Controlling It's Temper Since 288,000 BC
The Difficulties of the Shield Volcano
8 Miles Round Trip
It was a perfect day. The temperature in the parking lot was 68 degrees with no wind and no clouds. A few clouds came in later on in the afternoon but nothing really spoiled the view or the sunshine. The trail was steady but not steep. It was nothing but long, lazy switchbacks up to the top of a ridgeline that approached the mountain from the southwest. The trail was very well maintained and easy to follow.
Of course, right off the bat, the blisters bit me on both ankles within the first mile of the trek. I think this is getting to be a very annoying habit of my boots. Needless to say, they are needing to be replaced, but that probably won't happen this year. They are just getting broke in! Plus they are like old friends and we never like to get rid of those...even if they are a royal pain in the ankles.
Linda was starting to have some difficulties in her hips. They had never really fully healed from our large trek a month or so before this hike. We were over three miles up when she decided to take a break for a bit. I left the backpack and took the dogs.
I got to thinking at this point further about why someone would want to be out doing this when I noticed how the trail was deteriorating. It went from a well maintained trail to scree and loose soil. Each foot up invariably sunk half its distance making progress really slow. It was getting much steeper also. I had reached the main ridge line going up for the final and probably the most difficult part.
I started realizing at this point that this mountain was kicking my ass. I was breathing hard, altitude first starting to get to me. This was rather a shock to me as 8,000 or so feet wasn't a big deal to me when I lived in Colorado. The ski resort towns started at 8,000 feet! So why was this thing nailing me so badly?
This is the everyman talking here. I don't really have much physical prowess and am not gifted by any special strength or sport skills. This mountain was really having its way with me. To the point of embarrassment. I had to stop and take tons of little breaks. I had forgotten how flipping hard this was.
I think I reached a wierd conclusion at this point. We are such an attention-span deprived nation that we rarely do any single task over and over again for longer than an hour, tops. If we get bored with that task we move onto the next and might come back to the original one later. When you climb smaller mountains, you have to physically put yourself out for hours and hours of the same thing; putting one foot in front of the other. Over and over ad nauseum. What else do we do in our lives requiring concentration, physical exertion and non-stop movement and struggle for 6 - 8 hours? And after those hours of being tired and wanting to quit ("This is high enought for me..." sound familiar?) you get to reach the top and it makes you feel good. It puts a smile on your face that no laugh track can create.
Diamond Lake from the heights. Looks more like Rectangle Lake.
