Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room I am declaring this Saturday August 21st "Moose Tracks Day"

I am declaring this Saturday August 21st "Moose Tracks Day" in honor of Laura setting a record for the first female in the Sierra Challenge to do 10 peaks in 10 days! Here is what you need to do- wear anything orange and if possible do something "epic" while wearing it!

Then post your picture on facebook or the Whitney Zone thread to show her how much we LOVE her! I know I for one am in awe of her accomplishments!

I'm in...going up Baldy, starting at the village, on Sat. First time on this trail. My trekking poles have orange racing stripes, but I'm going to dig through the closet and dresser...gotta have something more with orange.

wazzu....you're getting some really good hikes in. Back to back, San Jacinto and Baldy on a tough trail. I see you're hiking Mt Whitney late September. How is your training going?

I haven't done Baldy from the Bear Canyon Trail. I am planning to hike this weekend, but not sure where. Maybe SJ or Baldy. If I'm on Baldy, I'll look for the poles. What time are you leaving the Visitor Center?

I'm really excited for your Whitney hike.....good luck and keep posting TR's.

quillansculpture...i'm going to attempt my version of a epic day hike. 6 peaks over 20+ miles. Want to see how my endurance is shaping up. Longest training hike so far has been 17 miles. Time to push it a little on the distance.

Park at Ice House Canyon, sometime between 4:30am - 5am, all depends when I drag my backside out of bed after the alarm goes off.
Walk down the road to the village, picking up my permit along the way. Up the Bear Canyon trail to West Baldy & Old Baldy. (2 peaks)
Down the Devils Backbone, tagging Harwood (1 more peak). Stopping at the lodge/restautrant at the top of the ski lift for lunch and evaluate the weather and my physical condition.
If all ok, then over to Baldy notch to start tackling the 3 T peaks. (Thunder, Telegraph, Timber)
Descent through Ice House Canyon to the car. May take Chapman trail, want to make sure I get as much milage as possible.

Not even close to some of the hikes Moose and the other Sierra Challengers have accomplished, but worthy enough of something orange.

I am "IMPRESSED". If you even adventure to do your plan, then Whitney will be fairly easy for you. Your going to be doing appx 6000 ft in 6 miles just at the start. That's much harder than the first 6 to Trail Camp and within a few hundred (appx) of Whitney summit. Add that to the 100 degree weather tomorrow, some humidity and you've got yourself a real challenge.

You'll be schooling us. PLEASE give a TR, even if you have to cut it short at the notch. Last time I was up there, they were trying to remove a bear. I guess it was being fed by idiots at the San Antonio Falls Parking lot.

Good luck.

Hey wazzu.....You said you are picking up a permit for Baldy. I've hiked it a few times and the rangers told me I didn't need a permit. Is this new?

For Baldy, no permit needed. Once I get past the notch towards the 3 T's (Cucamonga Wilderness)and down Ice House canyon, a permit is needed. Not that I have ever seen a ranger, but since the permits are free and all that is needed to get a permit is a phone call, not a big deal for me. The rangers will put the permit on the bulletin board outside the visitor center for anyone that calls in and will be hiking before the visitor center opens.

I already called today, and the permit should be there for me as I walk by tomorrow morning. So far this year I have hiked Ice House canyon up to Cucamonga peak twice, and both times the permit was outside on the board.

IN CELEBRATION OF THE "FIRST ANNUAL MOOSE TRACKS DAY" or as I call it....Laura's day.

I decided to hike Mt Baldy today. I had been considering San Jacinto, but I was hoping to run into "wazzu"....but no luck. I need to stress, I looked like an idiot today asking people why they were wearing Orange!!!! But, in a minute, I'll tell you what happened that was EPIC.

I went up the Fire Road to Devil's Backbone and then on to the summit. I thought my time was fairly good (for me!) at 2 hours and 40 minutes to reach the summit. Mileage: 6.8, Elevation gain of 3904. I took a 20 minute break and ate lunch and "stared' at all the people wearing Orange. Very nice medium velocity breeze up most of the backbone and the summit. It was a cool breeze that made hiking very pleasant. Then I headed down the Baldy Bowl and reached the parking lot in 1:45. I left early (again for me) at 7:20 A.M. after a 75 mile drive from Murrieta. I'm happy I got on the mountain early as the faces of those people coming up in the heat of the day were dreadful.

I looked form wazzu, but he told me he was leaving very early from Bear Canyon and we just didn't pass. I checked every hiking pole for Orange stripes. I did stop someone with a bright Red to Orange pole and he thought I was nuts. I mean seriously, how would you answer the question...."Are you wazzu?"

My EPIC is more just a really cute story. A woman training for the "Run to the Top" in two weeks was coming from the summit. I asked her why she was wearing an Orange scarf. She asked me why I asked. I then went on to tell her all about Laura and her adventures on the 2010 Sierra Challenge. I went on for a few minutes. She was very impressed. I told her I looked all around my house for Orange, but didn't have any.......
So, she said, "then I should give you my Orange scarf" and she took her scarf off and tied it to the front of my backpack! I got GOOSEBUMPS. I just thought that was really a nice thing for a person to do while they are on a training run and near the summit of Baldy. Thank you Wendy! And thank you Laura for giving me the chance not only to tell people about you, but to just give me a chance to meet a lot of people wearing Orange.

There is a picture of me wearing orange, and nothing but orange.

In the general interest of humanity, we will not show it.

quillansculpture...I'm so sorry I mised you. And thanks for trying to track me down. I could have used a new friend on the trail today. Today goes under the heading 'Just not my day today'.
Got started at 4:30am walking down from ice house canyon to the bear canyon TH, made the TH at 5:10am. Was plodding up the trail, which was kicking my butt, around the 3.5 mile I noticed I had to tighten up the laces on my right boot for the 3rd time. In doing so, the top outside hook broke off. Re-lace the boot and continued up. It just didn't feel good. Stopped to re-lace again. Around the 4 mile mark I rolled my ankle. Tried to re-lace again, and the inside top hook broke. Now the boot is really loose and my foot just does not feel comfortable.

Now I'm wondering, 'is this the day to attempt 20+ miles'? Do I go up to the summit (about 2 more miles) and down the devils backbone like I had planned to my bailout of the ski lodge, take the ski lift down and either walk down /hitch a ride to the car OR do I go down Bear Canyon trail and walk up to the car? I decided to go down the way I came up. I figured I would be back in Baldy village after 4 miles, and if I rolled my ankle again, a little closer to a place to get help. Didn't want to be on the devils backbone and not be able to walk.

By the time I got to the houses, where the dirt trail ends and the pavement begins, my ankle was really starting to throb. I was second guessing my decision to come down, as this was a day to celebrate some really hardy folks who managed to hike 10 peaks in 10 days, and I was bailing over a loose boot and sore ankle, but near the end I could hardly put weight on the right foot. Took some advil and manged to get back to the car a little before noon. For me, I made the right call.

Anyway, based on my slow pace at the time, and no boot failure, I would have hit the summit around 10 to 10:30am, we would have been there about the same time. Sounds like you had a much better pace, and definately a better day. Congrats!!!

I saw a few people wearing orange and asked the same thing, if they knew Moose...I probably got the same looks asking about Moose as you did asking about wazzu.

I explained today was to celebrate the SC and Moose in particular. Everyone thought that was an incredible challenge and really got some positive comments that I was acknowledging the day for people I haven't met. One guy I spoke with that had a orange shirt said it was just a shirt to him, but after hearing the story of Moose and the SC, he was going to think about the story everytime he wore it. He was going to try and find this site and post his pic from the baldy summit.

I had read the baldy village/bear canyon trail was tough and it didn't disappoint. The sun exposure was harsh on the hot day that it was. The breeze felt good, but the next time I attempt this trail will be on a cooler day, say Oct or Nov.

BTW, wazzu is for Washington State Univerity (WSU)

Had that one figured out with your very first post . . .

Heal the ankle, fix/replace the boot, and get back to it. You'll do fine on Whitney.

Sorry about your day....but good news. You got the crap outta the way. My lace broke one hike before Whitney, so that's a good thing. You'll have new laces and your ankle will be fine. My advice...ICE it NOW! Take your advil and ice. Rest it and it will better than new.
Write soon.

Quillansculpture & Bulldog,

Thanks for the support. Went to A16 today and picked up a new pair of boots. Will start breaking them in this week.

To try to get back on topic, here's my yellow poles with the orange racing stripes. They didn't make the summit, but they were out on a beautiful day. Congrats to Moose!!!



I'll need a few tips on how to get the image to display on the screen.

> I'll need a few tips on how to get the image to display on the screen.

I changed the above to display the picture. Here's how:
I went to the link you provided: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcole101/4918133086/
Right-clicked on the picture.
selected "View available sizes, Medium 500"
That gave me this screen: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcole101/4918133086/sizes/s/in/photostream/
And I could choose which size picture to display. Using Firefox, I right-click on the image and one of the options is: copy image location, which I clicked.
I then changed the post by setting up the [img]...[/img] tags and pasting the copied url of the image between the tags.

You only have a bit more than a month to go for your hike, so I would take your boots to the gym with you, to work with you.....in fact every couple of days, I would wear them for a few hours. Make sure you get socks and liners and test them. I guess I'm just saying you have a short time to work them in. Good luck. Let us know what boots you got.

I'm so excited for your Whitney hike, I wish I could be there.

I'm now the owner of a brand new pair of Lowa - Jannu Mid Ls. The staff at the Oceanside Adveture 16 were extremly helpful. Had 8 pairs of boots out on the floor at one time. Different makes/models/sizes.

They have been on & off a few times today around the house. So far, so good. Will be going to Crystal Cove everyday after work to get as much milage as possible.

SteveC,

Thanks for the help. I'll be sure to follow your instructions next time!

wazzu

re: next time-- no worries. There are a few steps, tough to remember unless you do it all the time.

I certainly don't mind fixing it up whenever necessary.