Thursday, August 21, 2014

Meditation


When from our better selves we have too long been parted by the hurrying world, and droop.  Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired, how gracious, how benign is solitude.

William Wordsworth

Monday, August 11, 2014

San Gabriel Backpack

Nancy, Ingrid, Carolen, and I went with an Orange County Sierra Club group over the weekend to backpack up in the San Gabriel mountains. 

It was an extremely stressful day at work Friday morning and it took me awhile to calm down.  The Hiker Gals worked their soothing magic on me with talk of future hikes, gear, and good old fashioned girl talk.  I felt better and better the further we drove.

We got to the trailhead early because that's how I roll.  Unfortunately, everyone else was late.  One gal ended up being a couple hours late but we didn't wait around for her.  She found her way to our campsite after it was dark.

We started up the trail- the PCT I might add!  Oh happy day!  My pack felt super heavy.  I had my 6 pound tent because I figured it was just two miles to our camp set-up and I could handle it.  I also had the bear can though and was quickly out of breath on the steep climb to Little Jimmy.  The front of the group quickly distanced themselves from us.  We had two leaders behind us that I kept trying to convince to go ahead of us but they wouldn't so I felt pressured to go faster which meant that I stopped more often to catch my breath.  The altitude was burning my chest.  The leader behind us said to me "Why don't you go slower so you don't have to stop as often."  Um, yeah.  I'm going about as slow as I can and I will still need to stop and breathe. 

We made it to our campsite and spocked out a sweet level area above where the rest of the group was pitching tents.  It was beautiful!



Once we were set up, we went down to the spring to filter some water for dinner and breakfast.



Ingrid:



 Nancy:



Carolen:



Sunset glow from the spring:



Can you see the Super Moon?



Here's our fearless leader, Victoria, and the little nook where she set up her tent.





We ate our dinners and hung around with the rest of the group by the fire.  Yes, a fire was allowed!  Surprising really. 

We trundled off to bed about 9pm and I don't think any of us slept that well.  I drifted off about 3:30am and had a light, fitful sleep. 

We started the next day early.  Our leader wanted to be ready at 7am.  I needed about five cups of coffee to get going but only had time for one.  Back down to the spring we went to filter more water.  While filtering was occurring, there was an impromptu map and compass practice session, which I didn't fully grasp.  Too early and too little coffee.



Then off we went, hiking up the PCT with Hawkins Peak in mind.  The views were breathtaking, the birds were chirping, and the air was fresh with pine.  There were some burn areas that had stark, dead trees looming overhead with charred arms reaching to the sky. Eerie and beautiful.





We made it to a saddle and our leader, Victoria, gave us (San Diego) the task of figuring out which direction we needed to go to get to the peak.  Nancy and I stepped back so Carolen and Ingrid could work their excellent navigation skills.  We were thinking the peak should still be along the PCT but turned out it was the other direction.  Carolen was using the PCT Half Mile app on her phone to compare with what they were getting on the compass and a few comments were made that this was not a lesson on apps but with compass use.  Another comment was that apps wouldn't help during a zombie apocalypse.  Really?  I started getting some negative vibes and I didn't like it.

We made it to the peak and had a nice break.  Another person was given the task of figuring out the direction to Copter Ridge.













After our break, we headed in the direction of Copter Ridge which happened to be the cross country portion of this trek.  I didn't know what we were in for!  We headed down and down and down, through scree and loose rocks, over fallen logs, bush whacking, slip sliding down the steep grade.  Eventually, the thought occurred to me that we might have to climb back up.  Holy crap!  Are you kidding me?!!







We made it to Copter Ridge at last.  I know the climb back out was on all our minds as we rested.



Left to right:  Carolen, Ingrid, Nancy, Me





Slow and steady, the leaders tell us, just go your own pace on the way back up.  So for me, that literally meant that I took three steps and then took a breathing break.  I could feel waves of impatience coming off the leaders behind me.  I really pushed myself to go faster but climbing over logs and trying not to fall on loose rocks made it a little difficult.  I was just trying to stay alive!  Words can't accurately portray the difficulty of this endeavor.  I would rank it in the top five hardest work-outs I've ever done in my life.  We made it to the top after an endless eternity of stop, go, slip, slide, trip, breathe.

Then we had a few more miles to go to get back to camp.  My legs were turning over as fast as I dared without tripping and I still felt the leaders behind me pushing, pushing, pushing.  One was riding my ass so hard I finally stepped aside and made him go in front of me. 

We did make it back to Little Jimmy at last and I just unfurled my sleeping pad and laid down for a bit.  We had gone 10 miles and I don't remember the elevation gain or the grade or time or any such details.  All I know is I made it back to Little Jimmy!

Carolen and Ingrid did the night hike up to Mt. Islip as well- they are hardcore!  Nancy and I stayed back.  I wanted to relax and enjoy the scenery.  We were sitting at the picnic table meditating on the view and sunset, birds flitting across the sky, and the chick who was late the day before comes and sits down, looking at her map.  She proceeds to tell us this fascinating story about how she was in the outhouse and she dropped her tampon on the floor and then of course she couldn't use it.  And it was a super tampon.  Like, her last super tampon, you know.  She shakes her head and says "Whatevs"........long pause.......shakes her head again and says "Whatevs."  Nancy and I decide that we are done looking at scenery and make a beeline for our tents. 

After that gnarly work-out, I was so happy to crawl into my tent and lay down.  Nothing ever felt so good.  Carolen and Ingrid got back from Mt. Islip and they told us about the gorgeous sunset. Almost made me wish I had gone with them.....almost.

The leaders wanted us to start walking out at 7am the next day.  Why so early, you ask?  I don't know!  They changed it to 8 in the morning after we were already up.  I was stumbling around, bleary eyed, and whining like a baby.  Why oh why are we up so early!

Our pace off that mountain was at break-neck speed.  I didn't look up for fear of losing my footing, I didn't take a drink of water, I didn't take a picture, I didn't say boo or fart.  Nothing!  Their pace was so fast.

After all this, I am happy to have been in the wilderness, am happy to have gotten in a stellar work-out in preparation for the High Sierra Trail but the group dynamic just wasn't enjoyable to me.  When you join these types of groups, you are at the whim of whatever the leaders want.  Their pace, their time schedule, and their fancy lingo.

Whatevs.