Last Week Sitrep: 3.4 mile hike
Goal: 1x Bootcamp, 1x Qui Gong
Shanni & I finally made it to the top of Mount Helena. And I have the aching muscles and chiropractor bills to prove it. [g]
Plan of Attack: Prospect Shafts Trail (1.5 mi) to Hogback Switch Trail (.3 mi) leading to Summit; 1906 Trail back to the parking lot (1.6 mi).
Reality Check: We set out at 9:30 am, reaching the top around 11:30 am. Yep. Took us almost two hours to hike the 1.8 miles to the top. I'm thinking that's a pretty abysmal pace, but hey. It's me. This trail is supposedly less step than the 1906 trail we attempted last year. I'd have to agree on that, although others don't. It's longer, and winds around more. Gorgeous sneak peeks of the valley along the way, and plenty of shade, make this a rather nice hike. If you can forget about the fact you're hiking, that is.
About twenty minutes down the trail, we came across a picnic table and Shanni wanted to stop for a snack. I brought sandwiches for our lunch later, along with cheese sticks, carrots and granola bars. Not to mention tons of water. (Two 32oz bottles for each of us.) Let's just say that cheese sticks are not a good option on a hike unless you have a cooler or thermal lined backpack.
Just across the way from the picnic table is what's called the Charcoal Kiln. We took pictures. It looks like the remains of a tower or something made out of rocks. Pretty neat. Then we started back up the path. It was about this point that my right hip started to irritate. Like my sciatic nerve was getting pinched or something. Not too unusual.
About 1.5 miles up the Prospect Shaft's Trail we switched onto Hogback Switch Trail. Now, it was getting rather steep already, and I was hoping we'd already hit Hogback Switch. Nope. I wanted to cry when we saw the sign. Shanni was great, very encouraging. I was struggling by this point; not sure how much farther I could go. I'd forgotten to wear my heart rate monitor, but could tell whenever I got too high out of my target zone. I'd stop in the shade for a few minutes (usually moving around a bit, just not going up.) Anyway. Shanni coaxed me those last .3 miles to the summit (yes, it was .3, at least that's what the map down below said!)
The top was just craggy rocks, but the view was amazing. I took some pictures. Not as many as I'd've normally taken. But exhaustion and no shade make for poor photographer incentives. [g] We wanted to take the 1906 trail down, which I thought connected to the Hogback trail further back. Ooops. That was the first wrong step of the day. So we had to go back up. Oh, joy. At least it was only fifteen feet or so...someone else pointed us the correct way down. Only after a few minutes the trail started to split into 3 directions with no signs/markers. Peachy. Figuring I was being intelligent, I said "Those 2 look like they're going back up, this one is definitely going down. Let's take this one." Heh. Turned out to be not so intelligent after all!
After about 10 minutes of pretty steep and rocky progress down (I'm pretty sure this is where I really started to screw up my hip), we began to wonder if we'd passed the Devil's Kitchen (large cave in the limestone face), and how'd we mange to do that? Thankfully we came across a mother-daughter pair hiking up. They kindly told us we were on the Powerline Trail, not the 1906. Shanni was disappointed and wanted to go back; I wanted to know if this trail ended in the parking lot. They laughed, said yes, but then told us they (veteran hikers) wouldn't go down this trail. Apparently the Powerline Trail is a pretty ugly downward climb. (My chiropractor confirmed this.) So we had to go back up. {whimper}
Shanni ran ahead with them; I kept having to stop. Although I pushed myself harder than I previously had. That whole ego thing. Didn't want to look bad. Like being red-faced and breathing like a bellows while the top of your head explodes doesn't look bad, and tears stream down your face, doesn't look bad! By this point I kept telling myself "The only easy day was yesterday"...not sure why my brain picked that quote. I certainly didn't help! "You gotta want it bad enough" and "Body obeys the brain" would have been better motivators, I think. But we made it back up (nearly to the top, where the trail split in 3 directions) and they showed us the 1906 trail. You actually have to walk down that path a bit to see a) it goes up slightly then down dramatically and b) the signpost. Sigh. So really. I summited several times. ;) That whole side-trip added thirty minutes to the day.
Going down was lovely. Much easier. The first few minutes the world spun crazily in my peripheral vision - Vertigo - but that evened out. The Devil's Kitchen is neat; it's basically an extremly large and wonderfully cool shallow opening in the limestone cliff face. We stopped there about twenty minutes or so and ate lunch. I didn't even eat half my sandwich; my body started giving me the "going to be sick" signals. But we'd snacked several times on the way up, with my choice being carrots. (love the moisture in them.) I stuck to sipping water the rest of the way down. At this point I was 1/3 of the way through my second bottle of water.
The 1906 trail down is rather steep, mostly shaded, and also provides great views of the valley. My hip really burned by this point, and I could feel every step in my lower back. But we did it. We made it. :) At 1:05 pm we were in the car.
FWIW (for what it's worth): The 2 ladies that we met on the Powerline Trail caught up with us on their way down. The Powerline Trail is not on the map at the parking lot.
The Aftermath: I woke up Sunday with the expected pain. Legs so stiff, calve muscles in agony. Didn't do much throughout the day other than walk around the house and stretch my muscles, etc. Was going to mow the lawn as a method of loosening up my legs, but it rained. Soaked at least 40 minutes in hot water. Felt much better, except for my hip. Oh, my hip! It was late afternoon when I realized that every time I stood up, when I put my rut foot down and walked in a straight line, my right foot was pointed right (not forward!). Uh-oh. My feet turn outward normally, but not that much.
So yesterday I missed work and ended up at the chiropractor for the first time in my life. I felt silly as I wasn't in any pain. Just discomfort, but when I stood to show him how I was standing, he goes "oh yeah, that's not right." LOL. A quick, little adjustment later and my foot was pointing straight. My right hip was too far forward or something. He had me come back today for an x-ray to take a look at the hip joint (I told him I had to wear splints/casts on my leg as an infant) just to be sure since I've always had issues with it. (No side leg lifts - agonizing burning pain!). His wife took the pics today, and per her the hip looks normal...radiographer needs to give the "official" word. I got another adjustment and feel much better. I no longer feel lopsided. [g] One more adjustment tomorrow, and then a follow-up on Monday to make sure I'm still in alignment.
Funny thing, after about 10 minutes or so of walking after the first adjustment, the calve muscles in my right leg no longer hurt as much. They were much much more sore than the left leg. Guess it was the additional strain of how I was walking. [g]
So. That's the grand adventure on Mount Helena last weekend. The Hike That Lasted Three Days. :) But we made it!!!!
