Finally - Rain, mud, and more rain! Now I feel like I'm in the Northwest! However, our training continued, wet or dry. It was the first chance for us to put our wet gear to the test and to gain some experience using the equipment in real conditions. We quickly found out that it didn't really matter if our rain jackets and pants were made of super-duper high tech breathable fabrics when the humidity was 10,000%. It also revalidated the importance of adjusting our layers religiously in order to keep our temperatures in check.
We gathered to hike Indian Point, another picturesque site along the Columbia River Gorge. It was actually a big arrow shaped rock that stuck out from a point that we didn't get to see on this hike as we were feeling very wet and kind of cold by the time we got to that point and couldn't wait to get back to the car. This hike was probably the most strenuous one among all the hikes we had done so far. The trail stretched over an 8.5 miles of loop that gained over 2,700 feet all within the first third. All the hiking guide books that I had looked at suggested to proceed on the loop in the opposite direction to ours. However we were thankful that we did not do that because it would have had us landing on our behinds many times descending down the very steep, muddy and slippery surface.
But the magical thing about this area was that, even though it poured pretty much non-stop the whole time, it provided us with the views in different light through the low scuds hugging the hill sides that was just as beautiful. Too bad that I was able to take no picture on this hike except one. I was kind of looking forward to firing up and using my brand new Costco special digital camera too.I weighed my pack to about 35 lbs again. On our previous hike, I felt that this was a reasonable load that kept me challenged without killing myself. Marty Houston led the medium group I was in this time. Because the gate to the campground behind which the trail head was located was closed at the time, we parked on the side of the road by the gate and hiked up to it. After a potty break, we set off on the trail. It gradually started up gently to the bottom of a dozen or so switchbacks. From there the trail got significantly steeper. Even though we were well covered under the tree canopies pretty much the whole time, the rain relentlessly drove down on us and we were soaked inside and out by the time we took our gear check break after 15 minutes despite the high tech rain jackets and pants that promised to keep us dry. Of course the source of the moisture was not only the rain but also the steam we generated inside the rain garments as we hustled up the trail. One positive note - my hiking boots worked wonderfully in keeping my feet dry the entire time we were walking through the muddy mess. This was good not only because our feet were the most important equipment we had but also because it kept the level of our mumbling expletives to minimum.
I kept practicing rest step throughout this whole hike and I could tell it made a measurable difference in conserving my energy. After we were back to the parking area, I really felt like I would be able to go up and do it again. Not that that would have been a good idea, as that's just the sort of situations in which I typically got injured in the past.
On our past hikes, we would typically take a short lunch break once we reached the top but we were more eager to get back to the nice dry cabins of our cars than to eat soggy sandwiches. That's OK though - we made it up by making a stop at our usual beer and burger joint.
I missed our gear clinic which I really wanted to go to and the 6th Training Hike at Kings Mountain but a couple of us are organizing hikes on our own this coming holiday weekend, as Reach The Summit has no hikes scheduled. I will be hiking Saddle Mountain on the Coastal Range so please stay tuned!
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