Just a walk in the Park 9-17-00

Up and away at an early, but still reasonable hour.
It's about 3 hours driving from northern SLC into Wyoming, and back down into Utah. The roads just don't go from 'here' to 'there' the way they do here in Texas. Of course down here, 'there' is much further away!
Anyhow, we loaded up and headed out on the trail, leaving our names and numbers at the start, 'just in case'. We were also asked to keep a look out for Scooby, a missing dog. (no happy ending).

The trail started out in 60 degree temps, but fell consistantly into the 30's by the time we stopped some 4 hours, 7 miles and 2000' vertical feet later. It was nice to settle into a rythmn of hiking, and Herb/Mike are very experienced, so dragging me along was a piece of cake. They even stopped once an hour to let me catch my breath. I did notice Herb taking Motrin now and again. Says it lubricates the tendons and such. I liked it 'cause it stopped my headache and muscle aches.

We hiked up along the Henry's Fork River to Dollar Lake, where we pitched camp - just in time for precipitation! Not rain, check the temps, snow/sleet! How neat was that! A little later it did change over to a brief rain shower, but nothing got wet and we enjoyed the experience of snow in August!

Off we go! 9-16-09

Despite having to get up twice during the night (yea, I know, I do that anyway) to put myself and a friend on the priority lists, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed for the flight from DFW to SLC (Dallas -Ft Worth to SaltLake City). I arrived at 1120, as planned, and then started hunting for my friend, Herb Nyberg, who was due in from somewhere on the East Coast at 1129. USAirways had a plane expected then, but ETA had slid to 1230, so I sat at the gate and waited. About 20 minutes later I was paged to the baggage claim area. Seems Herb was on a different plane and had told the baggage claim rep that he was missing something - ME!

Met Mike, Herb's son, and we loaded up to head back to his place on the north side of SLC, conveniently passing REI along the way. What good fortune! They were having a garage sale and I decided I really did need a fleece jacket to stave off the 30 degree temps they were telling me to expect. Found one in the return bin for 9$ and half off made it 4.50$ Can't beat that! So Herb went ahead and bought a new backpack as well! All we really came in for was a fuel canister for my stove.

Spent the night catching up, meeting Mike's girlfriend, Jackie, and then touring Hill AFB and the F-16 Fighter Squadron lucky enough to have her as Intel Officer. Even had time to wax our boots.

All's Quiet on the Western Front

Had to read that in High School, then watch 'John-Boy's portrayal. What the hell IS that thing on his cheek, anyway?

Well, the summer was quieter than I'd hoped, but there's life in the old boy just yet. Herb Nyberg, a classmate from USNA, posted a note on Facebook that he and his son Mike would be climbing Kings Peak UT this summer. I took it as a challenge, and invited myself along. My training regimen was arduous at first (10-20 minutes of 10 min/mile jog followed by 30 min of stairs with 15lbs on my back) but soon petered out to just thinking about it.
Uh-Oh.
Well, tomorrow's the day. I hit DFW at 0830, land in SLC at 1120, and spend the afternoon marveling at the mountains and wondering what I've gotten myself into THIS time.
Traveling kit is similar to the Walk 1/2 Way Across England, 'cept a little more food and better boots. I'm not SO worried about the 36 miles or so in and out, it's the 5000ft 'prominence' we'll be climbing. Many places where the summit is 14000 you may actually only climb 3000 or less from the trail head. This, however, is a 5000' gain from the door of the car up. Carrying food, water and shelter for 3 days.
Oh.
We'll try the SPOT locator again at http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=07ON0lnuMo7xj7fRmFhQ4UFWqyVqSVCGU
but be aware, it only holds the track for 7 days. After that just assume we got to the top, will ya?