I was hiking by my lonesome on Saturday so I went to a trail that is not favored by hiking partner Derf, The South Crest Trail. I've written about his a couple of times with pictures including my best time ever on it which I did a couple of years ago.
Hiking this year has been more of a leisurely affair this year. But since I was by myself, I decided that I would give myself a push to see what I could do. That means no pictures but you can go to the links above for those.
The trail is roughly 5.5 miles, 11 round trip, with a 2000 foot altitude gain. Somehow once again in my mind I forgot that and thought it was a bit shorter.
I break this hike into three sections of roughly equal lengths; an initial steep climb, a more gradual section, followed by another steep climb. My first interim time was right in the range I hoped for. It was very warm, in the 70's already when I started just after 7:30 AM.
Typically the second section is a break because of the smooth trail. However, because of the heavy downpours we've been getting the trail on all sections was substantially more difficult with lots and lots of rocks to be stepped on and navigated. Nonetheless, I was doing a very good pace at the second check point.
Going up the third section really hurt but I was in full competitive mode. I made it in 1 hour and 56 minutes! Only 4 minutes slower than my best time ever!
At the end of this hike is my all time favorite post climb resting place. I stayed for 15 minutes resting, drinking, eating a sandwich. I was almost dozing when this killer hummingbird comes within a foot of my nose scaring the hell out of me.
The way down was hell. All those rocks meant that you had to pay attention to every step. You couldn't make any time. Plus the heat was now up to the upper 80's with sun ablazing. I was wiped out at the end. Took me 24 hours to really recuperate.
Can't wait to see if I can break my record.
6 comments:
nice job!! only four minutes slower with all the slippery spots? I'll make a wager that you can definitely break your record.
I'm always impressed with the stories of your hikes. There seem to be a lot of challenges that present themselves at random. And then there's the weather factor. You're stuck with the weather, cooperative or not. Not a lot of activities carry that level of uncertainty.
Looking forward to the day you write about breaking your record!
Eleven miles?!? Holy crap. That's impressive. A few more killer hummingbirds and I bet you would break your record easily. Or if one of those killer bears showed up behind you on the trail.
Pretty amazing for an old dude. ;)
You always have to be on the lookout for those crazed wild hummingbirds. Glad you had fun and did recuperate.
Maybe I need to take up hiking. Sounds a lot more fun than a treadmill.
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