longest hike in my record

Ahoy,

In my record of being alive, I went on the longest hike of my life the other day with my friend H. We started out the day anticipating a 9-10 miler. It ended up being 14! What a doozy. We started off from Chantry Flats greeting the goats and chickens at the general store (which is surprisingly obscure to find). At the falls we stopped to eat and proceeded back up.

The path to Mt. Wilson isn't always marked on the placards. You have to know what sites to pass prior to Mt. Wilson, but it was probably obvious enough. you could figure it out. Although the trail was incredibly obvious, there were portions that had a lot of debris littered throughout. It looked like rangers had recently come by and chopped off the branches from a lot of trees and left it all on the ground. There is a picnic area consisting of one table and a campground that you will pass. We actually veered off the trail at one river crossing and had to turn around, but that was just a 5 minute detour.

There is a marker that says 3 miles to Mt. Wilson, and all of those miles are a steady uphill. It can be soul wrenching and heart breaking. We trudged on and passed a halfway point marker. We were aghast, shocked, disbelieving, exhausted. I thought it was a joke. But it was not. Those 3 miles to Mt. Wilson were the longest 3 miles of my life.

At the top we saw snow! And an observatory with a telescope as powerful as the Hubble. It was a pleasant treat. The uphill was a very steady uphill that I did not think was terribly steep, but I realized I was mistaken when we kept sliding out on the way down. There are also a lot of rocks and pinecones waiting to take your glory, so we had to pay really close attention where our feet were stepping so as not to twist our ankles or fall. It was a lot more attention to detail than we thought would be necessary for the way down.

We finally made it back to Chantry Flats just as the sun went down. We went to the closest In n' Out and scarfed down some glorious CA goodness. That mountain chewed us up and spit us out with no hesitation, but we could have been worse for wear - just a little dirty. We left the day thoroughly satisfied. Oh, and I had enough water this time. My days of under-preparedness are behind me!

unexpectedly rigorous,
jt