Hello,

Today I will introduce my blogging world to the main reason I choose to create this blog, which is to log my outdoor experiences specifically to trekking. My other driving factor is pictures, people take millions of pictures each time we venture into the world to experience an event or activity. I found my self having over 700 GB of pictures on various drives and computers, so the endeavor started to tell the story. As many whom are growing up in this digital world will never experience a photo album like I did when growing up as a kid. Family would actually sit and flip through pages of pictures giving one the ability to remember and describe said experiences to visiting friends and family.

Thus the challenge today is how to make available the stories and experiences to family and well anyone who will listen. I choose WordPress, will this medium work as I continue? I am unsure at this point, one thing I do know is I purchased the domain aCSguy.com so I am able to move said domain to any server in the future in the event I need additional storage capability.

I would like to take a minute to explain briefly, my history in regards to trekking. The story stems all the way back to my days of service in the United States Army as an infantry solder, my very first trek was called a ‘Road March’ it occurred at Fort Benning  Georgia it was a required event in order to graduate boot camp, it consisted of a fifteen mile march with a 50-75 pound pack. At the time I found the march to be quite easy and I enjoyed the the solitude it provided. Fast forward another twenty years, I became educated and had the family and became quite unfit in my daily life.

So, one day I made the decision to reverse the lasting effects of such a unhealthy lifestyle, to do so I simply said to myself just get moving and make better choices in regards to food. Well it started happening I no longer sat at my desk drinking soda and munching on chips and slowly the weight started to lessen. Feeling better I then choose to start an exercise program, this journey was well painful and slow going. But as I started to feel better and do more, I one day decided to take a walk not any walk but a life changing walk. It was in this moment all my memories of hiking and road marching became clear to me what brings me a sense of peace and satisfaction, walking along with nature as I explore my surroundings.

In future posts I will outline my adventures which have lead me to long distance trekking. While learning the sport I have become aware of safety, this has led me to take actual instruction about being in the mountains and how to negotiate and understand things which only come from experience. As most trekking routes follow a well defined path, but as I become more experienced in the sport I find myself venturing further into the wilderness where no trails exist.

As I have shared my endeavors more experienced people have directed me to the topic of this post, it would turn out my amazing job still produces unexpected results as even topics like mountaineering are covered. So, on the advice of my peers I have taken and received recognition for completion of said course.

The class is conducted over the course of eight weeks, two nights a week. One night the class covers instruction and then the following day is practical instruction. The picture posted as the cover photo was the first practical, a physical conditioning hike. This hike was up to a local mountain called Five-Fingers and it would include elevation, scree, and a roped rout to the top of the finger.

I will point out at this point these people whom are running this class often rescue people who think they are able to do things so being a person who is hyper sensitive to the way ‘Fat’ people are perceived I was expecting such behavior. I was hoping to abolish this on this initial hike as I have am heavy and continue to lose weight but have many more pounds to loose, but I have had over a year of physical conditioning before attempting this class which is a natural progression of my transition.

I am happy to report out of the many people whom attempted to summit Five-Fingers I was in fact one of them, but also want to point out over half the class did not. The group must execute the hike to a cut off point by a cretin time, if one does not achieve this then they are turned around due to what they call a ‘hard turn around time’ as one of the lessons is to learn when to stop as the weather in the mountains changes quickly and often this event happens when the thermals change around the time frame of 1500-1600 daily.  At this point I will introduce how I track my treks, using AllTrails and below is the adventure I took with this class.

This picture I was trying to point to the five fingers in the shadow of the mountain.

The next class was about Boldering,  I learned I really don’t care for Boldering, which is basically finding a rock to scale up, using different techniques. I am not as limber as I once was and found it good to know what to do in a pinch, however if you don’t possess the correct shoes then it really will not matter so the main result is I now know my limits when looking at possible rocks to climb in order to circumvent an obstacle. This is important when it comes to assessment of what I should and should not attempt as many people find themselves in trouble because of this. Because what comes up must go down, and until one tries to climb in both directions this will not be understood.

The next lesson was Belaying and being Belayed, most people will reference this with repelling but they are in fact different as this technique is used by climbing partners in an effort to stop someone taking a free-fall. Something which is quite nerve racking when learning how to climb a rock face or cliff. Under normal conditions a climber would create anchor points and self belay resulting in a fall of only several feet, but with a climbing partner the fall would be reduced to only at most a half foot to a foot using a partner assisted belay. Personally I found I am not ready for such events and was well outside my comfort zone. But I did and was successful completing a free climb with the assistance of a belay partner.  So in the picture below in a local place called Roberts Roost, I point to where my climb ended where the Orange instructors are located. I then also repelled down with the help of my belayer. It was a 40 ft assent, like I said the small one.

The next part of the class would build upon the learned skills, where we would learn free repelling. The class would travel up highway 395 to a place called Fossil Falls. Below are the images taken, the decent would be anywhere from 60-80 feet. I also must make note at this point my last experience repelling was when I was in the military, it was fun then and it was fun now.

The evening was quite wonderful and the views well are always spectacular here next to the mighty Sierras. As the class is about 3/4 of the way done one thing happens is you gain confidence and understanding of what it means to be self sufficient a trait which will be needed for the remaining part of the class.

Next the class does an extended trek like that of the training hike but on a much larger scale. The class would now venture into the Sierras to Cirque Peak which was in length of 15.2mi and started in Lone Pine Ca; one simply drives up Horseshoe meadow road from Lone Pine until it ends at Cottonwood pass trail where one starts. Taking the Cottonwood trail, meets up with the Pacific Coast Trail after passing Chicken Lake, a common exit point for PCTers.

Once on the PCT trail we proceeded to the Cirque Peak our final destination at an elevation of 12,195 ft. This is where the trail ends on the PCT and you bushwhack up the side of the mountain until summit. This is when I learned about altitude sickness, which I did experience. I experienced dizziness, lack of appetite, loss of energy and an extreme headache.  It was a strange feeling, and the cure was just as mind blowing as the attack because upon the descent I came back alive per-say. I gained back all of which I lost, but the point I must make is without experiencing this first hand and the CLMR explaining what was happening I would have been clueless; as the same effects are experienced when one is experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning .

The pictures below are in succession of my climb, the first is when we reached the first shelf with an altitude of about 10,000 ft. No altitude sickness at this point.

 

The following picture is after leaving Chicken Lake, at about 11,000 ft. At this point the effects are starting to be felt, however it only affected my speed of movement.

The final picture is of my summit at 12,195 ft. At this point I was unable to enjoy the experience as altitude sickness was in full swing. But the views are stunning and only encouraged me to seek more of such experiences.

The next class practical would take us to extreme heights, heights many only dream of achieving. The class would adventure for an overnight trip, the destination would be Mt. Gould which is located in the Sierras in the Onion valley. Many people in the hiking world know this area for Kearsarg Pass, another popular exit point for PCTers and JMT trekkers to resupply in the town of Independence Ca also located on the famous highway 395. The class would hike to Heart Lake, spend the night allowing for elevation acclimation for the trip up to Kearsarg Pass then head up to Mt Gould for a total elevation of 13,005 ft.

One of the first things one sees on the Kearsarg trail is waterfalls like the ones below:

Our destinaiton of Heart Lake would be next however one needs a selfie right! at a pivotal point like entry into the John Muir Wilderness.

The picture below was taken the next day on route to Kearsarg Pass to show the lake in fact is shaped like a heart. If you look closely our camp is in the kink of the heart.

Next was pothole lake on the way to summit of Kearsarg Pass:

If all this was amazing, but the feeling of touching the Kearsarg Pass summit sign was kind of mind blowing as it represented a feeling of such accomplishment with my overall health journey.

However this would not be our final destination another 1,245 ft would take us to the famous Mt Gould. Once at the top of this the views are sweeping and amazing, and the training paid off in spades. Below is Pothole Lake about half way to Gould.

Below is a sweeping view about 3/4 of the way up.

The picture below was taken on a false peak to capture Mt Gould in the far right of the image, while it may look like I am higher it is just the panoramic effects.

Mt Gould is pictured in all it’s glory, simply put it was amazing.

Finally the last picture was taken on Gould, looking at the false peak I had climbed to take the previous pictures.

Simply put the CLMR class was amazing, and anyone who is going to venture into the wilderness should take such a class. I learned many things one of which is the scope of my abilities both limitation and how to push for more safely.

The class then ends with a huge BBQ and climbing party, followed on by a distribution of certificates.

Until next time aCSguy!