Victory!

Here I am at the top of Mt. Baden-Powell. I started at 9:06 am PDT at 6565' and reached the summit at 10:59 am PDT at 9399'. It was a heck of a climb! Good training for the Sierras. Speaking of the Sierras, they say you can see Mt. Whitney from here on the clearest days. Well, I can see a long ways but I can't see Mt. Whitney. Bummer.

My body hates me right now after that climb. But it's been said that pain is weakness leaving the body. I think Katie Boots is the one who most recently quoted that to me. Thanks Katie!

Hike On!

Victory!

Here I am at the top of Mt. Baden-Powell. I started at 9:06 am PDT at 6565' and reached the summit at 10:59 am PDT at 9399'. It was a heck of a climb! Good training for the Sierras. Speaking of the Sierras, they say you can see Mt. Whitney from here on the clearest days. Well, I can see a long ways but I can't see Mt. Whitney. Bummer.

My body hates me right now after that climb. But it's been said that pain is weakness leaving the body. I think Katie Boots is the one who most recently quoted that to me. Thanks Katie!

Hike On!

Baden-Powell Summit Attempt

I may be all smiles here, but we'll see if that is the case at the top!

It's about a 3000' elevation gain in 4 miles. God help me.

Day 27 (May 31)

Wow...I can't believe tomorrow is only the first day of June! So much has happened this month that it is hard to believe that not even a month has passed. It's even harder to believe that I've only tamed 373 miles of this beast! But I'm trying to stay focused on the big picture. Really, even with my slow start due to injuries, blisters, etc., I'm only six days off my original pace. I know that sounds like a lot, and it is, but considering how I started it is pretty good.

Anyway, this morning I started out at about 5100' and decided to reward myself for my high mileage with a day of sleeping in. So I got up at 6 instead of 4. It felt wonderful. My body has seriously been protesting the mileage I've been putting in, and after getting through the really hot areas so quickly, I'm giving it a bit of a break...but not too much. Today was an 18-mile day and tomorrow will be about a 13-mile day but with a very steep climb up to the peak of Mt. Baden-Powell at 9399'. (Mt. Baden-Powell is named after the man who founded the Boy Scouts.) Then on Tuesday, it should be a relatively uneventful day of hiking around 6000'.

So even though I'm not sticking with the high mileage, my body is still getting a workout!

Tonight I'm camped in Grassy Hollow Visitor Center/Camp and enjoying the luxuries of an outhouse and a water spigot. Ah, the simple things in life! Rees and Taylor, a couple of section hikers who I've been passing and getting passed by for the past week or so are camped here too. The weather is clear but cold and they were gracious enough to share their soup with me (I'm hiking without a stove until the Sierras) so that helped get me warm!

It's only 8:33 now and I've already been in bed for about 20 minutes. There's really not much else to do. Tomorrow we're planning to take off around 6:30 am. Hopefully my legs won't feel too much like jelly during the steep climb of Mt Baden-Powell.

Grassy Hollow Camp

Here is another mileage sign for Mexico and Canada. I'll be just over 400 miles when I get off the trail to resupply on Tuesday. Slowly but surely...

Inspiration Point

This was taken Sunday afternoon. It is the view from near Inspiration Point in the San Gabriels. Elevation approximately 7300'.

Above the Clouds

I took this shot this morning (Sunday, May 31) from about 6000' up in the San Gabriels towards the south. You can see the fog/cloud layer down below.