I'm a Mudder!

What a whirlwind of a weekend.  I took a half day Thursday, had my car loaded and waiting for me in the visitor center parking lot, and I was off to Seattle to participate in my first Tough Mudder on Saturday the 29th.  If you are unaware of such an event, the website says it's probably the toughest event on the planet. 

I met up with my friend Robert, who talked me into this in the first place.  He ended up not being able to compete, but I was all systems go, if very nervous.  We started with a team of eight, then ended up with half going at 9:40, and half (me included) at 10.

Just to get to the starting line we had a wall to climb over.  I thought as I swung my leg over, I've got this.

Ashlie, Chad, Lindsey, and a very, very nervous Kate in the staging area before the start.

We were off, I completed the first obstacle without difficulty, and went on to what the Mudders call the "Arctic Enema".  Yes, those are pools of water, and yes that's a lot of ice they are putting in them, and yes, I had to swim in that ridiculously cold water...

...and I almost didn't make it.  I jumped in to about mid-chest deep water and the cold was an immediate and indescribable shock to my system.  There was a board running across the pool, cutting it in half, which meant I had to put my head under the water to get to the other side and the exit of the pool.  With my rapid breathing and heart beat because of the cold, I couldn't hold my breath long.  I did my best, and down I went and it was painful.

Well, that board went a lot lower than I thought and I didn't make it on my first try and had to come up for air.  The last thing I wanted was to go down again, but I did, used the base of that board, way, way down there, to leverage myself under, and came up on the other side through a good foot and a half of ice.  It literally took all my strength to pull myself out of the water.  This picture below doesn't show how badly I'm shaking or how weak that cold water left me.

After running for a couple minutes, I felt much better.  There were more walls to climb over, which got taller and taller and I was thankful for strong men who sat on the top and helped haul me over.  There were walls of slick mud to go up and down and many hands proffered by others to help pull and boost.  The spirit of camaraderie during this time was amazing.  Perfect strangers, working together to accomplish tasks, with the goal of helping people and not racing for the next obstacle.  The spirit of teamwork was awesome and I enjoyed doing my part to help others as well.

Almost to the end, a very dirty Kate.

One of many mud hills to climb.

There were monkey bars and there were rings.  Below these obstacles, was very chilly water.  This was very close to the end.  Prior to this, we had to carry large logs.  After that obstacle, my arms were pretty much done for and I swung out on this ring and splashed right into the water and swam the rest of the way.

Me and Ashlie, pausing for a picture.  Remember how bright her tank was when we started?  How white the writing on my shirt was?

Crawling under barbed wire. There were a lot more obstacles but I don't have pictures of all of them, and I don't want to bore you with details of the whole event.

I attempted all obstacles and completed all but one.  The second to last was "Everest".  It is basically a really big quarter pipe that's been greased down.  You run as fast as you can up this slope and hopefully grab the hands of the guys waiting to haul people up.  First attempt I didn't make it and slide down the pipe and a good way across the grass.  Not pleasant.  I tried again, you can see the determination and focus in my face.  I missed again and had absolutely nothing left in me energy wise and didn't complete the obstacle.  I'm ok with that decision and even a few days later have no regrets.

We ran as a team through the electro-shock therapy, which was unpleasant but not as bad as I thought it was going to be, and crossed the finished and received the official Tough Mudder orange sweat band.

Post race, Robert getting as close to my dirty self as he dared.

Me and Ashlie, my partner through the whole thing, bless her heart!  Done, tired, dirty, starving, but still smiling!

They had showers set up where folks could rinse off. I'd brought clothes, but when I felt how cool/cold the water was, I said I'm no longer competing, ain't happening. They also had a large pile of dirty, nasty shoes. I bought a cheap $10 pair of sneakers for the event and they definitely got donated. They'll be washed and sent to barefoot people somewhere in the world. I feel good about that.

I made my way south to Portland where an old roommate from USU days was kind enough to let me clean off in her house.  She even did a load of my muddy laundry.  What a friend!  I was able to meet her seven month old baby, Faye.  She's a very happy, very smiley little girl and I would have held her more if my arms weren't so sore.

I was also able to stop in Corvallis to see Greg and Jennie.  It was wonderful to see them and spend time with them, however short it was.  Ah, Jennie, how I miss you!

I made it to Burns, OR Sunday evening, then drove the rest of the way home on Monday.  Part of my trip took me on I-80 in Nevada.  I passed through Battle Mountain, NV, and had to stop and get a picture.  Probably the most crude picture I've ever posted on my blog.  My apologies to those I offend and to those who don't get it.

It was a wonderful weekend and I definitely will be doing another Tough Mudder.  It was AWESOME! 

(A big, big thanks to Jessica P. who gave me tips, clothing suggestions, and overall encouragement as the time grew nearer and my fear of dying increased.)

How do you do, Lincoln

Who'd a thunk I'd be up Lincoln Peak a week and one day after deciding it was the last goal for my Great Basin National Park summer 2012 season?  Not me.  After permission seeking, permission granting, vehicle finding, using winning smile to acquire use of vehicle, and hiking buddy establishing, I was ready.  Things didn't fall into place until about 5:30pm the evening before, and nothing was confirmed until even later that night.  Kate was doing cartwheels in the visitor center; really I was.  It was closed.  I closed it.

 

Friday dawned, the weather looked perfect, and except for some thick forest fire haze, the day couldn't have been more perfect.  I picked up the vehicle, a huge, monstrous thing that made me feel very small, hiking buddy got in passenger seat, and we were off to the west side.  Below is a map of our route.  The blue is the part we drove.  See that squiggle in the middle, those are the Sketchy Switchbacks of Scariness!  I'm not exaggerating them either.  I called in the back-up driver to handle these, although he protested, saying it would be amusing watching me attempt to navigate said SSoS.

We made it safely to the 'route' head, parked, prepared, and were off.  The day was lovely.  We only took two detours, but they were worth it.  Hooray for exploring new places, exciting adventures, and enjoying this beautiful place.

Following fairly close to the ridge line, the below was taken from the last saddle before heading up Lincoln.  If it looks rocky and craggy, it is.  If it looks like limestone that's easily eroded and therefore nice and loose, it is.  If Kate said she scampered up fast as a big horn sheep with no fear, she'd be lying.

Whoop!  On the top!  Took me a bit to decide what I wanted to do on the top of this peak.

We ate lunch on top and enjoyed the amazing view.  What a beautiful view of the Snake Range, looking north.  That's Wheeler in the smokey, hazy background. 

 

During lunch, hiking buddy became intrigued with the design inside his carrot stick.  He took seven pictures of said carrot guts with my camera.  Funny guy.

As always, the traditional contemplating the Snake Range.  The back of my t-shirt says "NPS" in big, white, block letters.  I am so proud to wear that uniform and love being a park ranger, can you tell?

The Snake Range.  From the south looking north, it's easy to see just how much taller Wheeler is than the surrounding peaks. 

The hiking buddy, route finder, willing photographer, pinch driver, and fellow adventurer, Mr. J.

Glorious day + great hike + new type of adventure + new peak + good company = very content park ranger.

Mt. Washington Success!

If you refer back to August and my attempt at Mt. Washington post, I mention a road.  I've been hounding our law enforcement division to take me with the next time they went up there and it overlapped with a project or rove day for me.  It finally happened, thanks mostly in part to dear Anthony.

 

The peak in the picture was our goal.  I've heard rumors, horror stories, tales of individuals screaming the whole way up this road.  It was quite the road.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but was very glad Anthony was driving.

The whole of Nevada is covered with abandoned mines and ghost towns.  On the west side, where the road is, we stopped briefly to look at this site.  Don't worry, I didn't go in, but it was pretty awesome to gaze into.

We made it safely, thanks to Anthony's skill at handling switchbacks with hairpin turn and 45 degree slopes, pretty much to the top of the mountain.  I honestly don't know if I can count it as hiking, since from where we parked, it took all of fifteen minutes to summit the peak.  Hooray for a new peak in the park!

Hello again, Wheeler.  This time standing to the south of the peak and looking north, at 11,658ft elevation on Washington.  And hello Pyramid (far right); I've summited you too!

Had to do something, so I stood on my head.  It's the best way to get the blood in it at such a high elevation.  And, notice the attempt at pointed toes in park ranger boots.

Because of the geology of the region and the fact that the park lies in the eastern portion of the Great Basin of the US, our east slopes are nice and gentle and the west slopes are steep.  Here I am investigating just how steep that west slope is.  Eek!

The bristlecones were all over!  They are such impressive trees.  Look at this guy, growing right out of the rock!  See that peak on the ridge line to the left, that's Lincoln and a goal before I leave.

Another abandoned mine site.  This was a pit that I'm assuming had some sort of shelter over it.  The shelter collapsed and plugged the hole. 

A bristlcone in the foreground, craggy mountains in the back, and an absolutely beautiful stand of aspens showing off their fall colors.  It was a hazy day, so sorry not the best clarity on the aspens.

I survived the road.  I didn't scream, I didn't gasp, but coming down the switch backs I definitely maintained a death grip on my seat belt.  After the almost 1.5 inches of rain we got in two days earlier this week (yeah, welcome to the desert), we had the best weather you could ask for.  As I gain more confidence as a hiker, I wish I had another two months of summer to explore this wonderful park.

Labor Day Weekend

I was off on Labor Day itself.  When you work for a place that is open every day of the year and you can work every day of the year...it's a rare occurrence to have holidays off.  (I had to work Sunday, so I definitely got my holiday pay!)

Two co-workers, Katie (interp) and Chris (law enforcement), and I decided it was high time to summit Wheeler for the season.  We started bright and early Monday morning and had a grand hike.

When we hit the saddle between Wheeler and Bald mountains, we could look into Spring Valley to the west.  There is a brand new (less than six months) wind farm that was just installed.  I know it's better than a coal plant, but doesn't do a whole lot for the view shed.  I'm a ranger, the view is a resource and I've vowed to protect all park resources.

We made it to the top in about 2.5 hours; same time as last year.  We had the whole summit to ourselves.  The view was grand, the weather perfect, the company lovely... what more could a girl ask for?

When we hit the saddle coming down, Katie and Chris headed back to the trail head, and I headed off trail and up Bald Mountain.  I made better time than I thought.  There are some really cool weather monitoring stations up there; this is the modern station.

This is the archaic station.  It was beyond windy on Bald and I hunkered down on the east side of this pile of rocks to eat my lunch.

Hello Wheeler and Jeff Davis, from roughly (no, not really) the same elevation!

Me, on Bald, elevation 11,562 ft, looking to Wheeler, elevation 13,063ft, where I was earlier that day.  Awesome!

I had the following Tuesday off of work as well.  After some serious outdoor spiritual rejuvenation, I headed to Manti, Utah, for some indoor spiritual rejuvenation.  Just as lovely.

It was a grand weekend.  Two weeks ago I officially finished hiking all the trails in the park.  I'm now moving on to the routes.  I have exactly one month from today to finish, as my season out here ends on Oct. 6.  Bring on winter....

Especially since I have a job at Death Valley National Park!

Family Trekking in the Basin

I was fortunate to have my family come visit again in August this year.  They arrived late Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed time together that night and Sunday, and Monday, it was time to get out and explore.

 

Our destination: Johnson Lake.  There are two trails to Johnson Lake: the first is from the Baker Creek Trailhead, the second from the Shoshone Trailhead.  It's a shorter round-trip hike from the latter, so up Snake Creek Canyon we drove toward Shoshone, and we were off.

 

The trail, although shorter, covers the same elevation gain.  Translation: very steep!!  I kind of felt bad dragging them up such a steep trail.  Adam did fine, Dad enjoyed himself, and Mom, with the help of some borrowed trekking poles, was a trooper.  (She and I both have testimonies of trekking poles.)

 

At one of the rest stops...bumps on a log.

Getting closer to the lake, there was this tree, growing right out of a crack in the rock.  Crazy!

We got to the lake, had a lovely lunch, and took a ton of pictures before heading back down.  Sunday was rainy, Tuesday brought thunderstorms (that knocked out power in the middle of my cave tour, no less...it's dark down there!), but Monday, the sky was the clearest blue, the weather was perfect, and we were basically the only visitors on the trail.

Adam found a rock on the lake and posed for his future statue.

The road from the valley up to Snake Creek Canyon was lined with Rocky Mountain Bee plants.  It's sunset in the picture below, so hard to see these plants, but they are absolutely beautiful!

We had dinner at the Silver Jack. (Yup, Baker has three places to eat!)  Mom's even smiling after a very long day.

Adam still needs to work on his "I'm trying to appear less tired than I am" smile.

It was a great day and a great weekend.  It's always nice to spend time with family and I don't think we ever out-grow playing show-and-tell to our parents.

Montana Wedding

I was able to drive up to Montana for my dear friend Heather's wedding last weekend.  Part of my itinerary took me through Yellowstone National Park; the part in Montana.  I kept thinking, "Oh, yeah!  I work for this company!"  It was really beautiful and it made me miss Montana immensely.  I've gotta get myself back up there.

The ceremony was held out in the hills east of Livingston, MT.  It was a lovely setting and an absolutely beautiful ceremony.  Here's Molly, younger sister to the bride and a good friend from Deer Lodge days. (random dude in the back is the DJ)

 Maureen, older sister, and good friend from Deer Lodge days.

Elizabeth, maid of honor, and a very dear from from Deer Lodge days.   We shared a hotel room for the weekend and got a whole lot of catching up done and not much sleeping.

 Dave (the groom), Dave's brother-in-law, Dave's dad, and Heather's older brother Eric.

Heather, a beautiful bride, walking in with her dad. 

 Gettin' hitched!

 At the reception.

It was a wonderful day, a fast and furious but wonderful weekend, and it went by much too quickly.  It was wonderful seeing old friends, chatting with friends who came from Deer Lodge, and most of all, getting to celebrate this happy time with my friend!

Mt Washington Attempt

There is, what is called by the rangers, the Magic Forest, sitting just below Mt. Washington in the west-central part of the park.  It is a spectacular Bristlecone grove.  I have been wanting to get up there for a while now.  There is a road that goes from Spring Valley (west side of park) up the west side of Mt. Washington.  This road is not recommended unless you have four-wheel drive, have been up the road before, and a strong constitution. 

My dilemma...getting up to the grove.  After consulting my topo and a co-worker, I decided to drive up Snake Creek Canyon, hike to the ridge line dividing Snake Creek from Big Wash, then hike the ridge line to the grove, and why not, while I'm up there, scurry up Mt. Washington too.  See map with planned route below.



I hurried to get my chores done in the morning, then took off.  It had been over a year since I was up Snake and I had forgotten how pretty it is up there.  I started my hike, hit the ridge line, and started to bushwhack west.  A view looking north into Granite Basin.

At the saddle, about to leave the trail, looking southeast into Big Wash.

My view from where I stopped for lunch, looking back the way I came.  This is looking east, along the ridge line I was following. 

Looking north to Pyramid, Wheeler, and Jeff Davis Peaks.

When I finally stopped for lunch, I was absolutely exhausted.  I was really sweaty, had been rained on and was a bit damp, and the sky was threatening to storm worse.  Looking west, it seemed like I still had a really long way to go to reach Mt. Washington.  I'm not exactly sure how far I went, I'll need to look at a 7.5 minute topo to try and figure that out.  I did, however, eat my lunch in a truly magnificent Bristlecone grove.  Again, don't know if I reached the Magic Forest, but it was grand all the same.

Looking south across Big Wash to what I think is Lincoln Peak?  See how nasty the sky is looking?

A very, very, very zoomed in view of the trail head where my car is.  The trail head is at 8250ft and by my best estimate from my topo, I had lunch at 10,700ft.

There was some spectacular thunder as I was making my way down and some really cold rain.  I made it safely back to my car, and had thought about doing a short hike part-way up to Johnson Lake, but the sky was telling me it wasn't finished so I called it a day.  I got home, tired, dirty beyond all reason, bummed I didn't make it to the peak, but determined to try again.  Next time, I'm going up the road with an LE ranger, or someone with a truck.

During the walk down, I stumbled upon this little cave/crawl space.  Not the best picture, but I had fun, despite it was limestone and it chewed my skin up pretty bad.

I wish I was a better photographer so I could better capture the beauty of this park.  Hmm...maybe a winter project?