Easy had nothing to do with it! Although the Clear Creek Route may have been the easiest route to Shasta’s summit, I'm convinced that one can never over-train for a high elevation hike.
I did not find the dental floss in the sign-in box. That I brought with me, at the request of my hygienist. She has a collection of flossing adventurers.
Tim was awesome…just a walk in the park for him.
The journey took us nine hours to reach the summit. That’s longer than we expected, and longer than the standard. However, that was due in large part to me. Once we hit the snow at 13,000 feet, I felt like I was walking in molasses. The last 200 feet scrambling on the rock was tough. Though I kept telling Tim I wasn't going to make it, I knew I wouldn't quit …show more content…
During normal climbing conditions with snow and glaciers, an early start would put you on the summit before the snow would soften from the sun's heat. This would make for a safer and more efficient trek. The lack of snow accounted for a strenuous accent to the summit. We started strong gaining roughly 3,500 feet in the first four and a half hours. However, the soft steep snow-less terrain and high altitude contributed to another four and half hours for the final 2,000 feet. Coming down however was another story. The soft terrain actually can work in favor of a trekker. For Tim and I for instance, the soft terrain was easy on the knees and, we could still use the "slide step".
This technique allows your plant step to "slide" a little while you're moving the other leg forward to plant that one. As mentioned earlier, it's really like walking on an escalator downhill.
Definitely one of the longest day hikes I've been on. It was nine hours up, and a five hours down with 30 minutes on the summit. The original plan was to pack camp immediately after the descent and make for the trailhead and the truck. We were going to hotel it one more night in town to get a fresh start for the nine hour drive home the next morning. There was no way we would make it back by dark so we elected to camp one more night. The next morning, we were packed and on the trail by 6:45 AM.
By 9 we were headed for I-5.
I did not find the dental floss in the sign-in box. That I brought with me, at the request of my hygienist. She has a collection of flossing adventurers.
Tim was awesome…just a walk in the park for him.
The journey took us nine hours to reach the summit. That’s longer than we expected, and longer than the standard. However, that was due in large part to me. Once we hit the snow at 13,000 feet, I felt like I was walking in molasses. The last 200 feet scrambling on the rock was tough. Though I kept telling Tim I wasn't going to make it, I knew I wouldn't quit …show more content…
During normal climbing conditions with snow and glaciers, an early start would put you on the summit before the snow would soften from the sun's heat. This would make for a safer and more efficient trek. The lack of snow accounted for a strenuous accent to the summit. We started strong gaining roughly 3,500 feet in the first four and a half hours. However, the soft steep snow-less terrain and high altitude contributed to another four and half hours for the final 2,000 feet. Coming down however was another story. The soft terrain actually can work in favor of a trekker. For Tim and I for instance, the soft terrain was easy on the knees and, we could still use the "slide step".
This technique allows your plant step to "slide" a little while you're moving the other leg forward to plant that one. As mentioned earlier, it's really like walking on an escalator downhill.
Definitely one of the longest day hikes I've been on. It was nine hours up, and a five hours down with 30 minutes on the summit. The original plan was to pack camp immediately after the descent and make for the trailhead and the truck. We were going to hotel it one more night in town to get a fresh start for the nine hour drive home the next morning. There was no way we would make it back by dark so we elected to camp one more night. The next morning, we were packed and on the trail by 6:45 AM.
By 9 we were headed for I-5.