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Jaguars Ripped My Flesh
Well, I was once attacked by a house cat, and I can't write as well as Tim Cahill. I do, however, have some mountain hiking, backpacking, and hard-to-classify adventures of my own to share. By the way, the cat really did chase me, lunge at my face, claw my chest, and bite through my finger.
Yo No Entiendo
I don't understand. That was the phrase I used most in Spanish on the way to the top of 20,600-foot Mount Chimborazo. Paco, my guide, was trying to explain that my papery rain suit and 14-ounce backpack weren't sufficient for mountaineering. "Yo no entiendo," I answered, and up the glaciers we went.
Climbing Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador was one of the most difficult things I've done. There is only half the oxygen in the air up there as at sea level, and it was the first time I had used an ice ax and crampons to climb a mountain. The temperature was fifteen degrees below zero when we reached the summit, at dawn. You can read the whole story on the page, "Mount Chimborazo."
Hiking By Moonlight
The first three days hiking the "back route" to Mount Whitney I saw maybe six people and no clouds. I explored hanging valleys full of lakes at different levels, I ate wild currants, and I scrambled up mountains. I slept under the stars and awoke every night to hike by moonlight. On the fourth morning I was sitting alone, at dawn, on top of Mount Whitney, my feet dangling over the edge of a thousand-foot precipice.
When I headed down the Whitney Portal Trail, the "standard route," I passed at least one hundred people who were going up. Still I managed to find my own private lake to camp at that evening. This was the last of my hiking adventures using traditional gear. I soon after gave up the hiking boots in favor of running shoes, and cut the weight in my backpack in half. You can read this story on the page, "California Hiking."
Lost In A Summer Blizzard
One of my first hiking adventures with ultralight backpacking gear was in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. I was in the Weminuche Wilderness with a light down sleeping bag, a tarp, and a frame less 13-ounce backpack. I wore running cheap running shoes, and never had more than 16 pounds on my back.
Despite seven days of rain, and an afternoon lost in a snowstorm, I managed to stay dry, and I had a great time. I hiked 110 miles, bagged five "fourteeners" along the way, and was chased off mountain tops by lightning more than once. For the rest of the story, go to "Colorado Hiking."
Is That A Daypack?
I felt bad for the red-faced, wheezing backpackers struggling up the steep trails of the Smoky Mountains National Park. They looked positively miserable stooped over under their forty-pound backpacks. What could I do, but say hello and hike on up the trail past them? Many of them commented on my eleven-pound load, and were surprised when I told them that, no, I wasn't just day hiking.
I was surprised when I woke up with six inches of snow on my tarp. This was in May! I had come south from Michigan for better weather. It was going to be a test for my seventeen-ounce down sleeping bag, and my running shoes too. To see how it turns out, and how to go 39 miles in a day without blisters, go to "Smoky Mountains Hiking."
Overnighter On The Tundra
There are so many little adventures to be had hiking in the mountains. This one was a simple hike up to an isolated meadow above all the trees, in the Anaconda-Pintler range in southwestern Montana. It was the first time my wife had been up so high on a hike, and it was before we learned there are grizzlies in this part of the state. You'll find this story, and more from Montana, on the page, "Montana Hiking."
There's A Noise In My Head
More Hiking Adventures
I still have a few hiking adventures to add to this collection. Like the one in the Yellowstone backcountry involving a May snowstorm and a grizzly bear, and adventures involving rafts and bicycles. So be sure to check back for more in the future.