Russian Ridge Hike Report

Last Saturday I went on a hike with the Loma Prieta Gay and Lesbian Sierrans at Russian Ridge. Russian Ridge is the park at the top of Page Mill Road above Palo Alto. Our trip started with an adventure in the park-n-ride lot. Six of us showed up at the appointed time to car pool to the park from the Page Mill Park and Ride lot just off highway 280. I got there first and there was not a parking spot to be found in the lot. I decided to hang out in my car for a while to see if someone would leave and a spot would open up. While I was doing this I saw a woman walking across the parking lot. She came to my car and said hello and asked if I was there for the hike. I’ll call her M. I asked where she parked and she had driven up the road a ¼ mile and found street parking and had just walked back to the lot. As we were chatting four more folks showed up for the hike each in their own car. We had one of those group moments of confusion as to what people should do since there was no parking.

In the end these folks headed off to the street parking that M had found. I volunteered to stay at the lot in case anyone showed up. As M and I were standing there waiting, my cell phone rang and I pulled a typical blunder on my part and tried to answer the phone with the “hang up” button. So I hung up on someone obviously calling from the street parking to coordinate with me. Poor M got to witness me struggling with my cell phone that I rarely use and cursing the fact that I couldn't figure out how to phone this person back!! As I was doing this, the hike leader showed up in her car and told us that she would wait at the lot and we should go to the street parking area. So off M and I went to the street parking. We arrived and a few minutes later the hike leader showed up. There was enough parking at this street location for all our cars. We finally got organized and tumbled into 2 cars to car pool to the park. I do believe it is time to give up on this particular park in ride lot as a hike meeting location.

The drive to the park was up a narrow twisty road. As we started up we saw a deer with brand new horns growing in. We had to make our way slowly up the road as it was full of bike riders and blind corners. So we had to slow down to the bike rider speed till we got around these blind corners and see that it was safe to pass them. I had volunteered to drive and my passengers said they were glad of it as they don’t like to deal with twisty roads and bikes! I just poked along up the road and only passed the bikes when it was safe to do so. We got to the park in about 30 minutes. Thankfully there was plenty of parking in the Russian Ridge lot!

We all visited the rest room and then headed out on our 5.5 mile hike on the ridge top. We hiked up a mild hill and had marvelous views of Silicon Valley to one side and the Pacific ocean and Portola Valley to the other side. The wind was blowing hard on the ridge and we saw a young girl having fun flying a kite. After about an hour of hiking we reached a wonderful deck built by a boy scout troop on the hill where we had lunch. The sun was out and the sky was a pure blue but the wind blowing over our now sweaty shirts gave us a chill at lunch. Some of us pulled on our windbreakers to stay warm. After lunch we headed back on different trails. We dove into the woods at one point where I had to be careful of poison oak. Its easy to spot in the fall when its often a bright red color. In the woods we stopped to oogle at a very large lizard. Lizards abound on the trails in the bay area parks but this particular lizard was huge and worth stopping to look at. After the lizard siting we came out of the woods and had pleasant half mile climbing up the hill and then descending to the parking lot.

The trip back to the street parking was easier as the bikes had pretty much left the road by the mid afternoon. I dropped off my riders at our street parking location and headed home for a nice warm shower followed by an impromptu nap in front of the TV!

Pictures from the hike: https://picasaweb.google.com/cdrdash/RussianRidge_10_29_11?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNHqwdys4cGDbg&feat=directlink

Henry Coe Vasquez Peak hike

Yesterday I went on a 13 mile hike almost to Vasquez Peak at Henry Coe State park with the gay and lesbian Sierrans. After three weeks of resting my right ankle which I sprained on Sept 4, I felt ready for a long challenging hike. I discovered two things: resting for three weeks and not exercising much at all erases some of the conditioning I built up with all that training for the Whitney hike in the summer and my ankle was not as healed as I thought.

We started our hike on a nice flat section of the park in Hunting Hollow. We crossed three bone dry creeks till we reached the Lyman Wilson trail junction. We then pealed off to start the long uphill 2 miles up the Lyman Wilson trail. It was on this uphill climb that I realized how much conditioning I had lost due to the three weeks of resting the ankle and getting very little exercise. I was puffing on the steep hills but it wasn't as bad as the puffing on Whitney! I enjoyed all that wonderful oxygen at altitudes below 3000 feet! The ankle seemed to be holding up really well on the up hill hike. Lyman Wilson ended at the junction with Steer Ridge road. We then had a short flattish bit on the ridge trail head to a nice looking lunch stop under a big tree with a nice view of Hunting Hollow way down below. Lunch was uneventful except for an aggressive squirrel that ran past our packs hoping for a snack. It ran into the back of one of the hike participants and gave her a small fright. I saw it dashing off after she cried out.

After lunch we headed down the Steer Ridge trail to Vasquez Road which we took to the Long Dam Trail. At that junction we were about 1/8 of a mile away from Vasquez Peak but we decided to skip seeing the 2210 feet peak as the hike leader, R., said it was just a boring flat peak with not much more of a view than we already had. On this section of trail I discovered that my ankle was not as healed as I thought. Going downhill was hard on it and the Vasquez Road and Long Dam trails were not very well maintained. Lots of grass was growing on the trail and it hid little gullies. I nearly tweaked it about three times before I figured out I needed to slow down and set my right foot down carefully in the long grass. The ankle didn't hurt at all but it did feel weak and my lower leg muscles were complaining with the compensating they were doing to protect the weak ankle. When I wasn't staring at the ground on these trails, I did enjoy the views of Edith and Long Dam ponds. And because I was staring at the ground I spotted a praying mantis bug. I had never seen that a Henry Coe before. It was cool!

At the end of Long Dam trail we got on to the Wagon Road trail and much better maintained old ranch road. I didn't have to watch where I set my right foot down any longer. That was a relief. We descended down the Wagon Road trail to yet another bone dry creek crossing. Then we headed up a mile to the Phegley Ridge trail. We took a rest at the intersection and saw some other hikers who asked about water. They had not brought quite as much as they thought. Unfortunately I don't think they were going to find any water on the trail. I hope they got back OK and were not too dehydrated. Its a hot dusty park in the fall. I drank all my water (2.5 liters) on the hike. After a rest we headed off on the Phegley Ridge trail. It started with a mild uphill section and then it started to go down down down to Hunting Hollow. There were several really steep descents and this was just killer on my ankle. I had to go at a snails pace to maintain control so I didn't lose balance and have to land hard on my right foot. My right ankle and leg started to ache a bit. I was very relieved when we finally reached Hunting Hollow and only had 2 miles of flat hiking on a well maintained ranch dirt road.

I was running on fumes those last two miles. It reminded me remotely of the end of the Whitney hike. There is something weird in my personality that likes to push my body like this and meet hiking challenges. I am glad that my ankle came through OK but realize that next time I probably should choose a slightly less challenging hike only three weeks after spraining an ankle! It was good to finally reach the cars and be able to rest. We drove back to our car pool location and then I had to drive myself home. Much to my chagrin I got stuck in traffic on the way home. There was a concert at Shoreline that I didn't know about and I did not get off the freeway in time to avoid the backup at the Shoreline exit. I managed to get off at the exit before Shoreline but I was stuck in stop and go traffic for about 20 minutes. Arg. It was good to finally get home and have a hot shower and then sit down to a nice dinner of Mac-n-Cheese!

Pictures from the hike are at https://picasaweb.google.com/105234689104952250166/HenryCoeVasquez_9_24_11?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNHh5Jro_qSlCg&feat=directlink

Mt Whitney Adventure!

Bob, my brother, and I made it to the top of Mt Whitney at 1:15 p.m. August 30, 2011. We got up at 2:00 a.m. and were on the trail at 2:30 a.m. We hiked for around 3 and 1/2 hours in the dark. It was a bit surreal to be hiking with just the light of our headlamps showing the trail. It was just a lot of uphill hiking without the benefit of wonderful views. We did hear lots of water and had to cross several streams on logs and by rock hopping. It was nice when the sun finally rose and we could put away the headlamps. We reached Trail Camp around dawn I think.

At Trail Camp, I felt altitude sickness. I was slightly nauseous and not hungry. Bob also felt the altitude and was a bit dizzy. We sat there for a long time resting and I was thinking about quitting and turning around and going back. Bob finally spoke up and suggested we keep hiking till noon and turn around if we were not close to the top. I agreed to that. Then I used the WAG (Waste Alleviation and Gelling) bag to take a dump. I had hoped to not need to use the WAG bag but I'm glad I did use it as I started to feel better after doing the deed. The WAG bag was designed well though as it was not too hard to use and once packed away in the opaque olive colored zip lock bag did not smell or anything. It was rather bizarre to know I was carrying my own poop along with me to the top of Whitney! Its a requirement to hike Whitney that you pack out your waste.

We started hiking up and up the switch backs to Trail Crest. I didn't count them but someone else on the world wide web did and reported that 97 switchbacks wind back and forth gaining 1,600 feet in 2.2 miles. It was a slog. We just kept going back and forth and back and forth. I had to rest often to catch my breath. The hardest thing for me was when I had to take a big step up. I dreaded running into those big rocks I had to really pull myself up. It just took my breath away and I would have to pause to let my heart rate reduce and to get some much needed air. Bob never complained about my stopping but I expect he needed the rest too! At Trail Crest there are some pretty spectacular views. Its a pass of sorts so we now could see behind the other side of Whitney that was invisible until we reached the crest.

After trail crest there is a small section of down hill trail. You would think that would make me happy but it did not. I wanted it to be entirely up hill all the way to the top so on the way back I wouldn't have any uphill. Oh well. We descended to the intersection of the Mt Whitney trail with John Muir trail. We stayed on the Whitney trial and now had 1.9 miles to the top. About half way up this 1.9 miles it was noon. Both Bob and I decided that we were not turning around and heading back since we were almost there. We kept on and made it to the top of Mt Whitney at 1:15 p.m. I was so exhausted on top that I just wanted to sit and rest a while before I stood up to wander about and admire the views. I finally did wander about and took some photos. We stayed up there about 15 minutes. The views are just awesome from the highest point in the lower 48 states!

The hike down was a study in putting one foot in front of the other and just keep going. That downhill portion I complained about was a bit tortuous for me on the way up. I would go a few steps and have to stop to breath for a while and then continue on. Bob went ahead of me and when I finally got to the top of this little section of trail, he gave me a hug. That made me feel better! Bob said it well towards the very end of the down hill that his legs were just programmed to keep moving. We did get the satisfaction on the way down of seeing the bottom portion of the hike that we did in the dark. Surprise, there was a beautiful water fall. And surprise there was Mirror Lake and Lone Pine lake.

However, the last hour of the hike was in the dark again. At about 8, it got too dark to see the trail so we put on our headlamps again. We did however, scout the bottom portion of the hike the day before we did the hike. My friend, Tina, suggested we do that. We got lots of good pictures on that little scout of the bottom portion of the hike that we would end up doing in the dark both going out and coming in. The last bit of the trail seemed to go on forever but we finally stumbled into Whitney Portal, where the trail begins and our car was parked, at 8:50 p.m.

After a pit stop and throwing the WAG bag in the human waste disposal bin we headed to the car. We drove to our campsite and packed up everything into the car and headed to Lone Pine to the Comfort Inn. We each had a nice hot shower and then attempted to go out to dinner. We had no luck. Lone Pine pretty much shuts down after 10 p.m. on a week day. We ended up stopping at a gas station with a mini-mart. Bob got some beer and I got some chips and a soda. We returned to the motel and sat and talked till we were done with our "dinner". We were so tired that I don't think either of us really cared that we didn't get a proper dinner. We enjoyed having real beds to sleep on that night after having spent the last four nights at campgrounds.

Yosemite Hiking, June Lake Camping

I had yet another marvelous weekend hiking at high altitude. This time I hiked exclusively in Yosemite National Park near the eastern entrance of the park. I managed to escape work (with permission of my manager) at noon and drove to the Oh Ridge campground at June Lake on Friday.

I arrived at June Lake at about 5:30 p.m. and checked in with a friendly lady who was glad I showed up as "someone was Jonesing for my site" and she was glad she stuck to her guns and kept telling them someone had it reserved. That someone being me. I was at site 53 at Squirrel loop. This was a very well signed campground and it was very easy to find my site. I set up my tent and then had a lunchy dinner meaning I ate lunch food for dinner. I had salami and swiss cheese on crackers and a bottle of Super Food orginal. Yum.

As I sat eating I discovered the flaw of Oh Ridge campground. A stiff wind blows off of the lake in the evenings and it gets chilly quickly when the sun sets. Oh well. I wasn't really camping for fun but camping for a cheap place to sleep and this campground did the trick. I was warm inside my tent all night. It just wasn't conducive to hanging out at the campsite to read a nice book in my lawn chair. Instead on night two at the campground, I read my book inside my car where the wind didn't seep in and it was nice and cozy. Friday evening I did take a short walk to June lake and saw the beach where one is allowed to swim if one so desires. I never did because it was chilly when I got back from hikes.

Saturday morning I got up early and ate a quick breakfast and headed to the Mobile gas/store/restaurant at Lee Vining where I got myself a nice hot cup of coffee and sipped it while admiring the view of Mono Lake out the window. After coffee, I drove to Tioga Pass and into Yosemite to the Mono Pass trailhead parking lot. When I got there there were only about four parking spaces left. I snagged one and used the restroom there and then sat down to put on my hiking boots and find a nice spot to settle down and wait for the Ranger led hike that was set to start at 9:15 a.m. It was 8:15 when I got to the lot. I managed to wander around the lot and the trail head amusing myself by day dreaming and trying to find a spot where the mosquitos would not find me. I finally found a spot and sat there till Ranger Salli arrived. She arrived at 9:05. For the next twenty five minutes we chatted and she spoke to others at the lot and found one other taker for her hike, M. She gave both M. and I a chance to spray insect repellant on ourselves and we both accepted.

We set off on our hike to Mono Pass at 9:30 a.m. The first bit of the hike was through beautiful woods and meadows full of "spring" wildflowers in August! We had to cross two streams but with Salli's knowledge we had very easy crossings (she knew where the hefty log was located to get us across). The first portion of the hike was ever so slightly up hill. Salli told us all about the plants, the animals, and the history of the trail. It was an animal trail originally and then became a native american trading trail and then the Europeans arrived and started using it and hoped to find gold, silver etc. to mine. She told us about the ground squirrels, an animal called the pika, the birds we saw, and some stuff about geology. I got a little overloaded on information at times and tuned her out a little. But it was great for me, a very active hike leader for the Sierra Club, to have a chance to be a follower and not be responsible for anyone but myself!

The last bit of the hike to Mono Pass goes up hill. My heart got beating really fast because of the high altitude (the pass is at 10,599 feet). We reached the pass and it was beautiful. We could see a lake in a green meadow and great views of Mammoth Peak, Mt Gibb, and others whose names I forget. We hiked .3 miles past Mono Pass to Sardine lakes and a great view of Mono Lake. We had lunch here. Ranger Salli was accosted by a gang of men with tons of questions and while M. and I enjoyed our lunch she patiently answered all their questions. She did a very good job and loved being questioned by them. While she did her job, I borrowed her binoculars and scanned the hillside of Mt Gibb for Big Horned sheep. Salli has been told that they hang out there but she has never seen them. I did not see any either. Both M. and I finished our lunches and when Salli was done answering questions we retraced our steps back to the parking lot. On the way back we saw a deer and we saw an old miner's cabin that we missed on the way out because we were admiring an incredible meadow full of wild flowers across from the cabin! In the last quarter mile, my feet started to complain but not the rest of me. We arrived at the lot at 4 p.m. I did not dilly dally and talk more with Ranger Salli as the mosquitos were thick at the trail head so I wanted to pop in my car to escape them and start heading back to my camp.

I drove down to Lee Vining and decided to stop at the Mobile restaurant and have dinner there rather than cook something at the cold windy campsite. I had a big half pound burger, french fries, and a coke. Not very healthy but oh so satisfying. It felt good to sit down. I munched on my burger and fries while people watching. It was very crowded. The food was decent but I believe it was crowded because the location is so good. All those people streaming out of Yosemite and folks driving north and south along 395 stop there to eat on their ways elsewhere. After finishing I drove the 11 miles down the road to June Lake and spent a couple of hours in my car reading. At 8 p.m. I shifted to my tent and continued to reading. By 8:30 my eyes were closing so I put the book away and went to sleep.

On Sunday I was up at 6 a.m. I took down my tent right away and packed up the car with most of my camping gear. I then had a bowl of cereal and banana at the campsite picnic table while gazing at the lake. It was not windy in the mornings but was still cool until the sun came up. I finished up my breakfast and packed the rest of my gear in the car and left the campground. I again stopped at the trusty Lee Vining mobile station for another cup of coffee. Then I drove to Tioga Pass and parked in the little lot there. Just past the Yosemite entrance gate is a little lot that holds maybe 10 cars. At 8 a.m. there were several spots still left. I snagged one, stuffed my cooler into the bear locker, used the restroom, put on my sun screen, and headed off on the Gaylor Lake trail to, surprise, Gaylor lake.

I had the trail to myself. I went at a slowish pace as the trail starts at 9943 feet and climbs about 600 feet to a saddle of sorts just below Gaylor Peak. The views from the saddle were incredible and I took lots of pictures. I then descended to Gaylor Lake. It was so blue and so gorgeous. When I got to the lake I followed a trial to one end of it and then followed a use trail next to a creek. The mosquitos were thick there so I nicknamed the trail mosquito alley. If I kept moving, they didn't seem to land on me so I kept up a good pace on the trail till I reached what I think was middle Gaylor Lake. I took a quick picture of it and then continued my quick pace. When I reached the end of the first Gaylor Lake, I finally ran into another hiker. It had been a treat to have the trail to myself for the out portion of my hike. As I retraced my steps I ran into 4 other parties of hikers. But it didn't feel crowded like some of the more popular hikes at Yosemite feel. I reached the cars at 10 a.m.

I retrieved my cooler from the bear locker, used the handsome restroom a second time, and hit the road to go back to the bay area. I decided to stop at Olmstead Point on 120 to admire the view of Half Dome, Clouds Rest, and Tenaya lake. Olmstead Point is this big old parking lot off of highway 120 within Yosemite with awesome views of the valley. A Yosemite conservation volunteer had set up a scope today aimed at Half Dome. I took a look through it and saw it was focused on the cables on Half Dome and I watched some people climbing up the cables for a little bit. I then snapped several pictures of the views and had one of the volunteers take a picture of me. Then I hit the road again. I made a few more stops: a bathroom break at a wonderful vista point/rest area just outside of Yosemite and a Starbuck's stop in Oakdale for an iced mocha to perk me up for the boring drive on highways 205, 580, 680, 237, and 101 to home!

I took scads of pictures and posted them here

Rock Creek Weekend

I spent the weekend of August 13-14 camping with a couple of friends, T. and C., at Rock Creek French Camp campground in the Eastern Sierras. This was the first of three Eastern Sierra mountain weekends I planned to get in high altitude training hikes to prepare me for my August 30th attempt to day hike to the top of Mt Whitney and back!

I put in a couple of long days at work on Wednesday and Thursday so I could leave work at noon on Friday and drive to Rock Creek and get there before dark. I had a very uneventful and pleasant drive to Rock Creek and arrived at 6:15 p.m. at site number 9 at the French Campground. My buddies, T. and C. had already been at the site for a couple of days and were not there when I arrived. I got my tent set up and loaded all my food into the bear locker and then set off to figure out where the restrooms were located, where the dumpster was located, and where the water was located. When I got back I sat down and read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets until my friends arrived back from their day of hiking. They kindly fed me a nice dish of gnocchi, red peppers, basil, and a red sauce and left out the chick peas at my request. I felt very spoiled and very content to be out in the woods with friends. After dinner we chatted about the next day's plans. C. decided to go exploring on his own as the hike T. and I wanted to do was a bit tough for him. T. and I planned to hike from the Little Lakes trail head at Rock Creek to Mono Pass. After the plans were firmed up we all headed to our tents around 9:30 p.m.

We were up shortly after dawn and I cooked myself some oatmeal and had some General Foods instant mocha. It was a bit weak. Next time I need to add more heaping teaspoons than four! T. and I then loaded up our day packs with food, water, extra layers, a small first aid kit, and some bug repellent and then put away our other food in the bear locker and headed to Little Lakes trailhead. Before we got there we stopped at the Rock Creek lodge in the hopes of having some of their famous pie. We arrived there at 8:30 a.m. way before they serve their pies. The pie service doesn't start till 10:30 a.m. and ends when the pies run out or at 3:30 p.m. I did a little shopping at the general store and got some much needed lip balm for the weekend. After our short stop we drove to the trail head and the main parking lot was already full by 9ish. We did find parking at the first overflow parking lot which was lucky. It added maybe a quarter mile to our trip. We hiked to the trailhead restrooms, put on sun screen, packed away our wallets/keys in a safe place in our day packs or pockets, and headed off to Mono Pass.

The first half mile was on the very popular Little Lakes trail and went up mildly but my heart started beating fast. The trail head started at high altitude, 10,200 feet! I managed to keep a steady pace while my heart beat fast and there were enough little flat spots to give me a chance to get my breath back and for my heart rate to slow down a bit. When we felt uncomfortable we just stopped and the view filled us with energy! The view of the lakes and mountains was incredible.

From Rock_Creek_Camping_8_13_and_14_2011

T. is in great shape and she never seemed to need to stop because of being out of breath but she did need to stop to eat more often than me. After a half mile, we turned off on to the Mono pass trail. For about a mile or so it was a steady up with flat spots to rest at and wonderful views of the Little Lakes valley. We met other folks as we slowly made our way up to the pass. Everyone was really friendly and in a good mood. The typical greeting was “where are you heading today?” Some were day hiking to Mono pass like us and some were backpacking futher into the mountains. We reached the Ruby Lake turnoff junction at 11,200 feet and that is where the steeper part of the Mono Pass trail starts.

We hiked up switch backs for a good while. We got passed by a horse led burro train taking supplies up to the mountains for someone. Finally we turned into the rather narrow pass. Big old granite walls rose up around us spectacularly. I had to rest lots on this section as we approached our destination at 12,000 feet. The air was getting thinner and thinner! But stopping was nice as it gave us time to gape at the views and neither of us were in a great hurry. We finally reached the top after a last bit of hiking on snow. The really late rains and snows in California have made conditions in August more like those found in July. However the snow trail was well trodden and easy to follow. We had lunch near the top and after lunch hiked a tiny bit to Summit Lake and then turned around to head back.

From Rock_Creek_Camping_8_13_and_14_2011

On our way down, a fellow caught up with us and we offered to let him pass but he declined. He looked like a sherpa from Nepal and much to our surprise he was a sherpa from Nepal on vacation in California. He looked as if he was talking a walk in a park up there. He told us he lives at a place higher than Mono Pass. He lives at 4000 meters (~13123 feet) and his Father is a sherpa on Mt. Everest. He was very nimble on the snow. He was with another man who we never got close enough to talk to. He left us when he saw that his buddy had gotten ahead of us. Quite amazing the people you meet while you are hiking.

The rest of the way down was so much easier for me. I wasn't gasping for air hardly at all and my knees were just fine. I have always had pretty healthy knees and they hold up well going downhill. On really long downhills I will start to notice some knee soreness but this 3 mile descent did not cause me any knee soreness. I was happy though to have done all that uphill hiking to start getting my body used to hiking uphill at high altitudes. The Whitney hike starts at ~8400 feet and goes to ~14,500 feet.

We arrived back at the trailhead at 3:15 p.m. and were hoping we could make it to the Rock Creek lodge for pie by 3:30 p.m. We did make it to the lodge by 3:30 p.m. But alas, the pies had been sold out since 1:30 p.m. Instead we bought ourselves something to drink (I got gaterade) and then drove down the Rock Creek road in search of a nice spot on the creek to sit down and soak our feet. We found a wonderful spot with a comfy spot of green grass to sit on right next to the creek and even better it turned out to be mosquito free too! We soaked our feet for 15 minutes. It was marvelous to be sitting together with our feet in the ice cold water, drinking our drinks, chatting, and to boot we head this section of creek all to ourselves.

From Rock_Creek_Camping_8_13_and_14_2011

After the soak, we headed back to camp and spent some time doing our own thing. I read more of my Harry Potter book. We would not start dinner till C. got back from his day of hiking. He returned around 6:15 and told us stories of his day at Convict lake and we told him about our hike. T. cooked a dinner of ravioli with roasted red pepper sauce. I volunteered to help and was put in charge heating up the store bought roasted red pepper sauce to mix with the ravioli. It was a delicious dinner. Somehow food at a campground tastes better than it would if cooked at home. Its probably because we were exerting ourselves all day and were hungry and would have liked almost anything. After dinner T. and C. got busy packing as they had to leave at o-dark-hundred the next day. T. had an appointment in the SF bay area at 3:30. They left at 5 a.m. I heard them taking the tents down and just turned over and fell back asleep for another hour.

I was up at 6 a.m. In typical camping fashion what got me up was I had to use the restroom. When I came back from the restroom I felt fully awake so I decided to have a small cold breakfast and then pack up my gear and head back to the Little Lakes trail head and hike on the Little Lakes valley trail for an hour and then turn around and hike back. While shaking out my tent, I saw what I thought was a bug on the ground but on closer examination it turned out to be a scorpion. I was sort of glad I slept in a zipped up tent so the scorpion could not crawl on me! I soon finished packing and I got to the trailhead at 7:10 a.m. and this time I got a parking spot there and did not have to go to the overflow parking.

I made a quick stop at the restroom and then put on sun screen and headed off on the Little Lake Valley trail. It was gorgeous. I was happy to be giving my body another taste of high altitude hiking albeit a more mellow taste than the day before. I passed by Mack, Marsh, Heart, Box, and Long Lake. At Long Lake I reached my one hour turn around time and started heading back.

From Rock_Creek_Camping_8_13_and_14_2011

It was a wonderful solitary hike on the way to Long Lake. I did pass one backpacking couple but they were so quiet that it felt as if I had the trail to myself the whole way. It was a different story on the way back as I ran into more and more people. I got back to the trail head at 9:20 and the lot was full and folks were hiking up the road from overflow parking. I got in my car and headed to the Rock Creek lodge to have a more substantial breakfast. I was too early for pie but the cook at the lodge made a mean short stack of pancakes. I filled up on 2 huge pancakes and had a freshly brewed cup of coffee. While I was at the counter a Dad and his two small sons were there also. The sons were delightful to talk to. They were friendly and so excited to tell me all about their fishing trip with their Dad. Dad was there too but he was more quiet. He would just speak up to add bits to the stories his sons were telling. They also wanted to see a bear but not get eaten by a bear. It made for a nice breakfast to have their company. I finished up at 10 a.m. And started on my long trip home.

On my way home I did something very unusual for me. I was turning off of highway 395 at Lee Vining and there was a young man hitch hiking with a brown card board sign saying Yosemite and a big backpack. He looked friendly and I decided to risk it and give him a ride to Yosemite since my drive was on 120 which goes right through Yosemite (the Tuolumne Meadows part of Yosemite). I almost never pick up hitch hikers for fear I'll pick up a lunatic hitch hiker and get attacked or something but I decided to risk it for this guy. I picked him up and he was excited to have gotten a ride. Before we started up the climb on 120 to Tuolumne Meadows, I stopped at the Mobile station to get some gas. As we drove up 120, I found out he was from Brazil and had 7 days left in his vacation in the U.S. and wanted to spend it exploring Yosmite. He told me his name and I had trouble pronouncing it. I'm not sure how to spell it. It sounded like “hanough”. He works as a computer technician and was impressed that I write software. We had fun chatting as we waited in the long line to get into Yosemite at the top of the pass. I dropped him off at the visitor center in Tuolumne meadows after we finally got through the wait to get in.

The rest of my drive home was more ordinary. I stopped at Oakdale to have a late lunch at McDonalds. There was a Starbucks right door so after lunch, I got a iced mocha to go. I sipped it as I made my way to Manteca. At Manteca I had the last sip. At Manteca, it was back to freeway driving and no stunning mountain views anymore. I got home at 5 pm so the drive took 7 hours. All in all it was a great weekend of hiking and camping. I hope next weekends trip to June Lake in the Eastern Sierras goes as well although it will be a solo trip. It will be fun to spend the week planning the hikes I will do from June Lake.

Blogher'11 Blues

I was looking forward to the Blogher'11 conference and meeting lots of cool women and going to the famous parties. All the posts and all the chatter about previous conferences conjured up a picture in my head of an incredibly fun inspiring event. I imagined all the women I would talk to and all the things we would have in common. I imagined sitting around a table with several other women sipping drinks and laughing up a storm about who knows what. It was all so wonderful in my head.

I did get to meet lots of cool women. I didn't get to know them very well. All my interactions were short. The boogie woman of social anxiety reared her ugly head. I just knew that all these women were doing me a favor to even deign to converse with me for a few minutes. I couldn't shake the feeling despite my rocket scientist brain telling me it was bull.

Thursday night I really tried hard to pretend I was OK and not anxious in the hopes I could fake it until it no longer felt fake. I managed to get through the People's party and part of the Queerosphere party before throwing in the towel and retreating to my hotel room at the Best Western in Chula Vista. I felt relieved to be out of the crowds but also lonely. I escaped to my Harry Potter book to forget my woes and be entertained. It worked.

The sessions and speakers on Friday went better for me. I felt less fear when there was a topic to be talked about or an expert to be listened to. Its always been easier for me to be social when being social is not the only thing going on.

I decided to skip the Friday night parties as I couldn't face up to the fears. I decided to save that energy for Saturday's parties. I enjoyed the voices of the year speakers and headed back to my motel in the hopes of a hot tub soak. Alas, the hot tub was broken so I settled for a nice long shower and watching some TV. I was alone but not lonely.

Saturday was a struggle at times. I was getting creeped out by how much social anxiety I was feeling at the conference and I started to dwell on that instead of putting energy into making a space for myself where I was comfortable. I started to think what I loser I was. I would search for tables with no one at them and then bury my nose in a book or in my iPad so no one else would join me and I could be alone. Its like someone just turned off my courage faucet and turned on my fear faucet. I did enjoy the speakers and the sessions I went to and giving blood but the interim times were icky.

The Saturday party I chose to go to was the Aiming Low party. I figured it was aiming low so there wouldn't be as much emphasis put on being super social. But I arrived to find out they were playing a sticker game where the sticker says “You are _________” and you fill in the blank and stick it on a stranger. I guess it was a ice breaker sort of thing but to me it was something I just was not wanting to do. As the sticker woman went away, I got rid of my sticker and I sat there sipping my wine alone at a table until two women asked if they could join me. I said sure and talked with them a bit but my mind was a million miles away dealing with this mountain of fear. I felt tears of frustration that at 50 years of age I'm still dealing with this damn fear I have had since I was 5 years old. Before the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks I excused myself and headed to the restroom to let the tears eke out a little. After I had them under control, I hoofed my way through the hotel lobby to the parking lot and dived into my car for more crying. Sigh. It was all so deja vu.

This isn't the first conference that I have gone to with high hopes of tremendous fun so I don't know why I thought Blogher'11 would be any different than the other conferences I have gone to. I'm mystified as to why I still seem to get this urge to go to conferences. I guess I keep hoping that as I get older I'll kick this social anxiety problem and things will be different. The fantasies of what it will be like are just so good that I overlook the past realities. If the conference did one thing for me though, it did inspire me to write this and that is something good.

Peters Creek Hike at Portola State Park

Saturday I led a hike for GLS to Peter's Creek redwood grove at Portola State Park. The day started in typical bay area fashion with there being no parking at the park-n-ride lot. It was full at 9:00 a.m. I parked on the side of the road just outside the lot and after about 5 minutes someone left the lot and I ran like a bat outta hell to my car and managed to get that valuable parking place. By 9:15 the other hikers showed, just three of them. One had to leave their car along the side of the road. The other, my co-leader, volunteered to drive to Portola so we all tumbled into his car. It was four in all.

We wiggled our way up Page Mill road and down Alpine road and Portola road and got to the park at 10:00 a.m. We paid our state park fee and were off on our hike. The hike started on a paved road in the park that took us to the Summit trail. We hiked up the trail to, what else, the summit. Then we were off on Slate creek trail which runs along a wooded ridge to the Slate creek backpack camp. It was nice to have an outhouse for a bathroom break rather than finding that private spot behind a bush without poison oak! After a short break we hiked on Bear Creek trail three and a half miles when we stopped just short of Peter's Creek trail at a little water fall on Bear Creek with a great log for sitting and eating lunch.


After lunch we hiked the last little bit of Bear Creek trail to Peters Creek trail and then we did the lovely one and a half mile loop around the grove. It is an nearly pristine redwood grove since its so far from the beaten path. The only thing that makes it seem not quite pristine is the memorial signs for patrons who supported the park and of course the trail. There are no names for the trees like in other redwood groves that are more accessible. There are no fences to keep one from walking right up to the trees. Its a wonderful place to hike.



After our wonderful loop around the Peter's creek it was time to climb back up the big hill we descended to get there. I decided to hike up the hill at my fastest pace and planned to wait at the top for folks to catch up. But everyone followed me up the hill at the fast pace. I think we all wanted to get it over with quickly. I did stop once or twice on the way up to admire the views I missed on the way down.

We retraced our steps the rest of the hike. I plodded along for the rest of the hike trying to ignore my sore tired feet and enjoy the quiet of the redwood forest. We finished up our hike at 4 p.m. and were glad to sit in the car and take a load off our feet, me especially. My feet don't usually get this sore on a 13 mile hike but I think I just over did my training for the big Whitney hike the past couple of weeks and did not give my poor old feet a chance to recover. Thankfully the rest of the body served me well. I really can go up hill a blistering pace these days! Its fun to do long day hikes and have energy at the end of the day!

RIP John F. Wilkinson 1940-2010

A really good hiking buddy, John F. Wilkinson, died yesterday. Rest in peace John. You will be fondly remembered by me. I loved it that you kept asking me to be your co-leader on these long challenging hikes despite my slow pace. I felt like we were a good team with me doing the sweeping and you up front with the fast folks. Somehow it was never a problem that I was slow and you were fast. It made for a welcoming hike for all participants. I also loved the Lost Coast backpacks I did with you. I'll remember the long steep hikes up to the ridge tops and the rain soaked night on the beach. I'll miss your stories of hikes I wasn't on where you talked about all your backpack trips and the adventures that ensued.

From CLOGS

Kings Canyon and Book List

Just spent a weekend at Kings Canyon. I drove there after work on Friday and arrived at 8:30 p.m. to discover that there was a forest fire burning in the hills above the canyon. From the campground I looked up and saw an orange glow on the hill side in the distance and after watching for a while saw flames! If you are familiar with the trails in Kings Canyon, the fire was burning around the upper part of the Don Cecil trail. I had hoped to hike on the Don Cecil trail this weekend but obviously no can do!! The smoke from the fire ended up messing up my plans to do two tough hikes this weekend.

Saturday we ended up driving out of the Canyon to the General Grant grove to escape the smoke from the fire and to see the giant Sequoia trees. The trees were very impressive and beautiful but the short 1/2 mile trail was full of tourists from tour buses. It was not exactly a wilderness experience with the trails so crowded with people. We ate our packed lunch at the trees though and enjoyed ourselves. We mostly enjoyed being able to breath deeply and not breath in smoke. After the hike we headed back to the canyon and found a section of the King River that was far from the smoke and spent a couple hours napping, reading, and watching the rapids of the King River from a warm flat rock right next to the river. At 5 we headed back to the campground. It was still smoky. It was a slow burning fire and the smoke will probably last till next weekend according to Deb, the fire expert ranger. I finished off the day by having dinner at the snack bar in the air conditioned snack bar area. I had a BLT, potato chips, and a glass of orange juice. When I returned to the camp ground we sat around the camp fire talking. It seemed odd to be sitting around a camp fire with a big fire burning on the hill in the distance. I hit the hay at 9 p.m.

I got up at 6 a.m. this morning and decided to escape the smoky canyon and drive home. I couldn't see trying to hike in the smoky canyon area and I had seen enough of the stuff that was away from the smoke. So I drove the 4 hour and 45 minute drive home at 7 a.m. I got home just before noon and had marvelous afternoon snoozing and watching the PGA golf championship.

I'm off on vacation soon and this afternoon put together a nice pile of books to bring with me to read. Here is the list:

Killing Orders by Sara Paretsky
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
The Echo Maker by Richard Powers
The Bostonians by Henry James
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
Animythical Tales by Sarah Totton

I doubt I will get them all read in 10 days but I would rather have too many books than too few!!

Last Weekend's Hikes

Last weekend I went on two hikes: Pogonip in Santa Cruz and Pinnacles just east of Soledad.

The Pogonip hike was with Gay and Lesbian Sierrans. Only three of us showed up and all of us were hike leaders so we decided to make it an unofficial trip and do a route that was slightly more adventurous. At the start of the hike, the others told me that the Pogonip name stands for POlo, GOlf, and NIP as in have a nip of a drink. Pogonip used to be the home of a golf course, a polo course, and a clubhouse with a bar. We hiked past the old clubhouse which was abandoned but looked like it might be fixed up at a later date. After passing the club house we were surprised to see several people playing bike polo on an old tennis court. Alas we did not see anyone playing any kind of golf but we did see an overgrown field that was probably part of the old golf course. We continued our hike to the other end of Pogonip and left the park to wander back to our cars through the university of Santa Cruz. Its a beautiful campus and we managed to stay mostly away from the roadways but not away from the asphault. Still it was nice to see UCSC. We saw a swim meet going on and saw students with banana slug sweatshirts. The banana slug is UCSC's mascot. After the athletic fields we paused to check out the map on the GPS to figure out how to get back to Pogonip and the cars. We figured it out quick and made our way back to the cars in about 5 minutes. After the hike we had a nice lunch at a place called The River. I had a delicious turkey, bacon, avocado sandwich. It was a very pleasant mellow hike.

Sunday was Pinnacles. I went hiking with my hiking buddy, L. We left at 8 a.m. and made it to the western entrance by 10:30 a.m. We headed up the Juniper Canyon trail. There were many purplish magenta flowers that neither of us could identify. There was lots of very healthy looking poison oak too but all of it easy to avoid. The trail switched back and forth uphill to the high peaks. I was happy to be in good condition and not feel like I was gasping for breath as we climbed. At the high peaks we talked to the ranger there and a field biologist who studies condors. There had been a condor chick born at Pinnacles but they had to remove the chick from the nest last week as it had high levels of lead in its blood stream. The chick is now being raised in captivity at an LA zoo. We had a fascinating conversation with the field biologist (who L knew well) all about condors. Well at least L. did. I must confess to listening for a while and then wandering off to look at the old nest and enjoy the high peaks. After chatting with the field biologist and ranger we headed off to explore the high peaks and hike on the cool part of the trail where steps were blasted from the rock and poles have been installed on steep sections. Its an incredible feat of trail creation. We found a nice shady spot at high peaks and had our lunch there enjoying the view of the green hillsides from on high. After lunch we descended back to the Juniper Canyon trail on the tunnel trail. It had been ages since I had been that way and it was fun to see the tunnel again. We got back to the parking lot around 2 p.m. It was quite a glorious day at Pinnacles. The weather was cool for May which made the hiking super comfortable. We got back to San Jose around 4 p.m. and I was home and in a hot shower by 5 p.m.

Palo Alto Baylands

Palo Alto Baylands is sort of my home park. Its just a five minute drive from my condo. When my hiking buddy, L, cancelled on the Pinnacles hike we planned today, I decided to go on a solo hike at the Baylands. I had a blast.

When I started the hike rain arrived, but it didn't last that long. I got just a bit damp but not soaked. The sky views were incredible all day long as the clouds and blue sky and rain rolled in and out. Gnats were abundant at times and seemed to come in clouds. I saw the usual small airplanes landing and taking off from the Palo Alto airport and I saw some jets way up in the air on their way to and from the SF airport or the SJ airport. I saw the usual assortment of sea birds: ducks, geese, pelicans, coots, gulls, herons, egrets, and more whose names don't roll off my tongue. I saw one hare disappearing into the bushes but that was my only wild mammal sighting of the day. I did see quite a few dogs being walked and of course human beings enjoying the park as I was. I saw quite a few snails.

I made it to the nature center around 10 a.m. I always enjoy walking out the board walk and seeing the San Francisco bay, the Coyote Hills, and the Dumbarton bridge. On the way back I stopped by at the duck pond and took some pictures of the Bird Migration Sanctuary that I never really knew was there before. Discovering new stuff on a hike you have been on lots of times is fun. I then hiked back to the small dam and crossed it and headed back to the cars while watching some very dark clouds approach. About a mile away from the end of the hike the wind picked up and ripples covered the water and then the rain just came pouring down. I was poured on for about 5 to 10 minutes and it was wet wet wet and cold cold cold. Phew! But before I knew it, it was over and heading off across the bay to the east bay. I kept up a very fast pace to stay warm as I hadn't really worn the proper cloths to stay warm when wet. I was somewhat amazed though that before I ever got back to the car, the blue sky returned and the sun came out. Wow. What a fast fierce storm! I reached the car at 11:30 a.m. and headed home for a nice hot shower. It was a fun hike and it felt very adventurous to have been poured on so vigorously.

El Corte De Madera Hike

I went on a delightful hike at El Corte De Madera open space preserve today. We met at the Woodside park-n-ride lot and I managed to get the last available space. One person had to park on a side road nearby and the other person volunteered to do the driving so we were all set. We were surprised on our drive up 84 that there were not that many bikes. We reached Skegg's Point parking and there were still plenty of parking spaces there. We parked and headed off on our hike. One note: there is no bathroom (not even an outhouse) at Skegg's point. I had to make a visit to the woods a bit into our hike instead.

It was a very mellow hike with only three of us. I enjoyed that this park is not so popular so we didn't have to share it with lots of people. We mostly ran into mountain bikers but fortunately all the bikers were polite respectful bikers not the kind that go too fast and nearly run over hikers. Wild flowers are still wonderful and we saw lots of forget me nots and some others that none of us could identify but all of us enjoyed! This was a hike through the woods. We saw madrones and maybe second growth redwoods and oaks. I enjoyed that feeling of being surrounded by the woods. We didn't see any wildlife of significance. I'm sure wildlife was there but we just didn't see it.

I mooched a wonderful lunch at our lunch stop vista point. I forgot my lunch and was planning on just enjoying the conversation while others ate but both my companions offered me food. I got half of a delicious cheese sandwich, half of a banana, and a quarter of an apple. Pretty good mooching, eh? After lunch, we reached Skegg's point pretty quickly. We were done with the hike around noon. It was just 5 miles but it was a beautiful five miles.

Hiking at St Joseph Hill park in Los Gatos

As summer approaches and the days get longer, its time to hike in the evenings again! Tonight I'm hiking at St Joseph Hill with GLS. We are going to do a 4 mile round trip hike up the hill and back. I have been on this hike many times but its a great way to spend an evening just steps from Silicon Valley!

The hike was great. There was a nice blue sky and sun for most of the hike. We saw deer, a bob cat, a rabbit, California poppies, and Lupin among other things. We also saw lots of bikers and other hikers at this popular Los Gatos park but not so many towards sunset. Here is a picture of the bobcat

New Hiking Shoes!

I bought myself some new hiking shoes today. They are called Merrell Moab Ventilators. I feel like a little kid that just got a new toy. I can hardly wait for Saturday to come so I can try them out on a hike. They fit wonderfully and are light weight but have good foot support. I'll be hiking with L on Saturday at Nissene Marks near Santa Cruz. Then on Sunday I'll be on the GLS hike at Windy Hill. Woo Hoo. I love to hike and I love my new hiking shoes.

Getting in shape

So I'm slowly getting in better shape this year. I started going to Gold's Gym about four or five weeks ago on week days after work and climbing on the aerobic machines for about 45 minutes. I do different machines although lately I mostly go on the Precor elliptical machine. It has a nice smooth feel and doesn't stress my achilles tendons. I do like the ordinary treadmill but it does tend to stress my achilles tendons. The stationary bike is my least favorite but it does the best job on not stressing the tendons. I'm still recovering from a bout of achilles tendonitis which is why all this going on about stressing my tendons!

On weekends I prefer to go hiking to get in shape. I have been hiking at Windy Hill, Henry Cowell, Henry Coe, Shoreline Park, and Castle Rock over the last several weekends. This past weekend the hike I had hoped to go on was cancelled due to the rain. So I put on my raincoat and went to Shoreline park and hiked for nearly 2 hours on the paved bike paths. Only a few people were out there braving the cold and rain. I had a good time although walking on pavement was not a good idea for my achilles tendons. They were sore when I got home so I iced them and rested. They feel fine today.

I have lost four pounds since January 1, 2009. I weigh 180 pounds today. I have been recording my weight at fitday.com. According to them I am now only overweight and no longer obese. Hurray. I need to get down to 150 to get out of the overweight category. The exercise is really helping with the weight lose but if I want to lose weight faster I'll need to change my eating habits. I'm giving myself some slack for now on the eating. I don't want to suddenly restrict myself. I want to gradually work into eating more healthy foods and less calories.

Just checking in

Just checking in to my own blog. I'm here. I'm tired. I am looking forward to a nice nap after work.

So tired ...

Breaking up is hard to do and its also exhausting. With so many things on my mind about the break up and C. moving out I have been having trouble sleeping at night and seem to be perpetually tired. Perhaps when C. finally is moved out I will just spend a week going to bed at 8 p.m. and getting oodles of hours of sleep. I feel as if I have this huge sleep deficit to make up. Do you think congress could bail me out and give me some hours of sleep??

All of life seems a little bit on edge these days. C. and I are of course on edge with each other and the break up. Then there is the U.S. financial crisis. That is certainly on the edge. And the presidential election is putting people on edge. A day rarely goes by at work when someone doesn't speak up passionately about some aspect of the presidential race. And the prop 8 stuff has the gay community on edge. I find myself just wanting to bury my head in the sand.

Changes

So ...my life is full of changes at the moment.

I am dissolving my domestic partnership with my significant other. Essentially we are a same sex couple getting a divorce. She will be moving out in a couple of months. Its tough. I won't say much more in this public forum about this other than its a very significant change in my life and worth a mention in my blog.

Another change in my life is that I am beginning to fall into new identity of asexual lesbian. I know to some that seems a contradiction in terms but I have found a small group of like minded folks in an on-line community who understand and identify with the term. I love woman. I love to be around women. I want a serious relationship with a woman. I just don't want to have sex be part of my relationship. I have been posting and reading at the AVEN (Asexual Visibility and Education Network) site lately too. Its a new adventure of sorts. Although I must admit this having to face "coming out" again is a bit tedious. I seem to be more reluctant to come out as asexual than I was to come out as lesbian. Something to explore further.

Something that has not changed ... I'm still struggling with toe fungus, Achilles Tendinitis, and being out of shape, and generally not feeling well physically. It is a bit frustrating as I sorta know what I need to do but I just don't seem to be able to get motivated to do it. I think I just need to take things slow and worry more about not letting things get worse before I worry about making them better.

Body needs repair ...

Long time no blog but after checking out my nephew's Lego Blog I am inspired to write something in my own blog.

My body needs the following repairs:

• reduce cholesterol level in blood
• fix Achilles tendons
  
• get rid of toe nail fungus
• better eye glasses to improve vision
• probably a tooth or two needs filling
  

Last week I went to the foot doctor. He did a ultrasound of my achilles tendons and said that they look structurally OK. Or in other words, no damage from the tendinitis yet. He has told me to not hike this month or walk to work in order to rest the tendon and let it heal. Bike riding is OK as long as I don't stand up on the pedals and stress the tendon. He also has me wearing heal lifts in my shoes. He took samples of the toe nail fungus also and sent it to the lab to find out what kind of fungus it is. He will get the results back towards the end of this month and then he'll let me know what can be done for the fungus.

This week I visited the ophthalmologist and got the happy news that my eye pressure is fine and that my retina is still very much solidly attached (was detached in 1988 and fixed with emergency cryo eye surgery). I do need new glasses as my current pair is not quite the right correction. I ordered them and they will arrive in a week or so.

Soon I'll visit my general doctor about the cholesterol. I have started to cut out fatty foods and high cholesterol foods and have been eating food shown to help reduce cholesterol like flax and oat bran flakes. I did fall off the wagon so to speak this past weekend and had a wonderful juicy fatty hamburger with guacamole at Clark's burgers.

I will see my dentist in late July when she opens her new office. She is taking a break from all but emergency dental treatment until then. My teeth are not hurting but based on my abysmal dental hygiene for the past few months I suspect I have a tooth or two that need filling and some gums that are probably in bad shape. Got to get back to regular brushing and flossing and swishing the fluoride rinse.

I simply have not been caring for myself properly the past several years. I hope I can find the motivation to fix my body and keep it better maintained in the years to come.

Amusing Screen Saver

Watch Hilary bounce around:

http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/hillary.htm