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August 2005

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Four Brothers

Went and saw "Four Brothers," the new Mark Wahlberg movie, last night. While extremely unrealistic and with some cheesy lines, I was entertained. Surprisingly, Andre 3000 of Outkast fame, who plays one of the brothers, does a good acting job. 3.75 out of 5 stars.

August 31, 2005

Four Brothers
Went and saw "Four Brothers," the new Mark Wahlberg movie, last night. While extremely unrealistic and with some cheesy lines, I was entertained. Surprisingly, Andre 3000 of Outkast fame, who plays one of the brothers, does a good acting job. 3.75 out of 5 stars.
August 31, 2005

Mt. Bierstadt, Mt. Evans, and The Sawtooth

After a 3 week hiatus from climbing, I finally got back into the mountains. Joe, Tim, Allisa, and I decided to climb two of the easiest 14ers in the Front Range, Mt. Bierstadt and Mt. Evans. I should qualify that statement by saying that they are easy if you do them by themselves. If you do them on the same day, well, that's a whole different story. After convincing Tim that leaving at 330 AM was a better idea than leaving late, we finalized our meeting plans. We met Tim at the Park N Ride facility along I-70. I don't think any of us had had much more than 4 hours of sleep the night before.
We made it to the trailhead by 445 and were off by 5. It's about 3.25 miles from the trailhead along Guanella Pass to the summit at 14,060 feet above sea level. I hadn't hiked in three weeks and Joe has been working in Missouri for 4 weeks, so neither he nor I were in our normal hiking shapes. It took a while to get reaccustomed to the high altitude. We summitted at 730, about 30 minutes after sunrise. We were beaten by only one guy that morning. After refueling at the summit, we began our preparations to traverse the Sawtooth, a Class 3 ridge. I had never climbed anything like that before where I really had to use my hands to pull myself up between rocks and chimneys. The Sawtooth made for an excellent adventure in both difficulty and experience. This is a picture of Tim and I climbing through a chimney on the Sawtooth:

After using up most of our energy traversing the Sawtooth, we began our ascent of Mt. Evans along the Mt. Evans ridge. By this time, I think it was nearly 10 and many people that were only doing Evans were already in front of us. The ridge to the summit of Mt. Evans is a simple Class 2 boulder scramble. We summited at noon at an elevation of 14,264 feet. One of the interesting things about Mt. Evans is that you can drive all the way to the top in your car. In fact, the road leading up there is the highest paved road in the U.S. To read more about Mt. Evans and the construction of this road, click here.
We stayed at the summit for about an hour eating our lunch and resting. More than a few people asked us why we had so much gear. We had to explain that we had actually walked up to this point. A man wearing a, not surprisingly, Raiders jersey, seemed dumbfounded. Here we are at the summit:

We started our descent around 1 PM. At this point, we were all so tired and our heads were pounding from being at such a high altitude for an extended period of time. Tim and I got separated from Joe and Alissa during the descent, but we all basically knew where we needed to go. According to our topo map, we were supposed to descend down a deep drainage. Tim and I got off-course and got separated. At this point, I was concerned for my own safety. I later learned that Tim was feeling the same way about his safety. For me to get back on track and into the drainage, I had to descend down a tundra-covered slope. Tundra is extremely slick and at the angles I was on, is extremely dangerous. I slowly descended, falling once about 10 feet down the slope. Thankfully, I caught my feet and hands on a passing rock. Untimately, I made it down to the drainage and met up with the converging group. Of course, by this point, I've used up about 99% of my energy and we still had about 2.5 miles to go to the truck.
We traversed on through some thick willows and the swamp that surrounds Scott Gomer Creek. The final 2 miles was really probably the worst part of the day because we were having to slog through this nasty swamp. We finally made it back to the truck at 4 PM. I've never been so glad to see a car in my life. I've had some pretty hard hikes in my life, but this one might take the cake. I've definitely done harder hikes as far as distance goes, but when you combine that much distance (we did nearly 12 miles) with that much vertical (+3,500 feet), it makes for a long day. Overall, and for as much complaining as I did for the day, this hike was great. I challenged myself with vertical, distance, and a higher class climbing than I had ever done. As with all my hikes, I'd do it again.
Check out the pictures from these hikes.

August 29, 2005

Mt. Bierstadt, Mt. Evans, and The Sawtooth

After a 3 week hiatus from climbing, I finally got back into the mountains. Joe, Tim, Allisa, and I decided to climb two of the easiest 14ers in the Front Range, Mt. Bierstadt and Mt. Evans. I should qualify that statement by saying that they are easy if you do them by themselves. If you do them on the same day, well, that's a whole different story. After convincing Tim that leaving at 330 AM was a better idea than leaving late, we finalized our meeting plans. We met Tim at the Park N Ride facility along I-70. I don't think any of us had had much more than 4 hours of sleep the night before. We made it to the trailhead by 445 and were off by 5. It's about 3.25 miles from the trailhead along Guanella Pass to the summit at 14,060 feet above sea level. I hadn't hiked in three weeks and Joe has been working in Missouri for 4 weeks, so neither he nor I were in our normal hiking shapes. It took a while to get reaccustomed to the high altitude. We summitted at 730, about 30 minutes after sunrise. We were beaten by only one guy that morning. After refueling at the summit, we began our preparations to traverse the Sawtooth, a Class 3 ridge. I had never climbed anything like that before where I really had to use my hands to pull myself up between rocks and chimneys. The Sawtooth made for an excellent adventure in both difficulty and experience. This is a picture of Tim and I climbing through a chimney on the Sawtooth:

After using up most of our energy traversing the Sawtooth, we began our ascent of Mt. Evans along the Mt. Evans ridge. By this time, I think it was nearly 10 and many people that were only doing Evans were already in front of us. The ridge to the summit of Mt. Evans is a simple Class 2 boulder scramble. We summited at noon at an elevation of 14,264 feet. One of the interesting things about Mt. Evans is that you can drive all the way to the top in your car. In fact, the road leading up there is the highest paved road in the U.S. To read more about Mt. Evans and the construction of this road, click here. We stayed at the summit for about an hour eating our lunch and resting. More than a few people asked us why we had so much gear. We had to explain that we had actually walked up to this point. A man wearing a, not surprisingly, Raiders jersey, seemed dumbfounded. Here we are at the summit:

We started our descent around 1 PM. At this point, we were all so tired and our heads were pounding from being at such a high altitude for an extended period of time. Tim and I got separated from Joe and Alissa during the descent, but we all basically knew where we needed to go. According to our topo map, we were supposed to descend down a deep drainage. Tim and I got off-course and got separated. At this point, I was concerned for my own safety. I later learned that Tim was feeling the same way about his safety. For me to get back on track and into the drainage, I had to descend down a tundra-covered slope. Tundra is extremely slick and at the angles I was on, is extremely dangerous. I slowly descended, falling once about 10 feet down the slope. Thankfully, I caught my feet and hands on a passing rock. Untimately, I made it down to the drainage and met up with the converging group. Of course, by this point, I've used up about 99% of my energy and we still had about 2.5 miles to go to the truck. We traversed on through some thick willows and the swamp that surrounds Scott Gomer Creek. The final 2 miles was really probably the worst part of the day because we were having to slog through this nasty swamp. We finally made it back to the truck at 4 PM. I've never been so glad to see a car in my life. I've had some pretty hard hikes in my life, but this one might take the cake. I've definitely done harder hikes as far as distance goes, but when you combine that much distance (we did nearly 12 miles) with that much vertical (+3,500 feet), it makes for a long day. Overall, and for as much complaining as I did for the day, this hike was great. I challenged myself with vertical, distance, and a higher class climbing than I had ever done. As with all my hikes, I'd do it again. Check out the pictures from these hikes.
August 29, 2005

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

On a recent business trip to Carlsbad, New Mexico, I was only about 30 miles from Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Of course, I was not going to miss this opportunity to visit what I had heard to be an amazing National Park. I was wanting to do some more NM county highpoints, but decided that this would be better. I chose correctly. I made my way down to the Caverns on Thursday afternoon, August 25. Coincidentally, I happened to be visiting the National Park on "Founders Day," the 89th Anniversary of the founding of the National Parks Service. All this means is that I got free cake and ice cream.

The Caverns are located within the Guadalupe Mountains, a NE / SW trending mountain range comprised wholly of limestone (aka calcium carbonate). The geology of the Guadalupe Mountains, and thus Carlsbad Caverns, is this: During the Permian Age, approximately 250 million years ago, this area, called the Delaware Basin, was covered by an inland sea. The skeletons and other components of sea plants and animals, comprised of calcium carbonate, accumulated in the shallow portion of this sea to form a reef. After thousands of feet of accumulation, the sediment solidified into rock and what we see today. Of course, there was an uplift period to bring this fossil reef where we can see it now. This fossil reef is one of the largest in the world.
Approximately 60 million years ago, hydrogen sulfide gas, rising to the surface from nearby oil and gas deposits, mixed with subsurface water to form sulfuric acid. This strong acid began dissolving the fossil reef limestone. The caverns, still filled with water, became bigger and bigger over millions of years. Once they became large enough and fractures were sufficient, the water began draining out, allowing access to the caverns. In the past million years, limestone-laden water has dripped from the ceilings of the caverns and began to form what we see today, huge speleothems, a general term for stalagmites and stalagtites.
This place is amazing. Caving is sort of the exact opposite of mountaineering. You are going into the depths of the earth instead of going to the extents of the earth. Some of the speleothems within the caverns are amazing. This is as active as geology gets. There are still formations being deposited within the caves. There is one room, called the "Big Room," which is the size of more than 6 football fields. It takes over one hour to walk around it.

It is believed that Native Americans knew about the caves, but probably didn't venture more than 50 feet into them due to poor lighting technologies. New caves are still being discovered today in the Guadalupe Mountains.
Check out the pictures that I took from inside the cave. It's very dark in there, and it's hard to take good pictures without a single lens reflex (SLR) camera. If you want to look at professionally shot photos from within the cave, click here.

August 27, 2005

Carlsbad Caverns National Park
On a recent business trip to Carlsbad, New Mexico, I was only about 30 miles from Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Of course, I was not going to miss this opportunity to visit what I had heard to be an amazing National Park. I was wanting to do some more NM county highpoints, but decided that this would be better. I chose correctly. I made my way down to the Caverns on Thursday afternoon, August 25. Coincidentally, I happened to be visiting the National Park on "Founders Day," the 89th Anniversary of the founding of the National Parks Service. All this means is that I got free cake and ice cream.

The Caverns are located within the Guadalupe Mountains, a NE / SW trending mountain range comprised wholly of limestone (aka calcium carbonate). The geology of the Guadalupe Mountains, and thus Carlsbad Caverns, is this: During the Permian Age, approximately 250 million years ago, this area, called the Delaware Basin, was covered by an inland sea. The skeletons and other components of sea plants and animals, comprised of calcium carbonate, accumulated in the shallow portion of this sea to form a reef. After thousands of feet of accumulation, the sediment solidified into rock and what we see today. Of course, there was an uplift period to bring this fossil reef where we can see it now. This fossil reef is one of the largest in the world. Approximately 60 million years ago, hydrogen sulfide gas, rising to the surface from nearby oil and gas deposits, mixed with subsurface water to form sulfuric acid. This strong acid began dissolving the fossil reef limestone. The caverns, still filled with water, became bigger and bigger over millions of years. Once they became large enough and fractures were sufficient, the water began draining out, allowing access to the caverns. In the past million years, limestone-laden water has dripped from the ceilings of the caverns and began to form what we see today, huge speleothems, a general term for stalagmites and stalagtites. This place is amazing. Caving is sort of the exact opposite of mountaineering. You are going into the depths of the earth instead of going to the extents of the earth. Some of the speleothems within the caverns are amazing. This is as active as geology gets. There are still formations being deposited within the caves. There is one room, called the "Big Room," which is the size of more than 6 football fields. It takes over one hour to walk around it.

It is believed that Native Americans knew about the caves, but probably didn't venture more than 50 feet into them due to poor lighting technologies. New caves are still being discovered today in the Guadalupe Mountains. Check out the pictures that I took from inside the cave. It's very dark in there, and it's hard to take good pictures without a single lens reflex (SLR) camera. If you want to look at professionally shot photos from within the cave, click here.
August 27, 2005

New Highpoint Trip Reports

On a recent business trip, I completed two new county highpoints, Roosevelt and Curry Counties, New Mexico. These two were my first county highpoints in another state. They are not very exciting since they are located on the eastern plains of NM, but two more accomplished anyway. The best part was the wind farm that was located adjacent to the Curry County highpoint. Click here to check out the pictures and information.

August 23, 2005

New Highpoint Trip Reports
On a recent business trip, I completed two new county highpoints, Roosevelt and Curry Counties, New Mexico. These two were my first county highpoints in another state. They are not very exciting since they are located on the eastern plains of NM, but two more accomplished anyway. The best part was the wind farm that was located adjacent to the Curry County highpoint. Click here to check out the pictures and information.
August 23, 2005

Vegas Trip

Made it back from Vegas alive. We all know the now-famous saying about Vegas concerning what goes on out there. I've decided to break that rule and tell you everything that I did in explicit and graphic detail. Ready? Here goes: I sat in my room and read a good book. HA

August 22, 2005

Vegas Trip
Made it back from Vegas alive. We all know the now-famous saying about Vegas concerning what goes on out there. I've decided to break that rule and tell you everything that I did in explicit and graphic detail. Ready? Here goes: I sat in my room and read a good book. HA
August 22, 2005

Sin City

That's all there is to say.

August 16, 2005

Sin City

That's all there is to say.

August 16, 2005

Las Animas County Highpoint

Added some new pictures that Tim took to the Las Animas County highpoint gallery. Click here.

August 16, 2005

Las Animas County Highpoint
Added some new pictures that Tim took to the Las Animas County highpoint gallery. Click here.
August 16, 2005

Trey

Finally recovered from the show on Saturday. The show was off the hook. I went out to Red Rocks around 430 that afternoon with my friend Doug, who is, unfortunately, moving to Casper, Wyoming due to work. He and I proceeded to the upper lot for some hacky sack, brew, and whiskey. The show wasn't scheduled to start until 7, so we had some time to kick it. We met another friend of ours, Patrick, in the lot. We shot the shit for a couple of hours before we started to head to the door. It's had been over two years since I've seen a show like the one I was about to witness (i.e. pseudo-hippie). I've seen enough Phish shows to know what there was going to be, but I found myself a little annoyed by the hippies. I never really fit into this crowd anyway; I was always going for the music. But I've decided that the hippie scene is not for me. The ones that annoy me the most are the ones who wear nice clothes and drive nice cars but when Trey, String Cheese, or Widespread comes to town, they are totally different people. Just be yourself in life.
Unfortunately, the people that I purchased my tickets with weren't there by the time I was ready to go in and they had my ticket (I'll never make that mistake again). So Doug and Patrick start heading up to the door and I start wandering to where Tim, Jason, and Brooke would be parking soon, I hoped. They don't get there until 715. Sound Tribe Sector 9 came on right at 7. I'm starting to get a little pissed because I'm missing this awesome band that I've heard so much about but have never seen. Oh well, the whiskey made me a little less pissed and they weren't late on purpose. We finally make it inside and STS9 has been playing for nearly 45 minutes. I got to see the last 30 minutes of them. They definitely rocked. Their music is sort of a jazz-electric-fusion sound. Very cool. I'll be buying a CD soon.
I take a restroom break while Trey's entourage sets up his equipment. 70 Volt Parade comes out around 845. They open with Drifting, a Phish favorite. 70 VP then proceeds to rip it up for the next 90 minutes. It was sick. Highlights of the 'first' set included Cayman Review, Night Speaks to a Woman, and Push on Til the Day. The band, sans Trey, takes a break. Trey, alone now, talking more than I've ever heard, indicates that he used to take a break with the rest of the band, but would always pick up a guitar backstage and begin playing. He decided that he might as well stay out there and play for us. At this time, Trey indicated that he loved Red Rocks more than any place he has ever played and he loved coming here. How could you not love a place that looks like this?:

I'd heard Trey play acoustically before, but never alone. It was great. He shredded it with four songs made famous by Phish: Pebbles and Marbles, Back on the Train, Waste, and Inlaw Josie Wales.
After the four acoustic songs, the rest of 70 VP returned for another hour. The two highlights of the second half were Sand and the Beatles' cover, I Am the Walrus. Unfortunately, and as I had hoped and predicted, Mike Gordon didn't make a special guest appearance. That's alright, I had a blast anyway.
I found it very surreal to see Trey with another band other than Phish. I had seen him when he was doing a side project with the Trey Anastasio Band, but that was more like Trey and some other people. This show was more like a full band atmosphere with awesome lights and such. Very strange for me.
At this time, I need to give a shout out to my boy Matt Thomas, who was unable to attend, and will be reading this soon. As you might know, Matt was along for the ride on 99% of the Phish experience and I hope to catch a show with him soon. Good luck with that new addition coming to your fam soon.

August 15, 2005

Trey

Finally recovered from the show on Saturday. The show was off the hook. I went out to Red Rocks around 430 that afternoon with my friend Doug, who is, unfortunately, moving to Casper, Wyoming due to work. He and I proceeded to the upper lot for some hacky sack, brew, and whiskey. The show wasn't scheduled to start until 7, so we had some time to kick it. We met another friend of ours, Patrick, in the lot. We shot the shit for a couple of hours before we started to head to the door. It's had been over two years since I've seen a show like the one I was about to witness (i.e. pseudo-hippie). I've seen enough Phish shows to know what there was going to be, but I found myself a little annoyed by the hippies. I never really fit into this crowd anyway; I was always going for the music. But I've decided that the hippie scene is not for me. The ones that annoy me the most are the ones who wear nice clothes and drive nice cars but when Trey, String Cheese, or Widespread comes to town, they are totally different people. Just be yourself in life. Unfortunately, the people that I purchased my tickets with weren't there by the time I was ready to go in and they had my ticket (I'll never make that mistake again). So Doug and Patrick start heading up to the door and I start wandering to where Tim, Jason, and Brooke would be parking soon, I hoped. They don't get there until 715. Sound Tribe Sector 9 came on right at 7. I'm starting to get a little pissed because I'm missing this awesome band that I've heard so much about but have never seen. Oh well, the whiskey made me a little less pissed and they weren't late on purpose. We finally make it inside and STS9 has been playing for nearly 45 minutes. I got to see the last 30 minutes of them. They definitely rocked. Their music is sort of a jazz-electric-fusion sound. Very cool. I'll be buying a CD soon. I take a restroom break while Trey's entourage sets up his equipment. 70 Volt Parade comes out around 845. They open with Drifting, a Phish favorite. 70 VP then proceeds to rip it up for the next 90 minutes. It was sick. Highlights of the 'first' set included Cayman Review, Night Speaks to a Woman, and Push on Til the Day. The band, sans Trey, takes a break. Trey, alone now, talking more than I've ever heard, indicates that he used to take a break with the rest of the band, but would always pick up a guitar backstage and begin playing. He decided that he might as well stay out there and play for us. At this time, Trey indicated that he loved Red Rocks more than any place he has ever played and he loved coming here. How could you not love a place that looks like this?:

I'd heard Trey play acoustically before, but never alone. It was great. He shredded it with four songs made famous by Phish: Pebbles and Marbles, Back on the Train, Waste, and Inlaw Josie Wales. After the four acoustic songs, the rest of 70 VP returned for another hour. The two highlights of the second half were Sand and the Beatles' cover, I Am the Walrus. Unfortunately, and as I had hoped and predicted, Mike Gordon didn't make a special guest appearance. That's alright, I had a blast anyway. I found it very surreal to see Trey with another band other than Phish. I had seen him when he was doing a side project with the Trey Anastasio Band, but that was more like Trey and some other people. This show was more like a full band atmosphere with awesome lights and such. Very strange for me. At this time, I need to give a shout out to my boy Matt Thomas, who was unable to attend, and will be reading this soon. As you might know, Matt was along for the ride on 99% of the Phish experience and I hope to catch a show with him soon. Good luck with that new addition coming to your fam soon.
August 15, 2005

70 Volt Parade and Sound Tribe Sector 9

70 Volt Parade, Trey Anastasio's new band, and STS9 show is tomorrow night at Red Rocks, the sickest place to ever see a show. I'm f'n stoked. I haven't seen Trey since the Phish breakup. A local website indicated that Mike Gordon was going to be in town for a show on Sunday. By that logic, I'd have to assume that he'll be in Denver on Saturday night. Do you think he could made a guest appearance with Trey? That would be sick! We'll see tomorrow night.

August 12, 2005

70 Volt Parade and Sound Tribe Sector 9
70 Volt Parade, Trey Anastasio's new band, and STS9 show is tomorrow night at Red Rocks, the sickest place to ever see a show. I'm f'n stoked. I haven't seen Trey since the Phish breakup. A local website indicated that Mike Gordon was going to be in town for a show on Sunday. By that logic, I'd have to assume that he'll be in Denver on Saturday night. Do you think he could made a guest appearance with Trey? That would be sick! We'll see tomorrow night.

August 12, 2005

Grand Traverse Peak and Mountaineering Page

I couldn't find anybody to climb with this weekend so I looked outside my normal group for an adventure. I found the Hoosier Trekkers, an Indiana University alumni hiking club. I called them up to find out what the skinny was and found out that they were planning on climbing Grand Traverse Peak, elevation 13,041 feet. This peak is found in the Gore Range of Colorado, an underappreciated range mostly located within Eagle County. The Gore Range is hardly touched by climbers and weekend enthusiasts because of its lack of easy access and lack of 14,000 foot peaks.
I asked the leader of Hoosier Trekkers if I could join them on their hike. At first, she was a little hesitant to let a new person come on such an advanced hike with a vertical gain of over 4,000 feet. I assured her that I was fully able to perform whatever climbing activities were necessary. The climb is long, 9 miles roundtrip, but is only Class 2. She indicated that the meeting point would be the Wal-Mart in Evergreen at 5 AM on Saturday morning.
I showed up at the meeting point right at 5 with my pack and supplies ready for the day. Turns out that only 4 of the nine people on the hike were IU alum. There was one Purdue and two Michigan grads. This group should be called the Big Ten trekkers. After meeting, the group seemed nice, but definitely an older crowd, average age 45. We jumped in two cars and headed to the trailhead near Vail. We arrived at the TH around 630 and had to wait for one other person. Once the last person arrived, we were off by 715. The first part of the hike seemed rather easy. It was long, but didn't seem too steep, even though you gain around 3,100 vert over 3.63 miles. The group as a whole was rather slow and I got way ahead. It's not too smart to get too far ahead in bear country, but I just couldn't keep such a slow pace. I reached the 3.63-mile mark at Deluge Lake at 1010. I laid down for a quick nap in this field. Amazing views.

After a 30 minute nap, the rest of the group slowly trickled in. As I laid in the grass, I got my first view of the summit I was about to conquer, which is the small hump in the middle of this picture:

Once the rest of the group refueled with some sandwiches and snacks, six of the original nine began the final 1,200 feet vertical to the top. The last three remained at the lake. It took me right at an hour to reach the summit. The last 300 feet were steep and brutal. The views from the top were amazing. You could see most of Vail ski resort and a lot of the Sawatch Range. One of my fellow climbers, a veteran of over 300 mountains in this state, named each one of the mountains that we could see. He had climbed all of them.
We stayed at the summit for about 45 minutes soaking in the views and then began our descent. It took us about 3 hours 15 minutes to get back down to the cars, and my feet felt every step of the last hour. This was the most vertical I had ever done and I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I was complete. A very good day with very good climbers. I will be joining this group again soon for another hike.
More pictures from this hike
You might have noticed, but I've added a Mountaineering page to the site to organize my climbing trips that are not County highpoints.
I'm a little disappointed that I won't be climbing for the next two weekends, but I've got good things planned. I've got Trey Anastasio tix for this weekend and the following weekend is Las Vegas for Matt Pruden's bachelor party. There are at least 15 people going to Vegas and most of us can party like rock stars, so I hope I survive.

August 8, 2005

Grand Traverse Peak and Mountaineering Page
I couldn't find anybody to climb with this weekend so I looked outside my normal group for an adventure. I found the Hoosier Trekkers, an Indiana University alumni hiking club. I called them up to find out what the skinny was and found out that they were planning on climbing Grand Traverse Peak, elevation 13,041 feet. This peak is found in the Gore Range of Colorado, an underappreciated range mostly located within Eagle County. The Gore Range is hardly touched by climbers and weekend enthusiasts because of its lack of easy access and lack of 14,000 foot peaks. I asked the leader of Hoosier Trekkers if I could join them on their hike. At first, she was a little hesitant to let a new person come on such an advanced hike with a vertical gain of over 4,000 feet. I assured her that I was fully able to perform whatever climbing activities were necessary. The climb is long, 9 miles roundtrip, but is only Class 2. She indicated that the meeting point would be the Wal-Mart in Evergreen at 5 AM on Saturday morning. I showed up at the meeting point right at 5 with my pack and supplies ready for the day. Turns out that only 4 of the nine people on the hike were IU alum. There was one Purdue and two Michigan grads. This group should be called the Big Ten trekkers. After meeting, the group seemed nice, but definitely an older crowd, average age 45. We jumped in two cars and headed to the trailhead near Vail. We arrived at the TH around 630 and had to wait for one other person. Once the last person arrived, we were off by 715. The first part of the hike seemed rather easy. It was long, but didn't seem too steep, even though you gain around 3,100 vert over 3.63 miles. The group as a whole was rather slow and I got way ahead. It's not too smart to get too far ahead in bear country, but I just couldn't keep such a slow pace. I reached the 3.63-mile mark at Deluge Lake at 1010. I laid down for a quick nap in this field. Amazing views.

After a 30 minute nap, the rest of the group slowly trickled in. As I laid in the grass, I got my first view of the summit I was about to conquer, which is the small hump in the middle of this picture:

Once the rest of the group refueled with some sandwiches and snacks, six of the original nine began the final 1,200 feet vertical to the top. The last three remained at the lake. It took me right at an hour to reach the summit. The last 300 feet were steep and brutal. The views from the top were amazing. You could see most of Vail ski resort and a lot of the Sawatch Range. One of my fellow climbers, a veteran of over 300 mountains in this state, named each one of the mountains that we could see. He had climbed all of them. We stayed at the summit for about 45 minutes soaking in the views and then began our descent. It took us about 3 hours 15 minutes to get back down to the cars, and my feet felt every step of the last hour. This was the most vertical I had ever done and I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I was complete. A very good day with very good climbers. I will be joining this group again soon for another hike. More pictures from this hike You might have noticed, but I've added a Mountaineering page to the site to organize my climbing trips that are not County highpoints. I'm a little disappointed that I won't be climbing for the next two weekends, but I've got good things planned. I've got Trey Anastasio tix for this weekend and the following weekend is Las Vegas for Matt Pruden's bachelor party. There are at least 15 people going to Vegas and most of us can party like rock stars, so I hope I survive.
August 8, 2005

Ryne Sandberg and the Chicago Cubs

Yesterday afternoon, my favorite baseball player of all time, Ryne Sandberg, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. As many of you know, I am a life-long and die-hard Cubs fan. I remember coming home from elementary school to find the Cubs on WGN each afternoon. Harry Caray and Steve Stone made baseball the most exciting sport I had ever seen. I don't know what it was about Ryne, but he was instantly my favorite. Recently, I found a "paper" that I wrote in first grade where I glued baseball cards to the left side of the page and then wrote a short little description about each player next to each card. I had the whole starting line-up for the Cubs in there. If it weren't in Indiana, I'd scan it in here because it's hilarious.
In fact, I actually write my junior-year high school paper on the 1994 Major League Baseball players strike. That year was the first time that the World Series had been canceled since WW II. I had to write about something that was a passion for me. I didn't think that anyone else had any originality in their choices. Everyone wrote about the standard things such as euthanasia, the Holocaust, the death penalty, and homelessness. While all good and important topics, I figured I'd be unique. These listed topics have been written about for years by high school students. Have some originality in life, you'll get farther.
Strewn about my house is Cubs memorabilia, but here are three of my favorites.

My Ryne Sandberg signed hat Cubs Jim Beam porcelain decanter. My dad must've drank the liquor out of him before he gave him to me at 8 years old. Another dad gift. A Cubs clock with (clockwise from top left) Rick Sutcliffe, Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, Andre Dawson, and Shawon Dunston.

Anyway, congrats to Ryno for making it to Cooperstown. I hope to make it to upstate New York sometime soon to visit the Hall of Fame.

August 1, 2005