Mt Mt Mt Mt Mt Mt Mitchell

Ma Ma Max Max Max Headroom

The image of Max Headroom (well, to be more correct, the voice of Max Headroom) came to mind as I looked at the map of our Black Mountains training hike route. All laid out, north to south:

Mountain: Potato Hill, 6,475 ft
Mountain: Balsam Cone, 6,611 ft
Mountain: Cattail Peak, 6,583 ft
Mountain: Big Tom, 6,581 ft
Mountain: Mt Craig, 6,647 ft
Mountain: Mt Mitchell, 6,684 ft

Yup, all those mountain peaks lined up: Mt Mt Mt Mt Mt Mt Mitchell. (Now say it like Max Headroom would...)

Then I looked at the topo map and see our starting point at 2,750 ft at the trailhead of the Colbert Ridge Trail.... then the 6,684 ft elevation of Mt. Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi. That's a 4,000 foot net elevation change from start to end, but with the gaps and saddles between the peaks, we had a total vertical ascent of about a mile ahead of us. Awesome!

Even if it is 10,000 feet below where I will be in six months, this would be some great training for my Everest Base Camp trek in November! The Colbert Ridge Trail and the Deep Gap Trail (aka Black Mountain Crest Trail) are much steeper and on much more technical ground. We had to climb under and over logs, and at times use ropes to ascend a steep rocky incline.

Vista from the Colbert Ridge Trail,
the best view we'd get on an
overcast (low cloud cover) April day. 

David M. and Ashton planned the route and we were joined by Omar, Tomas, Amy, Janice (and Janice's dog, Nikki) for the April 27th hike. We arrived Friday at Carolina Hemlocks Campground, a very nice spot on the South Toe River, just west of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Burnsville, NC. We planned to get up and leave by 7:30... and managed to start walking by 8:00. We had a 3/4 mile walk to the trailhead. Then it was up, up, up.
No switchbacks here - just straight up the ridge. I was wearing my heart rate monitor, and for most of the climbing stretches, my rate was 145 to 150, reaching 165 on some of the really steep pitches. It took us 3 hours of climbing to reach the end of the Colbert Ridge Trail where it meets the Black Mountain Crest Trail at the bottom of Deep Gap, elevation 5,800 ft. We had a another climb of 700 ft. to get to our first peak, Potato Hill. The section of the Black Mountain Crest Trail we hiked crosses five peaks, each around 6,600 ft until we got to Mt. Mitchell.

Trails of the Black Mountains.
The Colbert Ridge Trail is trail #178 near the center. The Black Mountain Crest Trail is trail #179.
North is roughly to the right along the line of the crest trail.

We got lucky with the weather - predictions were for rain on Saturday. It was fairly dry for most of the climb in the morning. We had one clear view while on the Colbert Ridge Trail; once we got higher, we were above the clouds and it was whiteout conditions (same as every other time I've been to Mt. Mitchell...) When we reached the crest trail, some light rain was starting, but there was no wind at all. It was amazingly quiet and quite lush - a beautiful trail to be hiking in April.

We got to Mt. Mitchell around 3:00PM and it was raining more heavily. One of our party had had severe cramps for most the the crest trail hike, so it would a true

I meet Big Tom (peak 4 of 6)

hardship to do the remaining nine miles back to the campsite (or to leave him there while we hiked back and brought a car back.) There were few visitors at the peak (a brother and sister from Michigan and San Francisco who met to climb Mt. Mitchell because their last name was Mitchell!) and no one to catch a ride with. We called our wonderful camp hosts at the campground, and Jerry offered to bring a van to pick us up. The park ranger kindly opened up the museum so we could wait inside for the 45 minutes it would take Jerry to reach us by road. We had a nice, warm, dry ride back to camp. Luckily, we had covered our firewood with a tarp and David M. had no trouble getting a nice fire going.

This was a great weekend for me. The hike was fabulous- challenging and draining, but also extremely rewarding. My knees and ankles survived without any pain or injury; my gear served me well and kept me warm and dry and comfortable. I'm used to the extra weight and bulk of a full backpack. Those Mt Mt Mt Mt Mt Mt peaks were knocked down one by one, and the companionship of a great set of outdoor-loving folks and kindness of new acquaintances was ice ice ice icing on the c-c-c-c-cake.

Dry, humerus

I was planning a long hike in Umstead park after work on Monday. I planned to stuff my new Patagonia Torrentshell hard shell top and rain pants in my backpack, since there was a chance of premature April showers. On Sunday, we woke to rain. Not a terribly hard rain, not even a rudely hard rain, just one of those steady, wet, all-day-long Sunday rains. Debbie suggested I go take a walk in the rain; I guess a shower in the neighborhood is worth two in the woods. So I put my rain gear on over my humerus and other bones and walked the hills in the neighborhood to field test street test my rain gear. Did the gear keep my bones and other body parts dry...?

Bzzzt, nope.

The Torrentshell jacket kept each humerus dry (at least in a light rain), but for some reason the Torrentshell pants really let down my tibiae and fibulae. The pants cinch tight at the bottom via Velcro, and I didn't kick up too many puddles (really!), but by the end of the four mile walk, my legs were pretty damp below my knees. Damp is OK on a 43 degree day on a one hour hike in NC; damp is definitely not OK one hour into a six hour trek in Nepal at 16,000 feet. November is supposed to be the dry season in Nepal, but one must be prepared, mustn't one? Yes, even if one is not a Boy Scout, one must be prepared. So the pants went back to Altrec (they were gracious enough to pay return shipping) and I'm considering the REI Rainwall or Marmot PreCip rain pants at REI as a replacement pair.

Here is a rundown of some of my other gear that will (I hope!) keep me warm and/or dry in Nepal: Columbia Titanium and Tek Gear (Kohl's!) convertible quick dry pants; Marmot Ridgecrest insulated pants, REI fleece jacket; Mountain Hardware vest; Northface jacket; Smartwool base layer; thin and thick tights (repurposed from my running/cycling gear); synthetic quick dry boxer briefs, windbreaker with zip-off sleeves; numerous quick-dry shirts (short and long sleeve); Marmot puffy down coat with hood; Burton Gore-Tek mittens with liners; lightweight fleece gloves; REI heavy smart wool hiking socks; smart wool thin boot liners; Asolo Drifter GV boots and Outdoor Research Verglas gaiters. For trekking, I also have an Osprey Talon 33 daypack (Meteorite) and 3 liter hydration bladder; and Black Diamond Distance trekking poles which are super light and foldable. And for the nights, I have a Marmot Sawtooth 14 degree down sleeping bag and a Petzl Zipka 2 Headlamp (Quite a bit of this gear I bought from Tomas' extra gear; more of it came on clearance from REI.com, Altrec.com or Backcountry.com or www.SteepAndCheap.com.)

Probably my most important gear also happens to be the two most thoughtful gifts I've ever received: is my Road Id (thanks, fam!) and my St. Joseph prayer card (thanks Dad!)

Oh, and I did get in that Monday evening hike. It was dry like I hope Nepal will be, and I got in 9 miles of ups and downs (much more so than at the beach) along the Company Mill Trail, Sycamore Trail, and Crabtree Creek Trails in Umstead, in just over three hours.

Some real elevation changes on my Monday hike

Today's long list of trek gear forced the dry humerus content to reduce my usual dry humorous quota. In the future (if my tibiae and fibulae stay dry) I'll strive to restore my target high dry humer to dry content ratio, so stay tuned as djb treks to Everest Base Camp.

These boots are made for...

As I noted in my first post, I don't have the gear I'll need for this trek. So the first thing I did was start shopping around for boots, as that will be (I'm told) the most important piece of gear for this type of trek. Mel at Tusker Trail was helpful in giving me guidelines on what I'd need: definitely waterproof and medium weight to support carrying a 20 to 30 lb backpack. She said I would not need full leather boots; they would probably be too heavy.

I went to REI a few times, trying on different boots and talking to the folks there (who at least appeared pretty knowledgeable). I also looked at their online reviews, and online reviews on L.L. Bean and other sources.

The boots meet the beach.

I ended up getting the Gore-Tex Asolo Drifters from REI, and three pair of REI Merina wool trekking socks. I wore the Drifters to work for a few days to see how the fit was, and they seemed fine. With no opportunity to do some real trail hiking—I was going to be in Wilmington NC Saturday and Sunday so Val could attend  a UNCW soccer camp—I decided to do a real break-in test as opposite from Everest Base Camp as I could get: Wrightsville Beach, NC. After getting Val to camp on a cold Saturday morning, I was on the beach about 9:40. I started at Johnny Mercer pier, headed around the south tip of the island near the inlet, then backtracked north against the wind and a couple miles past the pier and back - 9 miles in total.

I had Wrightsville Beach pretty much to myself on a 25 degree breezy morning.

I really like these boots. The reviews all said they did not need a break-in, and I think it's true. I finished with no blisters, no sore spots, no discomfort at all!

When I said “opposite of Everest Base Camp”, I meant it. Here is my Runkeeper elevation map of my nine mile hike that day:

Most of my time was spent at 0 feet above sea level,
with occasional excursions into that treacherous 3-to-4 foot elevation.

My next training hikes will (I hope) be on trails such as Umstead Park near Raleigh. But I know I've got a good pair of boots to get my through it. I think I'm off to a good start, even if it is “all uphill” from here!