Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General The Mountain by a fair means San Diego "training" hikes

I'm going to be spending Sunday trying to avoid tasting any of the chili that the boys have made for the Scout Chili Cook-off at our Court of honor... I don't know about the other teams.. but Bubba said something about habeneros, jalapano's and cayanne...

Iron Mountain 6am Thursday

I can't I will be on my way to work. I also have to work this Friday so I can't do it then either. Have a good hike and remember 58..

maybe I'll do it twice. Don't have anything to do that early.

Am kid free until about 11:30 on Saturday morning if someone wants to get up early and do something.... ideas? Suggestions? Victims.. er.. um.. I mean volunteers?

Just so you ladies don't think I'm slackin' off or nuthin:

Finished my day in Lone Pine tonight so headed up the Main Trail for a leg stretch to the cascade below Lone Pine Lake. Got there in about 55 minutes, then jogged (yeah, I said JOGGED!) back to The Store in 25 minutes. Don't know what came over me there: must've been motivated by all the Badwater athletes finishing at the portal tonight!

Keep workin'! Every little bit helps!

-L

*snortmuttersnort* Show off... then again.. you were just "stretching your legs" the first time we met...

WOW -- all this time I thought that we were gettin' in shape and lightening our loads so that we would be in good form to deliver Miss Moosie up the pass by litter!!

Bee

Oh HELLS no!!! LOL.. We're lightening our loads so that when Moosie pulls the travois with all of us on it she doesn't have to strain to hard....

I could do it early on Friday and then go to work after that. We could do 6 am again or we could shoot for 5:30. It would be good to shave a few minutes off the 58. But we will see..

Chris I would love to Hike on Saturday but I think I will take it easy cuz Blooty will be killing me on Sunday. I think I will reserve my energy.
As for Moosie stretching her legs, at least she didn't jog up the hill.

I think you're safe, Ava...we will take it at an easy pace and just do what we can. I don't want to strain my bod too badly and miss the party!!! We have one extra permit, anyone from So Cal want to join us.... Gorgonio 19 July.

She might as well have been!!! LOL... she was on her way up to LPL, Mom and I were on the way down to the Portal.. we ran into her between Carillon Creek Crossing and that last set of switchers ... She said "I'm just stretching my legs to LPL.. you gals go get settled and get some food and I'll join you in a little bit"... Less then 2 hours... we finished walking down... ordered our food and had just started eating when she strolled up...

We had an awesome hike today. No way could I keep up with my friend (the girl that someone was so worried about being taken up Gorgonio for a first hike). This lady needs a 50lb backpack to slow her down so I can keep up.



She was waiting for Ava and me on the summit. I don't think I can handle many more "training hikes" like this one before our trip or I'm going to need Laura's professional help with my knee.

COngrats to all three of you!!! My main accomplishment for the day was avoiding the "Super, intense, hot" boy scout chili that my son and two others made.... I managed this just barely..

T-12 days til TH!

Nice bit of altitude baggage, ladies!

Nothing so spectacular to report this week, except that I ran most of the way back to the TH from my local Castle Peak. I shaved an hour off my regular time, BUT, I did stop to snap the flowers!



Bee (ps., I had to "remove" the hiking pole that protruded into the lower rt corner of the pic

Way to go, ladies! We had some fun ourselves this weekend in Dusy Basin, TR to follow, but the pics are up on flickr. Tried out a new pack/tent with fairly good results (better for tent than pack).

Tracie: TAKE CARE OF YOUR KNEE!! Actually, a good thing to throw in the pack (in case of injury or lingering one) are a few ziploc bags. That way you can put lake/stream water in it and use it for icing down at the end of the day.

-L

It was an amazing hike. Let me tell you I am a little sore today. The trail up there is really cool. I want to give a little history of the hike. If you look at the picture there is just a little something off. Can you pick it out?

We started off by me being late to pick everyone up. We finally get to the parking lot to start the hike. We start pulling our stuff out and well someone (me) forgot there hiking shoes!!! I couldn't believe it.. Well you know because you the whole check list thing. Which didn't do, as you can tell.. I did however have my flat bottom vans in the car, so I put them on and tied them for once to go as far as I could in the shoes. I was very bummed because I didn't think I would make it all the way. They were actually really comfortable on the feet the only problem is that they didn’t have any traction on the bottom.

It wasn’t to hot in the morning (which was good) when we started. There is pretty good tree coverage at the bottom. Tracie’s friend Andrea stayed with us for a while and then she started pull away. Let me tell you we tried to keep up but it just was not going to happen. The woman is so fit and has such a drive that there was no way. I don’t think she broke a sweat the entire time. (Moose she could be your hiking partner) For this being her first hike she was amazing. She has an awesome body and works hard at it every day. She also eats really healthy as well. Wish I had the will power.
I then could not keep up with Tracie; she has a really good pace as well. (Man I think I was sweating the whole time going up, not a little either) We all kind of spaced out a little. We could always pretty much see each other on the trail but I was the caboose.

We made it to the summit and all feeling pretty good. I made it in the darn shoes and my feet still felt pretty good. They actually felt better then they would have in my hiking shoes. (don’t figure) We stay up top for about ½ hour then decide to get going. The clouds were coming in so we were hoping that we would miss the rain. Well that didn’t happen. It did rain on us but not a down pour, just a light drizzle. It felt pretty good, it kept the tempter down. The going down was great and fast.

We started the 23 mile hike at 8:00 and finished at 5:00 with two good breaks. It was a great hike and would love to do it again. It defiantly pushed me and my pace. When I get my pictures uploaded I will post them. I got a few good ones.

I want to think Tracie and Andrea for a great hike. I can’t wait to do the 3 day at the end of this month.
Tracie I hope you don’t mind me talking about the hike, I’m just proud of the time that we did it in. I’m sure that there are a lot of people that can do it better, but this was ours and not theirs. Thanks for the push..
Ava

Ava:

Great report. Tracie, I LOVE the skirt, BTW.

I wanted to comment about your shoes, and how you said they were more comfortable than your boots. That is perhaps the #1 thing you need to feel when trying on boots: they should be perfectly comfortable from the get-go. Don't ever think they are going to "break in" or "loosen up". If you are serious about this sort of thing (hiking/packing/climbing/etc) then you have to invest well in the footwear. It can make or break a trip.

Congrats again, ladies! Sounds like a great day!

-L

I hear you on the boots. I got mine last year before I did Whitney. I really like the boots and they are comfortable but I seem to have a problem with my big toes nails. I think I need a bigger size. I’m going to look around this week and then break them in this weekend. I am doing the same with my pack.
Ava

so sad i missed it....

crappity - they pulled away from Ava? Chris - you & I are going to be little cabooses. chugga chugga ~

I can totally relate to the big toenails - I have a great pair of boots..unless I have gnarly sasquatch toenails.