Hiking

I walk about 20 miles a week commuting to work, but in advance of the big trip to Tahoe, I wanted to see how fit I was in terms of handling some steep climbs and working at altitude. I also wanted to walk with my big hip pack fully laden and get a feel for the shape of my hiking shoes.

With all of that in mind, I borrowed my brothers two dogs and headed to Berthoud Pass on Saturday. I planned it pretty well, and we hit the trail just after 9 AM. Took the straight up route across from the parking lot. This is definitely the toughest part of that hike. I was sweating inside of 5 minutes and had to rest periodically, but it certainly didn't bother me to excess.

I hiked further along the route than I had ever been, and I believe I made it to the peak of either Stanley or Vasquez, but I can't guarantee that because I a) don't know which is which and b) didn't have a map or ask anyone. The mountains were in very nice shape: greener than I have seen them in years past. There were still plenty of packets of snow around, and we spent a good part of our hike above the snow. When the wind blew, it was pretty chilly. I was tempted to put on my wind breaker at one point, but the trail turned and dipped a bit there, and I decided I would be fine.

The doggies were very good. I let Kepper off the leash for a large portion of the hike. She knows "stay close" and "stay on the trail" - well the second one she's still working on. Jib, who is blind, did great too. On the way back down I had to watch him a lot to guide him from obstacles. He came up with a new way of following me though where he pretty much kept his right fore-shoulder against my left calf and knee so that he could follow right in my same path. This is a previously unobserved behavior in Jib. I thought it was quite a clever coping strategy.

We were out for about 4 hours with roughly a 30 minute break. I'm guessing that we did somewhere around 8 miles. I am told that the dogs didn't move once they got home last night, and both spent all day today in bed or on the couch. I, on the other hand, came home yesterday, took a nap, and then walked down to the bars. Since I didn't get too wasted, I walked home too. I'm definitely feeling it in my butt today, but really, I am impressed with how good I feel. I think I'll be able to keep up in the Sierras.

I did learn that my hiking shoes were too far gone to expect to use them without blisters on a hiking trip. So I went out today and bought new trail shoes along with a stove and a few other toys to have for camping. Just need to buy some pots and decide on whether I'm going to throw down for a GPS - I almost certainly will as I can see doing this more and more now that I am a bit more fit and well equiped. Plus, I like toys.

Jonathan 8/21/2005 08:29:00 PM