hiking report / weekend update
Jul. 4th, 2005 10:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaeclecticSo here it is, Monday AM, the 4th of July. I am feeling a little cheerier about the weekend overall, since yesterday involved some fun rather than being completely chewed up by chores. I blame my mediocre mood of Friday and Saturday on the combination of: low physical energy due to battling the threat of sinus infection, plus a mild form of the holiday blues, the ones where you think "This is supposed to be extra-special and everything is supposed to be wonderful, why is it not being like that for me?"
So anyway, the hiking report. I managed to drag myself out of the house before noon yesterday, and drove to Mt Diablo, equipped with 3 liters of water, SPF 30 sunscreen, and a short-sleeved blouse over my tank top (knowing that there was not going to be much shade). The plan was to do this "grand loop", just under 7 miles, so a little shorter than what I've been doing, but fairly difficult with 1800 ft of elevation change (down and then up). I figured if time and energy remained after doing that, I could add on the short hike from the lower summit parking area up to the actual summit and back.
Instead, however, I managed to get lost. Not terribly, horribly, "out in the wilderness with dark falling" kind of lost. Just "I thought I was going to be at my car now, and instead the trail just ended at the road, but not where my car is. And oh by the way, it's very hot". So I walked up the road, figuring I would either find my car or get to the summit (from which point I could readily find my car). In fact, after walking 1.5 miles on the road (checked later when driving down), the Summit trail intersected the road, and I'm guessing it was another mile or so on trails before I got to my car.
Not really that big of a deal, except that the heat started getting to me. The last half mile or so I really felt like I was about to keel over. I had plenty of water with me, so I wasn't dehydrated, it was just too much time in the sun. Oddly, during the later part of the afternoon, I felt the heat more -- perhaps because I was on wider trails or the road, and there seemed to be more heat reflected up from those surfaces -- or perhaps I had just reached my saturation point.
Examining the trail map later on, I figured out where I went wrong, but (as I've complained before) I don't have trail mileage numbers for Mt. Diablo, so I'm not sure exactly how far I walked. This bothers me inordinately. If I'm going to get lost and exhaust myself, I want statistics!
After that little misadventure, I went over to K&K's for a BBQ with them and a couple other friends of theirs, all of whom had been working on wiring many lights into the basement ceiling. My main contribution was to tend the ribs, adding BBQ sauce at 10-minute intervals in accordance with Karen's detailed instructions, while she was busy connecting fixtures and Kris was doing the rest of the dinner prep. The food was great, the company even better. We sat on their new patio furniture, and they made a fire in their new copper fire pit. Ah, summertime!
Today I have another list of chores, but none of them are time-dependent, which makes it a little less onerous. Some of my neighbors are having a BBQ and then an open house (in their third floor apartments which presumably have a view of the fireworks). I might do that, or I might just walk to Jack London Square. Or sink into lethargy altogether (still fighting that sinus foo, in fact). We shall see.
So anyway, the hiking report. I managed to drag myself out of the house before noon yesterday, and drove to Mt Diablo, equipped with 3 liters of water, SPF 30 sunscreen, and a short-sleeved blouse over my tank top (knowing that there was not going to be much shade). The plan was to do this "grand loop", just under 7 miles, so a little shorter than what I've been doing, but fairly difficult with 1800 ft of elevation change (down and then up). I figured if time and energy remained after doing that, I could add on the short hike from the lower summit parking area up to the actual summit and back.
Instead, however, I managed to get lost. Not terribly, horribly, "out in the wilderness with dark falling" kind of lost. Just "I thought I was going to be at my car now, and instead the trail just ended at the road, but not where my car is. And oh by the way, it's very hot". So I walked up the road, figuring I would either find my car or get to the summit (from which point I could readily find my car). In fact, after walking 1.5 miles on the road (checked later when driving down), the Summit trail intersected the road, and I'm guessing it was another mile or so on trails before I got to my car.
Not really that big of a deal, except that the heat started getting to me. The last half mile or so I really felt like I was about to keel over. I had plenty of water with me, so I wasn't dehydrated, it was just too much time in the sun. Oddly, during the later part of the afternoon, I felt the heat more -- perhaps because I was on wider trails or the road, and there seemed to be more heat reflected up from those surfaces -- or perhaps I had just reached my saturation point.
Examining the trail map later on, I figured out where I went wrong, but (as I've complained before) I don't have trail mileage numbers for Mt. Diablo, so I'm not sure exactly how far I walked. This bothers me inordinately. If I'm going to get lost and exhaust myself, I want statistics!
After that little misadventure, I went over to K&K's for a BBQ with them and a couple other friends of theirs, all of whom had been working on wiring many lights into the basement ceiling. My main contribution was to tend the ribs, adding BBQ sauce at 10-minute intervals in accordance with Karen's detailed instructions, while she was busy connecting fixtures and Kris was doing the rest of the dinner prep. The food was great, the company even better. We sat on their new patio furniture, and they made a fire in their new copper fire pit. Ah, summertime!
Today I have another list of chores, but none of them are time-dependent, which makes it a little less onerous. Some of my neighbors are having a BBQ and then an open house (in their third floor apartments which presumably have a view of the fireworks). I might do that, or I might just walk to Jack London Square. Or sink into lethargy altogether (still fighting that sinus foo, in fact). We shall see.