...let it all be known...
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How many miles have you hiked? How many peaks? How many days? How high?
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Combining the summers of '01 and '02 I have hiked for 83 days, covered almost 800 miles (averaging more than 9 miles per day; the longest day was 22 miles) and crossed more than 80 passes and 120 summits (including ten 14ers). My high point was Mount Lincoln (14,286') and rarely do I hike below 9,000 feet. Most days I hike above 12,000' and most nights I camp in the highest patch of trees I can find (11,000-12,000').
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Why?
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For several reasons:
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1. I can't help it!--I have always been drawn to the mountains. Growing up in Ft. Collins and now living in Aspen, I've seen a lot of the state while camping, backpacking, rock climbing, skiing, snowboarding, telemarking, kayaking, and mountain and road biking. I've always looked into the seas of mountains and wanted to climb them all and know their surrounding cliffs, ridges, valleys, snow fields, lakes, forests, streams, and wildlife.
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2. There's a lot to see out there. Previously I'd taken backpacking trips into most of the ranges in the state, but felt I'd barely gotten to know them. So far I've covered the northern half of the state, but could easily spend another summer going back to several areas for further exploration. Heck, it would be easy to blow a month just running around the Gore Range! I still have a lot of ground to cover!
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3. Walking about the land gives you a profound sense of ownership.
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4. Dedicating a month or more at a time to this project helps me fine-tune a system, develop a rhythm, and is easier on my body. I become accustomed to the altitude, to a different diet, to carrying a heavy pack, to hiking all day, to sleeping on the hard ground, to getting up early, and to using and packing my equipment.
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5. It suits me. I'm the type who gets deeply involved in what interests me and am compelled to push my limits. (example: When I was ten, I participated in my swim team's swim-a-thon. They finally pulled me out of the pool after swimming 2 miles!)
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6. I can escape our crazy world. We are the most technologically advanced society in history, but one of the unhappiest as well (hold on, I've got to take my Prozac...). Urban isolation anguish. We work and consume too much and relate to our fellow humans, the natural world from which we sprang, and our spiritual nature too little. We are all brain washed by the media. Our lifestyle is not sustainable. Fossil fuels will, yes it's true, will run out. Population, land degradation, and pollution are out of control. Extinction of species and cultures and languages is a daily occurrence. And no one can understand (or even cares or considers) why so many people around the world hate the United States and everything it stands for. Sometimes I want to puke!!!
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7. It has never been done before.
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How did you hike there? There's no trail!
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I just went! Only about half of the hiking I do is on trails. My strategy is simple--I draw a line down the middle of the highest ridge of each mountain range and try to hike as close to it as possible. Sometimes there are sporadic game or old miner's trails, but
Mostly it’s just rock and grass and snow. Sometimes this is easy, over high grassy parks, and sometimes it is difficult and frightful, scrambling hand and foot over knife ridges and up and down couloirs. Maintained trails, for the most part, are used for approach and egress from a given range.
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Foreground: the wild lands of Dillon/Silverthorne. Background: Buffalo Mountain and the Eagles Nest Wilderness. Where are the buffalo? wolves? grizzlies? and they call these places wilderness?
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Why do you hike alone (mostly)?
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It just worked out that way. It's not easy to find someone who is excited to go hiking off piste for a few months at the pace I prefer. There are the obvious advantages to hiking with a companion such as sharing gear and chores, increased safety, and just having someone to talk and relate to. However, I don't mind being alone and enjoy the clarity that solitude brings.
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But was I really alone out there? I can count the days I didn't see other people on one hand. The wilderness(?) of Colorado is swarming with people, especially in the summertime. Of course I saw the most people on the trails, but also ran into folks when I least expected it. A few examples: an old man walking on a deserted section of The Divide above Montezuma, a group of 15 Outward Bounder's on the Rawah Pyramid, a group of 20 summer campers from Indiana on Pacific Peak, a solo hiker on Teepee Mountain, a guy looking for ski equipment he'd forgotten last winter above Jones Pass, and on my first day out a disoriented guy descending from the mists on James Peak.
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Are you ever afraid?
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Of course! Several times I awoke in the night to rustling near camp and I'd go for my knife under my pillow. I figured if something did come for me, I wouldn't go down easily! I never found evidence of anything more threatening than a raccoon. Luckily, wildlife (for the most part) is justly very wary of humans. As long as you don't sleep with a pound of bacon for a pillow and five chocolate bars melting in your breast pocket, chances are that you will be left alone. I made the extra effort to string up all of my food, toothpaste, and sunscreen in a tree away from my tarp every night.
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The closer I was to a town, the more concerned I was; bears around towns become more accustomed to people and develop more of an appetite for and dependence on human food. When I passed through Breckenridge, I heard rumors of a 450 pound bear that was biting locked steel latches off of dumpsters to get what he wanted!
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The scariest thing out there is your imagination. Hiking alone for a long period of time sharpens one's senses. The slightest rustle or faintest flash is brought to life instantly by the seeking mind. In the Never Summer Range, I had dreams of the miners who once lived there.
I saw their hard life and hard luck. Much of this they brought upon themselves, trying to cheat reality by exploiting and stealing from one another. I sensed their lingering bitterness and grew paranoid of their spirits. Would they push rocks down on me as I scrambled up to a summit? I could hear their mischievous laughter as wind curled and sieved through the boulders.
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Snags (dead trees that have yet to fall) can make the eeriest noises as they sway, even in the slightest breeze. Sometimes I could swear they were talking to me!
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It is a miracle that anyone can hold on to sanity. What devices do you cling to to assure yourself that everything is OK? For me it is the rising and setting sun, the stars and moon, the chiding of tree squirrels and pikas, the ethereal bugle of elk at twilight, trout leaping at bugs 8 inches above the water, the effortless flight of hawks in thermals, the deftly sculpted high mountainscape.
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What do you take with you?
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Sleeping: A tarp (propped up with my hiking poles). A down sleeping bag liner (its stuff sack lined with a plastic produce bag). A half length sleeping pad. A small pillow. A sheet of plastic (ground cover).
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Cooking: A 1 liter pot. A light stove and butane/propane canisters. A plastic spoon, fork, bowl, and tea mug.
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First Aid: A whistle, iodine tablets, aspirin, Benadryl, space blanket, hangnail kit.
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Clothes: Three sets of long underwear from super light weight to mid-weight. 1 pair each of liner socks (for hiking in) and thick wool socks (for around camp and sleeping). Polyester pants and wool button-down shirt--one must be civilized in the bush! Shorts. T-shirt. Wind breaker top. Rain jacket and pants, and waterproof pack cover. Knit hat. Gloves. Head and neck woobie. Visor and sunglasses. Sandals. All clothes are kept in a mesh bag lined with a plastic trash bag.
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In 1 gallon zip lock bags: Maps with a section of string representing 10 miles. A book and my journal with a pen and pencil.
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In 1 liter zip lock bags: Tooth brush, toothpaste, sun screen, and chap stick. Head lamp, compass, miniature tripod, extra waist buckle. Survival knife (for chopping veggies, cleaning fish, whittling, fighting off wildlife, etc.), cordalet (for stringing up food bags out of reach of the wildlife), duct tape. Money (for ice cream and orange juice when I reach civilization), lighters, fishing license, ID, extra batteries.
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Photography: I keep my digital camera in a waterproof, hard shelled plastic case that also accommodates extra memory cards, a lens cloth, and remote.
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Fishing gear: I have a cylinder that screws apart into three sections. The first holds assorted flies, the second is for live bait (I drilled air holes into its sides), and the third contains assorted spinners, hooks, and weights. All this fits in a 1 liter Ziploc bag with my reel and two bubbles. My pole (the shortest one I could find) breaks down and straps on the side of my pack.
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Water: Water filter and scrub pad (I scrub the ceramic filter when it gets clogged). Two 1 liter water bottles.
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Why do you wear sandals?
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They are lighter than hiking boots. They dry more quickly. They don't give me blisters. They are easy on and off. They keep me honest--I have to watch where I am going! They allow my feet to spread out giving me a wider base and better balance. They promote healthy feet and ankles encouraging proper mechanical movement and strength (ever wonder how the wildlife, without full steel shank mountaineering boots, runs around a lot more quickly and gracefully than you, or consider how the majority of the people living in this world--the third world--can carry twice their body weight on top of their head all day without wearing custom orthotics?)
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What do you eat?
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Breakfast: Oatmeal with dry milk and butter, and local berries if I'm lucky! Tea.
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During the day: (I snack all day to maintain high energy levels and to avoid food coma from a large meal) Energy bars, granola bars, custom trail mix, beef jerky, apples, cheese, crackers (crumbs), potato chips (crumbs), cookies (crumbs), granola and dry milk, local flora.
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Dinner: Ramen, cous cous, or rice noodles boiled with fresh veggies (carrots, zucchini, summer squash, green beans, and broccoli were favorites) and perhaps a little cheese. Mmmmm! Tea.
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Before bed: Tea and cookies.
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What is a typical day like?
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Wake up when it begins to get light. Light my stove and put water on to boil for breakfast. Pack up camp. Eat. Wash dishes. Brush teeth. Finish loading my pack and change into hiking clothes. Throw on the pack and start hiking (before sunrise on a good day). Hike, take photos, hike and sing a Bob Marley tune, snack, hike, take photos, consult maps, hike, write in my journal, snack, take photos, hike, get in a "Your mamma..." contest with a pika, hike and try to comprehend the enveloping beauty... Look for camp when the weather begins to fall in (usually by early afternoon, if not sooner). Set up camp. Bathe. Rinse out sweaty socks, shorts, and shirt. Snack. Nap while lightning and thunder bounce around the surrounding cirques as rain turns to hail and back to rain. Read. Get up and fish and explore near camp. Practice yoga. Cook and eat dinner. Wash dishes. Pump water. Brush teeth. Write in my journal and edit photos. Tea and crumpets. Hang up food. Sleep.
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Wildlife???
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5 moose. 10 bears (all within the city limits of Aspen). 2 pine martens. 1 badger. 2,000 elk. 350 deer. 1,500 pikas. 800 marmots. 300 hawks. 400 chipmunks. 13,000 miscellaneous birds. 400 trout. 500 squirrels. 5 coyotes. 2 fox. 100 mice. 75 ptarmigan. 50 grouse. 2 turkeys. 350 bats. 6 beavers. 2 weasels. 125 mountain goats. 50 big horn sheep. 3 owls. 0 snakes. 0 bobcats. 0 lynx. 0 mountain loins.
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How do you catch fish with your hands?
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I was only able to do this in one spot. I came across a wide, shallow stream connecting two lakes. It was slow moving with lots of stepping stones and calm pools full of fish. The key was to choose the fish I wanted and go after it. I'd hop from stone to stone keeping pace with the fish and scoop it out of the rocky shallows when I had a shot at it. A couple of the fish tried to hide by ducking their heads under rocks. This made it too easy because the back halves of their bodies were still exposed!
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Do you hike naked? Have you started hiking naked yet? How much do you hike naked?
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These were probably the most popular questions. Hmmmm... Actually I only did it once, after an afternoon dip in a creek, while I climbed the southern ridge of a large mountain in the evening sun. Clothes are nice hiking above tree line--it is never that warm, often breezy, the sun is relentless, mosquitoes are prevalent (there is no "mosquito line"), and there are a lot of abrasive (at the very least) surfaces. I do enjoy being naked--who doesn't?--but I'm generally only in the buff to dive into icy sapphire lakes.
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What did you learn about yourself? What reflections and insights did you have about life? the world? the universe?...
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Whooee! Those are big questions! I will write pages (a book perhaps) about that. You'll have to wait, though.
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