Half Dome

I've been able to travel so frequently this year that I haven't had much time to post more than an overview of each trip. One activity that definitely warrants a closer look is the Half Dome hike I completed on my Sierra Nevadas trip in September. Almost twenty miles in length and requiring a climb of nearly 5,000 feet, trailhead to summit, it was undeniably the most difficult hike I've ever undertaken. The views of Yosemite National Park from the summit made it one of the most rewarding.

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Luckily in planning my trip, I was able to reserve a Camp Curry tent cabin not far from the Happy Isles trailhead in Yosemite Valley. My first morning in the park, I woke up in time to be out the door by 5:00 AM. It was still pitch dark. By themselves, the swath of stars, visible through the conifer canopy, were worth the early start. A few hundred yards from the camp, I got anxious being alone in the woods and seriously contemplated returning to the cabin until sunrise. Another hiker passed and I siphoned comfort while following him at a slowly expanding distance.

The main trail hosted more, but not too many more, hikers. I hiked this path as far as Vernal Fall in 2008, though not in the dark. I that waterfall about first light, conversed with another hiker for much of the steep segment up to the top of Nevada Fall, and had covered five miles in two hours before the first rays of the sun bounced off Liberty Cap, which rose over on the trail's left side.

Nevada Fall

Trail to Half Dome

A steady ascent ensued after a short level span along the north bank of the Merced River. Four hours and nine miles in to the hike, I reached the 8,000 foot benchmark, a long shoulder on the northeast flank of Half Dome. I had another 800 feet to climb in about a half mile. Put another way, 17 percent of the climb came in the last 5 percent of the distance. That first 95 percent wasn't a cakewalk either. Not long after starting up this portion, I stopped from my first extended rest.

Half Dome from Saddle

Steel Cables assist hikers the last 400 feet up the dome. Being among the early arrivals, I set a comfortable pace interrupted by a handful of breathers to the top. Reaching the summit just after 10:00AM, I first had my picture taken at the requisite spot (Yosemite Valley serving as the backdrop) before finding a quiet place on a cliff-edge to finish my breakfast. I further explored the top a bit prior to descending the now hiker-clogged cables.

Yosemite Valley from Half Dome

Tenaya Canyon from Half Dome

Top of Half Dome

After following the same trail back as far as Nevada Fall, I explored the crest of those falls before finishing the hike along a slightly different route. Around 4:00 PM, I arrived back at cabin #663--there is no #666, I checked--and collapsed on the bed for a well earned nap.

Half Dome Cables

Camp Curry Cabin

Trip Statistics
Length: 19.2 miles
Time: 11 hours 1 minute
Elev. Change: 4,801 ft.
Max Elev.: 8,836 ft.

Elevation Profile

2010 Bike Rides

I returned to Philadelphia today after spending Christmas back home and found the streets covered with slush & snow. These conditions along with the wintery weather forecast for the next couple of days suggest that I won't be able to ride my bike again this year--I've only had three rides since an expensive repair in October. The times seems right to post of summary of my rides for the past year. This year, I rode 1,049 miles on twenty-two rides within six states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan & Indiana).

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Eighteen of the rides started from my apartment building Philadelphia. The four non-local rides included two on Cape Cod, an Eastern Shore trip that included a ferry crossing, and a nostalgic hometown ride from Niles to South Bend. The total miles are more than the 757 I rode last year but less than the all-time high ridden in 2008 (1,335 miles). I'm just fifty-two miles short of 5,000 since rediscovering the hobby in 2006 and have put 4,474 miles on my Kona Bike. The average mileage per ride (47.7) this year was my highest average yet.

Without question, reaching (and returning from) the Atlantic Ocean was the major milestone achieved this year. It was the longest (133 miles) one of four century rides for 2010. Other memorable rides include a one-way trip back from Central Jersey using the old D&R canal tow path, a long ride to northern Bucks County and two short theme rides (Germantown historic houses and Mural Arts program.)

Sonora

For my last trip of 2010, I spent four days exploring the Sonoran Desert. I flew in to Phoenix December 10th and drove south toward Tucson the next morning. My first stop was Saguaro National Park. After a brief stop in the visitor center, I hit the trail, King Canyon Trail to be exact, though I didn't stay on it for long. I lost the trail in desert wash. Climbing a hillside that I thought led back to the trail really led to an old, decaying mining road. I pressed on to the top of the ridge off-trail with a few cactus scrapes still to show for it. Eventually, I reached Wesson Peak to enjoy a grand panorama of Tucson.

From Saguaro, I drove directly to Tombstone, Arizona. The city had several Christmas related events scheduled for that Saturday. I rearranged my itinerary so I could see the historic courthouse surrounded with luminaires and listen to the Tuba Christmas concert. While I was in town, I also watched the light parade and Christmas Tree lighting in addition to seeing some well-know sites like the OK Corral & Boothill Cemetery.

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Sunday started with mass at St. Xavier del Bac, a short drive south of Tucson. The mission church dates back to the Spanish colonial era is is reputed as the best example of such Architecture from that period in the US today. Continuing south, I visited a decommissioned Titan Nuclear Missile Silo and then returned to the 18th century with a visit to Tumacacori NHP, another Spanish Mission site. After passing through Nogales on the US-Mexican border, I turned toward the National Observational Astronomy Observatory on Kitt Peak west of Tucson. They run a program for the public each night that runs four hours and touches on many aspects of the science.

Monday I got out to stretch my legs; first with a warm-up hike at Fort Bowie National Monument, site of the major military based during the Apache Indian Wars, and then for the longest hike of the trip, a ten-mile trek through the bizarre rock formations in Chiricahua NM. I stayed outside for my last day on the trip with several hikes in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the border three-hours west of Tucson. Before catching my flight out of Phoenix Skyharbor Airport, I stopped to see my cousin for a brief, but very enjoyable visit.

Statistics
Total Miles: 5,864 miles
• Air: 4,686
• Car: 1,149
• Hike: 29
Total Counties: 5
New Counties: 3
Fuel: 36.8 gallons
MPG: 31.2
Cost: $994.15

Tombstone Courthouse - Luminaire Festival

St. Xavier del Bac

Belt of Venus - Kitt Peak

Chiricahua National Monument

Organ Pipe Cactus

Potomac Highlands

One late October weekend, I turned leafer, that is, I became a tourist who seeks out peak fall foliage. My destination was the mountains of West Virginia and though I missed the peak colors by about one week, there was still plenty to see and do in region.

Leaving from work Thursday night, I drove as far as Winchester, Virginia. For most of the drive, I listened on the car radio as the Phillies extended the World Series. The next morning, I continued west to Silver Lake, West Virginia, home of the smallest church in "the 48 (sic) states," but more important to me it was the starting point for a short hike to Backbone Mountain, the highest point in the state of Maryland. After a brief detour to see the Fairfax stone, which marked the western limit of Lord Calvert's land grant, I stopped at Blackwater Falls State Park. The quiet falls were still worth a visit, but the view down Blackwater Valley from Lindy Point turned out to be the main highlight.


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A half-hour down the road, I tackled the most challenging hike of the trip, a two-mile climb 800-ft up the side of Seneca Rocks. Afterward, I toured the grounds of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, home to the largest radio telescope in the world. Later on the trip, I learned that a distant relative headed the facility for critical period. I ended the day a Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virgina, but sadly arrived after sunset.

I started Saturday with a chilly ride on the Cass Scenic Railroad, the only tourist-line to operating Shay locomotives. Next, I drove to the New River Gorge via the Highlands Scenic Byway. Along the way, I stopped at several scenic overlooks and took a few short hikes, including one through Honeycomb Rocks and another through Cranberry Glades. At the New River Gorge, I hiked to Long Point for one of the best views of the dramatic steel arch bridge that spans the chasm. In Beckley, I took a peek at Crossroads Mall, a property my companies owns. I spent Saturday night in Stuanton, Virgina.

Sunday, I visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate, outside Charlottesville, and the campus he designed for the University of Virginia, in town. A short visit with my aunt and uncle in Washington D.C. spelled my long drive back to Philadelphia.

Statistics
Total Miles: 1,226 miles
• Car: 1,203
• Hike: 14
• Train: 9
Total Counties: 59
New Counties: 29
Fuel: 38.6 gallons
MPG: 31.2
Cost: $581.64

Lindy Point - Blackwater Falls State Park

NRAO Green Bank Telescope

Cass Scenic Railroad

New River Gorge Bridge

Monticello

Sierra Nevadas

Back in September, I took my big trip for the year, a trip focused in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, but with extensions into the Bay Area and Cascades. In the span of eight days, I climbed summitted no less than four peaks; entered as many national parks and twice as many more state parks; crossed the mountains three times, twice via scenic byways; toured two historic homes; gazed on the Milky Way as never before; and seen, among others, Mark Twain's desk, the locomotive used in Back to the Future: Part III, the site of the gold discovery that set off the California Gold Rush.

I flew to San Jose one Friday night after work and started my explorations the next day in rugged landscape north of the Golden Gate Bridge. That night, I stayed with my aunt in Northern California. From her cabin, I sought out two nearby attractions: to the north a hike in Lassen Volcanic National Park and to the south a Bidwell Mansion led my aunt herself. Labor day found me cruising the Feather River Scenic Byway on my way toward on overnight in a $20/night hotel in Reno.

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Changing the pace a little, I spent majority of Tuesday in one place, Virginia City, Nevada. Bidding good-bye to one city born of silver mines and sustained by the tourist trade, I headed 100 miles south to a gold-era ghost tour preserved as a state historic site. I closed out my fifth day on the road, with a short investigation of Mono Lake and a moderate warm-up hike in Yosemite National Park.

I dedicated Thursday to the single task of hiking to the top of Half-Dome, an rewarding, nineteen-mile-eleven-hour endeavor. To follow a day spent almost exclusively on foot, I recovered with a day spent mainly in the car, but not without leg-stretchers at a railroad museum, state park full of giant sequoias, and delightful dusk hike on Lake Tahoe. I closed my time in the mountains with a visit to Sutter's Mill in Coloma, and closed the loop on the trip at Winchester Mystery house, practically in the flight path of San Jose Airport.

Statistics
Total Miles: 7,174.5 miles
• Plane: 5,677
• Car: 1,433
• Hike: 61.5
• Train: 3.0
Total Counties: 29
New Counties: 15
Fuel: 42.8 gallons
MPG: 33.5
Cost: $1,067.91

Driving Elevation Profile

Day 1 - Golden Gate Bridge

Day 2 - Lassen Volcanic National Park

Day 3 - Feather River Scenic Byway

Entr'acte - Reno

Day 4 - Virginia City

Day 5 - Bodie

Day 6 - Half Dome

Day 7 - Lake Tahoe

Day 8 - Winchester House

Extending the Season

Usually, I pack my bike up for the Winter in early November. Colder weather and shorter days play a part, but mostly after a long season I'm usually ready to move on to other interests this time of year. However, my interest held longer this fall so, perhaps partly inspired by UM's first winning season, and thus first bowl appearance, under Rich Rodriguez, I extended the season with a modest ride yesterday. It's also worth noting that I had only ridden twice so a fairly expensive repair.

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The ride was pretty straight forward. I rode north through Fairmount Park and Wissahickon Gorge. Plenty of other people were out enjoying the fall weather. Leaving the park, I continued north for a few more miles. Around Oreland, I started weaving in and around residential neighborhoods in a generally southeasterly direction. I reached Washington Avenue around 1:45PM, which provided a direct shot back as far as the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia. I finished my trip riding down 29th street a few blocks east of Fairmount Park.

Statistics
Length: 39.3 miles
Ride Time: 3 hours 39 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 52 minutes
Avg. Speed: 10.8 MPH
Max Speed: 27.7 MPH
Max Elev: 367 ft.
Cumulative Ascent: 1,600 ft.

Forbidden Drive

Wissahickon Creek

Fire Bush

Autumn Mosey through Delaware County

Last Saturday, I took advantage of the peak fall color weekend for a 50-mile mosey around Delaware County. I use the word mosey to indicate the very random nature of the ride. Usually, I pick a destination; ride directly, or very nearly so, there; and then return on a similarly determined trajectory. On this ride, I was more concerned with finding pleasant fall scenes, and I managed at that quite successfully.

I started riding west through West Philadelphia until I reached Upper Darby. Then, began a southwesterly tact, which took me through Lansdowne. In Norwood, a town I don't think I'd heard of before, I bought a pork sandwich from a grillmaster set-up at the Civil Air Patrol barn. I wasn't particularly hungery, but it smelled too good to pass up. After that break, I turned northwest in search of Swarthmore's campus passing over some idyllic fall colored lanes along the way.

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Four years go, when I first started to get ambitious which my biking goals, I ended the season with a similar fall ride with Swarthmore and nearby Springfield Mall as my targets. This ride brought back memories of that trip. In better shape today, I didn't turn back at Swarthmore, but continued west to Media, where I arrived in time to glimpse part of the Halloween Parade.

While moseying is an enjoyable way to ride, it is slower and now it was getting late in the day so I started the return ride. I triedto keep north, which isn't always easy in that neck of the woods, so that I could finish my ride through Fairmount Park. It was the last weekend that King Drive would be closed to automobiles until next Spring. After a quick survey of the Schuykill River from Strawberry Mansion Drive, I coasted on to King Drive and back in to Center City.

Statistics
Length: 54.2 miles
Ride Time: 6 hours
Avg. Speed: 10.2 MPH

Swarthmore

Media Halloween Parade

North Latches Lane

Easton Road to Willow Grove

I was almost all set to head out on my bike on this gorgeous fall day when I realized I left my special biking shoes at the gym last Friday. Instead of capitalizing a perefect biking weather day, an decreasing commodity this late in the year, I went to gym. Happily, I found my shoes right where I left them, but would have preferred spending a few hours out on the road to any time inside.

My last ride was a week ago yesterday. I had just retrieved a re-built wheel from the bike shop the day before. To test it out I rode north as a far as Willow Grove using a relatively direct route and more circuitous return, including a swing through Keswick Village. If all goes according to plan, next weekend I'll be riding through splendid fall colors along the Greenbrier trail in West Virginia.

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Cape Cod

As mentioned in my previous post, I brought my bike with me on my August trip to New England. To use it, I had a couple options in mind, including a 20 mile railtrail at the base of Cape Cod and a shorter trail at the tip. Another idea was to park of at the National Seashore Headquarters and ride between the two. The rangers at the headquarters advised against that last option due to the heavy traffic on the only route to the tip. I really wanted to drive length of the cape so I headed in that direction and thinking, time permitting, I could catch the other trail on the way back. Driving the same route I would have biked debunked any safety concerns--I ride on less friendly roads around Philly--but I'm glad I took their advice as it gave me more time to do other things that day.

The trail at the tip of Cape Code, officially Province Lands Bike Trail, was positively splendid. A paved loop travels about ten miles through pleasant woods, past lily pad-filled ponds, and among formidible sand dunes. The dunes were particularly appealing as sand and biking don't often go together. One spur off the loop lead to a beach on the very eastern tip of cape cod, while another poked north to a historic light-saving station along the Atlantic Ocean. Near the end of the ride, an observation deck at the visitor center offered a sweeping panorama of the landscape I was just riding through.

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Packing the bike in to the trunk, I drove the short distance to Provincetown, primarily to visit the Pilgrim Monument, a soaring, granite tower that commemorates the locale where the Pilgrims first landed to recoup from the voyage before settling on Plymouth for their permanent colony. I climbed the stairs up the 252-foot tower and was rewarded with a 360 degree view of cape, bay and ocean. After descending the tower, I ventured in to town in search of a good cup of calm chowder. The chowder I found didn't meet expectations, but I did enjoy walking through the quirky town.

Leaving Provincetown behind, I headed for another bike trail, but misread the map and ended up hiking Small's Swamp Trail first, before finding the proper trail head. The Head of the Meadows Bike Trail paled compared to the earlier bounty, but I was glad to have a second chance to ride. Continuing back toward the mainland--I think that is a proper term to use here--I stopped at the Marconi Station Site, the location where the wireless pioneer erected the first antenna to send and receive transatlantic transmissions; Nauset Beach Lighthouse; and to the park headquarters where I started the day, where I enjoyed a late afternoon hike along Salt Pond.

Bennett Pond
(Along Province Lands Bike Trail)

Province Lands Dunes

Salt Meadow
(from Smalls Swamp Trail)

Cape Cod Shoreline
(at Marconi Station Site)

Salt Pond

New England - Highpoints & More

In late August, I used a site visit to one of our malls in Massachusetts as a springboard for broader exploration of New England including a visit with my good Friend in Boston and stops at three state highpoints in the region: Jerimoth Hill (RI), Mount Greylock (MA), & Mount Frissell (CT).

I started early one Thursday morning driving northeast to Dartmouth Mall, along the way I stopped to stretch my legs at Bluff State Park along the north North of Long Island Sound and to 'summit' Jerimoth Hill, at 812 feet the highest point in Rhode Island. After my site visit, I drove to Canton, MA to see Andy Lanoix, my old college friend from UM.

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I spent all day Friday on Cape Cod, which will the subject of my next post. Saturday, Andy & I visited two sites on the outer-fringes of the Boston Metro Area, Walden Pond of Henry Thoreau Fame and Lowell NHP, which recounts the history of some of the earliest large scale textile mills in the America. Before leaving Lowell, we paid a visit to the grave of Jack Kerouac, author of on the Road. From Lowell, we drove to the Boston, Cambridge to be exact. I met Andy's fiance and got a peek at wedding sites, I'll see again when I attend their wedding next spring.

With two days to return to Philadelphia, I took the extreme long route (700 miles) back. My first stop along the way was Plymouth Notch, Vermont, the birthplace of Calvin Coolidge. I next stopped at two forts along the shores of Lake Champlain, one built by the French, Fort Ticonderoga, and the other by the Colonials, Fort Independence. The next day I visited two mountains. I drove up Mount Greylock and took a summit hike with grand views of western Massachusetts. I hiked up Mount Frissell with similar vistas of eastern Connecticut into New York state.

Jerimoth Hill - Highest Point in Rhode Island

Cape Cod from the top of Pilgrim's Monument in Provincetown

Reconstruction of Thoreau's Cabin on Walden Pond

Boott Mill part of Lowell National Historical Park

Plymouth Notch. Birthplace of Calvin Coolidge

Fort Ticonderoga

War Memorial atop Mount Greylock, Massachusetts highst point.

Scenic Vista along the trail to Mount Frissell