Gone Hiking 2023: Main Hike

 Dear Friends,

As you are reading this, I am in a car on my way to the Main Hike.

If all goes well (at least in theory), we will be on the trail for total of 6 days (including two half days) covering somewhere around 50 miles, including a day ascending and descending a mountain which is not quite as high as Mt. Whitney was last year at 14,505 feet above sea level.

The hiking group we go with considers this their most challenging hike - The Whitney hike was both higher and farther, but this hike involves going up on a trail that they have discovered (e.g., no nicely maintained National or State park trail).

The Outdoorsman spoke with the hike director today.  I was a little concerned from the amount of snow I saw in some of their videos (given our experience in June).  Snow, he said, is not a concern - but get ready for plenty of water crossings and mosquitos.

Mosquitos can be managed.  Water crossings:  not a fan.

On the hike this year will be not only myself and The Outdoorsman, but his future son-in-law The Brit.  Given that at least three other people we know that were going had to drop out, I am not sure how big the team will be.  Regardless, it will be an adventure.

In my absence, I have left a series of posts as per usual. My responses will of course be delayed; likely we will not be in anything like InterWeb range until Thursday afternoon and if past performance is any indicator of the future, Friday and Saturday will be slow days.  

I will say - and this is really is a credit to all here - leaving the blog for a week at a time now feels a great deal like just leaving with the house unlocked and telling folks to take what they need:  I always return to a residence that is just as I left it.  As always, thanks for minding the rules and minding the store.

God willing and the creek does not rise (and that second point may be in doubt), I will see you all in a week or so.

Grab Bag: Interview Update, Training, Comment Mea Culpa, Work Week, And Gone Hiking

 The team interview on Tuesday went as well as could have been anticipated.  I say that because, like most team interviews, they are asking a series of pre-defined questions.  My answers overall seemed satisfactory, my questions back to them - my standard ones of "Why are you here?" and "What one thing would you change if you could about this place currently?" were well received and had honest responses in turn.  The hiring manager interview has been moved to next Tuesday.  So we prepare and wait a bit longer.

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Training for the product job has commenced.  I started the on-line part last Saturday and have about 50% of it to complete, which will need to be completed next Saturday.  Best news?  I get paid for training. First check for the princely sum of $62.47 (pre-tax) dropped yesterday.

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Earlier this week I had to drop a comment into spam (it was clearly spam).  On a whim, I went to look - and found not only that comment, but comments from my regular commenters there as well that were not designated as spam.  You know, those usual firebrands like Ed, Becki, and STxAR.  It had even helpfully identified a number of my responses as spam.  I have restored them all, including my own - so in the event you thought you commented and it never came up, mea culpa.  I will check the spam box more often now.

Things like this give me pause about the true power of Artificial Intelligence.

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This week was effectively my last almost full week (4 days, more or less) of work.  I am fully off today through next Friday and for the bulk of the following week, pending two half days.  All e-mails are organized and sorted, all remaining responsibilities discharged, Out of Office notification typed up, with the helpful "After 29 May, this e-mail will not be monitored" added.  I have six remaining meetings, 50% which I am interested to attend just as follow up, 33% with individuals that I value for the conversation, and 17% for the remaining required meeting, which is literally the last thing I will do before I push my computer over the side and call it done.

Looking at the work calendar, it is hard to believe that 43 days ago my world was so differently focused.

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The Outdoorsman and I will be off hiking again, leaving today and returning on Sunday (so in advance, apologies for the delay in responses with the excuse of spam).  With the potential change in jobs one way or the other, I have no idea if this will constitute the last training hike before our planned hike in August.  Either way, I full intend to enjoy the experience.  After that, I will need to start doing prep work on clearing the house out to prepare to rent it.  Bittersweet all around.

Life.  Sometimes it is playing the hand you are dealt instead of hoping for a better hand.

April Streams

The rains of Winter
run between the grass-green hills

proclaiming Springtime.

2023 Hike 1 Day 3

 Our night this night was pretty awful:  There was no good level campsites left and so we all slept (more or less) on a hillside, slowly migrating down and then up all night.  The day was cold and brisk and all of our tents were soaked with condensate.  Fortunately as this was our last day, we elected to pack the tents wet and head out.

There was much less "off roading" this day, and once we hit the main trails we more or less stayed with them.

The angle of coming upon this tree made it look very much like an Ent.  This would be terrifying late at night, I suspect.

The latter part of the hike (10 miles total) had us traversing the hills and then a steep downhill. It made for beautiful views.

Our return trip was celebrated - as it almost always is now - by burgers and shakes upon our return. Other than being pretty stiff (and my soles hurting a great deal, but I think that was due to wet shoes), I would consider this a successful first outing.

2023 Hike 1 Day 2

 Our night was not a very restful one - we all did not sleep well and even if we could have, the frogs and owls were up all night.  I must have slept, although I cannot remember doing so.

Our hike today was a long one - 19.85 miles by the time all was said and done.  The Outdoorsman took us on some "off the beaten path trails" - a different thing for me, but in a very real way, a sense of true hiking as well.

This log had been burned in some fire previously.  The color and texture of the wood fascinated me.

If you expand the picture, you will find that there are newts in the stream.  I have never seen so many before.  Of note, there is no word to describe a group of newts, although the term "knot" is used, as in "a knot of toads".

For those that may remember, this was the lake we camped at last year.  This year, it was our lunch site.  The Brit jumped in for a brisk cool-off.  I, not enamored of lake water, chose to observe.

By the time we made our campsite for the night, we were all tired.  Dinner was dehydrated meals - mine was Thai Curry - in a bag, with small sampler bottles of "guess the whiskey" to top off our long day.

2023 Hike 1 Day 1

 The kickoff hike for 2023 involved return to the site of last years kickoff hike, with the differences being 1) A month earlier; and 2) Entering at the more southerly entrance.  Another difference this year was that there were three of us, not two:  myself, The Outdoorsman, and the Outdoorsman's soon to be son-in-law, who for various reasons we will refer to as The Brit.

Leaving the parking lot, the hike pretty quickly started an ascent, which would come to be the theme of the day.

This is an example of one of the many oak trees we passed.  

Continuing to climb, one begins to get some amazing vista views.

Thanks to be a month earlier (and a great deal of rain), the wildflowers were much more prevalent than last year, and everything was quite green.

At some point the path dumps off into a series of roads that run along the ridges that make up this park.  Long views everywhere one turns.

This particular rock outcropping (and its accompanying wildflowers) was completely different from all the soil around it.  No idea why it was so different.

Looking back towards the declining sun.

Our home for the evening. We got there early enough to get the pick of the campsites and set up camp along the dam portion of the lake.  Dinner was a sort of Frito-chili pie:  minute rice, dehydrated refried beans, cheese slices, and Fritos.  Just the thing after a good 8 mile hike.

As the sun went down, the air filled with the sound of coots, frogs, and owls.

2023 Kick Off Hike

 A short note only, friends:  this is literally the last thing I do before I crawl off to bed.

I survived the first hike of 2023:  3 days, 16 hours hiking, 38 miles total, elevation gain 12,000 some odd feet. Top distance day: Day 2, 19.85 miles.   Pack weight:  ~ 25 lbs.  I have a great many pictures to sort through (I feel this is all I do on hikes, almost to the exclusion of actually keep up with the hike).  Here are few to whet your appetite.