Well, I did it. I finally made it to the summit of San Gorgonio Mountain yesterday. I left Redlands at 5:11 a.m., rode my bike to South Fork, hiked to the summit and back, then rode home, arriving at 8:46 p.m. Total time for the 52 miles of cycling and 23.2 miles of hiking was 15 hours and 35 minutes.
This was probably the most physically demanding thing I have ever attempted, with the added challenge of a thunderstorm that drenched me most of the way down the mountain and made the bike ride home pretty treacherous (the last part of it in the dark). Several times on the way up the mountain, as the muscles in my legs and back cried out in pain, I kept thinking, "I'm going to turn around and head back," but I persisted. On the way down from the summit, I kept thinking, "I'm going to turn around and head back," and then I realized, I was heading back! There was no shortcut home. Today, I'm taking it easy and hanging out with my good friend, Mr. Motrin.
On the way down the mountain, after 10+ hours of hauling a 20-pound backpack more than 40 miles horizontally and 10,000 feet vertically from Redlands, I was very tired and sore. I tried not to focus on the pain I was suffering, but instead on the beautiful scene that surrounded me: The clouds ebbing and flowing through the trees; the different sounds of the raindrops on the leaves, tree stumps and puddles of water; the thunder clapping all around me (at least 100 times); and the intense saturation of the colors of the plants and flowers around me as they shimmered in the rain. Pain and beauty; yin and yang.
I was pretty disappointed this morning to find my Garmin GPS data from the hike was corrupt and MotionBased could not process it. I don't know if is because there were too many data points, or if it was because the battery died about a mile from the end of the hike, which also meant I couldn't record the ride home. I've asked MotionBased to see if the hike data is salvageable. It looks to me to be showing four data points: The start at South Fork, a point near Dollar Lake saddle where the route turns from south to south-east, the summit and the point where the battery died. Here is a screenshot of what MotionBased returned when I tried to upload the hike data (click on the image to see it full size):
I uploaded the hike data into Garmin's Training Center (GTC) software (screen shot below -- click on the image to see it full size) and got mostly the same result, which appears to be the data points of the three "laps" I recorded (South Fork to summit=lap 1; respite at the summit=lap 2; return to South Fork=lap 3). I don't understand why the start times vary from 9:13 a.m. in GTC (which I recall as more accurate) and 9:29 a.m. in MotionBased. At least GTC recorded the times of day, along with elevation (I guess the 11,500 feet I saw didn't get recorded). The mileage -- and the speed, as a result -- are inaccurate because the software drew a straight line between the data points. If I coulda flown like a crow, I woulda!
I shot a few still photos during the hike that are posted on my Picasa web album, but the weather didn't allow me to shoot the panoramas I was hoping to capture from the summit. I also shot some video, but my MacBook's disk drive is full and I can't edit it today (video files eat up the gigs like Pac-Man). I'll post it on YouTube later. Like the photo of me above, below is a frame grab from the video. There is rock to the right of the guy in the middle of the shot where I climbed and held my GPS above my head and recorded 11,500 feet.
I spoke with my good friend and cycling teammate Phil Richards today and he told me his wife Annette asked him, "Why would he do that?" As I told the Forest Service crew I chatted with on the way up, "It seems like a good way to take advantage of all this summer daylight." Annette's question reminds of British mountaineer George Leigh Mallory's famous quote in the New York Times in 1923, the year before he was lost while attempting to climb Mount Everest. When asked why he wanted to climb the world's tallest peak, he said, "Because it's there." It inspired this poem by Robert William Service:
Dauntless Quest
Why seek to scale Mount Everest,
Queen of the air,
Why strive to crown that cruel crest
And deathward dare?
Said Mallory of dauntless quest,
"Because it's there."
Update July 14 (Bastille Day):
As promised, here is the video. The quality is terrible (I can't get Final Cut Express HD to render it in a better-quality version), but here is a record of the trip, such as it is. The last few frames are of a stream that runs near the trail that I captured on the trip down the mountain. It reminds me of a song I wrote many years ago.
Notes for next time:
Total miles: 75.2
Elevation gain: 10,000 feet
Total time: 15:35
Departed 5:11 a.m.; returned 8:46 p.m.
Ride time to South Fork: 3:14
(Water stops at Mill Creek and Angeles Oaks)
Ride time home: Slow (roads were wet, I was top-heavy with the backpack and it was getting dark)
Hike time:
Departed 9:13 a.m.; returned 6:50 p.m.
Total time 9:37 (2.41 m.p.h., including idle time at summit)
Time to summit: 4:48 (2.42 m.p.h.)
Time to return (less 26 min. at summit): 4:22 (2.66 m.p.h.)
Water:
130 ounces on the hike; 60 ounces on the ride
Full Camelback bladder plus one-liter bottle on hike (8.8 lbs.)
Nutrition:
5-1/2 Cliff bars, two Odwalla bars (1760 calories total)
Dos and don'ts:
- No Odwalla bars: Almost cracked a tooth on nut shells in both of them
- On the ride, haul the backpack in the Burley cargo trailer to take the weight off the back
- Do not pack a tripod; it's too heavy and cumbersome
- Take the Nikon for better still photos (need to get those panoramas next time)
- Try the shorter (but steeper) Vivian Creek Trail route to shorten the time
- Get some really good hiking boots ("Avoid Merrell brand," said the blister on his heel)
- Do a lot more hiking and high-altitude preparation beforehand!
