Split Mountain happens again! Last year I failed on Split Mountain after getting to around 13,300ft and completing all the difficult climbing. This was my second time leading this climb and third attempt at the peak. I was determined to get to the top. It was also two weeks of me not drinking and I intended to discover how much damage beer had been doing to my physical abilities.
Continue reading “Split Mountain – June 21-23”Northfield Mountain – July 5
While home in Connecticut, my dad wanted to go on a hike with me. I happily agreed! After discussing some options, we settled on a new place that he hadn’t explored yet called Northfield Mountain. This is a man-made structure used for hydroelectric power generation and features a large reservoir at 1,100 ft.
Continue reading “Northfield Mountain – July 5”Mount Rainier – June 5-10
Long Intro – can / should skip
June 5th passed like any other Wednesday. I dragged myself to work, did some chemistry and went to group meeting at 5pm. But instead of going back to the hood to continue working, I grabbed my backpack and duffel bag and caught an Uber to the airport. There, I met up with my friends Nick and Alicia and boarded the same plane to Seattle. Once in Seattle, we picked up our rental car, a Ford Flex, which is one of the weirdest cars I’ve been in. It is four wheel drive, has a huge trunk and has about three inches of ground clearance… Who came up with that? Luckily, Alicia has a friend in Seattle who was gone for the weekend and allowed us to use her apartment as a pseudo base camp to organize gear and prepare for the hike. Around midnight we went to sleep.
San Gorgonio with Dollar Lake Camp
We scheduled a San Gorgonio day hike from South Fork and during the preparations I learned that the lake levels for Dry and Dollar Lakes where as high as they hadn’t been in years. Since I had never seen Dollar Lake with water Srisuda and I decided to make it an overnight hike with a camp at Dollar Lake.
Continue reading “San Gorgonio with Dollar Lake Camp”Guatay Mountain June 20
Legend has it that a Kumeyaay chief is buried somewhere on Guatay Mountain and his ghost has visited the little community of Guatay over the years. He supposedly has protected the mountain from Fire. It has not ever burned. I set out to find the chief.Continue reading “Guatay Mountain June 20”
Mount Marie Louise and Constance Peak June 11 & 14
The trip to the cabin this month was planned mostly a work trip to take care of some of the damage incurred during this last severe winter. But taking some time out, I did get to bag Mount Marie Louise and Constance Peak.Continue reading “Mount Marie Louise and Constance Peak June 11 & 14”
Delamar and The Pinnacles April 27-28, 2019
There are 5 peaks in the Big Bear area that everyone is supposed to hike (Bertha, Delamar, Gold, Grey’s, and Sugarloaf) to get a Sierra Club patch. Dorie was missing Delamar and we had to bag it. It’s a very short 1.8-mile round trip, but the trail is faint and very steep. We made it, had a nice snack with views of snow-covered San Gorgonio. However, in researching how to get her patch, I found out that the summits had to be on a ranger guided hike. I don’t qualify.
Continue reading “Delamar and The Pinnacles April 27-28, 2019”Seven Pines Spring Hike, April 24th 2019
Matt came to town for a visit and naturally we wanted to do a hike. Initially we planned to do a nice desert hike, but then temperatures for the available dates were forecast way too high. So we settled on a “classic”, 7 Pines Trail on San Jacinto.
Continue reading “Seven Pines Spring Hike, April 24th 2019”Monument Valley/Rt 66 – April 16-17, 2019
We headed to Monument Valley as the last Utah stop on our adventure. It was everything it was hyped to beContinue reading “Monument Valley/Rt 66 – April 16-17, 2019”
House on Fire/Natural Bridges/Goosenecks/Valley of the Gods – April 14-15, 2019
The plan was to 4WD drive from Moab through the slick-rock area then on to see Newspaper Rock. This is a very large pictograph site. However, Continue reading “House on Fire/Natural Bridges/Goosenecks/Valley of the Gods – April 14-15, 2019”