Double Bow
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- Joined
- Apr 29, 2005
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Several months ago, when I first heard about this event, I had plans and goals for it. I had tough training hikes in mind and had strong ideas about what I wanted to accomplish and how I wanted to accomplish it. Funny how life throws you curveballs sometimes. An injured ankle and bad weather severely hurt my training plans.
Still unsure of my ankle, I started off on the longest hike I'd ever attempted. At 5:30am I headed up Valley Way with Frytz, Jade and Rocksandrolls. I couldn't believe how warm it was already! As we headed up, we fell into pairs; Frytz and I leading the charge and gabbing up a storm while Jade and R&R paced themselves. Along the way up, we came across Jim Lombard and a friend of his. When we got to the hut, we saw a ton on people we knew and so we talked a while. It was great to meet some new people and to see some familiar faces. After the break, Frytz said he was going to skip Madison and we wished him well as he set off towards Adams. As we started up Madison, I saw Chomp and stopped to chat a bit. Good to see you, man!
After getting back down to the hut, I stopped for a few seconds and then told jade and R&R that I was heading off to hit J. Q. Adams and that I'd catch up to them on Adams. I was feeling pretty good and was moving well. I caught up to Woody48 and hiked with him and his brother to my turnoff. As I was heading off toward JQ, I was suprised to see a couple guys up there. I didn't think Trailwright's was that popular. Unfortunately, at one point I made a bad move and I slammed my right knee into a boulder so hard that it was bleeding. It hurt like a mutha' but, it wasn't gushing so, I just decided to keep on keepin' on. I met up with jade and R&R on the way up Adams summit and stayed with them from near the summit of Adams to Edmands Col.
There, we took a snack break, afterwhich I felt like I had more energy. I knew that I needed to go faster than we had been going if I was going to get where I wanted to go so, when we started up again, I opened up the throttle and was soon standing on the summit of Jefferson... alone. In fact, from that point on, I was "soloing it" although there were people a little ways ahead or behind me at times. It was a very cool feeling and it gave me the opportunity to really get inside the scariest of all places, my head.
I was in awe as I went across Monticello Lawn and Clay for the first time. Shortly after that though, as I approached the Westside Trail, I felt something strange... I was... running out of energy. The bagel I had for breakfast and the Cliff Bar I had at Edmands Col weren't doing it anymore. Focused on getting to the caf on Washington, I plugged on. Part way up, I saw the Aligator Eggs crew and I stopped for a minute and added some water to my bladder (though I was well hydrated). As I continued up, I started to get a little light-headed. When I reached the summit, I was tired, hungry and irritated by having to wait to touch the summit so I didn't get in the !&$@) tourists pictures.
In the building, I scarfed down a bowl of chili, a slice of pizza, and a Diet Coke while resting and talking with some Views friends. I spent way too long up there (about 45min) but, I needed to rest and I got talking. As I was going to leave, Jim Lombard showed up and told me that jade and R&R where about 15min back. I told him that we had different plans, wished him well and continued on. Now, I was concerned about time. It was late and I still had so far to go. In spite of this, I kept true to my promise and stopped in at Lakes to see my friend Avery who's working Hut Croo there this summer. We chatted a bit and then I took off, only stopped for half a second to say "hi" to MtnMagic, Hikerfast, and Hikeramiga.
I poured out my energy and raced up Monroe, stopped for a few seconds for pictures and continued on. I got a little discouraged seeing how far Eisenhower looked, but I kept on pushing myself as fast as I could. God, my knee hurt! It was getting pretty stiff too. On Eisenhower, I noticed that I could only see people far off ahead, going towards Pierce. I stopped for a minute due to the sign and had another bar. 5min later, I said to myself "OK, time to toughen up and get going" and I headed off again. I was at least going to get to Pierce.
As I went a long, I argued with myself whether or not to go down Crawford. I knew it would be easier. I knew I was hurt. I knew that I didn't "need" any other peaks. Still, I went against my better judgement. While on Pierce, I convinced myself that I could get over to Jackson and head down the Webster-Jackson trail and meet Shamie at the HC in 3 hours.
So, after a quick break on Pierce, I continued, passing Mizpah and going through the wet, muddy, rambling section 'til I got to Jackson where reality set in. I was going to be late and I was going to be going down a PITA trail in the dark with a knee that was in pain. And that's exactly what I did. I slipped a few times on the mud and had to be extra careful following the route one it got dark (even with my headlamp) but slowly, I got out in one piece. Despite my being over an hour late meeting her, when Shamie saw me limping in, she wasn't the least bit upset with me. She did say that I looked "gray" though...
So, I didn't perform as well as I would have liked and there are somethings I would do differently but, I learned a lot about myself from the experience and my story has got some additional donations from folks who hadn't contributed and that's what's really inportant! It's all about the Benjamins...
I took a TON of pictures! Here's the link to 50 of them.
Still unsure of my ankle, I started off on the longest hike I'd ever attempted. At 5:30am I headed up Valley Way with Frytz, Jade and Rocksandrolls. I couldn't believe how warm it was already! As we headed up, we fell into pairs; Frytz and I leading the charge and gabbing up a storm while Jade and R&R paced themselves. Along the way up, we came across Jim Lombard and a friend of his. When we got to the hut, we saw a ton on people we knew and so we talked a while. It was great to meet some new people and to see some familiar faces. After the break, Frytz said he was going to skip Madison and we wished him well as he set off towards Adams. As we started up Madison, I saw Chomp and stopped to chat a bit. Good to see you, man!
After getting back down to the hut, I stopped for a few seconds and then told jade and R&R that I was heading off to hit J. Q. Adams and that I'd catch up to them on Adams. I was feeling pretty good and was moving well. I caught up to Woody48 and hiked with him and his brother to my turnoff. As I was heading off toward JQ, I was suprised to see a couple guys up there. I didn't think Trailwright's was that popular. Unfortunately, at one point I made a bad move and I slammed my right knee into a boulder so hard that it was bleeding. It hurt like a mutha' but, it wasn't gushing so, I just decided to keep on keepin' on. I met up with jade and R&R on the way up Adams summit and stayed with them from near the summit of Adams to Edmands Col.
There, we took a snack break, afterwhich I felt like I had more energy. I knew that I needed to go faster than we had been going if I was going to get where I wanted to go so, when we started up again, I opened up the throttle and was soon standing on the summit of Jefferson... alone. In fact, from that point on, I was "soloing it" although there were people a little ways ahead or behind me at times. It was a very cool feeling and it gave me the opportunity to really get inside the scariest of all places, my head.
I was in awe as I went across Monticello Lawn and Clay for the first time. Shortly after that though, as I approached the Westside Trail, I felt something strange... I was... running out of energy. The bagel I had for breakfast and the Cliff Bar I had at Edmands Col weren't doing it anymore. Focused on getting to the caf on Washington, I plugged on. Part way up, I saw the Aligator Eggs crew and I stopped for a minute and added some water to my bladder (though I was well hydrated). As I continued up, I started to get a little light-headed. When I reached the summit, I was tired, hungry and irritated by having to wait to touch the summit so I didn't get in the !&$@) tourists pictures.
In the building, I scarfed down a bowl of chili, a slice of pizza, and a Diet Coke while resting and talking with some Views friends. I spent way too long up there (about 45min) but, I needed to rest and I got talking. As I was going to leave, Jim Lombard showed up and told me that jade and R&R where about 15min back. I told him that we had different plans, wished him well and continued on. Now, I was concerned about time. It was late and I still had so far to go. In spite of this, I kept true to my promise and stopped in at Lakes to see my friend Avery who's working Hut Croo there this summer. We chatted a bit and then I took off, only stopped for half a second to say "hi" to MtnMagic, Hikerfast, and Hikeramiga.
I poured out my energy and raced up Monroe, stopped for a few seconds for pictures and continued on. I got a little discouraged seeing how far Eisenhower looked, but I kept on pushing myself as fast as I could. God, my knee hurt! It was getting pretty stiff too. On Eisenhower, I noticed that I could only see people far off ahead, going towards Pierce. I stopped for a minute due to the sign and had another bar. 5min later, I said to myself "OK, time to toughen up and get going" and I headed off again. I was at least going to get to Pierce.
As I went a long, I argued with myself whether or not to go down Crawford. I knew it would be easier. I knew I was hurt. I knew that I didn't "need" any other peaks. Still, I went against my better judgement. While on Pierce, I convinced myself that I could get over to Jackson and head down the Webster-Jackson trail and meet Shamie at the HC in 3 hours.
So, after a quick break on Pierce, I continued, passing Mizpah and going through the wet, muddy, rambling section 'til I got to Jackson where reality set in. I was going to be late and I was going to be going down a PITA trail in the dark with a knee that was in pain. And that's exactly what I did. I slipped a few times on the mud and had to be extra careful following the route one it got dark (even with my headlamp) but slowly, I got out in one piece. Despite my being over an hour late meeting her, when Shamie saw me limping in, she wasn't the least bit upset with me. She did say that I looked "gray" though...
So, I didn't perform as well as I would have liked and there are somethings I would do differently but, I learned a lot about myself from the experience and my story has got some additional donations from folks who hadn't contributed and that's what's really inportant! It's all about the Benjamins...
I took a TON of pictures! Here's the link to 50 of them.
