Kilimanjaro

January 2, 2010
thought1: oh my god! its so beautiful, i am top of the world!
thought2: i am walking in desert of rajasthan
thought3: right there, that is the peak, it will be over soon!
thought4: who are all these strange people
thought5: its afternoon and i am walking in desert
thought6: the peak is right there! it will be over soon!

That is what was going on in my head when I was heading towards the summit of Kilimanjaro at 19,000ft. They say altitude makes you delirious, and I know what they means.

Shriner Peak

If you like wild berries, this hike is for you!! I have never enjoyed berry picking so much on any hike. Its a medium 8 mile - 3400ft hike. This late in the season with all the practice behind us it was easy. The hill sides are full of huckleberries and some blueberries, we just could not eat enough. There is a lot of fall colour. Views on a clear day are just breathtaking. With 3500ft elevation gain, its a workout, but totally worth it. At this point, the trail is very well maintained, but there is no water on the trail. We took about 3 hrs to hike up, plus more than 30 min berry ticking, and 2 hrs to come down.
http://picasaweb.google.com/hiking.glory/ShrinerPeak#

Stuart lake **

One more unplanned, undecided hike. We started really late on Saturday morning and had a long drive. Started the 9 mile hike at 2:30. The hike was easier, only about 1300ft elevation gain. The first part of the hike we did quite relaxed, walking slowly. The whole hike is through the forest with tall trees, not really good for any kind of views. As with most alpine lake hikes, a creek flows all along the trail and there are numerous spots with access to water. You will see glimpses of Stuart range, but the view never really opens up.
Most of the trail is flat. There is one steep section after the creek bridge, goes for about a mile and probably gains 800ft in that. After that you will see a junction Colchuck lake and Stuart lake trail. The Stuart lake trail is another 2 miles from there. After the junction is flat for about a mile and then gains another 500ft rapidly. In the end you reach a smallish lake. We did not find any good access to the lake water. There is ok view of Stuart range from here, but not great.
Overall, a good hike to get out of the city and get a workout. But very slim on views or ruggedness. Consider last resort if you cannot find anything interesting.

Noble knob

This was the weekend for a easy trail. We decided on noble knob, its a 7 mile round trip with a total elevation gain of 500ft, easy breezy. The road leading to trailhead is really bad, steep uphill, gravel, rocky, basically not recommended for your cute little loved car. So we decided to rent something better and go for the hike.
As usual we started lazily around 10, partly because rental car need to be picked up. I forgot to take the forest pass again, cannot understand how!!! Once we reached the FR 7174, the adventure began. The road was indeed steep, uphill, narrow and very bad. There were some sharp switchbacks. Driving on it was slow and very careful, we managed to maintain a speed of 20 on that road. There were a lot of potholes that should be avoided. In all it needed careful driving, high clearance car is better, though we did see a Nissan Sentra making its way up.
We started our hike on "a" trailhead. It did say Noble Knob on it. The hike immediately started very steep, taking us straight uphill. We must have gained almost 500 ft in less than half a mile. From the top, the view in valley was great. We had major doubts that this is the real trail. It was suppose to be flat!. We looked for a lunch spot and ate a bit. Started again, hoping that we have already covered the 500ft we were suppose to gain.

Bandera Mountain

One of the very few 4000ft+ peaks so close to Seattle. No need to mention that its quite a popular trail. We started the hike on a somewhat cloudy Saturday morning. The drive is less than an hour, so we started lazily around 10:00 from Redmond. We were ready to start at the trail head by 11:10. The trail starts with a gentle uphill. Soon you reach a nice small waterfall, I think this is called Ira Spring. Another 20 min gentle walk up from Ira Spring, you will see a fork in the trail. The right side is closed and to the left you will see a steep slope up. That is the true beginning of this trail and it never eases from there. Its all the way uphill, at least 30deg slope, sometimes 45 and even a 60deg uphill. For long time you will walk in the tree line.

You will see I-90 snaking in the valley below and Snowqualmie river by its side. Beyond I-90 there are other couple of high peaks and faint trails heading up to the peak are also visible. Do not forget to take a break and spot Mt Rainier. Its one white mountain with foreground of green peaks. We mostly missed it on the way up because the day was cloudy and we did not know we should be looking for it.

This trail is shared with Bandera Mtn and Mason Lake. There is a fork about 2.5 miles up. At this point, the real trail goes to Mason lake which is about another half a mile. And the trail to Bandera mountain is pretty much a scramble up at a very steep grade. But every inch of that walk is worth the views you get from the top. There is a false peak where you will find good rocks to sit and gaze at Mt Rainier (is you are into those kind of things). Mason lake is also visible on the other side and Rainbow (I think) lake a little further from it.

Some more rock scrambles lead to the real peak which is not that impressive. Most common reaction on reaching the real peak is "That's it!!". But you may want to do it just to complete the trail. There is almost no place to sit at the peak and view is blocked by some trees. We took a group photo and top and just came back down to sit in the rocks.

Mason lake was looking so inviting on the hot day that some of us decided to go on a little adventure. They descended the rocks and went all the way down to the lake. The "trail" is difficult and treacherous, but still doable. If you are in shorts, you may want to think twice as you will have yo go through lots of bushes. And you end up at other side of the lake. There is no trail around the lake, so to get back on the trail, its another scramble through rocks and bushes.

Trail Data: 7.6 miles round trip ( + 1 mile if you want to take a detour to Mason lake, recommended on the way down). 3000ft elevation gain to Bandera Mountain.

Directions: From Seattle, take I90 east, exit 45. Left at forest road 9030. After about 0.5 mile, continue on forest road 9031, this is a 3 miles gravel road, ok for small cars though.

Ingalls Creek

.... oh I mean Ingalls Lake, no I think I mean Ingalls Creek। That is how our long weekend backpacking started। It was the first good hike of the season for me. We decided on going to Ingalls Creek, start on Saturday, wilderness camping overnight and then back on Sunday. This was a out and back trail. Somewhere on the way during planning, some people decided to go to Ingalls Lake which is a 9 mile rt, 3000ft trail and they forgot to tell others in the group about their decision. Shayon decided to go to some place in Mt Rainier region (Ingalls* is around wenatchee) and of course did not tell anyone else and we were all going together in one car.

Unusually I had not even looked at the description in detail. It was not Mt Deception and that's all that mattered. Friday we all went to REI and I got kathmandu curry, finally.
Saturday, I got up early to do a lot of cooking. Made upma for beakfast, lots of potato sabji for sandwiches. Then I took directions for this place called "Ingalls Creek" and then Rahul took directions for this place called "Ingalls Lake". We all got together at my place around 9, and we started almost by 10:00. It was a 2 hr drive to whatever place we were going to (still undecided). 1 hr into the drive, on I97 it finally occured that we don't know where we are going. Somehow a decision to go to Ingalls Creek was made for which no one takes responsibility.

We had sandwich and rice lunch at the trail head. The trail started fine. It was almost flat, going in the jungle, all along the creek. We stopped at a place where there was lake access, wet our feet in ice-cold water and had second round of lunch. Then started again. On the way we met some people और उनसे पूछा की आगे का हाल क्या है। उन्होंने हमें बताया कि जिस lake पर हम जाना चाहते हैं वह तो और १० मील दूर है। और पता नहीं खुली है भी या नहीं। यह पूरा रास्ता ऐसा ही है। जंगल में से, अधिकतर सपाट। इसका मतलब हम एक दिन में वहां तक पहुँच ही नहीं सकते।अब निकले ही हैं सारा सामान ले कर तो एक दिन क्या और दो दिन क्या। खाना कि तो कमी नहीं होती, और दफ्तर का क्या है, कम तो चलता ही रहता है। तो हमने सोचा क्यूं न और एक दिन रुक जायें और पूरा देख कर ही जायें।

GC: Day 4 Indian Garden - South Rim

Final day of the trip, can't believe we are almost done, the rim - 2 - rim hike. After last nights decision of getting up early to see sunrise at sunset point (plateau point actually), surprisingly Sree really got up early. Rise and shine early with Rahul and then there was no stopping them. They both woke us all up and we started the 1.5 mile trail to plateau point to see sunrise. It seemed like a really long trail, it was the long flat trail that you can see from South Rim also. The end was very rewarding though. From this point, we could see the river and lot of the canyon. We also caught first few rays of the sun falling on the high peaks, and mist in the valley. As the sun rose, more coloures came into view. This is definately a point you should not miss. Only about 5 miles from South Rim, this should be open through out the year and should be doable in a day. Returning from plateau point, we also saw a group of deers.

After plateau point, it was just back to South Rim. Its a 4.6 mile hike up 3060 feet. There were 1.5 and 3 mile rest stops, no water in either, but they were like first mile markers and the only ones in the whole trip. I was little scared of the hike, as uphill is always difficult. As we packed the bags, I was quite happy to see that most of the food is gone, I had packed well, very few extra stuff. There was enough food to go up, and we took just enough water, not too much this time. This was again lot of switchbacks. One place we passed thoough a narrow gap in the canyon, the set of switch bags looked great. Srijan thought that the hike was "boring", well maybe it was. The view was just the same canyon, going further and further away. But I think it was good for going up, smooth and relaxing. We made it up in good time. At the top as the lodge came closer, it was just amazing feeling, we had done it, and done it well. I was lot more scared than I needed to be, and we did it at the perfect time of the year.
Here is all the data:
http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/trail-distances.htm
Day 1 we hiked 6.8 miles, 4170 ft ele loss
Day 2 we hiked 7.3 miles, 1600 ft ele loss
Day 3 we hiked 4.7 miles, 1320 ft ele gain + river detour
Day 4 we hiked 4.6 miles, 3060 ft ele gain + plateau point detour.

GC - Day 3 - Bright Angel - Indian Garden

Day 3 rise and shine. Today we got up, little tired but excited about finally getting to touch the river. But before that a visit to dhobi ghat was important. We went to the bright angel creek and washed clothes. We actually put up ropes and dried clothes there. Now was time for the river, we took the small trail down. Finally the mighty colorado which along with its tributaries and esturies created this huge canyon. Looking at the river you cannot say that. Today it flows as a small river, looking every smaller than hudson (ok I feel really bad for making this comparison, kahan poor hudson in NY, kahan beautiful colorado). At the river we met a group of rafters on a 21 day long trip across the river, what it trip that would be! This river is suppose to have level 10 rapids!! We stayed on the ground, and that is where I would like to stay. Saw a mule trail (thankfully the only one we met on the trail) We went on the 'black bridge' which is part of South Kabiab trail. As usual got our feet wet in the water, took photos and headed back to the camp.

Breakfast was again maggie. Today was the day to eat a lot and make the packs lighter, and today was also the day to start our ascend. It was scary, it was hot and it was also the beginning of the end (already!). We left earlier that yesterday, around 11. We had about 4.5 miles to go today, all uphill of course. We crossed the river at silver bridge. Some scary bridge it was, all shaking, and deep pahadi river below. After crossing the bridge, we were surprised by a sudden very sandy section of the trail, it was like walking on the beach. No idea where it came from, probably left over from the time when river used to be at that level. It also brought the discussion about intelligent design vs evolution. Not so much as a discussion but aghastness at highly educated, engineers talking about "intelligent design" (Rahul and Sree to me more specific), what freaks!. Thankfully sand was short lived and we were back on the stony trail. This trail was also marked by mule droppings and its smell, not very pleasant. But then we knew this. We had already experienced the real canyon by now, but the trail still held some surprises and vistas. After a short climb, we came upon a cave, with a caveman instinct, the guys could not help explore it. Arindam was perfect to pose as the caveman in front the it. Today's trail also had devil's cork-screw, a steep windy set of switchbacks. As we climbed higer, depth of the canyon became clearer and new peaks came into view, hiding behind walls in front. Among switchbacks there were also postcard photo spots.

By this time, South Rim was also visible, but seemed very very far. Towards the end, we saw a small teela, and Sree thought it was a good idea to climb it. So we did, and it showed us even more views of the high peaks, kind of like a 270deg view. The surprise never ends. But by this time, we were also tired, hungry and I really wanted to get to the campsite and put the backpack down. From the teela we saw a really long flat trail going somewhere, I was hoping it was not our trail. And it was not, it was the plateau point trail, which we could have taken later to see sunset. We were quite near the Indian Garden. This was a smaller campsite and was again crowded. Since we were quite late, we got a ok campsite. This one place was appropriately named, it was a garden in middle of all the rocks. It was almost dark by the time we reached, and between Srees hurting big toe, Surya's small toe and everyone else's hurting leg muscles (except Rahul's, who does not have any), we had no enthu to explore anything more. Of course mustard all came to rescure, Rahul, I and Sree put a lot of it for pain relief. Srijan wanted some for his "dry skin", but there was none to spare, wish I had added couple of extra drops in the bottle!.

Dinner was again backpacking food, kathmandu curry was a hit and I think its a really good idea to incorporate it in our daily diet. Every tuesday, no cooking, no washing, nothing, just enjoying the curry. Rahul was not too enthued by the idea, and since he cooks, its ok. After stuffing ourselves with lot of food, it was time to sleep. It was surprisingly cold here, and we were amond jungly area, fox, snakes, racoons are common here. Thankfully we did not see any. Since we had missed the sunset, we decided to get up before sunrise and go to the sunset point to see sunrise, haa haa, get up before sunrise, hee hee.

GC: Day 2 - North Kabiab - Bright Angel

After having a good night's sleep, Rahul and I got up quite early. We saw the canyon in moon-light, and dawn light, which was somewhat scary. Then soon sun started coming up, and it became very beautiful. Sun rays starting at the high peaks. Unlike most of our campings, this time, no one was in any hurry to leave. We took our time, getting up, Sree as usual very late, closely followed by Arindam. We had a good breakfast of maggie. Getting ready, packing up, chit chatting, it was almost noon by the time we started! And we had about 6 mile to go. It was going to be a very warm day and this was also the day we were to pass through the "box" known for its high walls and very hot air. Short way into the hike, we came upon Ribbon falls. This was also a detour to the fall. So we set our bags down and took the trail. It took us to this really beautiful fall, which was more like Rainbow fall then Ribbon fall, though it was thin, long and wide, so can be thought of as ribbon. The best part was we good go behind the fall. It was really cool !! Thanks to the warm temperatures, we could get wet in water. We spent about half an hour there, taking photos, playing with water.

Back on the main trail, it was suppose to be almost flat, and all along a creek. So we did not really need to carry lot of water on this day, but we did anywhere. Soon we started seeing all the wonders of the canyon. One temple after another came into view. Vishnu temple, Brahma temple and then Tulika's palace. As we travelled along the canyon walls, more vistas started opening up, one peak after other showing its beauty from all sides. At a point, we will suddenly start looking at a completly new part of canyon, looking very different from rest of it. The colours and vastness of the scene could not at all be captured in the camera. I think this was the best day of the hike, you experience the real canyon here, and good thing that it was all flat. Very soon we entered the box, there were really high canyon walls on both sides, the bright angel creek snaking in the middle and our trail along one wall. There were numerous bridges taking us from one wall to other. It was just dreamy being there, best luck was that it was not at all hot, infact it was on the cool side and very comfortable. I can imagine this part of the hike being really difficult if its hot.

By the time we came out of the box, we were also very tired. Walking flat though easy, but also has a monotony, even in this every full of surprises canyon. It was also getting late and dark. It had been a very long day. Finally phantom ranch came in view, a very inviting dining hall, and cabins. But our destination was campgrounds another half a mile away. By the time we reached bright angel campgroup, it was almost dark. Finally after almot 2 days of being very close to nature and away from other human beings, we reached at this really crowded campground. We got a campsite, quickly made dinner and then went to sleep.

The story - either today or yesterday the texan told us a story about this really old guy (80 did he say?) who keeps shuttling from one rim of the canyon to other, and he hands over these t-shirts to women which say "I went all the way with ....." (forgot the name). We did not meet him though.