions about the most likely looking backpack. So we picked a road off Highway 2 at random, drove to the trailhead at the end of it, and started hiking. It turns out it was a good choice! It was the Whitepine River Trail, which intersected the Wildhorse River Trail and eventually climbed to Frosty Pass (all in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area). There was a lot of downfall on the lower sections of the trail, and the upper section was very brushy, but otherwise it was a very nice trail with excellent views. We also didn't encounter snow until we were about seven miles in. Our campsite Sunday night had a tiny patch of snow that melted by the time we left on Tuesday.
Sunday: hike to camp, cook dinner. Then I went to hang the food bag and discovered a faint trail that we followed to a ridge with excellent views.
Monday: day hike from camp toward Frosty Pass. We didn't make it all the way to the Pass--we could see the approximate vicinity of the Pass, but the trail was completely snow-covered at that point. I saw one section that looked particually risky where a waterfall turned into a stream and disappeared under the snowpack. It might have been a place where one could fall through while trying to cross (and I did fall through in a few non-dangerous areas--once only one leg broke through the snow and it was so deep I couldn't touch the bottom!) We tried a side hike up to Lake Grace, but that proved farther than we had time for in all of that snow. I was able to maintain a Fourth of July tradition--glissading and snow angels!
Tuesday: hike out and return home--tired and dirty and happy!
The problem: so much snow! Patches within 1/2 mile of the trailhead turned into total coverage by mile two, and we found it three or four feet deep in Spider Meadows! It was good in the sense that we practically had Spider Meadows to ourselves Friday night (the only other camper was a forest service ranger)--how many people can say they found Spider Meadows devoid of campers on a holiday weekend!? However, we couldn't make it through Spider Gap on Saturday morning. It just felt a little too risky with the deep snow, steep route, and heavy packs. We decided to hike back out and pick a different hike.
The next problem: dead battery back at the trailhead. We camped out in the parking lot Saturday night. It is kinda picturesque, but I had to pitch my tent in between two parked cars--not exactly my favorite camping location. Fortunately, someone with jumper cables drove up early Sunday morning and we were able to continue the adventure!
How to pick a hike: I'm calling it Hiker's Roulette. We looked on the map and we looked through a guide book and we couldn't reach any decisions about the most likely looking backpack. So we picked a road off Highway 2 at random, drove to the trailhead at the end of it, and started hiking. It turns out it was a good choice! It was the Whitepine River Trail, which intersected the Wildhorse River Trail and eventually climbed to Frosty Pass (all in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area). There was a lot of downfall on the lower sections of the trail, and the upper section was very brushy, but otherwise it was a very nice trail with excellent views. We also didn't encounter snow until we were about seven miles in. Our campsite Sunday night had a tiny patch of snow that melted by the time we left on Tuesday.
Sunday: hike to camp, cook dinner. Then I went to hang the food bag and discovered a faint trail that we followed to a ridge with excellent views.
Monday: day hike from camp toward Frosty Pass. We didn't make it all the way to the Pass--we could see the approximate vicinity of the Pass, but the trail was completely snow-covered at that point. I saw one section that looked particually risky where a waterfall turned into a stream and disappeared under the snowpack. It might have been a place where one could fall through while trying to cross (and I did fall through in a few non-dangerous areas--once only one leg broke through the snow and it was so deep I couldn't touch the bottom!) We tried a side hike up to Lake Grace, but that proved farther than we had time for in all of that snow. I was able to maintain a Fourth of July tradition--glissading and snow angels!
Tuesday: hike out and return home--tired and dirty and happy!
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