MFP Hiking Club - August

lizard9800

Better late than never, let's post all our fun hiking trips for the month! Even if it is only a few miles! And post pictures if you know how (I can't figure it out) - help me if you can.

Last Friday I went on my small hike up the local ski hill (Snow King). It is 1.8 miles with about 1600 ft of elevation gain, so it is pretty steep the whole way. I run the flatter parts if I'm feeling strong. My quickest time to date is 38 minutes. I want to get it down to 35 minutes.

Then my birthday was on Monday, so we took a 3 day weekend and went backpacking. The first day was 7 miles because we started late. Next day was about 10 miles to Turquoise Lake and the top of Cache Peak. And on Monday we did 11 miles back to the car. There were some ups and downs, but it was more gradual than most hikes around here.

This afternoon I am going to hike Snow King again (usually about 2-3x per week). On Saturday we are going somewhere but not sure yet. Got to get it all in such a short summer season here!

Where has everybody else gone??

lizard9800

Better late than never, let's post all our fun hiking trips for the month! Even if it is only a few miles! And post pictures if you know how (I can't figure it out) - help me if you can.

Last Friday I went on my small hike up the local ski hill (Snow King). It is 1.8 miles with about 1600 ft of elevation gain, so it is pretty steep the whole way. I run the flatter parts if I'm feeling strong. My quickest time to date is 38 minutes. I want to get it down to 35 minutes.

Then my birthday was on Monday, so we took a 3 day weekend and went backpacking. The first day was 7 miles because we started late. Next day was about 10 miles to Turquoise Lake and the top of Cache Peak. And on Monday we did 11 miles back to the car. There were some ups and downs, but it was more gradual than most hikes around here.

This afternoon I am going to hike Snow King again (usually about 2-3x per week). On Saturday we are going somewhere but not sure yet. Got to get it all in such a short summer season here!

Where has everybody else gone??

MFS27

On Sunday I dropped my kids off at camp grizzly just before 2 PM. The camp is near Portola, CA (60 miles north of Truckee), so I stopped on my way back and hiked up to Castle Peak near Boreal (Truckee). I forgot my camera (darn!) - but it looked like this (minus the snow): http://kevingong.com/Hiking/CastlePeak.html

Was absolutely amazing - the peaks are just above 9000 feet with 360 view of the Sierras, and the total trip was almost 8.5 miles (I did some side trails). This is the perfect time to hike the high Sierras - wild flowers are in bloom in the meadows, and the weather is perfect - a nice 75-80 degrees (below 8000 ft). I had to rush the hike since I wasn't able to start until 3:30 PM, and barely made it down by 8 PM - just as the sun disappeared. I made it to the top of the peaks by 6 PM (which was my turn-around time) - I seriously did not think I would make it. I had an asthma attack at the top (air was so thin, and rushed up quickly), and my left toe is bruised (I hope the nail doesn't fall off). A friend was supposed to come with me, but she bailed, so I swung it alone - it was totally fine, except there were two tunnels near the end of the trail that run under the freeway, and are near the I-80 rest stop - I wasn't wild about going through them at night - I had my knife in one hand and a stick in another as I crossed through them back to the car, lol. Ever since I saw the movie "28 Days Later", I have this thing about tunnels - they just creep me out! Made it home by 9:30 PM - ate, soaked in the hot tub, and conked out before my head hit the pillow. For a few days I was sore. Will do an easy hike this coming Saturday with the kids after I pick up the girls from camp.

MFS27

Hikers where are ya????

On Saturday I took the kiddos up to Loch Levens Lake (again in the Tahoe/Truckee area.) This time I had my 3 yo DS with me (DH was gone hunting with his buds), along with my 9 and 7 yo DD. The hike was about 6 miles total (3 miles up, and 3 miles down). My 3-yo complained a lot, but I figured how to keep him going - I would give him a snack (i.e. one slice of orange, one preztle, etc.) every so-many yards, lol. Luckily we had a lot of food! We made it (with some falls, but nothing broken - no harm, no foul)!

I wore my brand-spankin' new Polar HRM, and even though my HR was below "target" most of the time (my 3 yo made for slow going), I still burned close to 2,000 calories (for total 4 hours of hiking). Wowzers!

TheGoblinRoad

Hiking club....I wish there was one in person, so I could hike with others. I guess I'll have to do it solo.
We live a 30 minute drive from Sequoias, so the gas cost keeps me from going often, but I told my wife that when the weather isn't 100 degrees average I'd like to start going once a week.
She's a 5th grade teacher so she's often in her classroom on weekends getting ready for the week.

MFS27

Hiking club....I wish there was one in person, so I could hike with others. I guess I'll have to do it solo.
We live a 30 minute drive from Sequoias, so the gas cost keeps me from going often, but I told my wife that when the weather isn't 100 degrees average I'd like to start going once a week.
She's a 5th grade teacher so she's often in her classroom on weekends getting ready for the week.

You should have a Sierra Club nearby if you are close to the Sequoias, also there are a ton of hiking "meet up" groups (google "Meet Up" and search for hiking in your area.)

I hear ya on the weather! I stick with the higher altitudes (cooler) or short hikes to the rivers during the summer. I'm also not wild about hiking solo, but I have done it. I make sure to always wear a "bear bell" (we are near the Sierras) and carry pepper spray/knife. Being a woman, I'm more concerned about people than animals (animal attacks are pretty rare - you have a better chance of getting in a car accident, and I get in my car everyday! :laugh: ) Just make sure you tell someone where you are going, and ETA, etc.

lizard9800

I wear myself out so much hiking on the weekends that I don't exercise as much during the week!
Last weekend we did a 5 mile hike UP (key word UP) to several beautiful lakes in the Park. Surprise and Ampitheater Lakes near some big peaks. It was a great day and the bugs were pretty nonexistant.

This weekend we are looking into either a huge day to climb a peak, or to do an overnight backpack trip. Not sure yet. I will post afterwards.

Hope everyone else is having fun hiking and enjoying the summer!

alifelessevident

I'll just post a copy of my blog to give my last hike on 8-15-08:

Today Murray had the day off, so we decided to go for a hike, and we decided on part of the Chattooga River Trail. We decided to Take the northbound trail off of Burrells Ford Road. Finding said road was more of an effort than we expected. Tomtom apparently does not work so great when you are out in the middle of nowhere. So Tomtom was being no help and we couldn't find the road we were looking for, so we pulled into a nice local produce stand, with its U.S. flag, SC flag, and off course- the mandatory Confederate flag, "Long live the Confederacy" LOL. Turns out the reason we weren't running into the road we were looking for, was that it did not intersect with the road we were on.... thank you tomtom. Luckily for us we were only about a quarter mile past the road we needed to take to get to the road we wanted. So we turned around and went and got on the wonderful road of not so normal road names.... Every road that came off of it was either pretty funny, or bizarre. We drove right on past Memory Lane, sped by the Yellow Brick Road, and For the win we had: Katie Did Holler Road... Now we were in the middle of nowhere and gas was getting low, so we pulled into a nice local "convenience store" and started filling up. Now the locals, as sophisticated as they were, could not help but take a look at the mini... one man actually pulled out of his spot, and stopped in front of the mini and stared at it for a good twenty seconds like he had never seen a car like it- which in that area could have been possible, i just don't know. Murray decided to treat us to one of the indigenous treats- a bottle of Sun Drop for each of us. Now for those of you not acquainted with the South, Sun Drop happens to be one of the more popular sodas, alongside another great: Cheerwine. Now I normally have no problem with trying a new soda, in fact, i'm usually more than happy to. But the reluctance set in when i looked through the bottle and there were things floating around in the soda... the soda had floaties.... not a good sign. But it was sealed and i let Murray sip his first. No convulsions, so i went ahead and downed mine, trying not to think about what exactly was floating around in my soda. I did not get sick, and had no bad reactions, so I think I'm in the clear. Upon further research when I got home, Sun Drop is made with orange juice as an ingredient, and some of the pulp material is left in the soda to give it some extra taste I guess?!? But either way it was actually supposed to have floaties. So after that we drove and finally found Burrells Road, which was a nice fun winding road, that went from paved to not so paved lol. We found the trail head, and parked down the road from it. There were some other cars there, right near the river. Some people were fishing for trout. We stood on the bridge to take in the view of the river. Its unfortunate that Ga, Sc, and NC have all been in quite a drought for sometime now, and all of the rivers and lakes are very low. But the Chattooga River was still quite beautiful. Now for you trivia buffs, you should know the Chattooga River, and you should know why I was a bit wary of it, when I learned this bit of trivia... cue banjos.... It was where a lot of the film Deliverance was filmed. Mmmmmm... you sure do got a pretty mouth... lol... So off we went onto the trail. It was a pretty mild day out and the majority of the trail was in complete shade. going north the river was to the left of us, with many places you could walk and look out on it, and in some spots climb the rocks and stand out in the river. After just .2 miles, we came to a spur that led off to the right and took a steep climb up for almost a quarter of a mile to Spoonauger Falls, a beautiful waterfall, but again one affected by the drought. Gorgeous. We spent a few minutes there, then we turned back around and returned to the trail. The trail wound around for another 1.3 miles and came upon a really nice wooden footbridge that crossed the East fork of the Chattooga River... at this point the camera's battery was low, and there were some pictures I knew we had to get later down the trail. So I can't wait to return to take a lot more pictures, that trail is beautiful. Another .5 miles up the trail we had to ford Bad Creek, which was not much trouble due to the water being so low. Another 1.2 miles, and wondering if we would ever get to it, we came upon a tiny sign pointing off the side of the trail " Ellicott Rock". This was the reason we chose this trail. Ellicott Rock is the "corner" of SC, NC, and GA. Whether it is the actual spot, i don't know for sure, but everything says it is so, I'll go with it. We looked down off the small cliff to the rocks and water below, and had no idea, which rock was Ellicott's. So we Climbed down the small cliff, it was about 15 feet, not anything to bad. and we stood on the rocks with the water flowing past us and.... nothing. We looked around and there was no sign, no nothing, couldn't see any indication of which rock was the rock. This was disappointing.... so we decided to sit down there and have a snack. We saw some hummingbirds flying around some flowers. Right as we were standing up to leave, Murray says Hey and points. I start looking all around thinking a snake or something, but low and behold on one of the rocks right freaking next to us is an inscription carved into it. We had to pour water over it to make the letters legible. We grabbed the camera, and with its last dying breath of the battery we were able to get one picture of the rock. We then both took turns standing on it and "being" in three states at once... best three states to be in at once LOL. So the trail isn't marked, and on the way back we had a slight...detour off the real trail and onn one that was much more grueling , and not really a trail, that to was funny. But all in all we hiked almost seven miles, in about 3 hours of actually hike time, so it was a good hike.
Pics to the hike:
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p230/alifelessevident/ellicotts rock/

MFS27

I'll just post a copy of my blog to give my last hike on 8-15-08:

Today Murray had the day off, so we decided to go for a hike, and we decided on part of the Chattooga River Trail. We decided to Take the northbound trail off of Burrells Ford Road. Finding said road was more of an effort than we expected. Tomtom apparently does not work so great when you are out in the middle of nowhere. So Tomtom was being no help and we couldn't find the road we were looking for, so we pulled into a nice local produce stand, with its U.S. flag, SC flag, and off course- the mandatory Confederate flag, "Long live the Confederacy" LOL. Turns out the reason we weren't running into the road we were looking for, was that it did not intersect with the road we were on.... thank you tomtom. Luckily for us we were only about a quarter mile past the road we needed to take to get to the road we wanted. So we turned around and went and got on the wonderful road of not so normal road names.... Every road that came off of it was either pretty funny, or bizarre. We drove right on past Memory Lane, sped by the Yellow Brick Road, and For the win we had: Katie Did Holler Road... Now we were in the middle of nowhere and gas was getting low, so we pulled into a nice local "convenience store" and started filling up. Now the locals, as sophisticated as they were, could not help but take a look at the mini... one man actually pulled out of his spot, and stopped in front of the mini and stared at it for a good twenty seconds like he had never seen a car like it- which in that area could have been possible, i just don't know. Murray decided to treat us to one of the indigenous treats- a bottle of Sun Drop for each of us. Now for those of you not acquainted with the South, Sun Drop happens to be one of the more popular sodas, alongside another great: Cheerwine. Now I normally have no problem with trying a new soda, in fact, i'm usually more than happy to. But the reluctance set in when i looked through the bottle and there were things floating around in the soda... the soda had floaties.... not a good sign. But it was sealed and i let Murray sip his first. No convulsions, so i went ahead and downed mine, trying not to think about what exactly was floating around in my soda. I did not get sick, and had no bad reactions, so I think I'm in the clear. Upon further research when I got home, Sun Drop is made with orange juice as an ingredient, and some of the pulp material is left in the soda to give it some extra taste I guess?!? But either way it was actually supposed to have floaties. So after that we drove and finally found Burrells Road, which was a nice fun winding road, that went from paved to not so paved lol. We found the trail head, and parked down the road from it. There were some other cars there, right near the river. Some people were fishing for trout. We stood on the bridge to take in the view of the river. Its unfortunate that Ga, Sc, and NC have all been in quite a drought for sometime now, and all of the rivers and lakes are very low. But the Chattooga River was still quite beautiful. Now for you trivia buffs, you should know the Chattooga River, and you should know why I was a bit wary of it, when I learned this bit of trivia... cue banjos.... It was where a lot of the film Deliverance was filmed. Mmmmmm... you sure do got a pretty mouth... lol... So off we went onto the trail. It was a pretty mild day out and the majority of the trail was in complete shade. going north the river was to the left of us, with many places you could walk and look out on it, and in some spots climb the rocks and stand out in the river. After just .2 miles, we came to a spur that led off to the right and took a steep climb up for almost a quarter of a mile to Spoonauger Falls, a beautiful waterfall, but again one affected by the drought. Gorgeous. We spent a few minutes there, then we turned back around and returned to the trail. The trail wound around for another 1.3 miles and came upon a really nice wooden footbridge that crossed the East fork of the Chattooga River... at this point the camera's battery was low, and there were some pictures I knew we had to get later down the trail. So I can't wait to return to take a lot more pictures, that trail is beautiful. Another .5 miles up the trail we had to ford Bad Creek, which was not much trouble due to the water being so low. Another 1.2 miles, and wondering if we would ever get to it, we came upon a tiny sign pointing off the side of the trail " Ellicott Rock". This was the reason we chose this trail. Ellicott Rock is the "corner" of SC, NC, and GA. Whether it is the actual spot, i don't know for sure, but everything says it is so, I'll go with it. We looked down off the small cliff to the rocks and water below, and had no idea, which rock was Ellicott's. So we Climbed down the small cliff, it was about 15 feet, not anything to bad. and we stood on the rocks with the water flowing past us and.... nothing. We looked around and there was no sign, no nothing, couldn't see any indication of which rock was the rock. This was disappointing.... so we decided to sit down there and have a snack. We saw some hummingbirds flying around some flowers. Right as we were standing up to leave, Murray says Hey and points. I start looking all around thinking a snake or something, but low and behold on one of the rocks right freaking next to us is an inscription carved into it. We had to pour water over it to make the letters legible. We grabbed the camera, and with its last dying breath of the battery we were able to get one picture of the rock. We then both took turns standing on it and "being" in three states at once... best three states to be in at once LOL. So the trail isn't marked, and on the way back we had a slight...detour off the real trail and onn one that was much more grueling , and not really a trail, that to was funny. But all in all we hiked almost seven miles, in about 3 hours of actually hike time, so it was a good hike.
Pics to the hike:
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p230/alifelessevident/ellicotts rock/

Wow - love the pics! You know - EVERY time I go hiking something always goes "wrong" - either we get lost, kids throw up, weather turns bad - but I love it (keeps things interesting, lol.)

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to geography - but are you anywhere near the Appalachian Trail? I think it is the equivalent to our Pacific Crest Trail (which goes from Mexico to Canada) - both of which I hope to do from start to finish...some day

Next weekend we'll be heading over to Angel Island (in Tiburon - Bay Area) - sweet and short with a ferry ride to boot!

mlillie

Wow! I just did the Ellicot hike on 8/16- rained the WHOLE time!! Which we need so it was nice to be walking in it.

We did the whole loop- about 7 miles. Beautiful. No one on the trail but myself and my boyfriend and one rattlesnake.

lizard9800

The weather couldn't have been better for our backpacking trip this weekend!
We already had plans on Sat night so we just did a real easy 7 mile loop with friends that morning to stretch our legs.
Sunday we went up Granite Canyon (which is the southern most canyon in Grand Teton National Park), and our plan was to go over Mt Hunt Divide and back out Open Canyon the next morning. We made such good time though that we didn't want to stop at the campsites around 2pm, so we went up to the divide, dumped our packs and summited Mt Hunt instead. Then we camped pretty close to the divide in Open Canyon and came out this morning. Instead of 10+ miles each day we ended up doing about 13-14 miles yesterday and only 7-8 miles today. My legs felt so strong yesterday, and not strong at all today!
It was a fun trip. Those were the only 2 canyons in the Park that I hadn't been in. We saw a really cool bull moose too (they are my favorite!) I wish I could figure out how to post pictures. Maybe I'll just put the link to the facebook album next time...
Summer is almost over here! Bummer!

Next Sunday we plan on doing my biggest day hike ever. It's about 19 miles round trip to the top of Static Peak and back.

alifelessevident

Wow - love the pics! You know - EVERY time I go hiking something always goes "wrong" - either we get lost, kids throw up, weather turns bad - but I love it (keeps things interesting, lol.)

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to geography - but are you anywhere near the Appalachian Trail? I think it is the equivalent to our Pacific Crest Trail (which goes from Mexico to Canada) - both of which I hope to do from start to finish...some day

Next weekend we'll be heading over to Angel Island (in Tiburon - Bay Area) - sweet and short with a ferry ride to boot!

yeah, i'm fairly close to the AT, its about 2.5 to 3 hours to get to the begining of the AT from where i'm at, but the are several places closer where i can jump on it and hike. I eventually want to do the whole AT as well. another reason to get into shape

alifelessevident

Wow! I just did the Ellicot hike on 8/16- rained the WHOLE time!! Which we need so it was nice to be walking in it.

We did the whole loop- about 7 miles. Beautiful. No one on the trail but myself and my boyfriend and one rattlesnake.

lol thats funny. its a pretty hike, we only came across a couple people when we were hiking it. theres a few people on here from around this area, and a bunch like to hike, :laugh:

alifelessevident

The weather couldn't have been better for our backpacking trip this weekend!
We already had plans on Sat night so we just did a real easy 7 mile loop with friends that morning to stretch our legs.
Sunday we went up Granite Canyon (which is the southern most canyon in Grand Teton National Park), and our plan was to go over Mt Hunt Divide and back out Open Canyon the next morning. We made such good time though that we didn't want to stop at the campsites around 2pm, so we went up to the divide, dumped our packs and summited Mt Hunt instead. Then we camped pretty close to the divide in Open Canyon and came out this morning. Instead of 10+ miles each day we ended up doing about 13-14 miles yesterday and only 7-8 miles today. My legs felt so strong yesterday, and not strong at all today!
It was a fun trip. Those were the only 2 canyons in the Park that I hadn't been in. We saw a really cool bull moose too (they are my favorite!) I wish I could figure out how to post pictures. Maybe I'll just put the link to the facebook album next time...
Summer is almost over here! Bummer!

Next Sunday we plan on doing my biggest day hike ever. It's about 19 miles round trip to the top of Static Peak and back.

sounds like a great hike, thats what i like about the south here, the summer lasts a bit longer, and winter is mild enough to still go hiking and camping without too much hassle

lizard9800

Today we went on a 16 mile trip up to the top of Static Peak and back. It was a perfect day with shade and clouds most of the time. Not too many people and no bears (but there was poop). No more hiking until the holiday weekend. Anyone have big trips for the weekend?

MFS27

Went to Angel Island in Tiburon yesterday (Bay Area - Marin County, CA). Took the ferry out to the island - hiked up to Mount Livermore (4-ish mile RT), walked around the island - checked out old abandoned buildings. Rested at Quarry beach - no swimming - LOTS of jellyfish; I'm not sure why - they seemed dead but I didn't venture to find out, lol. Weather was sunny, cool, some fog. I forgot sunblock so I look like rudolph, sigh.

We took the 4:20 ferry back, grabbed dinner and ice cream (so much for exercise calories!)

I acutally wore my HRM the whole time (even though this was a mellow pace "stroll" and I wouldn't normally consider this "exercise") because my friend wanted to know if she burned off her 700 calorie breakfast (bagel/cream cheese). Unfortunately, my HRM only registered 669 after 5 hours of strolling....:laugh:

lizard9800

Went to Angel Island in Tiburon yesterday (Bay Area - Marin County, CA). Took the ferry out to the island - hiked up to Mount Livermore (4-ish mile RT), walked around the island - checked out old abandoned buildings. Rested at Quarry beach - no swimming - LOTS of jellyfish; I'm not sure why - they seemed dead but I didn't venture to find out, lol. Weather was sunny, cool, some fog. I forgot sunblock so I look like rudolph, sigh.

We took the 4:20 ferry back, grabbed dinner and ice cream (so much for exercise calories!)

I acutally wore my HRM the whole time (even though this was a mellow pace "stroll" and I wouldn't normally consider this "exercise") because my friend wanted to know if she burned off her 700 calorie breakfast (bagel/cream cheese). Unfortunately, my HRM only registered 669 after 5 hours of strolling....:laugh:

Wow, a 700 calorie bagel! Impressive!
I wore my HRM and I burned about 2200 after subtracting my normal burn. That was in 9 hours though. Pretty long day. I love it because I can eat a big breakfast, lots of munchies and then have pizza and beer afterwards!!

MFS27

Went to Angel Island in Tiburon yesterday (Bay Area - Marin County, CA). Took the ferry out to the island - hiked up to Mount Livermore (4-ish mile RT), walked around the island - checked out old abandoned buildings. Rested at Quarry beach - no swimming - LOTS of jellyfish; I'm not sure why - they seemed dead but I didn't venture to find out, lol. Weather was sunny, cool, some fog. I forgot sunblock so I look like rudolph, sigh.

We took the 4:20 ferry back, grabbed dinner and ice cream (so much for exercise calories!)

I acutally wore my HRM the whole time (even though this was a mellow pace "stroll" and I wouldn't normally consider this "exercise") because my friend wanted to know if she burned off her 700 calorie breakfast (bagel/cream cheese). Unfortunately, my HRM only registered 669 after 5 hours of strolling....:laugh:

Wow, a 700 calorie bagel! Impressive!
I wore my HRM and I burned about 2200 after subtracting my normal burn. That was in 9 hours though. Pretty long day. I love it because I can eat a big breakfast, lots of munchies and then have pizza and beer afterwards!!

I know - that's why I don't do bagels, lol! (Her bagel was about 400 plus she goes double whammy with the cream cheese.) :frown:

Anyways, how do you calculate your normal burn? Is the adjusted value what you log in for exercise?

lizard9800

Went to Angel Island in Tiburon yesterday (Bay Area - Marin County, CA). Took the ferry out to the island - hiked up to Mount Livermore (4-ish mile RT), walked around the island - checked out old abandoned buildings. Rested at Quarry beach - no swimming - LOTS of jellyfish; I'm not sure why - they seemed dead but I didn't venture to find out, lol. Weather was sunny, cool, some fog. I forgot sunblock so I look like rudolph, sigh.

We took the 4:20 ferry back, grabbed dinner and ice cream (so much for exercise calories!)

I acutally wore my HRM the whole time (even though this was a mellow pace "stroll" and I wouldn't normally consider this "exercise") because my friend wanted to know if she burned off her 700 calorie breakfast (bagel/cream cheese). Unfortunately, my HRM only registered 669 after 5 hours of strolling....:laugh:

Wow, a 700 calorie bagel! Impressive!
I wore my HRM and I burned about 2200 after subtracting my normal burn. That was in 9 hours though. Pretty long day. I love it because I can eat a big breakfast, lots of munchies and then have pizza and beer afterwards!!

I know - that's why I don't do bagels, lol! (Her bagel was about 400 plus she goes double whammy with the cream cheese.) :frown:

Anyways, how do you calculate your normal burn? Is the adjusted value what you log in for exercise?

When I wear my HRM it's pretty easy to adjust my calorie burn, because my normal metabolic rate is right around 60 cals per hour normally burned. So for 9 hours I subracted 540 calories from the 2740 the HRM said I had burned and that is where the 2200 came from.