Saturday, June 30, 2007

Blue Sky Ecological Reserve

Blue Sky Reserve

This morning I hiked Mt. Woodson starting from the Blue Sky Ecological Reserve instead of Lake Poway. This added about two miles total to the hike and an extra 200 feet of elevation gain . The Blue Sky Reserve is in a place that my friends and I used to go off-roading back in the late 80s, when the road was open and also led to the Ramona Dam, which we also used to drive to. Now the trail is open only to hikers. Today I didn't take time to read the posted signs explaining all the wildlife that can be seen from the trail. I had a mission to accomplish before it got hot, and hot it got.



I made it!

This was an endurance training hike. I packed my backpack with camping equipment and lots of water. It weighed over 20 pounds at the beginning. By the end, after I drank all 5 liters of water, it was much lighter. Yes, I once again ran out of water! I took time at the summit to eat a sandwich before heading back down.



View of San Diego

The whole trip took 4:15, traveling almost 10 miles. I was expecting it to take five hours, assuming the times are correct on the web page I've linked to above. I started out walking fast, but the extra weight slowed my down as I hit the steep part of the trail up Woodson. With only three weeks before Whitney I feel I need more hikes with a little more weight in my pack. However, it's getting to the point where I just want to hike Whitney, enough training!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How is it physically possible to drink that much water in that period of time? I think you have a drinking problem.

OB

Karen said...

Yes, we want to know. Where is the water coming from and where is it going? Aren't your cells going to pop from all that water?

Anonymous said...

Keith always seems to have to pee, or at least good for a few "false alarms".

Homer Simpson said...

Very funny, Darin. I'm glad you didn't talk about my "Saw!" episode.