SkiChick
08-13-2004, 08:46 AM
what happened on my summer vacation…
7/31/04 – arrived at Mt. Hood. The ride to Timberline was beautiful as the sun set. The lodge was amazing – a couple bars (tiny one in the back that they used during prohibition was our favorite – also served pizza),restaurants (breakfast buffet was excellent) in the lodge and a room where the shining played constantly. The pics of the lodge in all its glory 40 or 50 years ago were great – wish we were there in the winter.
Link for tons of pics:
http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?showSlide=true&Uc=hufgdk7.88m809wv&Uy=-68laft&Ux=1
8/1/04 – after a few minor setbacks (leaky camelbak valve for sis and binding malfunction for me – downloading carrying skis sucks), we skied! More snow than I thought despite the 60ish degree weather up there! I took a few pics of us on snow. The lift serviced public stuff was pretty good but limited. Once the racers cleared out, you could ski on all lanes which was great as they were firmer – they salt the race lanes at night to freeze the surface (I kind of get this, but it seems strange that it works). I discovered a little bump run imbetween lanes 10 and 11, so was a happy girl. Since you are so high up there are no facilities (thus port-a-johns by the upper lift) or services – so were ready when the ski are closed at 1:30.
Had a swim in the outdoor pool (it was that hot at the lodge) and then went for a hike on the Pacific Crest Trail (I think it was). Plenty of wildflowers, but not enough shade for pale faces who were sunburned despite hats, sunglasses and sunscreen! The couple hour hike was great and we had pizza and drinks in our little prohibition bar in the hotel. We were beat and hit bed embarrassingly early.
8/2/04 - Up early and off to Crater Lake - a beautiful ride the entire way. I had wondered what the fuss was about Crater Lake and found out. It is so deep blue, it is wild. The sides of the lake are extremely steep. We skipped the one trail down to the waters edge since the water was something like 50 degrees and the air was 65-70ish – definitely not swimming I was up for! We did hike around the rim which was incredible pretty and then continued on our way…
We took Route 97 all the way into CA and stopped in Weed (slogan is “We’ed like to see you!") for dinner and lodging for the night. The ride was great and Weed is in the shadow of Mt. Shasta which looked like an incredible peak itself – but no time for a visit this trip!
8/3/04
Up and out to Yosemite – Route 5 wasn’t exciting. We arrived at Yosemite midafternoon and were impressed by all the rock. We stayed in Curry Village in Yosemite Valley - perfectly located for our needs, but rustic and a bit of a pain in the ass! Our tent was at the far end from the food pavilion and shower house, so everything took forever to get done. We found there is a huge wait for showers from 4pm to 10pm (like 25 women waiting for the 6 shower stalls when we walked by). We hit the buffet dinner and retired to our little tent to plan our challenge for the morning.
Since there are bear everywhere (one spotted in our area the next night), Yosemite doesnt allow food, drink, toothpaste, shampoo or anything with a scent in the tents or cars – so we packed up our snack bags for our hike and locked them in bear lockers separately from other food or toiletries. We did sneak a few mini bottles of wine into our tent for the hike planning, but disposed of them in bearproof trash cans once finished.
8/4/04
Up at 5AM and on our way to Half Dome by six (dont think we primped for an hour, remember it is 10 minutes each to and from the shower house, plus trips to bear lockers to get toiletries, then return it and get food, etc). Anyway, the walk to the trailhead was almost a mile and shuttles start at 7AM, so we hoofed it and were some of the earliest on trail.
We were told to see the Mist Trail either on the way up or down – that it is so beautiful – since we wanted to make good time and get up to the cables before crowds and lines, we thought to leave sightseeing until the way down – biggest mistake of the trip – more later.
The trail was steep from the start– I thought that a 10-12 hour hike would have to be pretty flat, at least in the beginning, but I was wrong. It was definitely a challenging hike except for a flat traverse in the middle – which was really sandy to add some challenge. Although I have worn my boots a few times, I ended up with serious blisters by about 2/3 of the way – luckily I had some blister pads RR had introduced me to at tucks (thanks!). But even those didn’t last the whole hike. There were very few of us on trail that early and we were keeping a similar pace with sporadic stops along the way.
At 11 AM, we reached the cables. My sister is afraid of heights, so we waiting a bit before starting up the cables and that’s where the encouragement kicked in – a father hiking with his young sons said we could do it, an older guy said he would go behind us and coach us on the way up – a lot of camaraderie. So we went for it!
The cables were tough – a lot of work for a steep climb for someone with little upper body strength and you shouldn’t look down (afraid of heights or not). Add to the difficulty the few people on their way down (some camp part way up to get there early or for sunrise). So you had people sliding past you in this narrow alleyway between the cables – a little frightening.
But we did it – the views were incredible – I took a bunch of pictures – including one of a guy on the ”diving board” which juts out over the valley.
The way down is like rappeling, but sliding your hands along the cable, trying to avoid the huge crowds on their way up (there was a line to go up when we were on our way down). There was so much support from those on their way up - everyone was accommodating and would let you know (as you slid down backwards), where to stop or that they would wait for you to pass. Unfortunately, there was one girl crying hysterically whose dad was trying to take her up - definitely unnerving. A tip for those considering – buy a pair of climbing gloves before you go – the miscellaneous gloves at the cables are worn, thin and smooth, so weren’t much help on the cables. Our climbing gloves did the trick -good grip!
Once off the cables we were anxious to go – the long hike out was waiting! The hike down was incredibly hot – I see why people say to get up there early. The trails that were in the shade on the way up were in blazing sun on the way down. We were sunburned, hot, tired and getting sore as we hiked down. We reached the mist trail (about 2/3rd of the way down to the valley) and immediately this trail became all small steps of rocks the entire way (and I am not even talking at the part where they describe it as granite steps). Incredibly jarring and tough on my blister (everything was by now). We were too tired for this trail at this point – add to that the tons of people and kids that were going so slow the closer we got to the valley floor – my sister was going to kill someone. By the bottom, all the skin on my heel was gone (lots of ooze and blood) and I was in a fair amount of pain, so we made quite a pair. But we made it down and walked back to our tent.
We hit the showers at 4pm – having completed the hike as well as walk to and fro in 10 hours – we were psyched (but beat). We got to the showers just before the crowds and a woman who tried to save a shower for her daughter must have seen the look in my eyes when I asked “is she even in this locker room?” because she quickly gave up the shower – which was good since we were in no mood at that point. We spent the evening (well later afternoon almost) eating and then went to bed (almost beat the sun going down!)
8/5/04
We were slow getting up and ready – ate the breakfast buffet, the drama of showering, etc. – but then on the road to the coast! We headed to the Monterey aquarium for a couple hours. Then we paid $8.25 to take the incredible 17 mile drive past Pebble Beach etc. We stopped in carmel and walked around. We had a great ride down highway 1 as the sun set – it was stunning – but it was challenging once it was dark. We made it to the next area of hotels – near San Simeon around 10 PM and crashed out – without dinner because the sleepy town closes up for food at 9PM.
8/6/04
Back on highway 1 in the AM, we stopped in Morro Bay - very charming seaside community with a ton of kayak places, so paddled for a bit and then continued on our way. Route 1 joined 101 and became more of a highway which made this last stretch of road much nicer until…LOS ANGELES…unfortunately we hit LA at 3 pm (trying to get ahead of rush hour) and didn’t get out of it until 7. We were prisoners in traffic all that time! Eventually we arrived in San Diego and typical to the trip, I was asleep way before my bedtime.
8/7/04
San Diego – trip ended with getting my sister settled, checked in to her base, visiting a coffee shop, walked along the ocean, some shopping – a good day.
8/8/04
A tired Jenn got on the 8AM direct flight back to Boston – good news: the couple in my row traded with me, so I didn’t have to sit in my assigned middle seat – bad news: left my sweatshirt at security. Landed around 5pm (east coast time) exhausted!
And so ends our summer vacation! I might change a few things, but overall it was a ton of fun – and there is so much to go back to!
BTW - I had to tighten this up twice - too wordy - sorry!
7/31/04 – arrived at Mt. Hood. The ride to Timberline was beautiful as the sun set. The lodge was amazing – a couple bars (tiny one in the back that they used during prohibition was our favorite – also served pizza),restaurants (breakfast buffet was excellent) in the lodge and a room where the shining played constantly. The pics of the lodge in all its glory 40 or 50 years ago were great – wish we were there in the winter.
Link for tons of pics:
http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?showSlide=true&Uc=hufgdk7.88m809wv&Uy=-68laft&Ux=1
8/1/04 – after a few minor setbacks (leaky camelbak valve for sis and binding malfunction for me – downloading carrying skis sucks), we skied! More snow than I thought despite the 60ish degree weather up there! I took a few pics of us on snow. The lift serviced public stuff was pretty good but limited. Once the racers cleared out, you could ski on all lanes which was great as they were firmer – they salt the race lanes at night to freeze the surface (I kind of get this, but it seems strange that it works). I discovered a little bump run imbetween lanes 10 and 11, so was a happy girl. Since you are so high up there are no facilities (thus port-a-johns by the upper lift) or services – so were ready when the ski are closed at 1:30.
Had a swim in the outdoor pool (it was that hot at the lodge) and then went for a hike on the Pacific Crest Trail (I think it was). Plenty of wildflowers, but not enough shade for pale faces who were sunburned despite hats, sunglasses and sunscreen! The couple hour hike was great and we had pizza and drinks in our little prohibition bar in the hotel. We were beat and hit bed embarrassingly early.
8/2/04 - Up early and off to Crater Lake - a beautiful ride the entire way. I had wondered what the fuss was about Crater Lake and found out. It is so deep blue, it is wild. The sides of the lake are extremely steep. We skipped the one trail down to the waters edge since the water was something like 50 degrees and the air was 65-70ish – definitely not swimming I was up for! We did hike around the rim which was incredible pretty and then continued on our way…
We took Route 97 all the way into CA and stopped in Weed (slogan is “We’ed like to see you!") for dinner and lodging for the night. The ride was great and Weed is in the shadow of Mt. Shasta which looked like an incredible peak itself – but no time for a visit this trip!
8/3/04
Up and out to Yosemite – Route 5 wasn’t exciting. We arrived at Yosemite midafternoon and were impressed by all the rock. We stayed in Curry Village in Yosemite Valley - perfectly located for our needs, but rustic and a bit of a pain in the ass! Our tent was at the far end from the food pavilion and shower house, so everything took forever to get done. We found there is a huge wait for showers from 4pm to 10pm (like 25 women waiting for the 6 shower stalls when we walked by). We hit the buffet dinner and retired to our little tent to plan our challenge for the morning.
Since there are bear everywhere (one spotted in our area the next night), Yosemite doesnt allow food, drink, toothpaste, shampoo or anything with a scent in the tents or cars – so we packed up our snack bags for our hike and locked them in bear lockers separately from other food or toiletries. We did sneak a few mini bottles of wine into our tent for the hike planning, but disposed of them in bearproof trash cans once finished.
8/4/04
Up at 5AM and on our way to Half Dome by six (dont think we primped for an hour, remember it is 10 minutes each to and from the shower house, plus trips to bear lockers to get toiletries, then return it and get food, etc). Anyway, the walk to the trailhead was almost a mile and shuttles start at 7AM, so we hoofed it and were some of the earliest on trail.
We were told to see the Mist Trail either on the way up or down – that it is so beautiful – since we wanted to make good time and get up to the cables before crowds and lines, we thought to leave sightseeing until the way down – biggest mistake of the trip – more later.
The trail was steep from the start– I thought that a 10-12 hour hike would have to be pretty flat, at least in the beginning, but I was wrong. It was definitely a challenging hike except for a flat traverse in the middle – which was really sandy to add some challenge. Although I have worn my boots a few times, I ended up with serious blisters by about 2/3 of the way – luckily I had some blister pads RR had introduced me to at tucks (thanks!). But even those didn’t last the whole hike. There were very few of us on trail that early and we were keeping a similar pace with sporadic stops along the way.
At 11 AM, we reached the cables. My sister is afraid of heights, so we waiting a bit before starting up the cables and that’s where the encouragement kicked in – a father hiking with his young sons said we could do it, an older guy said he would go behind us and coach us on the way up – a lot of camaraderie. So we went for it!
The cables were tough – a lot of work for a steep climb for someone with little upper body strength and you shouldn’t look down (afraid of heights or not). Add to the difficulty the few people on their way down (some camp part way up to get there early or for sunrise). So you had people sliding past you in this narrow alleyway between the cables – a little frightening.
But we did it – the views were incredible – I took a bunch of pictures – including one of a guy on the ”diving board” which juts out over the valley.
The way down is like rappeling, but sliding your hands along the cable, trying to avoid the huge crowds on their way up (there was a line to go up when we were on our way down). There was so much support from those on their way up - everyone was accommodating and would let you know (as you slid down backwards), where to stop or that they would wait for you to pass. Unfortunately, there was one girl crying hysterically whose dad was trying to take her up - definitely unnerving. A tip for those considering – buy a pair of climbing gloves before you go – the miscellaneous gloves at the cables are worn, thin and smooth, so weren’t much help on the cables. Our climbing gloves did the trick -good grip!
Once off the cables we were anxious to go – the long hike out was waiting! The hike down was incredibly hot – I see why people say to get up there early. The trails that were in the shade on the way up were in blazing sun on the way down. We were sunburned, hot, tired and getting sore as we hiked down. We reached the mist trail (about 2/3rd of the way down to the valley) and immediately this trail became all small steps of rocks the entire way (and I am not even talking at the part where they describe it as granite steps). Incredibly jarring and tough on my blister (everything was by now). We were too tired for this trail at this point – add to that the tons of people and kids that were going so slow the closer we got to the valley floor – my sister was going to kill someone. By the bottom, all the skin on my heel was gone (lots of ooze and blood) and I was in a fair amount of pain, so we made quite a pair. But we made it down and walked back to our tent.
We hit the showers at 4pm – having completed the hike as well as walk to and fro in 10 hours – we were psyched (but beat). We got to the showers just before the crowds and a woman who tried to save a shower for her daughter must have seen the look in my eyes when I asked “is she even in this locker room?” because she quickly gave up the shower – which was good since we were in no mood at that point. We spent the evening (well later afternoon almost) eating and then went to bed (almost beat the sun going down!)
8/5/04
We were slow getting up and ready – ate the breakfast buffet, the drama of showering, etc. – but then on the road to the coast! We headed to the Monterey aquarium for a couple hours. Then we paid $8.25 to take the incredible 17 mile drive past Pebble Beach etc. We stopped in carmel and walked around. We had a great ride down highway 1 as the sun set – it was stunning – but it was challenging once it was dark. We made it to the next area of hotels – near San Simeon around 10 PM and crashed out – without dinner because the sleepy town closes up for food at 9PM.
8/6/04
Back on highway 1 in the AM, we stopped in Morro Bay - very charming seaside community with a ton of kayak places, so paddled for a bit and then continued on our way. Route 1 joined 101 and became more of a highway which made this last stretch of road much nicer until…LOS ANGELES…unfortunately we hit LA at 3 pm (trying to get ahead of rush hour) and didn’t get out of it until 7. We were prisoners in traffic all that time! Eventually we arrived in San Diego and typical to the trip, I was asleep way before my bedtime.
8/7/04
San Diego – trip ended with getting my sister settled, checked in to her base, visiting a coffee shop, walked along the ocean, some shopping – a good day.
8/8/04
A tired Jenn got on the 8AM direct flight back to Boston – good news: the couple in my row traded with me, so I didn’t have to sit in my assigned middle seat – bad news: left my sweatshirt at security. Landed around 5pm (east coast time) exhausted!
And so ends our summer vacation! I might change a few things, but overall it was a ton of fun – and there is so much to go back to!
BTW - I had to tighten this up twice - too wordy - sorry!