I am meditating on this quote by C.S. Lewis. It struck a cord with me today.
"My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself. He is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence? The Incarnation is the supreme example; it leaves all previous ideas of the Messiah in ruins. And most are "offended" by the iconoclasm; and blessed are those who are not."
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Monday, July 14, 2014
Big Bear Altitude Training
We hiker gals had an altitude conditioning weekend up at Big Bear to kick-off the training season for our respective upcoming backpack trips in September (The High Sierra Trail for me, Nancy, and Laurie) and (The Camino for Ingrid).
Kevin and Di kindly loaned us their cabin for the weekend and we made the most of it.
Nancy, Laurie (and Maco), Ina, and Ingrid:
Getting our gear together for the first day hike.
The first day we went up the Cougar Crest Trail where it intersects with the Pacific Crest Trail. It was super hot and we were all huffing and puffing. Seems like everywhere we go, it's always up, up, up, up. But that's what we need to get ourselves ready for our most awesome trips coming up.
We took the PCT south to climb Bertha Peak which tops out at 8200 feet. It's a crazy steep trail. We pretty much followed Maco's lead and hiked from shade to shade. I was sucking wind pretty good. I wore a full pack with a huge bear can minus the food. Just wanting to get the feel for how all my crap is going to fit in there around the bear can.
Trying to find a cache...
We did make it to the top where we had a fabulous lunch break.
We headed back down the mountain and Laurie decided to do some geocaching on the way back to the car. Ingrid, Ina, Nancy, and I decided to continue 2 more miles south on the PCT to a potential creek. It was a very pleasant trail....on the way down that is...
We made it to the theoretical stream which was totally dry. But we found a water cache maintained by trail angel Jim. As we were sitting there taking a break, a safari vehicle pulls up, the type you would see viewing the elephants at the Wild Animal Park. A bunch of people were sitting in it, viewing us like we were the indigenous hiking species of the PCT. We got a good kick out of it. The guy driving got out and came to talk to us and check the water cache. I neglected to ask Jim any really personal questions or get his picture so when I got home I did a little research and as far as I can tell he was Jim Manning, local Big Bear trail angel. He is an expert on the natural history of the area and takes people around on tours. He and his wife, Jackie, have hiked extensively and published several hiking books (Islands of Solitude and Hiking in the San Bernardino Mountains). He is 73 years old and never walked a mile before he was 60. He maintains a four mile per hour pace now and has hiked over 30,000 miles since he retired including the entire PCT. Pretty frickin' amazing, huh? Just goes to show, you really need to pay attention when you are talking to people out here! You never know who you're going to come across.
We started hiking back and the weather had turned unbelievably humid. We were pouring sweat and had to climb back out of the canyon. It was a slog for sure.
We made it almost back to the Cougar Crest Junction and Ingrid noticed that she had lost her hat so she went back to see if she could retrieve it. Nancy, Ina, and I had about a 20 minute break waiting for her and she did find her hat. Yay!
We trekked down that never ending hill and I could have kissed the parking lot pavement when we got to the end, I was so tired. We had 13 miles on the day.
Ina feeding a crazy Jay bird avocado from a spoon.
The next day shaped up to be even hotter than the day before. Nancy, Laurie, and I went out to the Pine Knot Trail. Chosen for it's shade, thank you, Nancy. We found it was 88 degrees when we finished and the humidity was harsh. We had a pleasant walk though and it was very peaceful. 7 miles on the day.
Strike a Pose!
Awesome training!!!
Kevin and Di kindly loaned us their cabin for the weekend and we made the most of it.
Nancy, Laurie (and Maco), Ina, and Ingrid:
Getting our gear together for the first day hike.
The first day we went up the Cougar Crest Trail where it intersects with the Pacific Crest Trail. It was super hot and we were all huffing and puffing. Seems like everywhere we go, it's always up, up, up, up. But that's what we need to get ourselves ready for our most awesome trips coming up.
We took the PCT south to climb Bertha Peak which tops out at 8200 feet. It's a crazy steep trail. We pretty much followed Maco's lead and hiked from shade to shade. I was sucking wind pretty good. I wore a full pack with a huge bear can minus the food. Just wanting to get the feel for how all my crap is going to fit in there around the bear can.
Trying to find a cache...
We did make it to the top where we had a fabulous lunch break.
We headed back down the mountain and Laurie decided to do some geocaching on the way back to the car. Ingrid, Ina, Nancy, and I decided to continue 2 more miles south on the PCT to a potential creek. It was a very pleasant trail....on the way down that is...
We made it to the theoretical stream which was totally dry. But we found a water cache maintained by trail angel Jim. As we were sitting there taking a break, a safari vehicle pulls up, the type you would see viewing the elephants at the Wild Animal Park. A bunch of people were sitting in it, viewing us like we were the indigenous hiking species of the PCT. We got a good kick out of it. The guy driving got out and came to talk to us and check the water cache. I neglected to ask Jim any really personal questions or get his picture so when I got home I did a little research and as far as I can tell he was Jim Manning, local Big Bear trail angel. He is an expert on the natural history of the area and takes people around on tours. He and his wife, Jackie, have hiked extensively and published several hiking books (Islands of Solitude and Hiking in the San Bernardino Mountains). He is 73 years old and never walked a mile before he was 60. He maintains a four mile per hour pace now and has hiked over 30,000 miles since he retired including the entire PCT. Pretty frickin' amazing, huh? Just goes to show, you really need to pay attention when you are talking to people out here! You never know who you're going to come across.
We started hiking back and the weather had turned unbelievably humid. We were pouring sweat and had to climb back out of the canyon. It was a slog for sure.
We made it almost back to the Cougar Crest Junction and Ingrid noticed that she had lost her hat so she went back to see if she could retrieve it. Nancy, Ina, and I had about a 20 minute break waiting for her and she did find her hat. Yay!
We trekked down that never ending hill and I could have kissed the parking lot pavement when we got to the end, I was so tired. We had 13 miles on the day.
Ina feeding a crazy Jay bird avocado from a spoon.
The next day shaped up to be even hotter than the day before. Nancy, Laurie, and I went out to the Pine Knot Trail. Chosen for it's shade, thank you, Nancy. We found it was 88 degrees when we finished and the humidity was harsh. We had a pleasant walk though and it was very peaceful. 7 miles on the day.
Strike a Pose!
Awesome training!!!
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