Training 2024: Food

Beyond the three square meals a day we had at the training center, we still had to eat prior to our arrival there and after we left.  Below is a compendium of other meals we had.

Unagi Bowl:  Grilled eel over rice

Breakfast at our first hotel:  The bread item on the left hand side of the plate is a curry doughnut.  Actually better than it sounds:

Bento, the ubiquitous boxed lunch of Japanese train stations.  There are many varieties, and regions are known for their specialties.  This one was fried chicken:

Traditional soba (buckwheat) noodles.  The jar on the left is the dipping sauce, which one pours into small dish then dips the noodles in.  Slurping the noodles is considered polite.  Of note, one does not use all the sauce but leaves some in the jar.  There are containers on the table that contain the water the noodles were boiled in that day.  One takes the water and pours it into the jar, making a soup to drink.

Udon (wheat) noodles with tofu:

Japanese burger meal (with fries) from Mos Burger:

Onigiri (rice wrapped in seaweed in a triangle shape, sometimes with fish or vegetables inside) and a mochi (red bean) bun:

After our last night training in Tokyo, we went out to a traditional style ramen shop.

All of the additions, which included ginger, garlic, and various peppers:

The order board:

Our meal, pork ramen and gyoza:

Instructions for how to prepare and eat the meal:

After ramen, we had dessert later.  Gelatinous coffee flavoured dessert with ice cream and mochi

Typical hotel breakfast we had during our second stay in Tokyo:

Final meal at Narita Airport, Chinese style noodles with fish cake:

Snowrise

The morning sunlight 

radiantly lights the clouds

reflecting on snow.

Gone Hiking 2023 Hetch Hetchy: Flowers

 As with the hike in May of this year, wildflowers were abundant:

Gone Hiking 2023 Hetchy Hetch: Water

 As I mentioned, there was a lot of water on our hike, plentiful to the point it had likely not been so in years.  Some of the water I have not already shown:

Gone Hiking 2023 Hetch Hetchy Day 3: Lake Vernon To O'Shaughnessy Dam

Mileage:  10.86 miles/17.48 km

Elevation Gain:  1,015 ft/309 m

I was surprised to find that through the night, I slept warmly enough and that there was no intrusion of water into my tent.  That is what actual equipment - hiking tent, inflatable materials, and sleeping bag rated down to 15 F will do for you.  

Also, when you go to bed at 1900, you wake up early.  We were packed up and on the trail by 0630.

Re-crossing the bridge over the Lake Vernon outlet, we started our ascent.  We had no idea how long the snow would go, only that at some point it would end.  My feet were immediately cold and wet, but otherwise I was fine.

Hiking through snow for Day 2 was largely the same as Day 1:  Slow, exhausting.  Following all trails, we veered back and forth across streams - no "through the water" crossings, but I made one or two branches/rocks in streams ventures.

Once or twice I post holed up to my thigh.  It was a briefly terrifying experience - I can understand where the danger might come in.  It also meant the snow was getting less deep. Additionally once or twice we crossed snow bridges across streams.  They were easily 4 feet thick, but a failure there could have made for a very bad day.

And then, we started to hit sections of actual earth without snow.

A short time later, the snow simply disappeared. I do not think I have seen a better example of a snow line.  My estimate is that we spent at least 9 miles/14.9 km on snow, or almost a third of the trip.

The descent down - thankfully all down at this point - was pleasant.  The day heated up again and my feet finally began to dry out.

Within an hour or so, the reservoir came back into view.

As we descended, we ran into two or three groups of hikers going up.  They were fairly impressed that we had completed the entire loop.

The last two miles or so rejoined the main trail we had left on two days ago.  We passed day hikers on their way to the falls.  

It was hard for me to believe that, five hours previous, I had been standing on six feet of snow.

Gone Hiking 2023 Hetch Hetchy Day 2a: Rancheria Falls to Snow

Mileage:  11.83 miles/19 km

Elevation Gain:  3,412 ft/1040 m

The rising this morning was set with a bit of discussion. 

When we had come into the park, we had asked about making the Lake Vernon Loop. The recommendation from Ranger was neither Yay nor Nay.  Instead he told us a story about two groups the previous week, one group fairly inexperienced and an experienced hiker with snowshoes.  Both groups made it out at the same time, but the first group got to pay $4,000-8,000 for an aerial rescue when they got stuck in the snow.  The Outdoorsman and I talked, and our agreement was that we would hike until we no longer felt safe.  We were up and out by 0730.

This ascent rose much more quickly than yesterday's - it felt like we were hiking much more than doing a day walk with 25 lbs of gear on our back.  We quickly traversed the first ridge and then began to make our way over.

As the other hikes, the early morning start means that we were well ahead of any other hikers and thus we were surrounded by silence, sun, and birdsong.

As we started to cross the ridgeline and come down, we met a creek making its way down with us.

We also saw a newt, going about his business:

A patch of snow.  This is not foreshadowing at all...

The trail dropped us down into the Tiltill Valley, one of the most scenic and gorgeous places I have seen to date on my hikes:

The one thing above that video alludes to is that, like many High Sierra valleys in Spring, it is covered in water.  Not just a bit either, up to calf deep.  For about a quarter mile.  I am not a fan of water crossings anyway, but it was still early in the day and we would have plenty of time to dry.

As we climbed out of the Tiltill Valley, we met not one but two mountain stream flowing with decent force.  Water crossings were made (note previous comment above about not being my favorite), both times at about knee level.

It was as we went up this second ridge that we hit the snow:

It started as small drifts but rapidly increased into nothing but snow.  Judging from the thaw points, it was easily one to two feet deep here.  How deep would it get?

About the time we broke for lunch, we were well into nothing but snow as far as the eye could see. I was feeling a bit of altitude sickness (and so was not very hungry but forced something down). My feet were quite cold and wet, but the temperature remained a solid mid-70's so everything else was quite hot.  "How was I feeling?"  asked the Outdoorsman?

Thinking back over the ascents, the two streams (which would undoubtedly be more full now as the melt increased), and the Tiltill Valley marsh and looking ahead, I thought long and and hard.

"I feel fine"  I responded.  "We press on".