June 29, 2010
Well, it looks like the trip may be postponed for the entire year. I just got over a nasty little bout of kidney stones which completely crippled me for almost 2 weeks. I am just now able to get back o nthe trail, running, biking, etc… It is amazing how just 2 short weeks can be enough to get you out of shape from where you were. Plus, every time we check the mountain conditions we are met with trail closures, continued snow, incredible winds (enough to rip tents apart), avalanches, rock falls, etc… Honestly, this may not be the year to get back on that mountain. So, we are going to look at hitting the mountain in August. More to follow.
June 2, 2010
It is a really good thing we had to postpone the trip 2 weeks. I have been super sick the last few days and it would have killed me to try to hit the mountain this week. I am hoping to feel good enough to do some training hikes later this week. I actually snuck in a hike up Lookout Hill with the family on Monday, but being sick, I truly paid the price later that day and the next day.
May 28, 2010
HUGE BUMMER. I just called the Mount Shasta hotline to see what the conditions are on the mountain. Over the last 2 weeks we had feared the Clear Creek Trail Head might be closed due to snow conditions on the logging road to the trail head. And, it is snowed in, big time. We would have to add an additional 4 miles in the snow if we go next week. So, we are going to postpone the trip by 2 weeks. Our target date for the mountain is now June 17th. We are hoping for some warmer weather but not too warm, we really want a decent amount of snow on the mountain.
May, 2010
I can’t believe we are only 1 month away from Shasta day!!! I have been running up Madonna Mountain, Lookout Hill, and Zero Higuera during lunch. All of them are great training runs. We should be having our pre-hike meeting with the base camp team and summit teams soon.
April, 2010
I began some serious training this month. I began by running a few miles (by the way, I hate running) but it serves a valuable purpose for my training. Later in the month I began running up a nice little mountain in San Luis Obispo. Some people call the mountain Zero Higuera, Cheapskates, or South Street Hill. From my office it is a 4.25 mile run. So, it makes a nice lunch run. I will probably start hiking some other larger mountains during lunch.
March 19, 2010
Today I had the chance to hike up to Cruickshank Campground in Monterey County California. I was joining my son and his boy scout troup. It was a beautiful 4.5 mile round trip hike with heavy packs which made for a great training hike (the first heavy pack hike of the year for me). I was jazzed to get out in the open and test out some of the new gear I bought recently. All my gear worked great most notabe was my new tent by Marmot (Limelight 3). It is about 2lbs lighter than our old Kelty 3 man (3 season) tent and about as easy to setup. My son and I had plenty of room along with our gear inside. I would highly recommend the tent. Back to subject, we had a great time and I had fun with the first overnight campout of the season with many more to follow this year. Below is a nice picture of the Salmon Creek waterfall. It was flowing nicely.
Salmon Creek Photo By Nepal Plummer
March 4, 2010
OK, the rain finally let up enough for me to attempt an early morning training hike. I was able to hike Lookout Hill in San Luis Obispo. It is a wonderful training hike with some of the best views in the county. The trail was super muddy and I ended up with about 8 inches of mud on the bottom of my boots, but it was well worth the struggles. I hiked up about 30 minutes before sunrise and took some nice shots for my photography class. Let’s hope that some of them will turn out nicely. Below is a picture I took. You can see Madonna Mountain and Bishop Peak in the distance.
It is also time to start thinking about the team we are assembling for the hike this year. It looks like we may have a total of 7 people going. Four will be going to the top while 3 will be staying at camp (they don’t like climbing that much, but love camping). We will hopefully have one seasoned Shasta vet on the outing with us. He has been up the Clear Creek Trail before.
February 18, 2010
There has been a ton of rain and bad weather in our area so I have been unable to make any efforts outside. So, I have been stuck inside working out. It is nothing like being outside. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I am hoping to get out to a hike next weekend. Wish me luck.
January 19, 2010
I found a site that has some great pictures of the Clear Creek trail in the late summer. It is a stark contrast to what we saw in mid-summer. We had lots of patchy snow wherease the snow was almost completely gone from the pictures we saw on this site: http://www.scaruffi.com/monument/hikes08/shasta.html
You can see our 2009 pictures at this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/thesteadyhiker/Shasta2009?feat=directlink
I did the more difficult upper body workout last night. Tonight I will be working on cardio and abs. I found a great set of videos that has helped with my in-home training while the weather is bad. It is BeachBody’s P90. Don’t confuse it for the P90x. It is the lower-key version for those just looking to get and stay in good shape.
January 18, 2010
It’s has been and will continue to be a long road to success on Mount Shasta for myself and the newly assembled Ready Team of hikers. Last year 2 of us (David and myself) attempted the summit of one of the highest mountains in the US from a lesser known trail, Clear Creek Trail, however, we had to give up our bid for the summit a few thousand feet from the summit.
This year we have assembled a different (and larger) group of hikers to make an attempt. So far the team will be myself, Tyler, David, Chris B., and possibly one other. We will be making our attempt during the first weekend of June, 2010. We will be going up the Clear Creek route again since we are now fairly familiar with this route. Personally we like being alone on the mountain. There is less risk of being in a traffic jam. Plus, we found that cellular coverage on the Clear Creek side is better than I have at home, so we can contact 911 very quickly in an emergency.
As part of our preparation last year we were able to complete a high sierra mountaineering course which enlightened us on the proper use of ice axes, crampons, and self arrests. We attending the “Snow Travel Skills” course through the Sierra Mountain Center. The instructor was fantastic and was a wealth of knowledge. I personally found the training to be of the upmost value and would highly recommend it. We are hoping that the new members of our team will take advantage of the training available.
So far I have been able to get to the mountains near home to start working the cardio. I was able to do a very rough up-and-over-and-back of an excellent training hill called “Lookout Hill”. You can check out the details on our blog HERE. Other than some small hikes I have been training during the colder months by working the upper body. But, that will change as their is more daylight and some free weekends. By next month I will be hiking with my full pack to start to get a feel for the hike.
I will post some further updates as we get closer.
It is a great post thanks for writing it!
good info keep it coming