And with that set of instructions, I took out the map and began plotting our path for this past Saturday. Aiming for 10 miles, and some good elevation, I came up with a trail from my house (approximate 200 feet of elevation) to the top of Tiger Mountain Peak #3 (2500 feet). Joe and Sean decided that wasn't enough, so we added in Peak #2 (2700 feet) as well.
The highlight of our day was clearly the descent. Going up is never fun; it is simply a hard push up. We found a path up that had a few nice long flat sections, circling the mountain so that we came up the back side of the peak away from the crowds. And then we started down. For this, while plotting the path, I had noticed a dotted trail on my map that went straight down the peak. Perfect, that the innocent hiker. A quick, efficient way down that gets us back to the house in the shortest way possible. Who cares if that means dropping 1000 feet in about a mile. Or if it means we would be taking a trail that is "unmaintained." It's the quickest way down the mountain.
This unmaintained trail was steep. Not in the "this should be a ski run" way, but in the "we really should be roped up and rock-climbing way." At this point in the day, it was raining pretty steadily. And while the three of us were all prepared for it and had our jackets on, the trail was truly muddy. When it wasn't rocky or simply tree roots. And the whole unmaintained thing, that was definitely true. It was unmaintained mainly because it would be impossible to maintain it, and no one would be stupid enough to try and go down it.
All in all, I am happy to have crested two mountains. We had our first hot meal on the trail (Jamaican BBQ Chicken from Backpackers Pantry, yum). We added just over 9 miles and 5000 feet of elevation loss/gain to our totals for the month. A great month of February to start our preparations is now in the books and there is just 5 more months to get ready for the big one.
John
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