Begin workout progress journal now.
Warmup Routine:
Shoulder front/back stroke with 5lb wt.
Run in place
Flat Bench Dumbell Press:
Four sets to max 75lb. each at 5 reps
Incline Machine Press:
Five sets to max 90lbs each arm at 6 reps
Machine Flys:
15 reps at 110lbs. plus push-ups to failure superset.
Cardio:
30 minutes StairMaster at low-moderate pace.
Two hours into the month of September brought Mike and myself into Desolation Wilderness in South Lake Tahoe. Our mission that we chose to accept was to hike Mount Tallac in a personal race towards the sunrise.
I personally enjoy a night hike. Not being able to make out my surroundings during the dark hours and enjoying their sights and sounds after the sun wakes up is always a treat. You believe you have a grasp of what's around you only to be surprised that nature's voice doesn't exactly translate into its looks. In fact, the effect is pleasing when the silence of the immediate darkness adjacent to your trail reveals an enormous lake when illuminated by daylight.
Mike exercising his true ninja.
We set off from the trailhead a little after 2:00am. Finding the trailhead itself was pretty obvious with all the roadsigns leading you straight to the main trailhead sign. Hiking into Desolation Wilderness requires permits which are conveniently provided at the parking lot and doesn't cost a cent. Do yourself a favor and fill one out. Although we didn't run into any Tahoe rangers, I'm sure karma will run you straight into one of them if you don't take the time to write your fucking name down.
The trail itself is pretty well marked, and if you think you might be lost, the footprints, rocksteps, chopped trees, and flattened bushes will tell you otherwise. With the full moon out that night, parts of the trail were also easily discernible by the lunar light. Our goal to beat the sunrise kept my legs moving despite the heavy load on my back. I had decided to bring my heavy tripod and equally heavy if not heavier camera in an effort to capture a time-lapse sequence of the sun rising over the Lake Tahoe mountains. It would be my first to see a sunrise while sitting on one of Tahoe's summits, and I was dying to make an artsy video about it. Two big bottles of water also accompanied the stash, along with food and my water boiler. Experienced hikers carry a whole lot more than this. I hadn't carried a heavy pack for two years. Thank you, Advil.
Mount Tallac tops out at 9,739 ft. Although it's not considered one of the highest peaks in Lake Tahoe, the 3,250 ft elevation gain makes you feel like it is. In the dark, the hike seems never-ending with no sign of the summit in your sight until the very end when the morning light makes its first appearance. Even when illuminated by the moonlight, the summit silhouette appears miles away, its effect playing mind games as you make your crawl up the dim path. I must have uttered my favorite curse words a record amount on this hike as my pack felt like it was pulling off my back muscles one strand at a time.
Upon arrival at the top, we were greeted with the sun rays beginning to hint at the start of our sunrise show. The summit itself almost resembled a stadium grandstand, and groups of hikers were already situated throughout the granite bleachers, with hiking popcorn on their laps, waiting for the first September light to flood the gorgeous lands of South Lake. As the sun's rays shot beams around Tahoe's peaks, the sun finally rose appropriately above Freel Peak, Tahoe's highest summit, and the grandstand quietly erupted into applause. The chill and bite from the relentless breeze was temporary forgotten as I remained lost and jealous in nature's ability to create such art.
Hello, sun. I saw you last month.
Mike and I enjoyed our bowls of ramen and udon and afterwards decided that the unbearable chill of the morning summit breeze overshadowed our awesome sunrise experience. After packing up the goods, we took a long last look at our surroundings. This had to have been the best view of Lake Tahoe that I had ever experienced in my life. With the clean, crisp morning air and light, the entire lake was in view, and holy shit, it's a big lake. I wanted to imagine myself flushing the lake like a big fuckin' toilet, only to watch it fill up the same way.
There isn't much I can say about the hike down. Well, there are a couple of things. I must have wanted to throw my heavy pack into the nearby lakes a couple of times. This is clearly something I need to start training on if I ever plan on doing hikes like Mt. Rainier or Mt. Kilimanjaro. The other thing?
Whiskey really makes you forget about all of that.
Nature's swimming pool.
Emerald Bay
Click on these links below for more info about Mount Tallac:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tallac
http://www.summitpost.org/mount-tallac/150430
I guess this is my first post about one of the things I love best: Rockclimbing.
Myself traversing a segment of granite at Turtle Rock, Marin County, California. Photo: Scott Fong
Rockclimbing rocks. Okay, if there was a lame way of expressing my love for this sport, that was it. I became obsessed with rockclimbing, specifically bouldering, about three years ago when a couple of coworkers decided to humble this former meathead. Believing that my back workouts at the gym were more than sufficient to propel me up a wall of plastic holds, gravity decided otherwise, and I was left sitting on the crashpads watching lean figures gracefully performing yoga up a climbing route. This was a different type of strong. It presented a unique form of mental and physical control unknown to the brainless meatheads launching 45lb plates in the air at a smelly gym.
Bouldering requires not only strength, but a complicated understanding of anatomical balance and movement. The body's center-of-gravity must be comprehended so as to form the most efficient sequence of moves up the rockwall. Otherwise, energy is wasted on trying to perform useless pull-ups on a route that could easily be done if the entire body was utilized. This knowledge of the body was what I had always dreamed of learning. and also becoming second-nature. It is a form of wholistic strength, one that can be applied to so many things in life. It translates into a desire to perform things efficiently.
It's also fun. The number of friends I have made in the last several years after hanging out at Planet Granite in San Francisco, California is mind-boggling. Many persons of different occuaptions and backgrounds congregating together happening to have the same obsession and the same peaceful, no-drama mentality seems impossible, but seems to exist so effortlessly in the climbing world. There is no intimidation. Every climber wants their fellow climber to succeed and progress in the right direction. Perhaps that's one of the biggest reasons why I'm so drawn to the sport. Positive reinforcement works wonders. Hmmm... If only the rest of the world were able to see it that way.
A portion of the climbing family at Planet Granite, San Francisco, California. Photo: Scott Fong
Many heartfelt apologies.
I'm sorry to those who have clicked on a link elsewhere leading to this blog only to find a box filled with nothing in it. I have switched blogging platforms as you can see and I'm happy, all thanks to a good friend who's name I probably shouldn't mention without permission (long story). Anywho, what's left of my last blog never made it to this new platform, and I have no desire to move all of that shit anyway. Starting fresh is going a good thing, right?
So, the purpose of this blog: a review of the outdoors. No more emo-tumblr'esque posts and useless banter about my nursing career. This will be a review, a perspective, a fuckin' dickhead documentary about anything outdoor related from a brown man with moderate outdoor experience. Several years ago I went from sitting in front of the laptop watching stupid YouTube videos on a daily basis to eating dust, snow, mud, saltwater, granite, and gravel on a near weekly basis. It's been a great ride, and I'm dying to finally share it to the world on a somewhat useful and professional level.
Enjoy it. Learn from it. Spread it all over the place, like Nutella.
