Friday, September 25, 2015
Today I did a test / training hike from home to Morgan. I wanted to try some things.
1. How would I like hiking 15 miles by myself. Answer: I loved it. It just verified to me that I really would like hiking the Appalachain Trail.. When I was in high school I would go fishing by myself. My mother would ask how I could enjoy doing that by myself. I don't know, but I do know I liked it.
2. I just bought some boots. I was concerned how they would work out with my orthodics. Around the house they were feeling a little tight. This morning just before starting the hike I cut the foot pad so it covered my toe section and had my orthodic cover from the ball of my feet to the back. I wore two pair of socks. It was a tough hike on my feet with steep up and down mountains.. Just what I wanted so I could test my new boots. They did great. Not one blister, or hot spot. I am very glad as that relieves a major concern of mine. Blisters and feet.
3. I wanted to train and see how I felt at the end of 15 miles. I was very tired. I need to condition more to get up my endurance. I made a major mistake and didn't take enought water. That caused me to get weak faster. I had enough water for six hours, but not 11 hours. In the future I will always take my pump, and purification pills.
I had a problem with severe cramps in every muscle in both legs. I had the first one just as I reached the top of the Wasatch Front, abut 5 1/2 miles into the hike.. I had many as I went down hill. In all of my years of hiking I have never had even one cramp from hiking. I also have very few at home. When we hiked to Mnt. Whitney a couple weeks ago we hiked 14 1/2 miles on the last day. I had no cramps on that hike. Since I started taking vitamins and minerals to help with my cholestrol about 4 weeks ago I have started having some cramps. I think my problem might be related to that.
Here are the statistics:
Left home at 0615. Finished at first home I got to at 1730.
Reached the top of the Wasatch Front at about 1000. Hike time 3:47.
Elevation at top was 9320. Elevation climbed: 4597'. Elevation descened: 143'.
Elvation at destination: 5510'. Elevation descended: 4790'. Elevation climbed: 1115'.
Distance 15.1. I made my 15 miles goal. Average speed: 1.34 mph. Far short from my goal of 3 mph. I am happy that I averaged 1.34 after what I had to go through. The speed on the first 5 miles while climbing to the top was 1.3 mph. That is what I expected. I had hoped to make close to 3.0 mph for the entire hike. I felt good about what I accomplished.
In summary I had a very tough hike because my iPad App showed trails and roads where there were not any. I ended up bushwacking about 7 miles out of 15. I got my legs scratched up because I wore shorts. Linda was concerned because it took 11 hours instead of the 6 I planned on. She was concerned I would be stuck in the wilderness for overnight. I could see my destination the entire time and had cell phone coverage except when in a ravine. There is no question in my mind that this hike was tougher than any portion would be on the Appalachian Trail. The only thing that could make the Applachian Trail tougher would be the weather. The weather on this hike was perfect. It was clear skies and mild temperature. A perfect temperature for hiking.
As a note I got off the trail 8 times. This happened because there was no real trail and I would follow possible trails. I had to back track to get back on my route up or down the mountain. These side tracks helped me get my 15 miles, but also slowed down my total time, and thus slowed down my speed.
Here are the details.
I left home while it was still dark. I got to the Peterson's and found the trail without a problem. It lead to the trail that goes along the base of the mountain. I started following it expecting to see the trail turn uphill. I realized that it was not going to head uphill. It was still dark. There had been a sign showing the trail being the one I was on. I then realized that was where I should have turned uphill. Rather than backtracking I headed uphill. At this point I started wishing I hadn't worn shorts. It would be a long day of scratching and making my legs bleed. It was interesting to me how I could just plow through even though ever scractch and bleeding hurt.
Once I got on the trail it went well. The trail was very clear. It went slow as it is about a 45ยบ climb. The trail continued up to the thumb and the cabin past that. After that I lost the trail again. Very tough going. I had to go through some high brush. I finally found the trail again, but would lose it off and on as it wasn't a well established trail. Where there wasn't any brush it would disappear. Where there was brush I could follow it, but it had brush into it which scratched my legs. I finally got to the top. That was about 5 miles horizontal.
It took just under 4 hours to get to the top. There was a crystal blue sky and crisp breeze. It felt great. Here is a picture back toward home.
Here is a picture toward the east, toward Morgan.
I walked toward the south on the established trail along the ridge. I walked about 1/2 mile. It was great being on a well maintained established trail.
I turned uphill to get right on the ridge so I could hike down to Smith Creek Lake that sat below the ridge line. My app was very helpful in determing where to climb up the hilll. The trail had swung aroung the west side of a peak. As I started up the very steep bank I got my first cramp on my right upper inner thigh. If I would have know I would continue to get them I would have turned around, called Linda, and head back down toward home. So much for hind sight. My thinking was that with going down hill I would not get the cramps. I didn't get any more for quit awhile. I was probably 1/3 the way down before I started getting more. After that it was every muscle in both legs. Fortunately, I could just stand, stretch and in about 4 to 5 minutes they would go away. I could then start hiking again.
It was beautiful looking down on the lake. Here is a picture. Morgan is in the background. As I said earlier I could see my destination once I was over the ridge and had phone contact 90% of the time. I had several text and phone conversations with Linda and Cambria.
It was pretty much no trail down the hill. My app showed a trail following the stream all of the way down. I kept looking for it. I was thinking that there was a trail at one time. I would run into sections that appeared to be a trail that would end abruptly. I had several roads / 4 wheel trails cross the stream. One I started to follow, but when it went around a ridge it started uphill. The problem with following any of the crossing roads/trails is that they all left the stream and gave no indication if they were headed uphill, or down and how long they would go before turning down. So, ever time I figured it was better to stay with the stream that always headed down and with the some times trail.
Here is a picture looking back up from where I came from. At this point I started following a road. I gave up on it after about 1/3 of a mile because it started going uphill. This is about 1/3 the way down the hill. The upper part was the easiest part of the bushwhacking. Later got much worse. Up above was pretty much open. This is where I expected to pick up a good trail. No more bushwhacking, I thought. Boy was I in for a surprise.
The plan was for me to be out in about 6 hours. Linda and Cambria came to pick me up. We sent text back and forth in which I told them I was way behind on schedule because of not having a trail. I would be hours longer. They decided to take Cambria back and then come get me when I called. That was a good decision. Before they headed home I gave them my coordinates because I thought I was coming to a road. They tried to get to me but ran into locked gates. When I got to the road, any way where the app showed there was one, there wasn't one. It was a canal, a dried up, washed out one. I was very disappointed. I again came to a crossing trail. I started following it as it followed the canal. After a 100 yards it ended.
I pretty much followed the washed out canal. Finally there developed a good cattle trail. Not the straightest, but at least out of the brush. By this time I was out of energy. Good thing I was headed down hill.
After about an hour I finally got on the dirt 4 wheeler road that was on the app. Then I saw a sign showing lots for sale. I still had to go through a gate. Then I finally got to the first house which I had been looking at for several hours. As I came up to it 3 young men riding four wheelers came up to me. I told them I needed some water. That I had been hiking all day. They were amazed that I had hiked over the mountain. They probably thought I was crazy. They asked why I had done it. I explained my Appalachian Trail hike. They were very nice and gave me two bottles of water and filled my 2 liter water bladder. I drank both bottles. I called Linda and she headed out to get me. Sharlyn called me at that time, just as I was having leg cramps. I tried to talk, but had a tough time. I called her later and explained why I didn't talk much.
One of the young men gave me a ride down to the main road. That saved me at least 1 mile of walking. It was paved downhill road so it would not have been to bad. The entire time I was in his truck I was having leg cramps. I don't think I would have had them if I had been walking, but not sure. I was glad to get the water and the ride.
In future
I will make sure I do a better job of hydrating myself. I am not sure the shortage of water caused the leg cramps. I have been as thristy before and never got cramps. I will also take some cramping pills which I think are mostly salt.
while waiting for Linda I called Nathan. He said he lies down to help the cramps go away. I did that and they did go away. While lying there I laid my head back on my backpack and drank water from my bladder. The young man had put ice in it. It was wonderful. I then made phone calls to people that had called me. Cambria, Sharlyn, and Mark Oakes. I also talked with Linda to help her with directions. When Linda got there I started to get up and immediately had cramps. I laid down again. She loaded my hat and backpack. She was a real life savior. I rolled over and did a push up to keep my legs straight. I climbed in the back. Linda had lowared the back seat. I road home flat as I could. My legs didn't cramp as long as I laid there. When I got home they cramped a little as I got out. I took the cramp medicine Linda had. I kept standing. I didn't have any more cramps, even when I got in the bathtub, or went to bed. I did get a small one in my lower outside left leg that would wake me up. I would stretch it, it would go away, and I would fall back to sleep. After this happening about 4 times I massaged it really hard and didn't have any more cramps. I slept through the night.
The next day my legs were sore like from a long hike. I wasn't sure if it was from the hike, or cramps. Either way in a couple days they felt okay. My scratches are healing. I am keeping Neosporin on them. Hopefully, that will help not have to many scars.
Linda was very good in being patient with me while I was havng cramps. She was so concerned about me that she was wondering it she should call in rescuers. She called Tyler who reassured her that I was fine and able to spend the night in the woods if I needed to. I got out several hours before dark. If the cramps had been bad enough I could have spent the night. It would have been fun except for trying to convince Linda I was okay. I would have been a little cold, but nothing dangerous. I would have had to drink out of the creek. There were a lot of cows around. So, sickness would have been a possibility.
Overall though, it was a great hike.
