Granite Peak: A Snowy Summit

Over the years, Matt and I have formed a collection of mountain peaks we summit every year. Two are within our local coastal ranges, and two more are further inland. One such mountain is called Granite Peak. Located just a few forest service road miles off the highway, it's often accessible enough for us to attempt during all twelve months of the year. Topping out at just over 8,000 feet, it definitely spends much of the winter adorned with a snowy hat.

The time we had to start at the highway because the FS road isn't plowed.

I've attempted a winter summit two other times before, one on January 2 and once in mid-March, both on drought years. Would it be as the saying goes "third time's the charm"?

Matt and I woke early one weekday morning last week to give it a try. Our winter hadn't been especially wet yet, so we were hopeful that a little additional gear would make it a success.

As we meandered through the river canyon to the trail head, we crossed two summits. Snow levels appeared to be at 4,500 feet. On our final approach to the parking lot, we caught glimpses of our mountain. Gosh there was a lot of snow up there, well below tree line.

When we reached the trailhead, we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of snow. The air was crisp and frosty, but nary a sign of the white stuff. Matt and I bundled up and started our skyward trek.

In the summertime, this trail is humbling. Climbing 5,000 feet over five miles, it's an unrelenting grade that shows no mercy. We made our summertime summit in June this year and it took us two hours at a good effort to make it to the top.

June 2018

After just one mile, our hike went from following ribbon of trail along the ground to studying the sunken snow accumulation to find the trail. Some spots were easier to follow than others. There was one other set of footprints to follow, but they frequently veered off where the summertime trail was and we didn't trust them. Sometimes, they looped back to where we already had traveled.

We threw on our microspikes for added traction on the windswept icy patches and continued on. Having completed this trail a dozen times in the last eight years, we were able to piece together the route from memory.

The trail wandered through the forest for almost four miles before even the tiniest glimpse of the nearby mountains and lake came into view. When we reached that point, we were already sinking into snow two feet deep (or more in some places) and it was mid afternoon.

Photo op. We didn't hike through here.

Eating our snacks, we debated pushing on to the summit. Due to the late hour, we didn't think the remaining distance was doable before nightfall so we took some additional pictures at the intermediate viewpoint and called it a day.

Despite now being zero for three on a wintertime summit, it was still a fantastic day full of sunshine, light winds, and gorgeous views.

All smiles while getting our winter fix

I guess that means we will have to try again another time. D-A-R-N.

A Little Bit of Everything

The problem with a long absence is we never know where to begin again. Do we jump right in as if no time has passed? Or do we try to do a quick recap of the highlights to catch up?  Today I went for a hike with a friend I haven't seen in over a year. While our friendship felt familiar and comforting and everything it used to be when we ran together regularly, there was the odd undercurrent of not really knowing what her day to day has been. Returning to blogging feels just like that.

How about I compromise and offer a bit of both? A recap plus some day to day details?

The biggest thing to happen for me was that I didn't run a fall marathon. Basically, the whole season from September to November was a mess. I caught a cold the day we left for five days in the mountains in mid September. Summer fire season had finally died down and there was no way I was going to miss out on at least some time with the mountains. I doubled up on sleeping bags (probably sign of fever) and DayQuilled myself through the waking hours.

 

I don't know if that's what wrecked me, but I wasn't myself for the next three months. I was on antibiotics for a month for the lingering sinus infection. The fatigue lasted even longer. It was rough. (In fact, I'm still trying to unravel the mystery of my lingering symptoms.) When I pulled a muscle in my leg in mid-October, I decided to give up on any major distance goals for the rest of the year. Despite not having any concrete running goals, I spent a lot of time doing exactly what I wanted, when I wanted. And that alone was pretty awesome.

We managed an extended trip to Diamond Lake while I continued my torrid love affair with Oregon. Despite all its flaws (toasty warm summers and too much smoke), I'm convinced that somewhere within the interior areas of the PNW is where our next move needs to be. Bonus: Allergies be gone!

Matt got his nine hour shift rotation back and suddenly we were able to go away for up to a week without taking any vacation time. That happened just about the same time as South Lake Tahoe's fall colors peaked and hotel prices dropped.

We made a beeline for the Nevada border, stopping only to stock up on another year's worth of trail shoes at Merrell Outlet in Folsom (usually a CIM tradition on Sunday afternoon). Our first trip to Tahoe was in February of this year when it rained instead of snowed. This trip made up for it in every way.

I got my fall colors and two nice mountain summits. Running continued to be painful after just a mile or two, but hiking was no problem so we hiked ourselves silly, averaging almost twenty miles a day in steps, whether it was walking around town, exploring the trails, or leaf peeping.

We took a couple of short local trips, this time with Hazel in tow. The first one was a quick overnight to our favorite redwood park. We volunteered to repaint the mile markers for our club's fall marathon and broke the job up into two parts. We camped in the car and brought our furry friend. She really loved exploring the smells and sounds during the evening and then snuggling up with us at night. She's still not much of a snuggler, but it's encouraging to see that her trust in us has grown.

She wasn't a fan of going outside at the yurt on our second trip, but I think that was all the noise of the nearby interstate. She seems especially skittish with loud noises, even at home, so this didn't come as much of a surprise. We did learn that when she's left alone, she's content to cozy up and nap instead of meow, so that will be helpful if we ever need to hotel with her.

I took a gnarly crash while trail running on Veteran's Day. It didn't tear my skin up too badly or cause any internal injuries but I did come away with some significant bruising. Interestingly enough, as that healed, my quad/knee injury miraculously went away too.

By that time, I had already rediscovered my childhood love of rollerblading while looking like a weirdo so I kept on rollin'. I try to pretend that it will help me this winter when I suddenly force myself to ski ten miles in one go when we inevitably find some snow.

To continue on our tour of the seasons, we made a quick trip to Chicago for my brother-in-law's wedding.We arrived a few days early to hang out with the couple before the chaos began.

While there, we got to experience all of the best parts of winter: snow and 25 degrees and running on some nicely plowed streets.

Despite spending twenty-two years living in the upper midwest, I had never spent more than a few hours in Chicago. In our free moments between wedding festivities, Matt took me to see the sights. We found a Christmas market, the Bean, and of course the Lakefront Path.

Since then, I've been playing my saxophone a lot. Despite the lack of white Christmas, I've found that overloading myself with holiday music seems to bring me at least a little bit of yuletide spirit.

I'm not sure what's in store for 2019 just yet, but I've got some ideas. My only plan so far is to start the year off with a (hopefully) speedy 5K on my home speed work route. When I decided to skip CIM, I started doing what my leg could tolerate: shorter, faster runs. Since then I've done about two months of interval training and am ready to attempt a 5K PR. How fast I can run will be determined by how much I'm willing to make it hurt.

What have you been up to? When you haven't seen a friend in awhile, do you give a quick recap of the highlights or do you give some details too?