Let's Head to the Hills!: 2010

Monday, July 26, 2010

Pomerelle Hike with Carson

I took our oldest boy Carson on a hike to local ski area Pomerelle on Saturday. He has been telling me that he wants to climb Cache Peak and other mountains with me. There is a local mountain near that is dubbed the "D". D standing for the small town of Declo. It is a good training hike where you gain 1300 ft in elevation and it takes less than an hour to get to the top. Carson really wants to hike the D, but there are some really steep (but short) sections that I am afraid he would have a hard time coming down from. Consolation prize for Saturday: head for Pomerelle. We parked in the parking lot and headed up the run called Milk. Very appropriate because there were cows and cowpies everywhere.

Here is Carson in all his hiking gear. Trekking poles and $2 binoculars!!

He really was a good little hiker.

There were beautiful mountain flowers everywhere!

Self portrait with Big C in the background.

There you are: you big messy cows!!!

It wasnt long before I was carrying all four hiking poles so that Carson could use his binoculars.

This is the half pipe. Full of weeds and trees. Not too much "vert" here!

Loved this picture of Carson....wish it came through better.

We drove to the top of Mt Harrison. Congrats Carson on "bagging" your first peak.....even if we drove to get there. To the left of Carson's head is Cache Peak.....maybe after a few more peaks and hikes, we can hit Cache!!

The skull and cross bones shirt is for Brig C !!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Redfish Lake

Last weekend, we went to Redfish Lake to spend some time with some good friends and their families. I hadnt been to Redfish since I was in high school. What an awesome place!! The Sawtooth are an amazing mountain range.

Because our kids were up at the crack of dawn, we took them on a hike.....didnt want to wake the rest of the camp. Yes, the boys are still in their jammies here.

Logan chillin' in the carrier.

Carson and Nate looking for fish off the bridge.

The beaches at Redfish were nice. The water was a little chilly.

This is my favorite picture of the trip. Grand Mogul to the left and Mt Heyburn to the right (along with a few others mountains that I couldnt figure out the names).

The boys would cry each time we left the lake.

On the way home, we stopped at the fish hatchery south of Redfish.

They let Carson and Nate fish for free in the kids' pond. Worms were also provided.

These little fish were killing me. They were trying to jump up over this wall.

Carson: the concentration.

The joy!! Carson reeling in his 1st fish ever!

The Spoils! At least for a minute: we threw him back after the picture.

I loved this picture: Carson and Nate looking down into the runs to see the large salmon....and little Logan trying to get there!

What a great trip! It was fun to be with good friends. The scenery was great! The company was great! I would recommend Redfish to anyone looking for an awsome place to get away!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Mt Whitney

I have looked forward to seeing Mt Whitney for a long time.

In May 2009, I went on a hike with a great friend Michael Monson to Ben Lomond Peak down in Utah. Mike mentioned that he and some friends were planning to hike Mt Whitney in just a few weeks. This piqued my interest: on idahosummits.com, I had read Dan Robbins trip report from when he went to Whitney. So, hearing Mike talk about this got me interested. In fact, last summer I contemplated going with Mike and his crew, but schedule didnt work out.

Shortly after the Ben Lomond hike, my wife and I met up with good friends Brig and Steph down in Salt Lake. I told Brig about Mike's trip to Whitney.We tossed around the idea of doing Whitney together, but not too serious :)

Fast forward to January of this year. I get a call from Brig. "Dude, you still want to hike Mt Whitney?" With a big gulp, I said Yes.

I had already been training, mostly to stay in shape. I quickly bumped up routine. DANG the treadmill.....lots of hours spent there.....mostly walking with the incline up. I hiked the D Mountain south of Declo a few times. Great place to train!!

Two weeks before Whitney, I decided to do a training hike up by Pomerelle, our local ski hill. I parked at the bottom of the Pomerelle road and walked the 7 miles to the ski hill parking lot. I put on the crampons (never been used) and hiked to the top of the mountain. Pretty routine hike. On the way down, with 3 miles left to go, my right foot started hurting. By the time I got to the car, I could barely walk. I went and talked to my dad. He thought I had plantar fasciitis. The Rx was to take it easy the next few weeks and to take Ibuprofen 3X a day.

Jeremy Bennett and I left Burley at 6:00 Tuesday June 22nd. We made it down to Lone Pine in about 11 hours. Brig met us at the Visitors center an hour later. We cruised up to the Whitney Portal to try to find a walkin campsite: there were several still available. We went to the Whitney Portal Store for the legendary burgers and fries. They didnt disappoint. It was fun to meet Doug and Earlene Thompson, the owners of the store. Doug wrote a book called "Mount Whitney: Mountain Lore from the Whitney Store".......which is a very good read.

My brother Scott and his step father-in-law rolled into camp sometime around midnight.

We had breakfast at the portal store. The pancakes were massive and yummy.

To burn time and to acclimate, we went on a hike to Cottonwood pass, a trail that starts at 10,000 feet elevation. Very cool area and hike.

Here is Brig and Jeremy chillin' !

Picture out of place: Visitors center

Trailhead to Mt Whitney

Jeremy

Dave

GQ Brig

Looking towards Cottonwood Pass

This area was very sandy. The trail felt like walking at a beach.

Self- portrait: mostly wanted to show off $10 glasses from Maverick. Tom Cruise eat your heart out!

The Portal Store

Breakfast!

Morning of the hike: We woke up at 3:00 and were on the trail by 3:45. It was awesome to hike with headlamps on. The sunrise here was amazing.

The crew taking a break.

Mike Monson described these mountains as "dramatic". They were indeed.

Mt Muir from Trial Camp

Whitney and the Needles from Trial Camp

A good look at the switchbacks and the chute to the right that most people were ascending. Lots of snow on a few of the critical switchbacks.

Upon arriving at Trial Camp (12,000 ft), I had a hard decision to make. My foot had flared back up. I didnt know if it could handle going up the chute on my tippy toes with crampons. After thinking it through, I decided to call it a day. To make it significant to me from a hiker's standpoint, I decided to press on to at least get to the same elevation of Mt Borah, the high point in Idaho, 12,662 ft. I wanted to see that I could at least hack the elevation in Idaho.

This picture was taken a few months ago.I like it cause it shows the chute and the switchbacks. Pretty steep stuff. No wonder they made 97 switchbacks to get to Trail Crest.