12th Training Hike - Nesmith Point May 16, 2010

I'm finally catching up with my training hike blogs that I slacked off in the midst of the BBQ Party preparations.

Although many of us were kind of sleep deprived and tired from the night hike training we had just done only the day before, we showed up again to take some more at Nesmith Point.

The training location was changed to Nesmith Point because we had already hiked Dog Mountain twice. It would be the longest and the highest one we would do yet at 3,800' of elevation gain over a five mile trail each way. (Of course we had been spoiled by all those hikes in the past with incredible views at every other turn too. So a hike for the sake of being butt kicked was probably long over due at this point..)

The first mile or so from the parking lot took us through dense forests to a junction with another trail called Gorge Trail. From there on, we got to savor the sweet suffering we asked for, step by step, on the countless switchbacks that promised to dish out the relentlessly steep climb up a gully. Once we left the gully, the trail took us traversing a steep slope that was seemingly almost vertical, followed by another series of switchbacks, though short, back up the ridge.

So was the hike all about the building our mountaineer characters? There were few brief moments that allowed us to take our minds off the gradual build-up of lactic acid in our muscle tissues. For instance, there were many wild flowers like trilliums and wild roses that were absolutely lovely all along the trail. We also got to see some views of the Gorge through the breaks in the vegetations with Mt. Adams off to the distance which was still covered in snow. (Sorry, it was a bit too hazy to capture it on my camera.)

About 1,000' (?) or so before the summit, we took a nice break in a rocky section where we refueled before the final push. I was surprised about how good I was still feeling at this point despite the lack of sleep. From there, we kept following the trail that eventually intersected with an old road that was used to take people up in the early half of the last century. The summit was finally near. So where was it??

The climax of our hike was accentuated by the broken down outhouse that had been there for decades as I was told. Otherwise it was a small clearing that faced opposite to the direction of the Gorge.

I am going to cheat a little bit now and post a bunch of pictures at the bottom to call it a blog.

Our next hike is going to be at Ruckel Creek which has been described by one of our training hike assistants as "butt kicker of a hike." Stay tuned!!