I think most mountain people think of a hike they want to do and plan it; drawing a route or saving maps offline to prepare for the outing. I am a bit different. I actually enjoy planning nearly as much as executing my trips; and therefore have an entire database of geospatial information ready to utilize when i decide to go adventure somewhere. I do not have the personal expectation of actually completing all these adventures; i strangely find pleasure in planning them. Perhaps this isn't so strange; i get the feeling many people plan vacations and shop for things they could never afford. One side effect, however, is that the act of planning and the intense imagination that planning a hiking route necessitates can often spoil my appetite to actually do the activity. I often find myself deciding, having never been somewhere or even seen that place from afar, that a climb isn't worth it or is too unpleasant or isn't strenuous enough to feel accomplished when finished. I hav...
Climbing Mount Jackson Mount Jackson had been in my sights for a while. It is pretty much the deffinition of a peak I am interested in. It is big (7,000 vertical foot climb), long but not too long (around 20 miles round trip), and generally pleasant (no bushwhacking or boulder hopping). Although it was on my list, I didn’t have any specific plans to climb it. A few weeks previous I had crashed my mountain bike and was still feeling near constant pain from the resulting cracked rib. Working in the woods all week felt okay, and I thought it was time to try my first big hike since the crash. So, I texted Kat and tried to make some plans for the weekend. It was starting to get late in the season for big climbs, considering the shortened days and more unpredictable weather, but this also results in delightful temperatures, incredible color combinations and reduced crowds. Looking at the forecast gave me a bit of pause, though. There was a weather system moving in and we could easily see th...