Mission Peak Twice - Twice

Today Duane and I woke up at the absolutely un-Godly hour of 3:20 am. We quickly showered, dressed and ate breakfast. We drank water on the drive to the Stanford Avenue trailhead to Mission Peak. We planned to start our hike at 4:45 am from the steeper Stanford Avenue side in order to avoid hiking up this portion in the hottest part of the day when we would most assuredly be tired.

This morning's climb up Stanford Avenue was certainly easier than last week's, when we did this in full sun, at approximately 85 degrees, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. We made it to the top by about 6:45 am, and saw the sunrise on the way up. It was quite beautiful watching the long shadows shorten, and the beautiful pinks and oranges disappear as the sun rose higher in the sky.

Our fellow hikers, mentor Deb and Brian, are some of the fastest hikers in the group. Deb is planning to summit Half Dome on the same day we are, though not with the Team in Training group. Brian is also preparing for Half Dome, but is juggling his time commitments because his wife is preparing to have a transplant to treat her blood cancer.

Just about all of this hike was easier than last week and I found myself enjoying it far more than the previous week. I enjoyed the wildflowers as well as the gopher snake that we saw near the summit.

On the final stretch of the hike, Duane's knee began to hurt. Downhill is always more difficult - and more stressful on the knees - than uphill. Duane got worried and decided to wait for me at that parking lot. He didn't want to risk making his knee worse.

We made it back down to the parking lot at Ohlone College at about 8:00 am. By that time, it was beginning to get hot again. I quickly changed my socks, ate half a sandwich, and made sure that my hydration pack had full water, before setting out again. One of my amateur radio friends met us at the Ohlone College parking lot and went up with me. Since my car was at the Stanford Avenue parking lot, I figured I would drive him back to his car and pick up Duane.

As it turned out, we left a bit later than we planned. My friend was on call at work starting at 10:00 am and needed to be near a computer. We didn't quite make it to the top before needing to turn back because of time. Truth be told, however, I was pretty tired. I had carried my heaviest pack of the season. My hydration pack held the full three liters, and I was carrying 4 bottles of G2, two more bottles of water, five granola bars, electrolyte gels, some trail mix and a sandwich. I just started to run out of gas around mile nine.

This surprised me because I had done it twice the week before (except for the very top), and discouraged me. I began to wonder if my choice of electrolyte and sandwich were really the best idea. This also caused me to think about how often I was eating and drinking electrolyte along the trail. Should I be doing something different to get more energy into my body and faster than I already was? Something to think about over the next week. I will make some adjustments on future hikes and see how they work.

The good news is that my new, fourth pair of boots are working quite well. I had a twinge of pain in one toe on the way down, but it wasn't lasting. This may be because I lost part of the toenail on last week's hike because I forgot to clip it the night before. I won't forget to do that again.

We had a good rest after today's hike and had a much deserved date night. We dropped our son off at a play date and we went out for dinner and a movie.