QUARRY QUEST

I visited two customers in Wasau, Wisconsin yesterday to sell buttons. I was finished with both appointments in the early afternoon. My first customer proposed that I could park my car in her parking lot and walk approximately 1.3 miles to a lesser known park entrance to re-visit Rib Mountain State Park. Her suggestion was that my hike include a trip to the abandoned rock quarry. Her favorite way of entering the park is from the bottom of one of the ski slopes and walking up the mountain. This is precisely what I did. As I climbed UP the ski slope, I felt my heart pounding. I rested for a few seconds, a few times and I was very grateful when I arrived at the top of the mountain. My first stop was the Vistiors Center. I asked the ranger about getting to the quarry. The quarry is now abandoned, the Park Ranger confirmed that it was well worth the visit. After a few false starts - apparently following a trail is not like following driving directions from a GPS - I did finally find the right trail. I arrived at the quarry.  I hiked all around it. I hiked at the bottom of it. There was one spot which was stunning as it edged out beyond the rest of the perimeter. Unbelievably, while I was there, so was another hiker. That hiker was the photographer of this photo. This photo fails to capture that fact that I was too scared to be any further back on the rocks than I already was. It had appeared to me that falling down from this spot would have been very hazardous to my health.

Earlier on the hike I had used my self-timer to snap this photograph of me on a rock ledge while at the Quarry. Here again, I was close to the edge...I crawled from the camera to get into place for this photo. I am not a good enough photographer to capture the grandeur of this quarry, the open wound in this mountain from the days when quartzite was mined.

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The weather for the hike was spectacular.  I kept hydrated with my CAMELBAK 'bladder' filled with cold icewater. I also brought four extra bottles of Glaceau Vitamin Water.

My hike was not completed until I had logged 20 miles. Even more remarkable than that was that my fitbit recorded that I had climbed the equivalent of 308 floors. This was only the third time I have 'climbed' so much in one day since I have become a 'fitbitter'. There was the time that I logged 400 flights of stairs walking up the staircase in my building when I was training for the Half Dome Yosemite Park hike. The actual Half Dome hike logged 563 floors. (That particular hike up Half Dome included a climb of nearly 5000 feet elevation - no ups and downs - just 'UPS') Still 306 floors was the most I had climbed since October 1, 2015 at Yosemite. The Rib Mountain is 'only' about 2000 feet above sea level but with 20 miles hikes over quite a few trails, there were many, many UPS and downs. Although the mountain is 2000 feet above sea level, there is less than a 1000 foot climb from the base to the top.

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My hike included travel on The Red Trail, The Yellow Trail, The Quarry Trail, The Homestead Loop Trail, The Turkey Vulture Trail and the colorfully named, Dynamite Trail

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After I left the park and started walking back to my car, I spotted this sign. This is not the type of sign that one typically 

sees when driving through Chicago.  Chicago is home to plenty of dangers, at least forest fires are not among them.

Your Food Diary For:

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Quaker - Grits - Instant - Original, 6 packet	600	132	0	12	1,860	0
	600	132	0	12	1,860	0
L U N C H
Deli Express - Charbroil Burger w/ cheese	710	58	36	39	2,020	9
Glaceau Vitamin Water - Lemonade	120	34	0	0	0	31
	830	92	36	39	2,020	40
D I N N E R
Jack Links - Teriyaki Jerky, 3 oz	240	18	3	36	1,440	15
Read - 3 Bean Salad, 1.67 Cup (85g)	300	65	0	5	1,500	40
Glaceau Vitamin Water Zero - Lemonade	0	15	0	0	0	0
Gourmet - Club wrap, 1 sandwich	600	59	21	41	2,570	4
	1,140	157	24	82	5,510	59
S N A C K S
Balance - Chocolate Mint Cookie Crunch	200	23	7	14	190	16
Bai Cocofusion - Molokai Coconut	10	18	0	0	70	2
Sobe Lifewater - Yumberry Pomegranate	0	16	0	0	120	0
Met Rx Protein Plus - Chocolate Chocolate	620	58	20	64	190	2
	830	115	27	78	570	20
Totals	3,400	496	87	211	9,960	119
Your Daily Goal	7,035	879	234	352	2,300	263
Remaining	3,635	383	147	141	-7,660	144
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 5,105 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 181.3 lbs in 5 weeks     

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking	462	3,221
Daily Total / Goal	462 / 30	3,221 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	918 / 210	8,130 / 4,130

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This is a look back at my fitbit 'scorecard' from the October 1, 2015 hike up and down Half Dome in Yosemite Park.  It was this hike that changed my life. This hike instilled in me a love for hiking. Whether I am hiking a a big or small mountain, a small hill, a bluff, a forest path, or a city street - I love to hike. Hiking is good exercise and you can see a lot of amazing things.

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I was reviewing my food diary for yesterday. I made a conscious effort to hydrate myself yesterday and eat lots of protein. It's probably a good thing that I am not on a sodium restrictive diet - as my total for the day was nearly 10,000 milligrams. The funny thing is... I NEVER actually use salt to flavor any of my foods. For example, I would never add salt to french fries. I don't even know what other examples of foods to list as examples as I add salt to no foods at all. Obviously, due to the factory prepared foods that I do consume, I don't have to worry about a sodium (salt) deficient diet.

In a completely frivolous link to my discussion of salt - is the very first Star Trek episode that ever aired. America was treated to the first Star Trek episode ever on September 8th, 1966.  In this initial episode foisted upon the public was a shapeshifter who craved salt. It was not the best episode ever, but did start a chain of Star Trek shows, movies, books, games, and endless merchandise offerings that continues and shows no sign of slowing down. The latest movie, STAR TREK BEYOND opens next Friday and next January a new STAR TREK series will make its debut. 

The salt creature from the original Star Trek series

HALF DOME PLANNING GUIDE

Today I am going to share some tips for making a summit on Half Dome in Yosemite Park.  I start by duplicating my own facebook post from a couple of days ago.  This represents my attempt to be at least mildly amusing.

If one wants to make the 4800 foot ascent up to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite Park, I can offer these seven simple steps. STEP 1. Lose approximately 85 pounds (only necessary if one starts at 309 lbs) STEP 2. Train for six months: treadmill, elliptical machine, stairmaster STEP 3. Train to increase upper body strength (actually I skipped this step - I only wished I hadn't as I navigated the Half Dome cables to make the final 425 foot ascent) STEP 4. Be fearless (STEP 4 is actually impossible - so skip that one) STEP 5. Somehow manage to climb your way down from the mountain because cell phone coverage at 8842 feet elevation atop Half Dome is spotty at best...so if you want people to be aware of your accomplishment you are going to need to return! STEP 6. Allow at least 12 hours for the approximately 18 mile day hike from Curry Village in Yosemite Park. STEP 7. Don't forget your FitBit as you will get a kick out of learning that you have climbed the equivalent of 550+ flights of stairs. (Imagine climbing from street level to the top of the Empire State Building... Then imagine doing it nearly 5 more times)

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I found a website, yosemitehikes.com which also offered some helpful advice.

Hike Distance:  14.2 miles (22.7 km) round trip via Mist Trail

Half Dome Elevation:  8,842 feet (2,695 meters)

Total Elevation Gain:  4,800 feet (1,600 meters) from Yosemite Valley

Hiking Time:  10 - 14 hours

Why climb the trail to Half Dome?  Half Dome is the ultimate Yosemite day hike - the one you can't die without doing, and the one you're most likely to die while doing.  t's got 900 feet (300 meters) worth of spectacular waterfalls at the bottom if you take the Mist Trail route; bigger-than-life panoramic vistas at the top; and a knee-knocking, hand-clamming cable ascent that will test your courage, your strength, and the tread on your shoes.

Permit Alert:  You'll need a permit to access the cable section of the trail. 

Crowd Factor:  High - so high, in fact, that the park service has instituted a permit system for the cable route, a perennial source of bottlenecks. In 2012 the park service switched to a lottery system, which remains in place. While getting a permit can be a challenge, the permit system has definitely reduced crowding, and the days of 45-minute waits to get onto the cables seem to be over.

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and finally... Here is some detail information on acquiring a Half Dome permit lifted directly from the official United States Government National Park Service website:  http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/hdpermits.htm

(The information duplicated below was for the 2015 season which will conclude in 9 days.... My advice would be to use the nps.gov.yose/planyourvisit website as it is updated for the 2016 season.

Half Dome Permits for Day Hikers

Permits to hike to the top of Half Dome are required seven days per week when the cables are up (as called for in the Half Dome Plan in order to protect wilderness character, reduce crowding, protect natural and cultural resources, and improve safety).

A maximum of 300 hikers are allowed (about 225 day hikers and 75 backpackers) each day on the Half Dome Trail beyond the base of the subdome.

Permits are distributed by lottery via Recreation.gov, with one preseason lottery with an application period in March and and daily lotteries during the hiking season. Backpackers—including those who want to spend the night in Little Yosemite Valley—should apply for Half Dome permits with their wilderness permit rather than using the process described below.

On each preseason lottery application, people can apply for up to six permits (six people) and for up to seven dates. Applications will only be successful if the number of permits requested is available on at least one of the requested dates. If enough permits are available for more than one of the requested dates, permits will be automatically awarded to the highest priority date, as entered by the applicant.

The applicant must specify the name of the trip leader and may specify the name of an alternate. Each person may apply as a trip leader only once per lottery. People applying multiple times as trip leader will have all their lottery applications canceled. Permits will only be valid if the trip leader and/or alternate specified on the permit is part of the group using the permits. The group with trip leader or alternate must be present together at the base of the subdome, where rangers will check for permits. The names of the trip leader and alternate may not be changed once the application is submitted, and their permits are not transferable.

Preseason Lottery

During the preseason lottery, 225 permits are available for each day. The application period for this lottery is from March 1 through March 31 (eastern time). Applicants will receive an email with lottery results in mid-April (or can get results online or by calling Recreation.gov). We are planning on the Half Dome cables being up May 22, 2015 through October 13, 2015, but these dates could change based on conditions.Update: The Half Dome cables will be installed and available for use beginning on May 2. All 225 day hiking permits will be available via the daily lottery, as described below.

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Can you see that little RED DOT in the center of this photograph?  That is me, sitting on a ledge at the summit of Half Dome. It was a bit lonely out there! The word, 'awesome' is often overused - I am pretty sure it applied last Thursday, only five days ago,  around noon when I was soaking in the vastness of Yosemite.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~    Tuesday MENU breakfast      Multigrain Rice Cakes, Chocolate Granola Bar  495 calories lunch            two large apples, center cut bacon 6 slices         400 calories dinner          Manhattan Clam Chowder, Oat+Honey bars       620 calories SNACK       Multigrain Rice Cakes, gala apple                       440 calories TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED 1955 CALORIES                                                               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  CALORIES BURNED MapMyWalk 1 hour, 2 minute walk 5 MILES                          1052 CALORIES Tuesday net calories 903 calories ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   fitbit day 34 17374 steps ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Each time I take a 'workout walk' outside... I like to snap at least a photo or two of something that I see that is interesting.... Today, It was the giant carved pumpkin at the Lincoln Park Zoo ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  GREEN DOT - STARTING POINT RED DOT - ENDING POINT

HALF DOME CABLES

Today I need to talk about the cables at Half Dome.  The cables allow the hikers to ascend the final 425 feet to the top of Half Dome. This last part of the hike makes the first 4312 feet of ascension seem like a piece of cake by comparison. Rick Deutsch, author of "ONE BEST HIKE: YOSEMITE'S HALF DOME" has the same sense of humor as my brother when it comes to minimizing just how harrowing that final ascent is:

...the Half Dome hike becomes an extremely strenuous one.  Included is a harrowing 425 foot vertical climb up the approximately 45-degree incline on the back side of the granite slope.  Not to worry; this is accomplished with the aid of two steel cable handrails.

Not to worry...Two steel cable handrails?  Really? This makes it sound like one is holding onto a bannister while walking up a staircase. It is not quite that way. In discussing this hike with my brother two days later, we were trying to remember how many sets of poles we had traversed in order to get to the top.  I found my answer in Deutsch's book

Each of the two cables is actually assembled in thirds, with each run anchored to the granite rock.  The cables are held upright by 68 pairs of 3-foot pipes placed into 5-inch holes drilled into the rock.  To allow a hiker to stand vertical, 2-by-4-foot boards are loosely fastened to the pipes.

Although Yosemite National Park is open year-round, the trail to the top of Half Dome is not.  Again, I return to Deutch's book.

The pipes and boards are put in place by the NPS (National Park Service) trail crew every late May (weather permitting) and removed in early October (usually after Columbus Day).  It takes about 20 skilled people to carefully handle the pipes and boards.  They are secreted away in the off-season.  The cables themselves remain on the mountain year-round.  Although not prohibited, it is not advised to ascend Half Dome during the off-season unless you are a skilled big-wall climber.  It is very dangerous to use only the cables to rappel up and down. 

As I re-examine the passages of this book that speak of the cables - I discover that the author of "ONE BEST HIKE: YOSEMITE'S HALF DOME" is a master of understatement.  That he wrote that it is not advised to ascend Half Dome during the off-season is unintentionally funny.  As far as I am concerned that would be the equivalent of saying: It is not advisable to jump out of an airplane without a parachute! Both statements clearly good advice, and both statements seemingly unnecessary!  Just one man's opinion.

About 6 miles into the hike up the mountain, I was asked by my brother if I would consider making this same hike again.  At this point along the trail, I had not seen the final ascent other than pictures on the internet.  I emphatically replied that I would definitely do this again.  Shortly after making the final ascent and managing the cables back down to the sub-dome, I quickly amended my previous statement.   No, I would not be interested in making this hike again.  I would like to now amend this statement one time more.  I would make this hike again.

I realized that the biggest obstacle to climbing the cables and overcoming the 45-degree slope to the top of Half Dome was my increasing worry with every advancing step that I was going to have to figure out a way to get down.  As it turned out, navigating the cables down was much easier.  It did not require great strength.  Compared to the trip up, it was no problem.  This is not to say that it was simple, just that it was much easier.  Certainly the result of slipping would have been catastrophic, but one is not battling gravity in quite the same way on the way down.  And that makes a world of difference!

According to the Rick Deutsch book, more than 40,000 people attempt the Half Dome hike each year and most are successful.  This seems like a counter-intuitive statement at first.  If one takes into account the planning needed to secure a permit, and preparing for the hike by bringing the proper equipment, food and water after completing the proper physical training - I can see why a group drawn from this set of people would be successful.  There are no requirements set by the National Park Service restricting anyone based on age, size or strength.  THERE ARE MORE RESTRICTIONS FOR RIDES AT DISNEYLAND THAN THERE ARE AT HALF DOME.  At Half Dome there are NO restrictions.  Although no official records are kept, it appears that the common lowest age of successful hikers up Half Dome are as young as 10 years old.  Rick Deutsch claims to know people over the age of 80 who have made the ascent.  I made my ascent 42 days before my 58th birthday.  I can IMAGINE having the physical strength to do this again for a few more years - although I am guessing that that window will be shutting down before too long. That particular biological clock is ticking away inside of me...

The last tidbit of information that I want to share today is the length of the final ascent. As mentioned, the elevation of this ascent is 425 feet.  Rick Deutsch in his book uses the Pythagorean Theorem to divine the actual distance a hiker has to travel the cables.  He assumes a 45-degree angle (which might even be understated) and estimates the distance at a bit over 600 feet.  Climbing up that mountain that final 600 feet of an 8.2 mile hike from the trail head was the hardest 600 feet I have travelled in my life.  And absolutely worth it!  Getting down again also had it own rewards!

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On the way down from the summit of Half Dome I managed a selfie. In the photo my left hand is holding onto the cable and you can see the a part of the cable on my right.  As I remember it, I was about  2/3 down when I thought it was selfie time.

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 Saturday MENU

breakfast  oatmeal, bacon, three poached eggs                                550 calories
lunch        three KIND bars: Almond & Coconut                            570 calories
dinner       Homemade Chili, red delicious apple                             968 calories
SNACK   three Keebler fudge cookies                                            255 calories

TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED 2343 CALORIES

Two days after the Half Dome hike soreness kicked in, big time.  I felt a tightness in my thighs that made it difficult to climb up or down even one flight of stairs.  This did not prevent me from taking a 90 minute power-walk on the Chicago lakefront while my daughter was attending an enrichment class in preparation for a high school placement test.

MapMyWalk 6.74 miles  (14104 steps)  90 minutes                 1287 calories

CALORIES BURNED 1287 CALORIES

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Saturday net calories 1056 calories

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fitbit day 31

20926 steps
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final thought for the day:
According to the sign at the trail head, the trail to the summit is 8.2 miles.  According to Rick Deutsch, the cables portion of the trail is approximately 600 feet.  Those cables are the most talked about part of this trail.  Mathematically, they represent a tiny fraction of the distance: 

Total trail length=5280 ft/mile x 8.2 miles=43296 feet

600ft divided by 43296 feet=1.3%.

That last 1% of the Half Dome Trail is a portion of the trail that one will never forget.  I know I won't.
   

HALF-DOME YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

Half Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, California.  It is Yosemite's most well-known rock.  The granite crest rises more than 4,737 feet above the valley floor.  And I tell you this, because my once-in-a-life experience will be taking place this October when I am part of an expedition of five guys who are going to its summit.

Half Home Yosemite National Park

My brother Andy has been trying to organize a trip with a small group of climbers for the past three years.   Two years ago his trip was scuttled during the United States Government partial shut-down.  Last year, again, the trip was scuttled when the park was closed due to huge wild fires in the Park.  Apparently, it was God's plan that I be invited and included in this expedition.  God was just waiting for me to lose 90 pounds so that I could be invited and would agree to participate.

The trip is scheduled for Thursday, October 1 in nearly six months time.  I think I have time to train and get myself physically and mentally prepared for this challenge.  The hike immediately becomes another one of my 'life-long dreams.'  (although this dream began less than 48 hours ago)

from http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/halfdome.htm

Rising nearly 5,000 feet above Yosemite Valley and 8,800 feet above sea level, Half Dome is a Yosemite icon and a great challenge to many hikers. Despite an 1865 report declaring that it was "perfectly inaccessible, being probably the only one of the prominent points about the Yosemite which never has been, and never will be, trodden by human foot," George Anderson reached the summit in 1875, in the process laying the predecessor to today's cable route.

I will definitely be required and enjoy becoming even more focused on my wellness, diet and fitness training in the upcoming months.   This is going to be exciting.

The countdown to Half Dome begins now...
...165 days to go!

SATURDAY MENU

breakfast  two eggs, two slices turkey bacon, oatmeal, prune                                        355 calories
lunch        CABBAGE SOUP, spinach salad w/tomato, Salmon Burger                        243 calories
dinner       BLACK ANGUS SIRLOIN 4oz, spinach, 9 cherry tomato, Cabbage Soup 378 calories

total calories consumed 976 CALORIES

CALORIES BURNED
6PM elliptical 42 minutes 483 CALORIES

SATURDAY NET CALORIES 493 CALORIES