Saturday, July 17, 2021

Hikes: Summary as of July 17, 2021

 

I've been keep track of the mileage and elevation gains for all my hikes since 2018.

I hiked in California to Agnew Lake near June Lake during my May-June 2018 Road Trip.
This was the second time, the first being with Julea & Cynthia when we camped near Mammoth.

2019 was a strange year. I don't recall any hikes. In fact, I took a road trip across the northwest: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana. I did A LOT of driving and no hiking. I walked around Wallowa Mtns viewpoint, also from my motel to the waterfront park in Coeur d'Alene, ID and Spokane, WA, and the restaurant area in Whitefish, MT. I spent so much time driving to the Going to the Sun Road and the Logan Pass Visitor Center. It was too late to hike to Hidden Lake.

Right before the pandemic hit, I took a trip to MSH and hiked the Hummocks Trail loop. It wasn't until July when I ventured up to hike the Vista Ridge Trail that something was ignited. Just two weeks later I was exploring central Washington and hiked 12 miles to Kendall Katwalk. Then, Crater Lakes, WA near Lake Chelan a couple of days later.

2021 was really when things go rolling! My last hike in 2020 was actually a snow shoe adventure at White River. But, early Feb was my first venture up Hamilton Mtn; I only made it to Little Hamilton.

I'm up to 36 hikes this year and have climbed almost 47K feet.

Last Oct, I was out road tripping and randomly stopped at Climber's Bivouac. I just meant to hike on the Ptarmigan Trail until I got tired or hit like 15K steps. I didn't even have a permit to go above the treeline (4000 ft). It seemed doable. I planned to go back on Nov 1st when no permits were required. I left Portland at 6am and made it to the area by 7:30ish. There were so many cars, I was going to be far from the trailhead. Too many people too. I ended up hiking the Ape Canyon Trail for the first time. I even explored Lava Canyon as well. In hindsight I was not ready to summit MSH.

All my recent activity is partly motivated by wanted to be fit & ready to reach the top (4.1 miles, 4000 ft climb). There's a new permitting process this year so I won't be able to try to get a permit until Aug 1st for September climbs.