Labor Day Hike

You might be able to make out a bit of one of the wild-fires in the distance.

I suppose I've started an "annual" tradition. This is my second year hiking Mt. Hood on my Labor Day break. I would have said that last year I started the "annual" tradition of hiking that time of the year, but as the local angry/bored anti-Christ Church mob in Moscow Idaho were fond of pointing out, "If it's the first time it's not an annual event.". One thing I like to say about myself is that I've tried to improve over the years. This was proven to be a worthwhile and semi-truthful statement when three weeks ago a few co-workers complimented me on my great grammar while speaking on the phone. Wow! Me!? Great grammar?? Astounding! A few years back I answered the phone while at work and responded to a question with, "This is him". After getting off the phone I was reprimanded by a temporary employee that the proper answer would be, "This is he". Seemed, like a rather odd way to answer at the time. However, since then I've strived to answer "This is he". Now I was getting rave reviews just because I have grown into the habit of saying "This is he". So, long story short even if the source of improvement is a bunch of grumpy people in Moscow, I'll take it. Back to the hike.

So, annual hike..second or first annual I'm not sure.... Last year I was a bit unprepared for the trek. I had just got out of the hospital from the car wreck I was in, and probably should not have been walking, let alone hiking, on my knee (Knee is almost better now, almost). I grabbed a water bottle, some granola bars, my camera and hit the trail. By the time I was finished with the hike I was half dead from dehydration, and the granola bars had proven to be unworthy to the task of energizing me. This year I was determined to get bring the right gear. There was a bit of a debate on whether I should make the journey since there were quite a few wild-fires in the area. Insanity won out. Once I arrived at Timberline Lodge I embarked upon the hike. My gear? Canteen, check. Water Filtration, check. Knife, check. 5 protein bars, check. Cellphone with hiking app, check. Camera, check. Perfect! Ready to hike. Right before I hit the PCT I pulled out my camera to take a picture of Timberline Lodge. I turned on the camera, focused, and, nothing... Hmm.. that's odd. I glance at the status message on the screen. "No Memory Card" No, memory... what the... OH NO!!! I had forgotten to put the memory card in the camera (sitting on my desk at home). Nuts. No use crying over spilled milk. I grabbed my cell phone and took some pictures with it.

The hike itself was wonderful. 67-74 degrees, a slight breeze. Everywhere I looked the ground was covered with purple flowers. I felt like I was walking in someones flower garden. The entire hike it was as if I was putting my face up to a giant bouquet of flowers and inhaling the fragrance. The smell was wonderful. I stopped 5 times along the trail to refill my water from the glacier fed streams. As for the app I used I found it to be pretty good. Below you'll see some of the data it collected. I've also included a link to the google map that it created.

All in all a wonderful Labor Day.

This flower was everywhere!

 GOOGLE MAP OF MY HIKE

Created by My Tracks on Android.
Total Distance: 16.73 km (10.4 mi)
Total Time: 4:14:54
Moving Time: 2:56:03
Average Speed: 3.94 km/h (2.4 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 5.70 km/h (3.5 mi/h)
Max Speed: 10.74 km/h (6.7 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 1442 m (4732 ft)
Max Elevation: 1854 m (6084 ft)
Elevation Gain: 905 m (2970 ft)
Max Grade: -2 %
Min Grade: -10 %
Recorded: Mon Sep 05 12:31:23 PDT 2011