As our boys grew up, we spent a fair amount of time enjoying outdoor activities. Once we dragged our Webelos to the top of Telescope Peak. Another time we coerced our boys and some others of the younger generation into hiking the North Kaibab trail down as far as Roaring Springs ... and then back up. We’ve done many short hikes as a family, including many lovely trails around the June Lake Loop. So, you see, I am a sometime hiker.
B. is a longtime climber, hiker, and a mountain rescue veteran. He and our older son, Z., have done a number of strenuous hikes and climbs, including a 50-miler with the scouts and a climb of the Mountaineer's Route on Whitney. B. is one of a senior posse that still goes backpacking, although after this year's trek, they are beginning to think they might have to moderate their expectations.
Last year, as we began to practice for retirement, B. issued a challenge. "How would you like," he asked me, "to hike the Milford Track?" We were planning a trip to New Zealand for friend G.'s wedding, and were planning our after-the-wedding activities. My response was an uninformed "Sure. What's that?" And then when I read about the hike, I realized something very scary. I was going to have to get into shape.
I began to regularly walk up (and down) the outside stairway of one of the tallest buildings at work: 6 flights of stairs, 12 or 13 stairs each. Following an REI shopping frenzy, where I bought high-tech hiking clothes, a new pack, rain gear, and lightweight fleece, I began to climb those stairs with my boots on and my pack on my back. You can be I attracted a number of curious stares.
A month before our New Zealand trip, I was ready for a tryout. We joined a New Year's Day hike to Nightmare Gulch in Red Rock Canyon State Park. This was billed as an "easy" hike. However, true to form, the fast hikers headed straight uphill! And, believe it or not, the rest of us followed. It was an awful slog. I panted, sweated, and somehow managed to put one foot in front of the other. Sometime along the way, as I crested one ridge only to see another before me, I began to ask myself, “And why did I want to do this?” This would become a pattern.
And then, we finally we reached the top of the last ridge. The rest was easy. A lovely jaunt along the top of the ridge, a hike past hardy souls camping in trucks parked here and there along the many old mine roads, a steep drop down a slope of loose rocks, and down into the gulch to a sheltered lunch spot. There B. and I lunched regally on leftover sesame beef and rice from last night's dinner -- no sandwiches for us! The walk down Nightmare Gulch was the highlight of the trip. I'd hate to be there in the rain, but the results of rain and wind, the sculptured walls in many shades of red, are spectacular.
Awesome blog. I hope someday I can trek the Milford Trail too. For now, I'll just have to live vicariously through your adventures. Keep us posted on your Jupiter travels.
Posted by: Heather | July 31, 2007 at 02:58 PM