Snow Mountain (view from the top and the summit)

Thursday, July 23, 2009
Day 4

Today’s schedule:
· 6:15 am Meet
· 6: 30 am Hike
· 9:30 am Breakfast – French toast and fruit (400 calories)
· 10:15 am Anatomy workshop
· 11:15 am Yoga
· 12:45 pm Lunch – Minestrone soup, pita bread with chicken, salad (300 calories)
· 1:15 pm Cooking demo
· 2:30 pm Ball works - on one of those large bouncy balls
· 3:30 pm Treading (interval training)
· 4:30 pm Stretch class
· 5:45 pm Dinner – Stuffed chicken and chocolate cherry pie (500 calories)
· 6:15 pm Lecture on increasing your caloric expenditure

Hike

Sheesh, this is supposed to be getting progressively easier not harder. They seem to always push you just further than what you can comfortably cope with and then a bit more. We hiked in Snow Mountain today, which is about 4,000 ft above sea level. The hike was a 4 mile jaunt with a 1,000 foot rise. The first couple of miles was straight up a dry creek of river rocks, followed by the last vertical 500 ft of sand, during which all I could think was “That must have been a hell of a tsunami to get this beach all the way up here.” Sand is just the pits, not just because it’s a major quad, ankle, and calf pain to get through, as soon as it gets inside your shoes and socks, you just know that pain and blisters are not far away. And yes, I do still consider this a vacation. The views from the top again did not disappoint and definitely worth the effort, plus the hike back down was naturally a much easier and faster although more dangerous as rocks that looked solid as the proverbial, gave way as soon as you put any weight on them.
All this outdoors stuff changes your ideas on life and what’s important. Right now the two greatest things that I look for each day are large flat rocks that stay still when you step on them, and an ice cold wet rag out of the cooler in the van after each hike. Who would have thunk it.

Geocaches

One interesting aspect of the lore and traditions of the mountains is the notion of geocaches. These artifacts are small, tobacco tin sized boxes that are left at specific locations around the mountains and they contain time-capsule type stuff, favorite souvenirs, photographs, and little note books for people to add their thoughts and comments as they come across them. They’re usually located at the summit of mountains but they can be located anywhere. One we came across had the photograph of a guy holding a mountain bike aloft above his head, and a note explaining how he died of a heart attack. I think that this was not the most inspirational geocache that the guide could have shown us, but hey, what does an urban dweller from the North of England know.

Close

Hard to believe that we’re nearing the end of the week and we’re still surviving. What a totally different lifestyle: 5 mile hikes, 6 to 8 hour s in the gym, and only 1200 calories each day. Not sure what will happen after we return to a “normal” lifestyle, but we’re really glad that we’re here and proud of ourselves for sticking with it. And there’s another week ahead! There’s also still a few vacancies in case anybody wishes to join us – email applications accepted!