My regular readers might have noticed that I didn't add much to this blog yesterday, and it tood forever for comments to be approved and posted. There's a good reason, and it wasn't laziness.
A couple friends and I went up into the Sierra to go hiking yesterday. I'm apparently not 25 anymore, which is how old I was when I hiked the 14 miles (and 7,000 vertical feet) up the Barr Trail to the summit of Pikes Peak in 5 1/2 hrs, and after a 45 min rest turned around and hiked the 14 miles back down in 4 1/2 hrs.
No, nothing so dramatic this time.
We hiked up Round Top in the El Dorado National Forest, east of Sacramento and kinda-sorta on the way to Lake Tahoe. I wish we'd known yesterday about the station mentioned in that link, although one friend said he did see remnants of a foundation.
Last year when we hiked it there was no snow at all. It was a long winter this year and snow was still abundant. The small lake partway up--still lots of ice, with a deep blue arctic color. Summit pictures I've seen on other web sites don't do it justice--it's steep, it's jagged, and the wind blows viciously. It's no Everest, but for us rookies, it's a fairly good hike.
Good thing I went in the hot tub last night. Muscles are only moderately sore today!
If you even get the chance to visit Big Bend in west Texas, hike the Window. I would suggest going in the spring or fall. It's a great hike, and the notch overlooks a desert valley from about 600 feet. In spring there are often wild flowers when they have had rain. We hiked and rode horses all around Sant Elena Canyon and the mountains there. Pretty remote and totally amazing part of the United States.
ReplyDeleteDarren,
ReplyDeleteYou must have been hallucinating. With global warming, it's simply impossible that there could have been more snow this year than last. To mention that the winter is longer... total blasphemy!
Chris