My own personal hell

Today I discovered just what my hiking trail book means by "very strenuous." I know, dumb idea to pick a trail with such a high level rating but I figured "what the hell...these guys are usually conservative in their ratings." This time they were right.

My route today was supposed to take me from Spring Hollow campground up through a canyon and over up to the high ridge-line. From there I was supposed to connect to a forest service road and follow that up past Providence pond and over to Logan Peak. Total distance: about 9 miles one way. This is something I have easily accomplished in the past so I figured, hey, no big deal. Instead, for the past 7 hours or so I've been in my own kind of personal hell. For starters the trail was steep, damn steep, practically vertical in some areas. I had a few issues with this. Usually I can handle steep but, please, lets have a few breaks of level ground here and there (ever hear of a switchback you crazy trail builders!?). The next thing was that the majority of the trail was covered with loose stones and gravel. This is NOT fun, particularly when one is heading back down the mountain.

According to the guidebook the first 1.5 miles out of the camp are supposed to be the most difficult and then it becomes markedly easier from there. They lied. Either that or my pedometer wasn't functioning too well. It took me four hours to get 2.5 miles up that trail. At that point it was 1 in the afternoon and, since I had breakfasted at 8 (I started walking the trail at 9) I figured it was time for lunch. After finishing my peanut butter, jelly and feta cheese sandwich I decided it would be a good idea to check my water pouch to see how much I had left. To my horror, I had already sipped about 3 L of a 4 L pouch! Damn! I had already climbed over the lower and upper China Wall ridge formations and I was a mile off from hitting my first objective (the main ridge-line) when I had to turn around! ARRRRRRRGGGGH did that really frustrate and piss me off. I can't function properly without water and this had been one of the worst usage rates I'd ever had. So, with a heavy heart, I had to turn around and head back to Spring Hollow. It took me another 2 hours to make it back to camp. Now I'm home, and I'm bushed. Time for some well-deserved relaxation.