Category Archives: fitness

mt. whitney thursday: training hikes

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Hi everyone! This post is part of my series the Mt. Whitney chronicles, which is comprised of journal entries from when I climbed Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, ten years ago. If you missed the earlier post in the series, you can read them here.

mt whitney chronicles

Sunday, May 18, 2003
I just got back from my first training hike! Mom says we are lucky to live in Southern California near the beach and foothill mountains because there are so many great hiking trails nearby. I guess she’s right, but right now I don’t even want to think about getting up at 6 a.m. next Sunday and doing the same thing all over again! Today we only hiked for two hours, and I’m in pretty good shape from running cross-country and track for my high school, but it seemed like for-ev-er. And, to be honest, there wasn’t even that much uphill! Climbing Mt. Whitney in one day is supposed to take at least fourteen hours — the first eight of which will be spent hiking up, up, up the mountain. Right now, that seems so impossible!

Saturday, May 31
Mom and I went to Patagonia today to look for hiking boots because she thinks we should break them in a little during our hike tomorrow morning. I found a pair that is pretty comfortable, and I got some hiking socks, too. We also each bought a walking stick, which hard-core hikers say are invaluable, especially when climbing mountains like Whitney. They provide leverage going up the trail and make the constant pounding of going downhill easier on your body by bearing some of the impact. Also, very importantly, they can help prevent you from slipping and falling on rocky and dangerous trails.

Still, a part of me thought the cashier might laugh at us when we went up to purchase the hiking sticks. I felt like an old lady buying a cane. But I shouldn’t have worried: the cashier smiled and asked if we’re preparing for a specific hike. When we told him we’re going to climb Whitney, his eyes grew wide and he looked impressed. “Wow, you’re serious hikers, then!” he said. “Good luck!”

Walking out of the store, my heart swelled with pride and excitement. Me, a serious hiker! Hopefully in a couple months I’ll be able to go back to that store and tell him we made it to the top.

Thursday, June 13
Now that we are “serious hikers” Mom has been going to all the local outdoors-y stores and talking to people about Mt. Whitney. She’s managed to come across a few other hikers who have made it to the top and is soaking up their advice like a sponge. She also found a book, How to Climb Mt. Whitney in One Day, that I’ve been reading. Maybe it’s just me, but the author makes climbing Mt. Whitney seem really scary! She says that for the last mile, every step will be a struggle, and you will feel dizzy and nauseous while hiking only a few steps away from hundred-foot cliff-drops. For someone like me who is so afraid of heights that even the Ferris Wheel makes my insides do cartwheels, maybe this isn’t such a great idea after all …

But then I think about Julianna’s photos from the top. I really want to be there. I really want to see that view for myself.

mt. whitney wednesday: planning & prep

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Hi everyone! This is the second post in my Mt. Whitney chronicles, which is comprised of journal entries from when I climbed Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, ten years ago. If you missed the first post in the series, you can read it here.

mt whitney chronicles

Saturday, May 10, 2003
I talked to my former kindergarten teacher, Stacey, the other day when she was driving me home from babysitting her two little kids. I told her I want to climb Mt. Whitney, and it turns out a mom of one of her kids in her current kindergarten class just climbed it last summer. Stacey wants to climb Mt. Whitney too, so we are trying to form a group to go together. So far about ten people have signed up, including my second-grade teacher Diane, my mom, and some of their friends. Our group is all female — yeah, Girl Power! — and I am the youngest one.

Sunday, May 11
I did some homework and learned that Mt. Whitney was “discovered” by a California State Geological Survey team in 1864. It was named for the team’s leader, Josiah Dwight Whitney. During that trip, survey team member Clarence King attempted to climb to the summit. Twice. Both times he failed.

What am I getting myself into??

More history: it was not until Clarence King’s third attempt on September 19, 1873 {nearly a decade after his first failed try} that he successfully reached the summit. Ironically, statistics show that today 1-in-3 climbers make it to the top of Mt. Whitney.

Wednesday, May 14
Tonight we had a Whitney Meeting at Stacey’s house. We decided to do the 22-mile-round-trip hike in one day instead of camping out on the trail overnight. I know it sounds crazy, but it actually seems like the better way to go because:

1. We’ll be able to pack much lighter; we won’t have to carry huge overnight backpacks with sleeping bags and tents.
2. It is much easier to get a permit for day hiking than for overnight hiking.
3. We’ll get to sleep in a real bed in a hotel after the hike and soak our tired legs in the hot tub! For me, that is much more tempting than sleeping on the cold, hard ground in the wilderness.

At the meeting, we filled out the permit forms. They only allow a certain number of people on the trail at a time, so we’ll hear back in a few weeks as to whether our permit was accepted or not. Our tentative date for the hike is Saturday, July 26 — which seems far away now, but I have a feeling it will be here before we know it!

Julianna, the mother from Stacey’s class who climbed Mt. Whitney last summer, came to our meeting to talk about her hiking experience. She said it took a lot of hard training and determination to get to the top, and there were times she just wanted to turn around and give up … but that the blisters and sweat and aching muscles are all worth it in the end.

Then she showed us her photos. They were amazing — like something out of a nature magazine or off a postcard. The photos from the peak of Mt. Whitney were my favorite: nothing but blue sky and clouds all around, like you’re standing in a castle up in the sky.

And Julianna said the photos don’t even do Whitney justice. She said it’s something you have to see in person to truly appreciate. I hope I have what it takes to find out for myself. Our first training hike is this Sunday. Mt. Whitney, here I come!

mt. whitney wednesdays

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185_mt_whitney

Ten years ago, when I was sixteen, I climbed Mt. Whitney in one day with my mom. It is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. It was euphoric and exhausting; I truly pushed my body to the limit and accomplished something that had at one time seemed out of my reach.

When I realized that this July is the 10-year anniversary of our climb, I wanted to do something here on the blog to celebrate. I came across a journal I kept leading up to and during the climb, which gave me the idea to share those journal entries with you.

Whether you’re planning to climb Mt. Whitney, hike a different mountain, run a marathon, complete a triathalon, or whatever your adventurous dreams may be — I hope these journal entries will be fun and inspiring to read! I’ll be doing a new post every Wednesday and all the posts will be archived here.

mt whitney chronicles

“Because it’s there.” – Sir Edmund Hillary’s reply, when asked why he climbed Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth

“Because Hillary inspired me,” is my reply whenever I am asked why I climbed California’s Mt. Whitney. While Whitney is 14,541 feet lower than Everest, it is still the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States at 14,494 feet.

Exactly how did Hillary inspire me? By coincidence, he became the first person to reach the peak of the world’s tallest mountain on May 29, 1953 — and I was born on the 29th of May, 34 years later. This serendipitous piece of information got me interested in doing something memorable on the 50th anniversary of his historic achievement in 2003.

So it was that I decided to climb Mt. Whitney, the “Culminating Peak of the Sierras.” To me — a girl who was born three months prematurely, weighing just two pounds, six ounces, and who doctors feared wouldn’t survive — the goal of standing {if not on top of the world} at least on top of the lower 48 states, was truly an Everest-like challenge.

What follows is the journal of my experiences. {Stay tuned for more next Wednesday!}

“make mornings matter” in march!

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“If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, that will probably be the worst thing you do all day.” – Mark Twain.

Source: Frog by David Wagner

Source: Frog by David Wagner

Happy Thursday, friends! How is your week going so far?

The always-amazing Crystal over at Money-Saving Mom is hosting a really neat Early to Rise Challenge during the month of March. I have been inspired by her posts, and floored by her {and other participants} wake-up times: 5:33. 6:01. 5:45. A.M.!!

Now to some of you, that is a piece of cake. That is simply routine for you. 5 a.m. and sunrises are a normal part of your day. {My mom is one of those people. Hi, Mom!}

But I have always been a night owl. Maybe it’s related to writing — I often feel more creative late at night, when the world is quiet and I am close to dreamland. {In fact, I titled my short story collection 3 a.m. because that’s when I was up writing many of the stories in the book!} I’ve read that we all have natural body rhythms as either night owls or early birds, and I am definitely in the night owl category. I often joke with my Gramps, who lives out in California, that he and I are on the same time schedule — we go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time; I’m just three hours ahead of him on the clock! 🙂

Still, I like to feel productive, and I’ve found my mornings often set the tone for the rest of my day. If I have a sluggish morning where I wake up, head straight to my computer, check my email first thing, and browse around on Facebook, it will soon be an hour later and I will feel totally crummy. Then I’ll be rushing to “get a start” on my day and very likely the whole entire day will seem like a giant game of catch-up.

If, instead, I wake up, drink two glasses of water, brew some tea and cook a healthy, hearty breakfast, and start the day with one chore I do not want to do or have been putting off — just do it and get it DONE so I don’t have to worry about it anymore — then the entire day seems sunnier, easier, lovelier. I feel on top of things. I feel productive. Even if the task I’ve been putting off takes me a total of three minutes, like yesterday morning, when I called the mechanic who I had been been playing phone tag with the entire day before. I called him first thing when I got up, was done with the task in three minutes, and felt a sense of motivation and accomplishment that carried me through the entire day!

To paraphrase Mark Twain’s quote from the beginning of this post, what “frogs” are you putting off? Think how great you will feel if you get them done first thing and then have the whole day to not worry about it!

Another thing that really gets my day off on a great, energetic note is to do a little bit of exercise first thing in the morning. One of my goals for 2013 is to stretch every day, and I feel so much better the rest of the day if I take a few minutes to stretch my legs and hips when I first get out of bed. I am also trying to motivate myself to get into the routine of doing my sit ups and push ups first thing in morning, before I hop in the shower and eat breakfast. I often feel too tired or busy to do them at night, but I really want to work on building up the strength of my core, and so doing my sit-ups and push-ups are important to me. For the rest of March — and beyond — that is a small goal I am focusing on!

How about you? How do you make your mornings matter? If you’re looking for inspiration, I love this post by Crystal: “15 Things You Can Do Each Morning to Make Your Day More Successful.” I think she gives great advice! And whether your morning starts at 5 a.m. or noon, this is a no-judgment zone! It’s all about what works best for you and your lifestyle. 🙂