Date: 2007-09-18
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

In Search of the Perfect Training HikeBack in Maryland I knew just where to go at Patapsco to get in a good three-mile loop hike for practice. Now, I¢ve got to start all over finding that spot. Somewhere that will be good exercise, but not so hard to be discouraging, close by and not too long, so that I can¢t use the excuse of not having time. First excursion in search of that path was with Lydia and River a couple weeks ago¢¦ a trail not too far from the house, but still a fifteen-minute drive. Two and a half miles of steady uphill and two and a half back down. Not a bad choice, but still in this altitude two and a half miles up takes me awhile. Not a place I would go often, just because of the time required¢¦ I think.Then Greg has it in his mind that we MUST do a 14er. So last weekend we headed over to Grey¢s Peak. Didn¢t get there until 9AM and the parking lot was packed. I thought that was amazing considering the rough road we had to traverse to get to the parking lot. Before the morning was over I found out why everyone had hit the mountain so early. We started up, feeling pretty good, but taking my time as I usually do with up hills. I can¢t remember the altitude at the parking lot, but I believe it was 11,000 something. Somewhere around 13 I started to feel it¢¦ there really is NO air up there! At 13,500 it started to snow and the wind kicked up hard. At 13,700 we passed a couple ladies heading down who said we still had another 40 minutes or so to the top, then we heard thunder and decided 13,700 is a good height to make it to.   On the way down I started to get the headache. I had been drinking so much water, I thought I would be fine. By the time we got back to the car my head was pounding and we still had that drive back down the mountain. On the way up the bumpy road had been fun, but not so much with a headache on the way down.Lessons learned, you really do need to be on the trail of a 14er at daybreak. We¢ll take that more seriously next time. We naively thought¢¦ just four miles¢¦ no big deal. I also didn¢t take my hiking sticks, just forgot them. Won¢t do that again! Then there is the back yard. We live on the side of a mountain¢¦ small mountain by Colorado standards, but it is covered with trails. Most of the trails are bike trails, or so I¢ve read, but I haven¢t encountered any bikers yet. We had found a couple entrances to the trail on the other side of our neighborhood. That means sidewalk walking for a half mile or so. I know, not a big deal, I¢d just rather walk on trails. So I sat out last week to figure out how I could get onto the mountain trails without too much sidewalk time. I discovered I can walk out our back gate into a small open space area, up the hill, cross the street onto another open space trail. That takes me to a cul-de-sac where I get on another sidewalk for just a short distance and there is an access trail onto the mountain. The first time I wasn¢t impressed with this trail. It¢s just straight up. But after trying it a couple of times and scouting out different side trail options, I¢ve decided straight up is a good workout.   There are several knobs on the trail. I keep thinking¢¦ okay this is the top¢¦ then there is another¢¦ then another¢¦.   I guess that is true of hiking any mountain. There is always a little higher to go. I finally found the final peak and found myself on a field over looking the city. It was really nice. Felt like I had accomplished something. Today I scouted out a couple more trails and I think I may be able to make a loop out of it. So far it is taking me about 40 minutes to get to the top and 20 minutes back down. Starting at about 6100¢ at my house and up to the top at 6730¢. Not a bad morning workout. It is a very exposed mountain though.   I don¢t want to be anywhere on it if there are black clouds in the sky. But for a fair weather day, I think I¢ve found my practice hike. Best part¢¦ it¢s just the right amount to wear some of that puppy energy out of River. She takes a nice little nap afterwards.