Monday, May 31, 2010

05/31/10 Post

I’m beginning to get the feeling that the rain will never be going away. What about you? I think it’s been about the soggiest May I’ve ever experienced in the Pacific Northwest. Me and seven other hikers escaped yesterday to the east side of the Cascades for a rain-free hike in the Teanaway (near Cle Elum). While it wasn’t sunny blue skies, we saw the sun quite a bit and enjoyed great views of Mt Stuart and other Enchantment Peaks as we climbed up towards Medra Pass. Our initial plan had been to go all the way to Koppen Mountain, but we lost the trail right below Medra Pass. We decided to call it a day at a ridge close to where we were pretty sure the Koppen Mountain trail was. It was a nice place to hang out and take nap, talk, or just look at the views.

As I was walking up the trail yesterday and enjoying being in the outdoors, I was thinking about the reasons I used to avoid hiking. I was definitely an indoor girl and when asked if I wanted to go hiking I would say, “Why would I want to do that? It’s cold and dirty and there are bears.” Well I have solved the cold problem with decent clothing, I enjoy getting dirty now, and I’ve encountered bears several times and had no problems.

I don’t know about your ability to endure cold or love of getting dirty, but I do know that I hear from many folks both in the course and in the Beginning Hiking Seminar that one of the biggest issues they have with getting into the backcountry is fear of encountering wildlife—specifically bears and mountain lions. Please don’t let this fear stop you from getting out into some really great areas. Instead, learn how to minimize your chance of encountering wildlife in dangerous situations. For excellent trips on how to do this, please read these safety guidelines provided by the National Park Service in Glacier National Park. There are links to tips specifically for bears and mountain lions. I’ve backpacked in this beautiful park and have seen both grizzly bears and moose fairly close up and have not had any problems with them.

What many people fail to realize is that the biggest issue with wildlife is failing to respect the wildness of wildlife. Getting too close to or feeding creatures is a much bigger safety issue than dealing with marauding bears and cougars. Most people get injuries from being bitten or struck by animal—usually by a cute chipmunk or deer while trying to get that close-up picture or when giving them something to eat. I think I had my worst encounter with wildlife at a picnic spot in North Cascades National Park where a jay habituated to human food was dive-bombing Matt and I at a picnic table as we ate our lunch. This bird was actually landing on our heads and arms trying to get us to give it something to eat! In contrast, the bears I’ve seen either took one look at me and headed the other way, or continued browsing on the huckleberries.

So here’s the best advice I can give for dealing with all wildlife (provided by the Yosemite National Park web site):

Keep Wildlife Wild:

· Respect animals at a distance: never feed or approach them.

· Keep your distance from animals, even if they approach you.

· Dispose of trash in animal-proof trash cans or dumpsters.

· Keep your food and trash from wildlife by storing it properly, day and night.

If we can minimize the reasons why animals desire to approach humans in the first place, then the chance of having a negative or dangerous encounter will be minimized.

June Hike Signup:

Steve Payne has valiantly offered a CHS 1 hike on June 6th to Camp Pleasant. See the hike description on June hike descriptions document on the CHS web site Resources tab (http://www.mountaineers.org/seattle/chs/CHS/Class_Resources.html)

June CHS hikes are available for signup. Open signup for more than two hikes will begin on Thursday, June 3rd at 9:00 AM. If you haven’t signed up for your two required hikes yet, please do so before then in order to have the best selection. Below are the hikes with space still available.

CHS1:

6/06 (Sun.)—Steve Payne, Pleasant Camp (13,5 miles, 1000’ gain)

6/12 (Sat)—Barry Kellems, Oyster Dome/Lilly Lake (10 miles, 2200’ gain)

6/13 (Sun)—Steve Payne, Ingalls Creek (12 miles, 1,200’ gain)

6/20 (Sun/Father’s Day)—Anna May Brennan, Pratt-Olallie Saddle (9 miles, 2,400’ gain)

6/20 (Sun/Father's Day)—Go Getter Hike, Jennie Douglas, Navaho Pass (11 miles, 2,900' gain)

6/22 (Tue)—Midweek hike, Jan Davis/Sue Shih, Tronsen Ridge (8 miles, 1,000’ gain)

CHS2:

6/05 (Sat/National Trails Day)—Kelly Cleman, Dirtyface Peak (9 miles, 4,000' gain)

6/06 (Sun)—Barbara Folmer, Teanaway Ridge/Iron Bear Peak (11 miles, 2,300’ gain)

6/12 (Sat.)—Bill Shecket/Barb Motteler, Denny Creek TH to Pratt Lake TH (13 miles, 2,900' gain)

6/13 (Sun.)—Deborah Dickstein, Leaders' Choice (11 miles, 2,500' gain)

6/18 (Fri.)—Midweek hike, Sue Shih, Mt. Baldy (9 miles, 3,000’ gain)

6/27 (Sun.)—Cynthia Stevens/Ellen Purington, Mt. Defiance (11 miles, 3,300’ gain)

CHS Pictures:

John Connelly, our picture guru, asks that you send your May hike pictures to him—he hasn’t seen many for this month and we know that you’re taking them. A link to this web site is listed on the Class Resources tab on the CHS web site.

On your picture email to John, be sure to include the name and date of the hike and the hike leader name in the subject line. You can send your pictures to chshiker2008@gmail.com.

If possible, attach the photos to the email rather than imbed them. In some cases, this might involve resizing them. If you need help doing this, contact John at hiker.chs@gmail.com

WTA Work Party Signup

There is still space in the June WTA/CHS trail maintenance trip on June 26 on the Pratt River Connector. Here is the link to sign up:

Sign-up: http://www.wta.org/groups/CHS

We have the other links available for you to sign up for the trail maintenance work parties being held later this summer in conjunction with WTA. I have posted the WTA document with the links on the CHS web site>Class Resources tab>Course Documents section>2010 CHS Trail Maintenance Flyer link. You can view the date and description of each trip as well as click on the link to sign up for them.

Monday, May 24, 2010

5/24/10 Post

I led a hike yesterday for several CHS graduates and one current year participant to Easton Ridge—a place I’d never hiked before. While the weather was rainy and cloudy over on the west side of the Cascades, we experienced mostly sunny and warmer temperatures on Easton Ridge. The only precipitation was some beautiful flakes of snow falling in the sunshine while we enjoyed pretty darn good views from choice viewspots along the ridge. It seemed as though the sun was hanging out in that area just for us! I mentioned that this hike was new to me and we had to do a tiny bit of route finding at the beginning. There were several junctions that we needed to pay attention to and make sure that everyone made the correct turn—which reminds me of my topic for this week!

I want to discuss a couple of safety issues on the trail this week. First, for trails where there are several junctions, it’s important to wait at all junctions for the whole group to catch up. This way, you know that everyone has taken the correct trail. Secondly, if for some reason you do miss a junction and are beginning to suspect that you’ve taken the wrong trail, then stop and assess the situation. Take out your map (remember why you bring a map?) and figure out if and where you could’ve possibly gone wrong. Take a look at your surroundings, do they look like what you should be encountering on the trail or if you’re heading back down, do you remember coming through this section? If you conclude that you’re not on the correct trail then head back down and figure out where you’ve gone wrong. Hopefully the rest of the group is waiting there for you. If you’re not sure if you are on the right trail, then wait to see if someone else in your group catches up with you. Do not continue to hike on a trail when all signs are telling you that you are not where you should be.

Hike Leaders: be sure to give clear, proactive instructions on what your hikers should do at all junctions or if they’ve suspect they’ve gone down the wrong path. Be sure to require that everyone waits at all junctions.

May & June Hike Signup:

All May CHS hikes are available for open signup. Below are the hikes with space still available.

June hike descriptions will be sent out to you via email on Monday morning. Signup will begin on Wednesday, May 26th at 9:00 AM. Remember if you want to see what hikes we’re scheduling in the months ahead, look at the schedules posted and updated on the CHS website in the Class Resources section.

CHS1:

5/29 (Sat.)—Barry Kellems, CHS Grads Hike: Annette Lake (7.5 miles, 1400’ gain)—Current course members can sign up now.

CHS2:

5/30 (Sun.)—Shep Griswold, Squire Creek (9 miles, 2,400’ gain)—hike is full with no waitlist.

CHS Pictures:

John Connelly, our picture guru, asks that you send your May hike pictures to him—he hasn’t seen many for this month and we know that you’re taking them. A link to this web site is listed on the Class Resources tab on the CHS web site.

On your picture email to John, be sure to include the name and date of the hike and the hike leader name in the subject line. You can send your pictures to chshiker2008@gmail.com.

If possible, attach the photos to the email rather than imbed them. In some cases, this might involve resizing them. If you need help doing this, contact John at hiker.chs@gmail.com

WTA Work Party Signup

We have the links available for you to sign up for the trail maintenance work parties being held later this summer in conjunction with WTA. I have posted the WTA document with the links on the CHS web site>Class Resources tab>Course Documents section>2010 CHS Trail Maintenance Flyer link. You can view the date and description of each trip as well as click on the link to sign up for them.

Monday, May 17, 2010

5/17/2010 Post

Sorry I’m a bit tardy in getting this out. I went on Matt’s CHS 2 hike to Snoqualmie Middle Fork yesterday and ran out of time last night. We had a really fun hike on a beautiful trail I’d never hiked before. The Middle Fork Snoqualmie was running high with lots of snowmelt and was really beautiful. The weather stayed pretty nice too and we enjoyed lots of sunshine and warm temperatures.

I’m sharing a couple of pictures from my Grand Canyon trip in this blog. I’ve also added a few I have from my Angel’s Landing trip to the blog I posted on 5/9. You can see the nice drop off below us and how close to the edge we had to walk.

In Grand Canyon, our first day was spent hiking down into the canyon on the Hermit Trail. It’s a non-maintained trail that’s a lot rockier than some of the other more popular corridor trails. The views were wonderful and it was nice and sunny, but the wind was something fierce and several times I almost got blown off my feet (see photo of me trying to stand my ground and keep hold of my hat). One of my hiking partners did get blown over at one point—fortunately we were on fairly level land at that point so she wasn’t injured. At least the wind cut the heat a bit—it was above 80 degrees at one point and my brain was starting to cook a bit. I was sure glad to see our camp for the night and have some grub! Other pictures include the canyon with some interesting weather overhead and a nice shot of the Colorado River.

One thing that backpacking and hiking has taught me is the value of food planning and making sure that I don’t neglect to bring a decent amount of food and eat it along the way. But even I still mess up sometimes and come up short in the calorie planning area. On yesterday’s hike, I had enough food to get me through the hike just fine, but I neglected to bring an after-hike snack. Since it was about a 40-minute drive to the dinner spot, I was pretty hungry by the time we reached it. I also noticed that that my extra food portion (Ten Essentials) in my food bag was pretty low, not a good situation if I or someone else ended up needing something extra to munch on.

As the hikes get longer, you should be bringing and eating more food. You should also be bringing more food than you think you might need. Sometimes you’re out longer than you think you might be, or the trail is harder or longer (our 10 mile hike yesterday turned into 12 miles according to the trail signs) than you originally thought, or someone gets hurt and it takes longer to hike out. There are lots of reasons, but the solution is the same—bring lots of snacks and a good lunch and be sure to eat constantly. You must condition yourself to eat before you are even hungry to avoid spiking your blood-sugar levels. This becomes even more important as you pile the miles and gain on your hikes.

I can tell you from first-hand experience it’s no fun to bonk (American slang for experiencing a really low blood-sugar level). You become light-headed, low-energy, nauseous, and really dumb. If you don’t maintain a constant caloric intake, it can happen to you fairly quickly and once you get there, it’s hard to recover. So keep salty, calorific snacks handy to munch on while you walk or if you stop for a moment. Keep your body supplied with a constant amount of energy and you’ll feel much stronger as you put the miles behind you.

CHS Pictures:

John Connelly, our picture guru, has been busy posting the photographs you have sent him onto the Picassa web site. A link to this web site is listed on the Class Resources tab on the CHS web site.

John asks me to remind you to please be sure to include the name and date of the hike and the hike leader name in the subject line. You can send your pictures to chshiker2008@gmail.com.

If possible, John also requests that you attach the photos to the email rather than imbed them. In some cases, this might involve resizing them. If you need help doing this, contact John at chshiker2008@gmail.com.

WTA Work Party Signup

We have the links available for you to sign up for the trail maintenance work parties being held later this summer in conjunction with WTA. I have posted the WTA document with the links on the CHS web site>Class Resources tab>Course Documents section>2010 CHS Trail Maintenance Flyer link. You can view the date and description of each trip as well as click on the link to sign up for them.

Hike Signup:

All May CHS hikes are available for open signup. Here are the hikes with space still available.

June hike information will come out by May 24th. Signup will begin on May 26th.

CHS1:

5/22 (Sat.)—Gregg Pilgreen, Wallace Falls (7 miles, 1,100’ gain)

5/29 (Sat.)—Barry Kellems, CHS Grads Hike: Annette Lake (7.5 miles, 1400’ gain)—Current course members can sign up on May 27th.

CHS2:

5/22 (Sat.)—Deborah Dickstein, Leader’s Choice (10 miles, 2,000’ gain)

5/23 (Sun.)—Kelly Cleman, CHS Grads Hike: Easton Ridge (6 miles, 2270’ gain)—Current course members can sign up on May 20th.

5/30 (Sun.)—Shep Griswold, Squire Creek (9 miles, 2,400’ gain)—hike is full with no waitlist.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

5/9/10 Post



Happy Mothers Day!

I just got back last Tuesday for a wonderful trip to Zion National Park and backpacking in the Grand Canyon. I went with five girlfriends who are also all CHS hike leaders. Over the next several weeks, I’ll tell you about the trip in my blog entries and talk about some lessons learned that apply to equally well to dayhiking.

We spent our first four days in Zion day hiking on various trails throughout the park. The highlight of the trip for me was finally conquering the section of trail known as Angel’s Landing—a half mile section of extremely exposed trail that also requires a scramble up using hands and sometimes pulling myself up using chains imbedded in the rock (see images of trail at http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/album2/pages/angels-landing-c_jpg.htm). I did this hike with Christine Pratt who has experience hiking these types of trails and was an excellent and encouraging hiking partner.

I’d attempted this section several years ago on a trip with Matt and couldn’t even get through the first section. The drop-off from the get-go is about 1500 feet and right next to the trail. One misstep in some sections and you’re gone. I froze on that first section and it took quite a bit of work to get me down again. However, since then I’ve done a lot of work getting myself acclimatized to exposed trails and figuring out what types of situations I can handle. I conquered Half Dome last year and that added a great deal to my confidence in exposed situations. It was glorious to stand on top of Angel’s Landing and get mine and Disco Lion’s picture taken. The trip back down was even fun. Here's a couple of pictures of our trip:

Folks die each year on this trail and so the lesson I want to relate from this event is that as hikers, we need to be aware of the risks we take when we step foot on the trail. Certainly the risks involved in hiking up Angel’s Landing are more visible than most trails in Washington, but even in Zion, lots of folks are injured or die by falling into rivers and either drown or are pummeled as they are swept over falls or through rapids. When we were there, a couple of boys died on the Virgin River when their homemade raft capsized and they drowned. We encounter these same risks in the rivers of Washington. We also have our share of ledges with exposure on many trails. Just last year, a hiker died falling off of Rattlesnake Ledge while trying to get a better view.

On all of your hiking trips, either Mountaineer-led or private, you need to be aware of the risks you take and be able to rationally assess the impacts or your actions. Hike leaders and friends can help you avoid undue hazards, but only you can decide not to step too close to a ledge for a view, step onto that slippery rock at the edge of the raging river, or cross that steep-looking snow slope with the bad runout. On some trips you take, you may ultimately decide that you are unwilling to take risks that others find acceptable. It is up to you. Listen to your inner voice and take responsibility for what it tells you. I saw lots of really scared looking hikers on the Angel's Landing trail that probably should've listened to their inner voice and turned back earlier.

CHS Pictures:
John Connelly, our picture guru, has been busy posting the photographs you have sent him onto the Picassa web site. A link to this web site is listed on the Class Resources tab on the CHS web site (https://www.mountaineers.org/seattle/chs).

John asks me to remind you to please be sure to include the name and date of the hike and the hike leader name in the subject line. You can send your pictures to chshiker2008@gmail.com.

If possible, John also requests that you attach the photos to the email rather than imbed them. You can do this by using your email's attachment tool, navigating to the desired files and selecting them. In some cases because of file sizes, you might need to resize the photos before attaching them. If you need help doing this, contact John at chshiker2008@gmail.com.

WTA Work Party Signup
We have the links available for you to sign up for the trail maintenance work parties being held later this summer in conjunction with WTA. I have posted the WTA document with the links on the CHS web site>Class Resources tab>Course Documents section>2010 CHS Trail Maintenance Flyer link. You can view the date and description of each trip as well as click on the link to sign up for them.

Hike Signup:
All May CHS hikes are available for open signup. Here are the hikes with space still available.

June hike information will come out soon. More details on my next blog entry.

CHS1:

5/16 (Sun) Grads Only hike, Brenda Krauth/Sandy Sieg, Oyster Dome (7 miles, 1,700’ gain)—This hike will be available for current course participants on Thursday morning.
  • 5/16 (Sun.)—Photography hike, Steve Payne/Heidi Walker, Point Defiance Gardens/Fort Nisqually/Camp 6 Logging Museum/Commencement Bay (2 miles, 0’ gain)
  • 5/22 (Sat.)—Gregg Pilgreen, Wallace Falls (7 miles, 1,100’ gain)

  • CHS2:

    5/15 (Sat.)—Michale Kelly, Carbon River Road/Ranger Falls/Green Lake (10 miles, 1,700’ gain)
  • 5/15 (Sat.)—Marion Bauman, Pratt-Olallie Saddle (9 miles, 2,400’ gain)
  • 5/16 (Sun.)—Photography hike, Steve Payne/Heidi Walker, Point Defiance Gardens/Fort Nisqually/Camp 6 Logging Museum/Commencement Bay (2 miles, 0’ gain)
  • 5/16 (Sun.)—Matt Cleman, Middle Fork Snoqualmie River (12 miles, 1,200’ gain)
  • 5/22 (Sat.)—Barbara Folmer, Tronsen Ridge (8 miles, 1,000’ gain)
  • 5/22 (Sat.)—Deborah Dickstein, Leader’s Choice (10 miles, 2,000’ gain)
  • 5/30 (Sun.)—Shep Griswold, Squire Creek (9 miles, 2,400’ gain)
  •