The new season has kicked off, but I won't be joining this year for obvious reasons. I am, however, remaining active with the team. So I went to Kennesaw on Saturday for the first hike of a season. We time everyone as they climb to the top of Kennesaw mountain (1.2 miles, ~650' elevation gain). I offered to lead the fast group to the top. Stupid me.
Two guys, one part of HFD, another who was considering joining, and a mother/son team kicked my ass hiking up the mountain. Just under 20 minutes to get to the top! I was huffing and puffing and having an asthma attack just trying to keep up with them. And my legs, damn were they burning! So much for leading the charge up the mountain! Previously my quickest time to the top was ~25 minutes, so this was quite a bit faster than I have ever attempted this previously and it really showed me that I need to work on my aerobic conditioning more.
In order to get in more cardio and work on my aerobic conditioning, I have joined Operation Bootcamp. Starting March 3 I'll be doing bootcamp workouts for the month of March at 6 AM daily. I must be a masochist to put myself through this. My only hope is the beer-hating Rabbi will be joining me in my month of pain prior to the baby arriving...
Showing posts with label Hike for Discovery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hike for Discovery. Show all posts
Monday, February 18, 2008
Monday, October 08, 2007
Kaua'i Hike for Discovery Trip Report
Kaua'i Day 1
This was our first full day on Kaua'i. The phrase of the day was jet lag. Yuck. The animal of the day (week?) is the chicken. Wild chickens are everywhere on Kaua'i, ensuring that you can never go hungry if you are smart enough or fast enough to catch one of these birds.
Kayaking the Wailua River
We woke up early to drive to Kapa'a on the eastern shore of Kaua'i for a kayak tour up the Wailua River to Secret Falls. We met up with our guides at Wailua Kayak Adventures. Unfortunately, they give some seriously craptacular directions. Even though I asked numerous times for an address I was repeatedly told I couldn't have one. Instead, I got "We're at the north end of Kapa'a town behind Movie Tours." Well that's great and all, but I have no idea where that is either. So of course we got a bit lost on the way yesterday morning. I called them and told the owner where we were and got new directions. "We're just before the last building on the north side of Kapa'a." That's great and all, but I don't know if I am at the last building until I pass the building... argh. We did eventually find it, however.
We headed out to the river with our kayaks and guide, Cole. There were a few other couples on the trip for a total of 8. I was actually quite lucky not to have to share a kayak with another single guy on the trip, I had my own solo kayak, which was quite a lot of fun.
Carrie & Jerry
Kayaking the Wailua RiverWe hopped in the kayaks headed out up river toward the falls. Paddling upstream is pretty easy, the trade winds are at your back pushing you upstream making the upstream trip pretty low effort. I did have a bit of trouble getting used to the kayak and getting it to travel straight upstream. I guess I was padling harder on the right, my dominant side, than my left, ensuring the kayak tended to turn left as I paddled upstream.
After an hour of so of easy paddling we reached the landing point where we began our hike. We waded across a muddy part of the river and followed a trail for a mile along the river to the falls. The trail itself is an old aqueduct built to flood the taro fields that once occupied this part of the island. Along the way you could make out old stone walls and parts of an old community that has long since been abandoned and overgrown with trees bearing tropical fruit which littered the ground around us. Cole was full of information about the local area, plants and animals which made the hike enjoyable, even in soaking wet Keens! In about a mile we reached the (not so) Secret Falls where we stopped for a little bit to eat, pictures and swimming in the pool at the base of Secret Falls before hiking back to the kayaks.
Nice cock!On the return trip down river, the wind and currents were not in our favor, making the downstream paddle much more difficult. Not to mention Jerry's antics trying to ram my kayak with his... After an hour or so of paddling we reached the marina and ended our trip. This part of the trip was exhausting, but fun anyway. I thought I might have a little soreness the next morning since I'm not used to using these muscles and I haven't been to the gym in a few weeks due to travel for work. Thankfully it wasn't too bad, just a a bit tight in the shoulders.
(Not So) Secret Falls
We then headed to the center of Kapa'a for lunch at Mermaid's Cafe. Mermaids Cafe is nothing more than a tiny little lunch window where we picked up some nice fresh food. I had a burrito in a spinach wrap with brown rice, seared ahi tuna and cilantro pesto. Along with a few local beers, it was a good meal. Yummmmmmmmy!
Back to the hotel for for a few drinks and a pretty early night...
Kaua'i Day 2
Jerry overlooking the
Pacific Ocean
Awa'awapuhi Trail
This was supposed to be the day to sleep in. I slept in until a very late 5 AM. Woot. Jet lag. The next three hours of so were spent catching up on email, making calls and a quick trip to the beach for views of the sunrise. Unfortunately, the cloud cover ruined that plan for me. Oh well...
Jerry and Carrie managed to get their slack asses out of bed at 8 AM, so we didn't even head out toward the trail until around 10 AM. We drove across the southern end of Kaua'i toward the Waimea Canyon before driving up Waimea Canyon Road to the head of the Awa'awapuhi Trail in Kokee State Park for a hike toward the coast.
Carrie & Jerry
Awa'awapuhi TrailThe trail itself descends 1600' from the trail head to the lookout point at the end of the trail over 3.25 miles, for a 6.5 mile round trip hike. At the lookout you are about 3000' above sea level, with cliffs quickly descending down into the valleys below and to the Pacific Ocean. The trail itself was very nice with spectacular views of the cliffs along the coast, beautiful foliage, including lantana, guava and java plum trees. We stopped and picked some guava on the way down for a nice fresh fruit treat before stopping for lunch at the end of the trail. I've never been on top of cliffs like these before. From the cliffs you can see the ocean and sea birds. But instead of looking up to see the birds, you had to look down and view them from above! Of course, there were chickens there on the cliffs which tried to share our lunch with us. The locals tell us the only place you don't find any of the chickens is in the KFC parking lot. ;-) There were also plenty of the state bird of Hawaii: helicopters. (Yes, every guide we met all week shared the same joke. So I have to share it with you, dear readers.) They buzzed up and down the coast and into the valleys in a constant stream disturbing what should have been a pleasant, quiet hike.
The end of the trail...
Awa'awapuhi Trail
Heading back up to the car, I bonked (i.e. ran out of energy) and struggled back up the 3+ miles to the car. A combination of jet lag and eating poorly over the previous days had finally caught up to me. Slowly but surely we ascended to the trailhead, just in time for a strong downpour. The cool rain sure did feel good after a warm, sunny hike!
After we hopped back in the car to drive back to Poipu beach, where we were staying, we caught sight of a rainbow over the canyon. This is now becoming a regular occurrence, we saw rainbows both days of the trip and more would come in the next few days. Tired and hungry we headed to Puka Dog in Poipu. Puka Dog is a local Hawaian-style hot dog stand. The menu is limited to dogs, chips and lemonade, but the food was great.
The end of the trail...
Awa'awapuhi TrailBasically, you choose a hot dog, Polish or vegetarian, how hot you want the lemon & garlic sauce, mild, hot or volcano, and one of their island-style relishes such as mango, papaya and star-fruit. The grilled dog and sauces are stuffed into a large, fresh bun which has had a hole poked into the center to accomodate everything. To borrow a phrase from Rachel Ray, "yummo!". (Wow, I can't believe I just wrote that... or even *thought* to right that.) I have never seen three people shove hot dogs in their mouths so damn quickly... we knew we were hooked from the first bite. For the record, I had the Polish dog, volcano lemon & garlic sauce and mango relish. Hell yeah, that's some good shizzle... We then headed back to the hotel for some early evening drinks with some of our teammates and LLS staff before another early night to bed.
Kaua'i Day 3
Coming in for
a landing
Another bright and early morning, I'm up by 5:30 to meet Carrie and Mike for a drive to the north end of the island. We're going zip-lining in Princeville, about 90 minutes from our hotel. We meet our guides at Princeville Ranch Adventures, get suited up in a climbing harness and a stupid looking helmet before hopping in the Pinzgauer for a quick drive up the road to the zip line course. Over the course of 4+ hours we traversed 8 zip lines and a suspension bridge. The longest of the lines is well over 600' in length and 150'+ above the river valleys below. Even though it rained off and on through the day, it was a great time! Of course, there are some interesting tales to tell.
First, all participants must be under 280 lbs. There were two large women in our group who were probably pushing that limit. No big deal, right? WRONG. The tour states all participants should be in good physical condition. These ladies were anything but in good physical condition. If you are unable to walk up an uneven flight of stairs or stand up from a nearly seated position when landing, you probably shouldn't be on the tour.
Carrie taking off...
One of the ladies was particularly inept at the zip line. A mistake we all made the first time around was to jump before reaching the end of the platform and before the line caught and supported your weight. If not timed correctly, the line would dip enough that you could land on your ass on the platform before zipping down the line. I did this, once, but I didn't slam my ass on the platform. On the second line we were warned again. "Walk down the steps and on to the dirt at the bottom of the platform..." The goal is to walk down until the line catches you and supports your weight, suddenly you won't be able to touch the ground and you'll take off down the line. On this line we were warned the consequences of failing to walk down far enough were meeting "The Violator", a root sticking out of the ground which would violate your nether regions if you hit bottom...
What do you know, our large friend jumped from the step above the ground and landed ass first on the violator and the ground, covering her ample bootie in red Kauaian dirt. This pattern would continue, again and again, for all 8 lines. Her ass must have been in some serious pain from all of the abuse it took from the various platforms and stairs that she should have walked down, but bounced her ass down instead. Ouch.
Her landings weren't much better, either.
(Don't take this the wrong way, I know people are in various levels of physical condition and ability and some of these conditions are beyond their control. But you know your limits. If the event you are taking part in requires some basic level of physical fitness and this is outlined in the promotional materials, perhaps you should think twice before taking part next time...)
After a quick stop at Hilo Hattie's for some shopping and another stop at Puka Dog (Yay! Polish w/ volcano and papaya relish) we head back to Poipu for the HFD inspiration dinner. Due to weather, the dinner is moved inside to a ballroom. Good thing too! The rain was coming down in buckets as one of the speakers desciber her own fight with blood cancer years earlier before describig her brother's more recent fight against solitary melanoma which was found as it weakened his spine, crushing it and making him paraplegic. Her message was to spend the next day placing "one foot in front of another" and thinking about her brother who can no longer do that due to melanoma. I cried like a baby during her speech, it was extremely moving to me and the entire crowd of HFD participants. The next day, when the going got tough, I found myself reminding myself to put one foot in front of the other and repeat, while thinking how lucky I am to be able to do so while so many cannot.
Back to the room I packed my hike bag for the next day's adventure and went to bed with a 4:45 AM wake-up call.
Kaua'i Day 4
Kukui Trail
04:00 — Wake-up time! That must be Steph calling... hey, wait, its Delta Airlines?! I got an upgrade on a flight next week. Yay. Hey Delta, you flew my ass out here, shouldn't you know roughly what time zone I am in since you're flying me home, too? Bad Delta, no cookie. I tell Mike and we both fall asleep again.
04:13 — Wake-up time! Damnit, another upgrade call from Delta.
04:45 — Wake-up call/alarm/etc. Finally the right time to get up. 04:45. As Adrian Kronauer said, "What's the O stand for? Oh my God its early!" After a quick clean-up, I throw on my hike clothes, check the pack one last time to make sure I have all the water and food I'll need for the day along with two cameras (man, I'm a geek). I head down to the lobby to meet our guide, Bobby, and the hikers from the SF Bay Area and Silicon Valley for the drive up to the trailhead.
Waimea Canyon
Kukui Trail We're hiking the Kukui Trail down from the canyon rim to WiliWili camp (2.5 miles, 2300' elevation change one way) before following the Waimea River northward on the west bank, crossing the river and folloiwng the east bank up Poomau Stream, one of two tributaries (the other is Waiahulu) which merge to form the Waimea River. The goal for the day is Lonomea camp on Poomau Stream.
We hit the trail just before 7 AM, following a red dirt path as it quickly descends through various levels of vegetation, including some larger trees like silk oak and silver oak, along with smaller brush, like lantana. We find some wild java plums on the trail and try a few. They are very tart and slightly astringent, but refreshing since they don't taste like water or any of the other items in my pack. The vegetation on the trail thins, providing less cover as we descend.
Kukui Trail
The trail is rough, much less maintained that the trails I have hiked in Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and around Georgia. Its clear that people try to maintain the trail, but the constant rain and erosion makes it difficult to be effective and forces rerouting of the trail. In parts, the trail is strewn with scree (loose rock) which slows down our progress as we carefully step through, trying not to twst an ankle. I slip a few times here, planting a hand in the red dirt while trying to tay upright and not take out my team like stacked dominoes. Slowly we make our way down the ridge line and switchbacks carved into the walls of the ridges until we come to a large wash where the effects of wind and rain are most obvious. A steeply descending part of the trail across red dirt with many large veins carved out by the water flowing downhill strewn with rocks large and small, and loose, large grained sand continues for perhaps .5 miles until we reach a large stand of trees and vegetation further down in the canyon.
We enter the tree cover and continue descending toward Wiliwili Camp surrounded by various oak trees and fruit trees bearing guava and passionfruit, which our guide picks and saves for later. We also begin to identify a number of sisal plants which look like oversized agave plants that came straight of out of Jurassic Park.
Waimea River
Kukui Trail(JP was filmed on the island of Kaua'i, so its no doubt that there are some similarities.) Eventually we reached Wiliwili Camp. Users of this camp site have left it in deplorable condition with trash strewn everywhere. Beer cans, water bottles, food cans, random pieces of clothing, etc. were all over the camp site. It really pisses me off to see people abuse their environment like that and take away its natural beauty which others can no longer see. They need to learn the principles of Leave No Trace. We clear out of Wiliwili camp quickly and start heading up river where we meet our first challenge of the day: crossing the Waimea River.
I knew this was coming and wasn't particularly concerned, though it was the first time I had to cross an unknown stream. Our guide, Bobby, had done the crossing earlier in the week and reported the water to be waist deep, it was a bit higher on me since I'm quite a bit shorter than him! I threw my small camera and some other gear in the little dry bag I carry, place my large camera toward the top of the pack, kicked off my shoes and socks and tied them securely to my pack before stepping into the water. Bobby had already helped one of the smaller women on our team (she couldn't be more than 5' tall and 90# soaking wet) across.
Waimea River
Kukui TrailI decided to ford the stream alone, using my trekking poles for support and to help me find footing on the river bottom. Three steps into the river and I trip on a rock, nearly falling into the river unceremoniously. I say nearly becuase my poles saved me from doing more than just dunking the bottom few inches of my pack into the water, everything important remained dry. *whew* Once on the other side I got a chance to take some pictures of the river and some of the people crossing after me, cheering them on. After getting back into my dry boots — but still in wet clothing — it was time to continue up river through the canyon forest toward Lonomea camp. We traveled a mile or so upriver before stopping at the Hipalau camp for lunch. Due to time we were forced to turn around here instead of continuing another mile or so upstream to the Lonomea camp which was the original goal for the day. Here we sat down, ate lunch and a few pieces of guava and passionfruit that we had collected along the trail during the inbound hike. There is nothing better than freshly picked fruit collected trail-side!
Back upstream, we do everything in reverse. The river has started moving a bit more swiftly at this point, making he river crossing a little more difficult, but we all manage to cross without incident. As we pass Wiliwili camp the trail begins the ascent to the top of the canyon. While normally I'd rather hike under tree cover because its cooler, in this case the hiking was hot and steamy. The on and off rains along with our soaking wet clothing made this section of the hike very, very steamy.
Mike & Bobby
Kukui TrailI felt like I was hiking uphill in a large sauna, not the most pleasurable of circumstances. When we finally broke out into the sun I was a happy man. Finally my clothes could have a chance to dry off and there was a nice canyon breeze to keep us cool. Now we had to look for shade where we could find it along the trail, but the trade-off was well worth it! Slow and steady, one foot in front of the other we asended the walls of the canyon. Bands of rain showers came through the canyon, providing us with a cooling mist and brief respites from the hot tropical sun. As we ascend, I noticied significant changes in the look of the canyon in the early afternoon sun. In the moning, the light was strongly filtered through a low haze. Now, the light was strong and direct, bringing out the beauty of the canyon walls and making the colors, reds, greens, blue skies and more muted tones in the rock walls begin to pop visually. In just a few hours the entire canyon looks like a different place, just because of the position of the sun. Wild...
Further up the canyon, standing on a ridge line we get a good blast of rain and wind that feels wonderful, nice and cooling. Turn and look back into the canyon and we see a rainbow stretched out below us, running north to south in the lower parts of the canyon. By far, this was the best view of the day! We've been seeing rainbows daily, more often than not 3 or 4 a day, but this was one of the strongest I have seen all week long. One last big push forward and we work our way past the "Speedo and Crocs" crowd hiking down into the canyon (yes, seriously. Bannanna hammocks and Crocs are not really appropriate for hiking...) We all pop out of the canyon around 3:30 PM for a snack of fresh Hawaiian pineapple and some sports drinks, before heading to the car and back down to the coast. Round trip, we did ~9 miles &mdashl I'm still looking for better information on the length of the hike.
Me and a Hau Bush
Kukui Trail
On the return trip to the hotel we drop in on Jo-Jo's Shave Ice for a cold, sweet treat. Think sno-cones with pan-Pacific flavors. I had a shave ice with lychee and mango syrups and azuki beans (the base of red bean icecream). I figured I'd get a little protein with my sugar water. ;-) We get back to the hotel where I take a quick shower to get rid of the red dirt covering me from head to toe and then head down to the beach for a quick dip in the ocean. I've been in Hawaii since Tuesday, its now Staurday and I am just now making it to the beach. There is something seriously wrong with that!
Another quick shower to get rid of the sand I have collected and then we're off to the Mission Celebration dinner. Some numbers for you:
These are amazing numbers which make a difference in the life of patients dealing with blood cancers evey day.
Waimea River
Hipalau Camp
On a sadder note, this will be my final season with Hike for Discovery for a while. With our first child arriving in March, I'm not going to be able to participate again next year. I'll certainly be around and helping out on occassional hikes with the team, but I won't be able to dedicate the amount of time I have in the past 18 months to the HFD program and LLS. Once Steph and I get into a rhythm with the baby I'll be back.
For those who continue with HFD in the future: HIKE ON!
Heading back up...
Kukui Trail
Kukui Trail
Waimea Canyon rainbow
Kukui Trail
This was our first full day on Kaua'i. The phrase of the day was jet lag. Yuck. The animal of the day (week?) is the chicken. Wild chickens are everywhere on Kaua'i, ensuring that you can never go hungry if you are smart enough or fast enough to catch one of these birds.
Kayaking the Wailua River
We woke up early to drive to Kapa'a on the eastern shore of Kaua'i for a kayak tour up the Wailua River to Secret Falls. We met up with our guides at Wailua Kayak Adventures. Unfortunately, they give some seriously craptacular directions. Even though I asked numerous times for an address I was repeatedly told I couldn't have one. Instead, I got "We're at the north end of Kapa'a town behind Movie Tours." Well that's great and all, but I have no idea where that is either. So of course we got a bit lost on the way yesterday morning. I called them and told the owner where we were and got new directions. "We're just before the last building on the north side of Kapa'a." That's great and all, but I don't know if I am at the last building until I pass the building... argh. We did eventually find it, however.
We headed out to the river with our kayaks and guide, Cole. There were a few other couples on the trip for a total of 8. I was actually quite lucky not to have to share a kayak with another single guy on the trip, I had my own solo kayak, which was quite a lot of fun.
Carrie & Jerry
Kayaking the Wailua RiverWe hopped in the kayaks headed out up river toward the falls. Paddling upstream is pretty easy, the trade winds are at your back pushing you upstream making the upstream trip pretty low effort. I did have a bit of trouble getting used to the kayak and getting it to travel straight upstream. I guess I was padling harder on the right, my dominant side, than my left, ensuring the kayak tended to turn left as I paddled upstream.
After an hour of so of easy paddling we reached the landing point where we began our hike. We waded across a muddy part of the river and followed a trail for a mile along the river to the falls. The trail itself is an old aqueduct built to flood the taro fields that once occupied this part of the island. Along the way you could make out old stone walls and parts of an old community that has long since been abandoned and overgrown with trees bearing tropical fruit which littered the ground around us. Cole was full of information about the local area, plants and animals which made the hike enjoyable, even in soaking wet Keens! In about a mile we reached the (not so) Secret Falls where we stopped for a little bit to eat, pictures and swimming in the pool at the base of Secret Falls before hiking back to the kayaks.
Nice cock!On the return trip down river, the wind and currents were not in our favor, making the downstream paddle much more difficult. Not to mention Jerry's antics trying to ram my kayak with his... After an hour or so of paddling we reached the marina and ended our trip. This part of the trip was exhausting, but fun anyway. I thought I might have a little soreness the next morning since I'm not used to using these muscles and I haven't been to the gym in a few weeks due to travel for work. Thankfully it wasn't too bad, just a a bit tight in the shoulders.
(Not So) Secret Falls
We then headed to the center of Kapa'a for lunch at Mermaid's Cafe. Mermaids Cafe is nothing more than a tiny little lunch window where we picked up some nice fresh food. I had a burrito in a spinach wrap with brown rice, seared ahi tuna and cilantro pesto. Along with a few local beers, it was a good meal. Yummmmmmmmy!
Back to the hotel for for a few drinks and a pretty early night...
Kaua'i Day 2
Jerry overlooking the
Pacific Ocean
Awa'awapuhi Trail
This was supposed to be the day to sleep in. I slept in until a very late 5 AM. Woot. Jet lag. The next three hours of so were spent catching up on email, making calls and a quick trip to the beach for views of the sunrise. Unfortunately, the cloud cover ruined that plan for me. Oh well...
Jerry and Carrie managed to get their slack asses out of bed at 8 AM, so we didn't even head out toward the trail until around 10 AM. We drove across the southern end of Kaua'i toward the Waimea Canyon before driving up Waimea Canyon Road to the head of the Awa'awapuhi Trail in Kokee State Park for a hike toward the coast.
Carrie & Jerry
Awa'awapuhi TrailThe trail itself descends 1600' from the trail head to the lookout point at the end of the trail over 3.25 miles, for a 6.5 mile round trip hike. At the lookout you are about 3000' above sea level, with cliffs quickly descending down into the valleys below and to the Pacific Ocean. The trail itself was very nice with spectacular views of the cliffs along the coast, beautiful foliage, including lantana, guava and java plum trees. We stopped and picked some guava on the way down for a nice fresh fruit treat before stopping for lunch at the end of the trail. I've never been on top of cliffs like these before. From the cliffs you can see the ocean and sea birds. But instead of looking up to see the birds, you had to look down and view them from above! Of course, there were chickens there on the cliffs which tried to share our lunch with us. The locals tell us the only place you don't find any of the chickens is in the KFC parking lot. ;-) There were also plenty of the state bird of Hawaii: helicopters. (Yes, every guide we met all week shared the same joke. So I have to share it with you, dear readers.) They buzzed up and down the coast and into the valleys in a constant stream disturbing what should have been a pleasant, quiet hike.
The end of the trail...
Awa'awapuhi Trail
Heading back up to the car, I bonked (i.e. ran out of energy) and struggled back up the 3+ miles to the car. A combination of jet lag and eating poorly over the previous days had finally caught up to me. Slowly but surely we ascended to the trailhead, just in time for a strong downpour. The cool rain sure did feel good after a warm, sunny hike!
After we hopped back in the car to drive back to Poipu beach, where we were staying, we caught sight of a rainbow over the canyon. This is now becoming a regular occurrence, we saw rainbows both days of the trip and more would come in the next few days. Tired and hungry we headed to Puka Dog in Poipu. Puka Dog is a local Hawaian-style hot dog stand. The menu is limited to dogs, chips and lemonade, but the food was great.
The end of the trail...
Awa'awapuhi TrailBasically, you choose a hot dog, Polish or vegetarian, how hot you want the lemon & garlic sauce, mild, hot or volcano, and one of their island-style relishes such as mango, papaya and star-fruit. The grilled dog and sauces are stuffed into a large, fresh bun which has had a hole poked into the center to accomodate everything. To borrow a phrase from Rachel Ray, "yummo!". (Wow, I can't believe I just wrote that... or even *thought* to right that.) I have never seen three people shove hot dogs in their mouths so damn quickly... we knew we were hooked from the first bite. For the record, I had the Polish dog, volcano lemon & garlic sauce and mango relish. Hell yeah, that's some good shizzle... We then headed back to the hotel for some early evening drinks with some of our teammates and LLS staff before another early night to bed.
Kaua'i Day 3
Coming in for
a landing
Another bright and early morning, I'm up by 5:30 to meet Carrie and Mike for a drive to the north end of the island. We're going zip-lining in Princeville, about 90 minutes from our hotel. We meet our guides at Princeville Ranch Adventures, get suited up in a climbing harness and a stupid looking helmet before hopping in the Pinzgauer for a quick drive up the road to the zip line course. Over the course of 4+ hours we traversed 8 zip lines and a suspension bridge. The longest of the lines is well over 600' in length and 150'+ above the river valleys below. Even though it rained off and on through the day, it was a great time! Of course, there are some interesting tales to tell.
First, all participants must be under 280 lbs. There were two large women in our group who were probably pushing that limit. No big deal, right? WRONG. The tour states all participants should be in good physical condition. These ladies were anything but in good physical condition. If you are unable to walk up an uneven flight of stairs or stand up from a nearly seated position when landing, you probably shouldn't be on the tour.
Carrie taking off...
One of the ladies was particularly inept at the zip line. A mistake we all made the first time around was to jump before reaching the end of the platform and before the line caught and supported your weight. If not timed correctly, the line would dip enough that you could land on your ass on the platform before zipping down the line. I did this, once, but I didn't slam my ass on the platform. On the second line we were warned again. "Walk down the steps and on to the dirt at the bottom of the platform..." The goal is to walk down until the line catches you and supports your weight, suddenly you won't be able to touch the ground and you'll take off down the line. On this line we were warned the consequences of failing to walk down far enough were meeting "The Violator", a root sticking out of the ground which would violate your nether regions if you hit bottom...
What do you know, our large friend jumped from the step above the ground and landed ass first on the violator and the ground, covering her ample bootie in red Kauaian dirt. This pattern would continue, again and again, for all 8 lines. Her ass must have been in some serious pain from all of the abuse it took from the various platforms and stairs that she should have walked down, but bounced her ass down instead. Ouch.
Her landings weren't much better, either.
(Don't take this the wrong way, I know people are in various levels of physical condition and ability and some of these conditions are beyond their control. But you know your limits. If the event you are taking part in requires some basic level of physical fitness and this is outlined in the promotional materials, perhaps you should think twice before taking part next time...)
After a quick stop at Hilo Hattie's for some shopping and another stop at Puka Dog (Yay! Polish w/ volcano and papaya relish) we head back to Poipu for the HFD inspiration dinner. Due to weather, the dinner is moved inside to a ballroom. Good thing too! The rain was coming down in buckets as one of the speakers desciber her own fight with blood cancer years earlier before describig her brother's more recent fight against solitary melanoma which was found as it weakened his spine, crushing it and making him paraplegic. Her message was to spend the next day placing "one foot in front of another" and thinking about her brother who can no longer do that due to melanoma. I cried like a baby during her speech, it was extremely moving to me and the entire crowd of HFD participants. The next day, when the going got tough, I found myself reminding myself to put one foot in front of the other and repeat, while thinking how lucky I am to be able to do so while so many cannot.
Back to the room I packed my hike bag for the next day's adventure and went to bed with a 4:45 AM wake-up call.
Kaua'i Day 4
Kukui Trail
04:00 — Wake-up time! That must be Steph calling... hey, wait, its Delta Airlines?! I got an upgrade on a flight next week. Yay. Hey Delta, you flew my ass out here, shouldn't you know roughly what time zone I am in since you're flying me home, too? Bad Delta, no cookie. I tell Mike and we both fall asleep again.
04:13 — Wake-up time! Damnit, another upgrade call from Delta.
04:45 — Wake-up call/alarm/etc. Finally the right time to get up. 04:45. As Adrian Kronauer said, "What's the O stand for? Oh my God its early!" After a quick clean-up, I throw on my hike clothes, check the pack one last time to make sure I have all the water and food I'll need for the day along with two cameras (man, I'm a geek). I head down to the lobby to meet our guide, Bobby, and the hikers from the SF Bay Area and Silicon Valley for the drive up to the trailhead.
Waimea Canyon
Kukui Trail We're hiking the Kukui Trail down from the canyon rim to WiliWili camp (2.5 miles, 2300' elevation change one way) before following the Waimea River northward on the west bank, crossing the river and folloiwng the east bank up Poomau Stream, one of two tributaries (the other is Waiahulu) which merge to form the Waimea River. The goal for the day is Lonomea camp on Poomau Stream.
We hit the trail just before 7 AM, following a red dirt path as it quickly descends through various levels of vegetation, including some larger trees like silk oak and silver oak, along with smaller brush, like lantana. We find some wild java plums on the trail and try a few. They are very tart and slightly astringent, but refreshing since they don't taste like water or any of the other items in my pack. The vegetation on the trail thins, providing less cover as we descend.
Kukui Trail
The trail is rough, much less maintained that the trails I have hiked in Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and around Georgia. Its clear that people try to maintain the trail, but the constant rain and erosion makes it difficult to be effective and forces rerouting of the trail. In parts, the trail is strewn with scree (loose rock) which slows down our progress as we carefully step through, trying not to twst an ankle. I slip a few times here, planting a hand in the red dirt while trying to tay upright and not take out my team like stacked dominoes. Slowly we make our way down the ridge line and switchbacks carved into the walls of the ridges until we come to a large wash where the effects of wind and rain are most obvious. A steeply descending part of the trail across red dirt with many large veins carved out by the water flowing downhill strewn with rocks large and small, and loose, large grained sand continues for perhaps .5 miles until we reach a large stand of trees and vegetation further down in the canyon.
We enter the tree cover and continue descending toward Wiliwili Camp surrounded by various oak trees and fruit trees bearing guava and passionfruit, which our guide picks and saves for later. We also begin to identify a number of sisal plants which look like oversized agave plants that came straight of out of Jurassic Park.
Waimea River
Kukui Trail(JP was filmed on the island of Kaua'i, so its no doubt that there are some similarities.) Eventually we reached Wiliwili Camp. Users of this camp site have left it in deplorable condition with trash strewn everywhere. Beer cans, water bottles, food cans, random pieces of clothing, etc. were all over the camp site. It really pisses me off to see people abuse their environment like that and take away its natural beauty which others can no longer see. They need to learn the principles of Leave No Trace. We clear out of Wiliwili camp quickly and start heading up river where we meet our first challenge of the day: crossing the Waimea River.
I knew this was coming and wasn't particularly concerned, though it was the first time I had to cross an unknown stream. Our guide, Bobby, had done the crossing earlier in the week and reported the water to be waist deep, it was a bit higher on me since I'm quite a bit shorter than him! I threw my small camera and some other gear in the little dry bag I carry, place my large camera toward the top of the pack, kicked off my shoes and socks and tied them securely to my pack before stepping into the water. Bobby had already helped one of the smaller women on our team (she couldn't be more than 5' tall and 90# soaking wet) across.
Waimea River
Kukui TrailI decided to ford the stream alone, using my trekking poles for support and to help me find footing on the river bottom. Three steps into the river and I trip on a rock, nearly falling into the river unceremoniously. I say nearly becuase my poles saved me from doing more than just dunking the bottom few inches of my pack into the water, everything important remained dry. *whew* Once on the other side I got a chance to take some pictures of the river and some of the people crossing after me, cheering them on. After getting back into my dry boots — but still in wet clothing — it was time to continue up river through the canyon forest toward Lonomea camp. We traveled a mile or so upriver before stopping at the Hipalau camp for lunch. Due to time we were forced to turn around here instead of continuing another mile or so upstream to the Lonomea camp which was the original goal for the day. Here we sat down, ate lunch and a few pieces of guava and passionfruit that we had collected along the trail during the inbound hike. There is nothing better than freshly picked fruit collected trail-side!
Back upstream, we do everything in reverse. The river has started moving a bit more swiftly at this point, making he river crossing a little more difficult, but we all manage to cross without incident. As we pass Wiliwili camp the trail begins the ascent to the top of the canyon. While normally I'd rather hike under tree cover because its cooler, in this case the hiking was hot and steamy. The on and off rains along with our soaking wet clothing made this section of the hike very, very steamy.
Mike & Bobby
Kukui TrailI felt like I was hiking uphill in a large sauna, not the most pleasurable of circumstances. When we finally broke out into the sun I was a happy man. Finally my clothes could have a chance to dry off and there was a nice canyon breeze to keep us cool. Now we had to look for shade where we could find it along the trail, but the trade-off was well worth it! Slow and steady, one foot in front of the other we asended the walls of the canyon. Bands of rain showers came through the canyon, providing us with a cooling mist and brief respites from the hot tropical sun. As we ascend, I noticied significant changes in the look of the canyon in the early afternoon sun. In the moning, the light was strongly filtered through a low haze. Now, the light was strong and direct, bringing out the beauty of the canyon walls and making the colors, reds, greens, blue skies and more muted tones in the rock walls begin to pop visually. In just a few hours the entire canyon looks like a different place, just because of the position of the sun. Wild...
Further up the canyon, standing on a ridge line we get a good blast of rain and wind that feels wonderful, nice and cooling. Turn and look back into the canyon and we see a rainbow stretched out below us, running north to south in the lower parts of the canyon. By far, this was the best view of the day! We've been seeing rainbows daily, more often than not 3 or 4 a day, but this was one of the strongest I have seen all week long. One last big push forward and we work our way past the "Speedo and Crocs" crowd hiking down into the canyon (yes, seriously. Bannanna hammocks and Crocs are not really appropriate for hiking...) We all pop out of the canyon around 3:30 PM for a snack of fresh Hawaiian pineapple and some sports drinks, before heading to the car and back down to the coast. Round trip, we did ~9 miles &mdashl I'm still looking for better information on the length of the hike.
Me and a Hau Bush
Kukui Trail
On the return trip to the hotel we drop in on Jo-Jo's Shave Ice for a cold, sweet treat. Think sno-cones with pan-Pacific flavors. I had a shave ice with lychee and mango syrups and azuki beans (the base of red bean icecream). I figured I'd get a little protein with my sugar water. ;-) We get back to the hotel where I take a quick shower to get rid of the red dirt covering me from head to toe and then head down to the beach for a quick dip in the ocean. I've been in Hawaii since Tuesday, its now Staurday and I am just now making it to the beach. There is something seriously wrong with that!
Another quick shower to get rid of the sand I have collected and then we're off to the Mission Celebration dinner. Some numbers for you:
- This weekend 70 hikers in Kaua'i have raised a total of over $400,000!
- This season, HFD participants from around the US have raised to date over $2,500,000!
- In the past 2.5 years/5 seasons of HFD (I've now participated in 3 of the 5 seasons!) over $12,500,000 has been raised!
These are amazing numbers which make a difference in the life of patients dealing with blood cancers evey day.
Waimea River
Hipalau Camp
On a sadder note, this will be my final season with Hike for Discovery for a while. With our first child arriving in March, I'm not going to be able to participate again next year. I'll certainly be around and helping out on occassional hikes with the team, but I won't be able to dedicate the amount of time I have in the past 18 months to the HFD program and LLS. Once Steph and I get into a rhythm with the baby I'll be back.
For those who continue with HFD in the future: HIKE ON!
Heading back up...
Kukui Trail
Kukui Trail
Waimea Canyon rainbow
Kukui Trail
Sunday, October 07, 2007
On the way home...
We're sitting in the airport in Lihue waiting for the long flight home... the hikes were great and Hawaii was tons of fun. Pictures and a full trip report coming soon...
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Random thoughts from the road...
I'm in Salt Lake City right now, sitting in the Wasatch Brewing Co. bar drinking a Polygamy Porter. You can't have just one. ;-)
I'm on the way to Hawaii for a few days of vacation without the crazy pregnant one. OK, so she's not crazy, but pregnancy does strange things to a woman. And she was the one who decided not to join me in Hawaii...
I'm really on the way to Hawaii for the Hike for Discovery fall season. We have a small team going to Kaua'i this week for Saturday's hikes around the island. I'm meeting Jerry (HFD team coach) and his wife this afternoon in Kaua'i for a few days of fun before the big HFD weekend. I'll be hiking the Kukui trail down into Waimea Canyon, more details on that soon.
I've been on the road a lot lately for both work and pleasure which always results in some humorous experiences. The best one of note recently was in NJ. Jeremy and I were staying in Harrison, NJ for the week doing consulting for one of our clients in the Jersey City area. Unfortunately all of the hotels in and around Jersey City were booked, so we were scraping the bottom of the barrel for a decent hotel. The Hampton Inn in Harrison, NJ qualifies as the bottom of the barrel due to its location and the fact that its inconvenient to everything. So we took the hotel shuttle a lot to get to the train station, dinner, etc. On our last night in NJ, we called the shuttle to pick us up from dinner in the Ironbound district in Newark. After being picked up, the driver picked up a guy in a suit from Penn Station. Let the fun begin.
Jeremy engaged the guy in a conversation. Lo and behold, he's a security consultant! (Gee, I sure am glad *I* don't have to wear a suit!) So we start chatting and ask him about his work. While I don't remember the exact conversation, it went something like this:
Us: What kind of work do you do?
Suit: Security consulting. Penetration testing, SDLC (software development lifecycle) work, software security, policy work, etc.
Us: Interesting, we also do SDLC work... Are you a developer?
Suit: Oh no. Accountant.
(At this point, Jeremy and I shoot each other looks of WTF??)
Us: So, uh, when you say software security, do do do code reviews? Threat modeling?
Suit: Threat modeling? No, I don't get down to the packet layer.
Us: What about your SDLC work?
Suit: Oh, well we tell people how to push code to production environments...
The conversation went on like that for a few more minutes before we got back to the hotel. When we were in the clear, Jeremy and I had a good laugh at Mr. Suit and his "packet layer" comments. Threat modeling is a method of analyzing a software system as an attacker thinks about it, outlining his goals and enumerating the manner in which he can achieve his goals. Specifically, we look for threats against the system, mitigating strategies, and vulnerabilities exist where threats don't have mitigating strategies in place. I've never had to "get down to the packet layer" when dealing with threat modeling on most software systems, so I'm not sure what he thinks we were talking about. (Yes, I can see where this would be useful if threat modeling a network protocol, but most of my TM work is at a higher level using standard network protocols like HTTP, for instance.)
I'm not sure who you work for, Mr. Suit, but this is why accountants don't make good software security consultants. If you don't understand developing code, and you don't understand working in a development environment, its a pretty good bet that you're not going to be too successful at doing SDLC consulting... unless you're only writing policy about who gets to push code to production...
Buyer beware... not all consultants and consulting firms are equally capable of doing software security work. Especially if their consultants are accountants!
I'm on the way to Hawaii for a few days of vacation without the crazy pregnant one. OK, so she's not crazy, but pregnancy does strange things to a woman. And she was the one who decided not to join me in Hawaii...
I'm really on the way to Hawaii for the Hike for Discovery fall season. We have a small team going to Kaua'i this week for Saturday's hikes around the island. I'm meeting Jerry (HFD team coach) and his wife this afternoon in Kaua'i for a few days of fun before the big HFD weekend. I'll be hiking the Kukui trail down into Waimea Canyon, more details on that soon.
I've been on the road a lot lately for both work and pleasure which always results in some humorous experiences. The best one of note recently was in NJ. Jeremy and I were staying in Harrison, NJ for the week doing consulting for one of our clients in the Jersey City area. Unfortunately all of the hotels in and around Jersey City were booked, so we were scraping the bottom of the barrel for a decent hotel. The Hampton Inn in Harrison, NJ qualifies as the bottom of the barrel due to its location and the fact that its inconvenient to everything. So we took the hotel shuttle a lot to get to the train station, dinner, etc. On our last night in NJ, we called the shuttle to pick us up from dinner in the Ironbound district in Newark. After being picked up, the driver picked up a guy in a suit from Penn Station. Let the fun begin.
Jeremy engaged the guy in a conversation. Lo and behold, he's a security consultant! (Gee, I sure am glad *I* don't have to wear a suit!) So we start chatting and ask him about his work. While I don't remember the exact conversation, it went something like this:
Us: What kind of work do you do?
Suit: Security consulting. Penetration testing, SDLC (software development lifecycle) work, software security, policy work, etc.
Us: Interesting, we also do SDLC work... Are you a developer?
Suit: Oh no. Accountant.
(At this point, Jeremy and I shoot each other looks of WTF??)
Us: So, uh, when you say software security, do do do code reviews? Threat modeling?
Suit: Threat modeling? No, I don't get down to the packet layer.
Us: What about your SDLC work?
Suit: Oh, well we tell people how to push code to production environments...
The conversation went on like that for a few more minutes before we got back to the hotel. When we were in the clear, Jeremy and I had a good laugh at Mr. Suit and his "packet layer" comments. Threat modeling is a method of analyzing a software system as an attacker thinks about it, outlining his goals and enumerating the manner in which he can achieve his goals. Specifically, we look for threats against the system, mitigating strategies, and vulnerabilities exist where threats don't have mitigating strategies in place. I've never had to "get down to the packet layer" when dealing with threat modeling on most software systems, so I'm not sure what he thinks we were talking about. (Yes, I can see where this would be useful if threat modeling a network protocol, but most of my TM work is at a higher level using standard network protocols like HTTP, for instance.)
I'm not sure who you work for, Mr. Suit, but this is why accountants don't make good software security consultants. If you don't understand developing code, and you don't understand working in a development environment, its a pretty good bet that you're not going to be too successful at doing SDLC consulting... unless you're only writing policy about who gets to push code to production...
Buyer beware... not all consultants and consulting firms are equally capable of doing software security work. Especially if their consultants are accountants!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
West Coast Trip - Part II
Whew, finally got around to finishing this...
June 19, 2007
A lazy day walking around San Francisco following the Barbary Coast Trail. We did manage to get over the Haight-Ashbury (what do you mean there is a Gap in the Haight Ashbury!?). Drinks at the Tornado with some amazing sausages from next door. We're tired and head back to Jen & Howard's early to watch TV and pass out.
June 20, 2007
We spent the morning driving to the Tenaya Lodge, just south of Yosemite National Park. Nothing exciting to report. After dinner with the HFD teams from around the US and a meeting with our trail guides, we head to bed. Early.
June 21, 2007
3:00 AM — Yes, that's a wake up call. Oh hell its early. I have to meet the team in the lobby for a departure at 3:30 AM to head into the park. Its an hour long drive to the trail head. A few more hours of sleep would be quite welcome.
Steph's first view of Half Dome from the Panorama TrailWe're on the trailhead at dawn's first light. For this trip we're hiking up the Mist Trail past Vernal Falls and Nevada falls and then meeting the Half Dome trail for the remainder of the outbound leg. The Mist Trail is a steeper ascent than the John Muir Trail, but it shaves off more than a mile of hiking. The first major climb of the day is at Vernal Falls where we ascend a few hundred stone steps to the top of the falls. The trail is pretty steep and one of my teammates was having trouble on this first climb. I handed her a Hammer Gel (energy gel) which she promptly slurped down and kicked her butt back into gear for the rest of the day.
Climbing Nevada Falls
After Vernal Falls the trail continues along the river toward Nevada Falls. More. Stone. Steps. Yuck. The morning is uneventful as we reach the top of the falls, stop a short break at the restrooms and a bit to eat. So far, the views have beeb incredible. As the sun rises higher in the sky and the clouds burn off it turns into a really nice morning. For the next 2 miles or so the trail is on pretty level ground, but it has become quite sandy, making the hiking a little more challenging. We stop at the final "bathroom" of the hike outbound, its little more than some eco-friendly portapotties built in the woods. I'm feeling great and ready to tackle the rest of the hike up to Half Dome.
Or maybe not. 20 minutes more hiking and I'm sick. Wanting to puke on the side of the trail sick. After an extended rest out in the woods, a few hundred feet off the trail I get my shit together and start hiking again. Slowly. John, one of my teammates, and Sam, our guide, walk with me as I slowly get myself back together. I'm not sure why I'm having issues today, but its definitely not making this section of the hike pleasant. As we approach mid-day, the elevation increases and we become more exposed to the sun as the trees thin and we start to get a good view of Half Dome. Holy crap, I can't believe I am about to climb this thing.
Quarter Dome (forground)
Half Dome (background)
Note the people walking up the switchbacks on Quarter Dome
When people discuss hiking Half Dome there are really two things that stand out: The switchbacks up to the top of Quarter Dome and the cables up to the top of Half Dome. The cables were nerve wracking, this is before I even saw them up close. Switchbacks are just something to climb. But I've never seen switchbacks like these. Carved into the side of Quarter Dome, the switchbacks cling to the side of the rock, snaking up above most of the trees, covered in small pieces of granite that has come off Quarter Dome. These little pebbles are like ball bearings under foot. Be careful...
John, coming up the switchbacksI'm afraid of heights, but I usually manage to keep it under control. Not today. Just climbing the switchbacks, crowded with people in both directions, I was getting nervous. I kept thinking, "How in the hell am I going to manage to climb DOWN this stupid thing?!" Every time I looked back down the stairs toward my teammates I realized how quickly we were ascending. My heart was racing, a combination of altitude — I was at sea level ~24 hours ago and we're hiking at over 8000' MSL — and my own fears being tweaked. Hard. I don't think I'd have been so concerned if I knew and trusted everyone in my general vicinity. But all these strangers moving around me made me nervous... I couldn't wait to get to the top for a quick lunch break before tackling the final climb...
Finally! We get to the top of Quarter Dome, just below the cables and the peak of Half Dome. Hell yeah! Time for food, at least whatever I can force myself to eat. Nothing in the pack is looking good right now, so I stick to a protein shake — I mixed up the powder into a spare Nalgene bottle — and some trail mix. The whole team is here, ready to make the final climb, so we head over to the cables.
HOLY SHIT! There is no way I am climbing up THAT!
The Cables
The line is 100+ people deep to even approach the cables. On the cables there are probably 30 - 40 people climbing up the ~600' to the top of Half Dome. And its taking them each ~1 hour to make the climb, due to the traffic moving up and down. While I previously swore I was going to go it without any safety harness, my fears win out. I strap a harness around my waist to give me a little extra confidence... Of course, the harness is nothing more than some stout rope looped around my waist with a carabiner used to clip on to the cables as I go up the rock.
Unfortunately, the pictures don't really show the cables too well, so let me describe the scene. As you approach the base of the cables you'll see a pair of cables anchored to the granite with ~1 yard between them. Every 10 feet or so there is a pair of poles mounted perpendicular to the rock which supports the cables, holding them ~1 yard off the rock. Spanning between the gap horizontally between the poles is a 2X4 which provides solid footing as you reach each pole. The cable itself is approximately 1/2" in diameter made of twisted steel, much like what you'll see anchoring a telephone pole to the ground. This will hurt your hands if you don't have gloves, so most people climbing Half Dome bring gloves for the final ascent. (Honestly, even with gloves it was a painful experience). Generally people climb up in between the cables, ascending on the right and descending on the left, however, some people choose to climb on the outside of the cables which is reported to have better footing, due to the rock surface not being smoothed as much by people's boots.
Climbing the cables
I've been standing around for an hour or so watching people climb the cables ahead of me. My heart is racing. I've watched too many water bottles, cameras and all kinds of other crap fall from people's packs and bounce down hundreds of feet before falling out of sight and heading into the valley below. Holy shit.
I walk up to the cables and clip my carabiner on the cable. I'll do this another 50+ times each direction. Sam, one of our guides, is directly behind me, urging me on. Did I mention I really don't like heights? The fall off the face of Half Dome is quite a long way down and people have died doing this. In fact, someone died the weekend before. Why do people keep mentioning that?
We start walking up. I'm grabbing the cable with all of my might and trying to find good footing. Standing on the face of this rock, hanging on and trying not to slide downward is actually quite difficult when you may not move for minutes at a time. Especially with people descending the cable directly to my left, brushing past me, bumping backpacks and scaring the crap out of me each time. About 50 feet up the cables I quit. Well, I tried to. I turn back to Sam and tell her that there is no way I can do this. She tells me I can. Damn, if she can do this, so can I. Right? RIGHT? I "nut up" and keep heading up the cables. Every pole that I pass I need to stop and rest. My heart is racing, my adrenaline is pumping and I am starting to feel that we're at almost 9000' abouve sea level, making breathing more difficult than I'm used to. After almost an hour we have climbed the cables and walk on to the top of Half Dome. WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!
On Top!I collapse on top of Half Dome, grab a drink and take a look around me. I don't want to talk to anyone. I just want to look at everything around me and put out of my mind the fact that in less than an hour I'm going to have to do it in reverse as I climb back down. Going up is optional. Going down is mandatory!
After lots of pictures we head down the cables and the switchbacks for the ~10 mile hike back to the trailhead. This par of the hike is uneventful, except for the searing pain in both of my big toes. Every step is painful for the last 4 of 5 miles, and I cannot wait to get back to the hotel. More than 12 hours after we began we return to the trailhead, hop on a bus and head back to Tenaya Lodge.
While I should be hungry, and I am certainly ready to drink to beers I picked up at Russian River a few days earlier, I find that my body refuses to allow me the pleasure of either. A few sips of beer. A few small bites of food. I can't put anything else in my body. Steph forces me to drink a protein shake — almost 20 miles of hiking and I've hardly eaten all day... this is not a good thing — and then we head to bed. Thankfully its over.
In retrospect, this was the dumbest thing I have ever done. Seriously crazy. Stupid. Possibly deadly, although not very likely. Exhausting. Painful.
I can't wait to do it again. When are we going back to Yosemite?
June 19, 2007
A lazy day walking around San Francisco following the Barbary Coast Trail. We did manage to get over the Haight-Ashbury (what do you mean there is a Gap in the Haight Ashbury!?). Drinks at the Tornado with some amazing sausages from next door. We're tired and head back to Jen & Howard's early to watch TV and pass out.
June 20, 2007
We spent the morning driving to the Tenaya Lodge, just south of Yosemite National Park. Nothing exciting to report. After dinner with the HFD teams from around the US and a meeting with our trail guides, we head to bed. Early.
June 21, 2007
3:00 AM — Yes, that's a wake up call. Oh hell its early. I have to meet the team in the lobby for a departure at 3:30 AM to head into the park. Its an hour long drive to the trail head. A few more hours of sleep would be quite welcome.
Steph's first view of Half Dome from the Panorama TrailWe're on the trailhead at dawn's first light. For this trip we're hiking up the Mist Trail past Vernal Falls and Nevada falls and then meeting the Half Dome trail for the remainder of the outbound leg. The Mist Trail is a steeper ascent than the John Muir Trail, but it shaves off more than a mile of hiking. The first major climb of the day is at Vernal Falls where we ascend a few hundred stone steps to the top of the falls. The trail is pretty steep and one of my teammates was having trouble on this first climb. I handed her a Hammer Gel (energy gel) which she promptly slurped down and kicked her butt back into gear for the rest of the day.
Climbing Nevada Falls
After Vernal Falls the trail continues along the river toward Nevada Falls. More. Stone. Steps. Yuck. The morning is uneventful as we reach the top of the falls, stop a short break at the restrooms and a bit to eat. So far, the views have beeb incredible. As the sun rises higher in the sky and the clouds burn off it turns into a really nice morning. For the next 2 miles or so the trail is on pretty level ground, but it has become quite sandy, making the hiking a little more challenging. We stop at the final "bathroom" of the hike outbound, its little more than some eco-friendly portapotties built in the woods. I'm feeling great and ready to tackle the rest of the hike up to Half Dome.
Or maybe not. 20 minutes more hiking and I'm sick. Wanting to puke on the side of the trail sick. After an extended rest out in the woods, a few hundred feet off the trail I get my shit together and start hiking again. Slowly. John, one of my teammates, and Sam, our guide, walk with me as I slowly get myself back together. I'm not sure why I'm having issues today, but its definitely not making this section of the hike pleasant. As we approach mid-day, the elevation increases and we become more exposed to the sun as the trees thin and we start to get a good view of Half Dome. Holy crap, I can't believe I am about to climb this thing.
Quarter Dome (forground)
Half Dome (background)
Note the people walking up the switchbacks on Quarter Dome
When people discuss hiking Half Dome there are really two things that stand out: The switchbacks up to the top of Quarter Dome and the cables up to the top of Half Dome. The cables were nerve wracking, this is before I even saw them up close. Switchbacks are just something to climb. But I've never seen switchbacks like these. Carved into the side of Quarter Dome, the switchbacks cling to the side of the rock, snaking up above most of the trees, covered in small pieces of granite that has come off Quarter Dome. These little pebbles are like ball bearings under foot. Be careful...
John, coming up the switchbacksI'm afraid of heights, but I usually manage to keep it under control. Not today. Just climbing the switchbacks, crowded with people in both directions, I was getting nervous. I kept thinking, "How in the hell am I going to manage to climb DOWN this stupid thing?!" Every time I looked back down the stairs toward my teammates I realized how quickly we were ascending. My heart was racing, a combination of altitude — I was at sea level ~24 hours ago and we're hiking at over 8000' MSL — and my own fears being tweaked. Hard. I don't think I'd have been so concerned if I knew and trusted everyone in my general vicinity. But all these strangers moving around me made me nervous... I couldn't wait to get to the top for a quick lunch break before tackling the final climb...
Finally! We get to the top of Quarter Dome, just below the cables and the peak of Half Dome. Hell yeah! Time for food, at least whatever I can force myself to eat. Nothing in the pack is looking good right now, so I stick to a protein shake — I mixed up the powder into a spare Nalgene bottle — and some trail mix. The whole team is here, ready to make the final climb, so we head over to the cables.
The Cables
The line is 100+ people deep to even approach the cables. On the cables there are probably 30 - 40 people climbing up the ~600' to the top of Half Dome. And its taking them each ~1 hour to make the climb, due to the traffic moving up and down. While I previously swore I was going to go it without any safety harness, my fears win out. I strap a harness around my waist to give me a little extra confidence... Of course, the harness is nothing more than some stout rope looped around my waist with a carabiner used to clip on to the cables as I go up the rock.
Unfortunately, the pictures don't really show the cables too well, so let me describe the scene. As you approach the base of the cables you'll see a pair of cables anchored to the granite with ~1 yard between them. Every 10 feet or so there is a pair of poles mounted perpendicular to the rock which supports the cables, holding them ~1 yard off the rock. Spanning between the gap horizontally between the poles is a 2X4 which provides solid footing as you reach each pole. The cable itself is approximately 1/2" in diameter made of twisted steel, much like what you'll see anchoring a telephone pole to the ground. This will hurt your hands if you don't have gloves, so most people climbing Half Dome bring gloves for the final ascent. (Honestly, even with gloves it was a painful experience). Generally people climb up in between the cables, ascending on the right and descending on the left, however, some people choose to climb on the outside of the cables which is reported to have better footing, due to the rock surface not being smoothed as much by people's boots.
Climbing the cables
I've been standing around for an hour or so watching people climb the cables ahead of me. My heart is racing. I've watched too many water bottles, cameras and all kinds of other crap fall from people's packs and bounce down hundreds of feet before falling out of sight and heading into the valley below. Holy shit.
I walk up to the cables and clip my carabiner on the cable. I'll do this another 50+ times each direction. Sam, one of our guides, is directly behind me, urging me on. Did I mention I really don't like heights? The fall off the face of Half Dome is quite a long way down and people have died doing this. In fact, someone died the weekend before. Why do people keep mentioning that?
We start walking up. I'm grabbing the cable with all of my might and trying to find good footing. Standing on the face of this rock, hanging on and trying not to slide downward is actually quite difficult when you may not move for minutes at a time. Especially with people descending the cable directly to my left, brushing past me, bumping backpacks and scaring the crap out of me each time. About 50 feet up the cables I quit. Well, I tried to. I turn back to Sam and tell her that there is no way I can do this. She tells me I can. Damn, if she can do this, so can I. Right? RIGHT? I "nut up" and keep heading up the cables. Every pole that I pass I need to stop and rest. My heart is racing, my adrenaline is pumping and I am starting to feel that we're at almost 9000' abouve sea level, making breathing more difficult than I'm used to. After almost an hour we have climbed the cables and walk on to the top of Half Dome. WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!
On Top!I collapse on top of Half Dome, grab a drink and take a look around me. I don't want to talk to anyone. I just want to look at everything around me and put out of my mind the fact that in less than an hour I'm going to have to do it in reverse as I climb back down. Going up is optional. Going down is mandatory!
After lots of pictures we head down the cables and the switchbacks for the ~10 mile hike back to the trailhead. This par of the hike is uneventful, except for the searing pain in both of my big toes. Every step is painful for the last 4 of 5 miles, and I cannot wait to get back to the hotel. More than 12 hours after we began we return to the trailhead, hop on a bus and head back to Tenaya Lodge.
While I should be hungry, and I am certainly ready to drink to beers I picked up at Russian River a few days earlier, I find that my body refuses to allow me the pleasure of either. A few sips of beer. A few small bites of food. I can't put anything else in my body. Steph forces me to drink a protein shake — almost 20 miles of hiking and I've hardly eaten all day... this is not a good thing — and then we head to bed. Thankfully its over.
In retrospect, this was the dumbest thing I have ever done. Seriously crazy. Stupid. Possibly deadly, although not very likely. Exhausting. Painful.
I can't wait to do it again. When are we going back to Yosemite?
Sunday, June 24, 2007
I DID IT!
It was a hell of a hike, but I completed ~20 miles of hiking to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. That was the scariest and most exhilarating thing I have ever done. Pictures coming soon...
Monday, May 14, 2007
Hike for Discovery - Sweetwater Creek State Park
Steph & Lucy
On Saturday we hiked at Sweetwater Creek State Park just west of Atlanta. Steph and I had hiked here once before, so I knew it wasn't a challenging hike with relatively flat terrain. But it is pretty technical with lots of scrambling over rocks and roots. Since I'm a masochist I added an extra 5 pounds of weight (two 1 liter Nalgene bottles) to my pack in an effort to slow my pace and still get a good workout.
This was the first hike of the season that Steph joined me on. When we arrived at Sweetwater at 7:30 AM it was already extremely muggy due to the previous night's rain. Yuck!
As a team, we decided to hike the red trail to the white trail for 6 miles with an optional 3 mile extension on the yellow trail. Off we go!
The first part of the trail is pretty flat with a lot of rock outcroppings and roots littering the trail. Its a nice hike that follows along the river past the New Manchester Manufacturing Company textile factory ruins. The factory itself was destroyed during the civil war by Sherman during the Atlanta Campaign. Al that remains is part of the shell of the original building.
New Manchester Manufacturing
Company Ruins
The rain on Friday night made it a bit more difficult on this part of the trail, especially on the rocks that you hike over. Being the incredible klutz that I am I slipped on some of the rocks and fell. The trail is ~15' above the river at this point. When I fell and slid down the rocks I managed to grab hold of the rocks to prevent myself from sliding all the way into the river. Unfortunately, my right leg was hung up on a tree, so I had no leverage to life myself out of the predicament I was in! Steph and another hiker grabbed my hands and pack to lift me slightly, free my leg and get me back on the trail.
The rest of the hike was nice and uneventful, thankfully. Steph and Lucy enjoyed themselves greatly and tired themselves out. After the hike we came home and the ladies, Lucy and Steph, passed out. I don't think I have ever seen Lucy pass out so hard! Clearly she enjoyed herself, but I believe I wore her out. I'll have to keep this in mind for the next time I want Lucy to relax!
Sweetwater Creek Rapids
Next week we're headed to Vogel State Park for the Coosa Backcountry Trail. This is the toughest hike of the HFD season and one I did not complete last year. I'm looking forward to tackling this trail again and completing the entire trail without bailing out at the road crossing. I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to post from Coosa this time around!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Bumblefuck, WI
One of the perks of being a consultant is traveling to great places. Buenos Aires, NYC, Chicago, Boston, etc. Of course, we also travel to some pretty out of the way locations now and again. This week I'm stuck in Bumblefuck, WI.
Now Bumblefuck wouldn't be so bad. Wisconsin is known for its cheese and beer (yay, beer!). But Bumblefuck has little of either from what I can see so far. I found a few chain restaurants as I drove around looking for a place to grab a meal. I also found a few local places, so I decided to drop in on one of them. The first warning sign that I made a bad choice was that there was no beer served here. Well, that's the only warning sign, but the food was decent and cheap. But no beer? I feel like I'm back in the South, standing in the wine & beer isle at Publix on a Sunday where signs everywhere remind me that someone else's religious beliefs are being pushed upon the rest of us and therefore I can't buy alcohol on "God's" day. Feh.
On another note, I went to Stone Mountain yesterday for some hiking. 3 times up and down for ~7.5 miles (including the walk in/out of the park, since we're all too cheap to pay for admission). Sandy mentioned hiking Kilimanjaro... perhaps when we're done with the fall season we can plan an expedition for a handful of folks... I'm having some serious wanderlust these days. Vacation can't come soon enough.
Now Bumblefuck wouldn't be so bad. Wisconsin is known for its cheese and beer (yay, beer!). But Bumblefuck has little of either from what I can see so far. I found a few chain restaurants as I drove around looking for a place to grab a meal. I also found a few local places, so I decided to drop in on one of them. The first warning sign that I made a bad choice was that there was no beer served here. Well, that's the only warning sign, but the food was decent and cheap. But no beer? I feel like I'm back in the South, standing in the wine & beer isle at Publix on a Sunday where signs everywhere remind me that someone else's religious beliefs are being pushed upon the rest of us and therefore I can't buy alcohol on "God's" day. Feh.
On another note, I went to Stone Mountain yesterday for some hiking. 3 times up and down for ~7.5 miles (including the walk in/out of the park, since we're all too cheap to pay for admission). Sandy mentioned hiking Kilimanjaro... perhaps when we're done with the fall season we can plan an expedition for a handful of folks... I'm having some serious wanderlust these days. Vacation can't come soon enough.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Behind on posting... again
I'm behind on posting about HFD again due to work... I've been on the road the past two weeks from Sunday to Friday, so it has definitely slowed me down.
Last week I was in Madison, WI for the final blast of winter weather. We got more than 6" of snow in a day, more snow than I have seen in many, many years. Thankfully, Madison doesn't just shut down when it snows.
I returned home to much warmer weather on Friday, just in time to hike at Amicalola Falls on Saturday. We were expecting severe thunderstorms, so it was decided that we'd do a short hike of 10 miles to the Len Foote Hike Inn and back. This is a pretty easy trail with no difficult climbs or descents, so we knocked out the 10 miles and a short break at the Hike Inn in about 3.5 hours. After sharing some homebrew with the team, we all headed back to town and took shelter from the storms which never materialized... Sure, it rained, but it wasn't the downpour that was expected.
This week I'm in Nashville, TN, home of bad bouffant hairdos and some really questionable "western" clothing. I feel like I've been transported back in time... I really can't wait to leave.
The next few weeks will be light on posting since I'm going to be traveling a lot. Sunday morning I'll be hiking on the Benton MacKaye Trail with the team before running back to ATL for a flight to Memphis. I'm going to be presenting a seminar on software security in Memphis and meet with some potential customers for a few days before returning home. The following week I'll be back to the cold, white north — hopefully a lot less cold and white this time — to teach a class and present at Cf.Objective(). This trip is going to involve a LOT of driving. I fly into Green Bay, WI on Sunday, drive to central WI that afternoon and spend the next 4 days teaching a software security class. Then I'm driving 200+ miles to Minneapolis to catch the first day of Cf.Objective() where I will be presenting a talk entitled Security and the SDLC: A Strategic Approach to Software Security. But I won't be spending a lot of time at the conference since I need to be in NYC that night. So I'll be making a mad dash to the airport after my talk to catch a flight.
Damn... its going to be a busy few weeks. Hopefully things will calm down as we get into May... but I doubt it. Work hard... play harder!
Last week I was in Madison, WI for the final blast of winter weather. We got more than 6" of snow in a day, more snow than I have seen in many, many years. Thankfully, Madison doesn't just shut down when it snows.
I returned home to much warmer weather on Friday, just in time to hike at Amicalola Falls on Saturday. We were expecting severe thunderstorms, so it was decided that we'd do a short hike of 10 miles to the Len Foote Hike Inn and back. This is a pretty easy trail with no difficult climbs or descents, so we knocked out the 10 miles and a short break at the Hike Inn in about 3.5 hours. After sharing some homebrew with the team, we all headed back to town and took shelter from the storms which never materialized... Sure, it rained, but it wasn't the downpour that was expected.
This week I'm in Nashville, TN, home of bad bouffant hairdos and some really questionable "western" clothing. I feel like I've been transported back in time... I really can't wait to leave.
The next few weeks will be light on posting since I'm going to be traveling a lot. Sunday morning I'll be hiking on the Benton MacKaye Trail with the team before running back to ATL for a flight to Memphis. I'm going to be presenting a seminar on software security in Memphis and meet with some potential customers for a few days before returning home. The following week I'll be back to the cold, white north — hopefully a lot less cold and white this time — to teach a class and present at Cf.Objective(). This trip is going to involve a LOT of driving. I fly into Green Bay, WI on Sunday, drive to central WI that afternoon and spend the next 4 days teaching a software security class. Then I'm driving 200+ miles to Minneapolis to catch the first day of Cf.Objective() where I will be presenting a talk entitled Security and the SDLC: A Strategic Approach to Software Security. But I won't be spending a lot of time at the conference since I need to be in NYC that night. So I'll be making a mad dash to the airport after my talk to catch a flight.
Damn... its going to be a busy few weeks. Hopefully things will calm down as we get into May... but I doubt it. Work hard... play harder!
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Unicoi Gap to Tray Mountain
Oh, I'm way behind on posting...
Nothing terribly exciting this week, just 10.5 miles on the AT from Unicoi Gap to Tray Mountain and back. The team was great, we kept up a fast pace and completed the hike in just over 5 hours including the time we spent relaxing on top of Tray Mountain for lunch.
This is fast becoming one of my favorite hikes in GA. Great scenery and a challenging trail make this a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon in the woods.
No hiking for me this weekend. I'll catch up with the team again next weekend at Amicalola Falls for the Len Foote Hike Inn trail to the AT Approach Trail.
Nothing terribly exciting this week, just 10.5 miles on the AT from Unicoi Gap to Tray Mountain and back. The team was great, we kept up a fast pace and completed the hike in just over 5 hours including the time we spent relaxing on top of Tray Mountain for lunch.
This is fast becoming one of my favorite hikes in GA. Great scenery and a challenging trail make this a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon in the woods.
No hiking for me this weekend. I'll catch up with the team again next weekend at Amicalola Falls for the Len Foote Hike Inn trail to the AT Approach Trail.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Kennesaw. Yet Again.
*yawn* I am tired of looking at Kennesaw Mountain and the surrounding trails. We did the trail to Burnt Hickory and continued until it meets the east trail as you head out to Kolb Farm. ~7 miles of moderately paced hiking on the warmest day of the year.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Hiking the AT: Unicoi Gap to (almost) Tray Gap
Yesterday I drove to Unicoi State Park, just north of Helen, GA, for a hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT) from Unicoi Gap toward Tray Mountain.
That section of the AT doesn't go through the part of the park we were in. Oops.
A quick carpool 10 miles up the road we found the trail at Unicoi Gap. Up the trail we head. Its 6.2 miles (one way) to Tray Mountain, but we were not planning on going the entire distance. We broke up the team into 2 groups, those who wanted to hike 3 hours and those wanting to hike 4.5 hours. Each team left the same time and was instructed to turn around after half of their time had elapsed (i.e. 1.5 hours out).
I was sweeping — in the back of the pack to make sure everyone was OK — for the longer group, so I started up the trail at the back of the pack with Sandy and her dog Eva. The first climb was from Unicoi Gap to Rocky Mountain, an elevation change of over 1000' in 1.3 miles. This was an unrelenting climb all the way to the top! After stopping and grabbing some pictures I headed down again and met up with the 3 and 4.5 hour groups at Indian Grave Gap where everyone was having a bite to eat. The 4.5 hour group headed off about 10 minutes ahead of me, giving me some great time alone on the trail. It was a beautiful, but cold, day and I was enjoying a little solitary hiking.
And then it happened. Sandy had passed all the members on the shorter hike and decided she better catch up to the rest of us. I have no idea how she did it, but she ran right up behind me. I picked up the pace and we hiked out to just before the trail climbs to Tray Gap. The group had assembled there to take in the view of Tray Mountain and the surrounding area from a beautiful rock outcropping.
After some pictures, we turned back to Indian Grave Gap and started back up to the top of Rocky Mountain...The legs were willing, the lungs were not. It was a long, hard hike for me and another hiker ,who was also having trouble breathing, as we came up to the ridge a few minutes behind the rest of the pack. Thankfully its downhill all the way back to the cars, I don't think I could have taken on another long, steep trail! By now the ice on the trail had melted, making the descent muddy, so I was happy to get back to the trail head, back to my car and out of my hiking boots.
Overall we hiked ~8.4 miles in a little more than 4 hours.
One question remains: Can someone explain how ice forms like this? I swear it looks like fiberglass fibers strewn on the ground.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Kennesaw Mountain Again...
Yes, back at Kennesaw this week. We did the same hike as I did last Sunday, so nothing exciting to report other than my knees which are killing me this week. Time to go see the chiropractor!
Drink for Discovery II is officially ON! The date is set for June 9, 2007, 3:00 PM at 5 Seasons Brewing in Sandy Springs. Thank you so much to my friends at the 5 who are helping support LLS and my Hike for Discovery. Time to start working on the brewers to collect kegs for the big day!
Drink for Discovery II is officially ON! The date is set for June 9, 2007, 3:00 PM at 5 Seasons Brewing in Sandy Springs. Thank you so much to my friends at the 5 who are helping support LLS and my Hike for Discovery. Time to start working on the brewers to collect kegs for the big day!
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Kennesaw Mountain Hike
Yesterday was the LLS All Sport training session and pig-out fest at Piedmont Park. I didn't get in a good workout, nor did I work out as much as I should have this week, so I went to Kennesaw this morning for the hike to Burnt Hickory (in-and-out, just over 5 miles). Mike, a HFD mentor, and Traci came along for the hike. Although cold this morning, it was a nice hike under clear blue skies with a good view of Atlanta as the day progressed.
Last year I used Gatorade, Clif Bars & shots and Lara Bars when I was training for energy and electrolytes, but I was aware that I was consuming a lot of refined sugar which was giving me a sugar high followed by a distinct low. Coming back up Little Kennesaw from Burnt Hickory is where I noticed this most, I was usually dragging ass half-way up the hill. On a friend's recommendation, I bought some products from Hammer Nutrition for training since they don't contain refined sugars that will give me a sugar high. I ordered some HEED (energy/electrolyte drink) along with a mix-pack of their energy gels to try and find a flavor I like.
Customer service at Hammer Nutrition was amazing, they called me the day following my order to see if I had any questions on their products, how to use them and other products they offer. My shipment had just been packed and they added in some extra samples for me to try, including the Hammer Bar. I received everything on Saturday and read all of the literature that was sent along with my order.
Today I tried the products out on the hike. I used the HEED in a Nalgene bottle to supplement my hydration bladder filled with water and ate the Hammer Bar and a Espresso flavored Hammer Gel. I have to make sure that I can stomach them — some of these things taste like ass! — and that they don't give me any trouble with digestion. So far, so good!
No energy spikes or lows, everything tasted OK and I felt like I had more consistent energy through the entire hike. [Edit: I had not done this hike this season, I may just be in better shape...] I'll definitely have to use their products more over the next few weeks to see how they fare, but the Gatorade is definitely off my training schedule and I'll probably stop bringing Clif Bars or Lara Bars on hikes in the future.
Last year I used Gatorade, Clif Bars & shots and Lara Bars when I was training for energy and electrolytes, but I was aware that I was consuming a lot of refined sugar which was giving me a sugar high followed by a distinct low. Coming back up Little Kennesaw from Burnt Hickory is where I noticed this most, I was usually dragging ass half-way up the hill. On a friend's recommendation, I bought some products from Hammer Nutrition for training since they don't contain refined sugars that will give me a sugar high. I ordered some HEED (energy/electrolyte drink) along with a mix-pack of their energy gels to try and find a flavor I like.
Customer service at Hammer Nutrition was amazing, they called me the day following my order to see if I had any questions on their products, how to use them and other products they offer. My shipment had just been packed and they added in some extra samples for me to try, including the Hammer Bar. I received everything on Saturday and read all of the literature that was sent along with my order.
Today I tried the products out on the hike. I used the HEED in a Nalgene bottle to supplement my hydration bladder filled with water and ate the Hammer Bar and a Espresso flavored Hammer Gel. I have to make sure that I can stomach them — some of these things taste like ass! — and that they don't give me any trouble with digestion. So far, so good!
No energy spikes or lows, everything tasted OK and I felt like I had more consistent energy through the entire hike. [Edit: I had not done this hike this season, I may just be in better shape...] I'll definitely have to use their products more over the next few weeks to see how they fare, but the Gatorade is definitely off my training schedule and I'll probably stop bringing Clif Bars or Lara Bars on hikes in the future.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Less than $3000 to reach my goal!
Fundraising for HFD is going well. As of tonight I'm more than 1/3 of the way to my goal of $4500! Woohoo!
Less than $3000 left to reach my goal... I'm working on Drink for Discovery II this week and I should have news of a date soon. This year I'm working on getting breweries from around the US to be represented.
Any breweries you want to see represented? Leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!
Less than $3000 left to reach my goal... I'm working on Drink for Discovery II this week and I should have news of a date soon. This year I'm working on getting breweries from around the US to be represented.
Any breweries you want to see represented? Leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!
Monday, February 19, 2007
Eating Healthy, Working Out and Losing Weight
For the past few months I've been on a mission:
A few years ago I lost more than 10 lbs on Body for Life. As Steph would say, I was an animal at that time. Working out 6 days a week, eating 6 meals a day and being completely obsessive about sticking to the plan. I can't do that today. With my work schedule and travel, trying to follow a plan like Body for Life just wasn't going to work for me. So I had to find another way.
I decided it was time to find a personal trainer to help get me on the right path. I got in touch with Jerry Collett, we met during HFD last year and I always liked the way he pushed me during our group hikes to work a little bit harder. In December we started meeting twice a week and I joined a gym so I could work in 3 - 4 more workouts every week. I also joined MyFoodDiary.com to keep track of my how many calories I ate in a day vs. how many calories I expended to help me get a better grasp on how my eating choices affect my weight.
Its been almost 3 months now since I started and it hasn't been easy. I've been trying to eat more often with smaller portions. When I work from home, this is pretty easy, on the road its not. Making good food choices when I am traveling with work is very difficult, especially when I am running to a meeting or to catch a flight. So I have learned to carry food in my backpack when traveling. Usually I have a couple of Clif bars or Lara bars stuffed into my bag for mid-day snacks or, in the worst case, a replacement for a meal. I always avoid the "food" they offer on flights since it is often extremely high in fat and carbs. Airport food isn't much better, though some airports are better than others.
So where do I stand now? As I mentioned, when I started down this pathway I was 210 lbs. At 5'7", that puts my body mass index (BMI) at 32.9, in the obese range. Egads! Now I'm down to 192 lbs with a BMI of 30.1. I was wearing jeans with a 40" waist and they were getting uncomfortable. Now I'm down to a 36" waist — something I haven't worn since early 2002! — with a lot of room, the 34" waist jeans are not too far away. I'm also in a push-up competition with my friend Sandy and some of the HFD team. A few weeks ago I could barely knock out 10 push-ups with bad form. Now I'm up to 30 push-ups and working toward my goal of 100 push-ups in a single set. I'm lifting more weight than I ever have before, hiking faster and longer and generally feeling in much better shape than ever!
I still have a long way to go to my goal of 175 lbs, but I am continuing to lose weight, gain muscle mass and head toward my target.
- Eat healthier
- Work out
- Lose weight
A few years ago I lost more than 10 lbs on Body for Life. As Steph would say, I was an animal at that time. Working out 6 days a week, eating 6 meals a day and being completely obsessive about sticking to the plan. I can't do that today. With my work schedule and travel, trying to follow a plan like Body for Life just wasn't going to work for me. So I had to find another way.
I decided it was time to find a personal trainer to help get me on the right path. I got in touch with Jerry Collett, we met during HFD last year and I always liked the way he pushed me during our group hikes to work a little bit harder. In December we started meeting twice a week and I joined a gym so I could work in 3 - 4 more workouts every week. I also joined MyFoodDiary.com to keep track of my how many calories I ate in a day vs. how many calories I expended to help me get a better grasp on how my eating choices affect my weight.
Its been almost 3 months now since I started and it hasn't been easy. I've been trying to eat more often with smaller portions. When I work from home, this is pretty easy, on the road its not. Making good food choices when I am traveling with work is very difficult, especially when I am running to a meeting or to catch a flight. So I have learned to carry food in my backpack when traveling. Usually I have a couple of Clif bars or Lara bars stuffed into my bag for mid-day snacks or, in the worst case, a replacement for a meal. I always avoid the "food" they offer on flights since it is often extremely high in fat and carbs. Airport food isn't much better, though some airports are better than others.
So where do I stand now? As I mentioned, when I started down this pathway I was 210 lbs. At 5'7", that puts my body mass index (BMI) at 32.9, in the obese range. Egads! Now I'm down to 192 lbs with a BMI of 30.1. I was wearing jeans with a 40" waist and they were getting uncomfortable. Now I'm down to a 36" waist — something I haven't worn since early 2002! — with a lot of room, the 34" waist jeans are not too far away. I'm also in a push-up competition with my friend Sandy and some of the HFD team. A few weeks ago I could barely knock out 10 push-ups with bad form. Now I'm up to 30 push-ups and working toward my goal of 100 push-ups in a single set. I'm lifting more weight than I ever have before, hiking faster and longer and generally feeling in much better shape than ever!
I still have a long way to go to my goal of 175 lbs, but I am continuing to lose weight, gain muscle mass and head toward my target.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Hike For Discovery - Second Group Hike
This morning was our second group hike of the season at Kennesaw Mountain , one of the best places to train on hills near Atlanta. This is also one of the coldest days this winter, the thermometer in my car was hovering around 24 degrees F with strong winds, making the wind chill feel like 10 - 15 degrees F! I thought I was prepared with my layers of clothes, gloves, hat and wicking long underwear, but it was absolutely bone chilling out there until we started up the mountain.
I was asked to be toward the front of the pack to make sure people knew how far to go on the hike before turning around. We decided to head across to Little Kennesaw Mountain, about 3.5 miles round trip. Once we got on the trail I warmed up quickly, even becoming warm enough to unzip my jacket and take off my gloves at one point. Today was my quickest ascent of Kennesaw ever! I was ecstatic a few weeks ago to get up the mile trail from the visitor's center to the top of the mountain in 24 minutes, last year I was hiking it in 30+ minutes. This morning I got to the top in 21 minutes! I was quite surprised since I had Lucy slow me down to make a deposit on the side of the trail!
Once I got to the top and started downhill again I was getting cold quickly. By the time the group reached the top of Little Kennesaw, I was quite cold again. It was then that we began to notice water vapor from our breath or sweat coming through my hat was forming ice! The mouthpiece on my hydration bladder also had ice forming on it. Clearly its time to get back on the trail and head home. What does frostbite feel like, anyway? ;-)
I'm not sure what possessed me to go hike in the cold twice this weekend — I did Kennesaw in the cold yesterday, too — but it was fun to get out to Kennesaw when there were so few other people on the trail. I'm sure we'll be back to Kennesaw again many times over the next few months, but I sure hope the weather turns warmer sometime soon!
I was asked to be toward the front of the pack to make sure people knew how far to go on the hike before turning around. We decided to head across to Little Kennesaw Mountain, about 3.5 miles round trip. Once we got on the trail I warmed up quickly, even becoming warm enough to unzip my jacket and take off my gloves at one point. Today was my quickest ascent of Kennesaw ever! I was ecstatic a few weeks ago to get up the mile trail from the visitor's center to the top of the mountain in 24 minutes, last year I was hiking it in 30+ minutes. This morning I got to the top in 21 minutes! I was quite surprised since I had Lucy slow me down to make a deposit on the side of the trail!
Once I got to the top and started downhill again I was getting cold quickly. By the time the group reached the top of Little Kennesaw, I was quite cold again. It was then that we began to notice water vapor from our breath or sweat coming through my hat was forming ice! The mouthpiece on my hydration bladder also had ice forming on it. Clearly its time to get back on the trail and head home. What does frostbite feel like, anyway? ;-)
I'm not sure what possessed me to go hike in the cold twice this weekend — I did Kennesaw in the cold yesterday, too — but it was fun to get out to Kennesaw when there were so few other people on the trail. I'm sure we'll be back to Kennesaw again many times over the next few months, but I sure hope the weather turns warmer sometime soon!
Hike for Discovery 2007
The New Year is here and that means another season of Hike for Discovery! Last year, Steph and I spent more than three months training for a hike into the Grand Canyon with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) in memory of Steph’s father, Mitchell Levine. Through lots of hard work, and miles upon miles on the trails of Georgia, we surpassed our goal to raise $8,000 for LLS. Last year, we raised over $9,500 from friends, family and strangers to help fight blood cancers!
In June, I’ll be hiking with the Hike for Discovery (HFD) team in Yosemite National Park. This year, I’m serving as a mentor with HFD helping the team to train for hikes in Yosemite and the Grand Canyon — while raising money for LLS to fund research and patient services.
Did you know?
This year, I’m hiking for our team’s Honored Hero, Elijah Cox. Elijah is 8 years old and was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2004. Like most children, Elijah enjoys riding bikes, playing basketball, matchbox cars, video games, swimming and music. Every dollar I raise helps LLS find treatments and cures for blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and Hodgkin’s disease. Donations also go to support families, like Elijah’s, through information hotlines, support groups and the Trish Greene Back to School Program for Children with Cancer. This program helps increase communication among health care professionals, parents, patients and school personnel to assure youngsters a smooth transition from active treatment back to school.
The Society’s work is far from over! While I’m training, you can help me reach my goal of raising $4,500 by donating to my Hike for Discovery. Your 100% tax-deductible contribution will bring those cures a step closer and help LLS continue to provide patient services to Elijah and his family. Many companies match employees’ charitable donations, if yours does, please apply for the matching donation to help me reach my goal even quicker!
I sincerely appreciate your support of my Hike for Discovery and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
In June, I’ll be hiking with the Hike for Discovery (HFD) team in Yosemite National Park. This year, I’m serving as a mentor with HFD helping the team to train for hikes in Yosemite and the Grand Canyon — while raising money for LLS to fund research and patient services.
Did you know?
- In 2006, an estimated 785,829 Americans were living with blood cancers.
- Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20.
- Every five minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer.
- Every 10 minutes, someone dies from a blood cancer.
- The Society awards about $58 million annually in research grants to find a cure for, or control of, blood cancers.
- LLS has invested $483 million since 1954 into research that has significantly improved survival rates for thousands
This year, I’m hiking for our team’s Honored Hero, Elijah Cox. Elijah is 8 years old and was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2004. Like most children, Elijah enjoys riding bikes, playing basketball, matchbox cars, video games, swimming and music. Every dollar I raise helps LLS find treatments and cures for blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and Hodgkin’s disease. Donations also go to support families, like Elijah’s, through information hotlines, support groups and the Trish Greene Back to School Program for Children with Cancer. This program helps increase communication among health care professionals, parents, patients and school personnel to assure youngsters a smooth transition from active treatment back to school.The Society’s work is far from over! While I’m training, you can help me reach my goal of raising $4,500 by donating to my Hike for Discovery. Your 100% tax-deductible contribution will bring those cures a step closer and help LLS continue to provide patient services to Elijah and his family. Many companies match employees’ charitable donations, if yours does, please apply for the matching donation to help me reach my goal even quicker!
I sincerely appreciate your support of my Hike for Discovery and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Hike For Discovery 2007
I have been accepted as a mentor for the Hike For Discovery program's 2007 summer season. Not many details yet, but we'll be hiking in Yosemite this year. I guess its time to start planning Drink for Discovery II!
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