How are things progressing this year? In keeping with the idea that you are only as good as the numbers you post, I'm up to 61,436' of elevation for the year and a modest 132 miles.
Added August 2019: Looking back 10 years later, I honestly can't think of anything more offensive or unhealthy to say about one's hiking, than the above statement. Thats was my OP in 2009. Hiking should never just be about the stats recorded.
January 31, 2023: Have at it.
Last edited by Jim on Dec 31 2023 8:54 am, edited 16 times in total.
...ideally, you just head out the door and continue to enjoy the area... lots of great canyons, ridges and now, caves to enjoy! At your age you've got decades ahead to play. I'm playing around with aspects of aging, training...exploring the potentials underlying within those aspects. You'll likely do the same 30 years hence... I have no idea what kind of year this will turn out to be, other than one with lots of days out on the trails...
Ageless Mind... Timeless Body... No Way! Use It and Lose It. Just the way it is...
The part of the sentence you chopped off, was in reference to my wishing I had done C2C at the end of 2013. Your answer, in proper context, has nothing to do with the entire statement or about wishing I had done Cactus to Clouds in December. Otherwise, I know what I need to do and how to do it. Which is why I plan to get back out this spring.
I ended up being sick for the better part of the month so far, and consequently I am having my worst March since 2008. Still, if I get just 4,500' I'll be over 12,000' for the month and 50,000' for the year. March has traditionally been a bigger month for me, over the last 2 years, and usually when I got in some good hikes, but in the past a lot of that was in Tucson, too. Either way, I find myself bored with the same local hikes over and over, despite the need to maintain some level of fitness for long interesting hikes. Perhaps, I can find a way to skip the dull maintenance, and just stick to events. Well, that is an idea.
Now, a lot can change and not everything may work out, but some events I hope to do this spring from now to early June, include: Sante Fe Baldy (later period), Lookout Mountain from Three Rivers (middle period), Guadalupe Peak (anytime), Bear Canyon to Hunter Peak and the Bowl, Wind Peak down near Hueco Tanks, Dog Canyon to Sunspot (and back), and probably an Organ mountain summit or two. Not huge numbers, but some interesting hikes. All except for 1, are off the local limestone, too.
I picked up a solid groove the last week and a half of January and then I was without a car for the following month and a half. Time to get back into hike mode, which is going to be a difficult switch to turn on considering it's practically summer already. Too bad I missed what was left of the cooler weather this year.
I feel the other way, that the winter cool season is a fair time (unless snowshoeing a lot) to rest a little and do less hiking, or shorter hikes. The Spring, and the warming weather is the time to ramp up and start doing more. I look forward to hiking more over 6,000' (and being warm) and over 10,000', and 12,000', in general. I miss having easy access to alpine and desert alike, or so it seemed, but that is unique. If I don't get back up on the San Francisco Peaks this year, I want to at least get in a couple of trips to the mountains near Sante Fe. Alpine!
Patrick L wrote:then I was without a car for the following month and a half
That sucks! I feel ya, I was sharing a vehicle with my wife since July until I hit paydirt on a free 2002 VW Bug back in January. A chick car is better than no car, I always say! After my 4 day GC backpacking trip at the start of the month I was hoping to gain momentum, then I took a nail in the knee at work that kind of shut me down for a week and a half. I haven't really found a hiking groove again, but really over the last half year I've had a pretty balanced exercise routine with a pretty good mix of hiking, pickup basketball, and I've also taken up skateboarding again. It "hurts" my stats but actually makes it so that I don't get burned out doing the same neighborhood hikes over and over again. Skateboarding helps with this especially as it gives me something extra when I'm in Phoenix (I tire of the views of never-ending sprawl) or when I'm stuck in Flagstaff all day when I'm "on-call" for tours. As such, I think I'll find that when I do get out to hike, I'll be mostly doing more interesting hikes than simply exercise ones.
With over 150 hikes I can walk to directly from my house, and the opportunity to head out and explore even more I've yet to hike and document, I find the variety to support daily hiking without getting tired of doing the same old route. We have trails that lead out and across the foothills... or connecting up into the pines over 9,000'. There are a variety of hidden riparian routes... lots of cliffs to scale... and, best of all: no other hikers!
Best of all: a nice steep route to a peak for basic training. If it could just hold in the 40's for more months it would be perfect!
Ageless Mind... Timeless Body... No Way! Use It and Lose It. Just the way it is...
Mike, your imagination never ceases to amaze me! 150?! hikes? In walking distance? Really!? How interesting, I didn't know you enjoyed backpacking. I know we don't have 1/10th of your figure, from south of the Beeman Ridge to just south of Alamo Canyon, and over to the west side road, in hikes on trails, but then how many "hikes" are there in the dex that are nothing more than a side destination off of the A trail?
@Jim_H
I was surprised when the list hit that number... now it is beyond 170... and the range is a bit wider: north to Mills Ridge... South past Oro Vista... East to the Rim Trail. I've done them all as day hikes from my house. Those are all individual routes... not counting what could be produced with looping and connecting, which would be a lot more. Some are peak destinations, but not many given our lack of peaks. Some lack appeal; there is no reason to do them unless you just want to have been there (Purgatory Canyon!) but most are good.
Go hike them all... then comment on them.
Next week I begin a series of day hikes that will include ranging out to Sunspot Hiway and beyond... even to Cloudcroft... not sure where that would carry the number.
Ageless Mind... Timeless Body... No Way! Use It and Lose It. Just the way it is...
I wish I could say I was "healthy" but have a few nagging injuries left over from wrestling and a knee that is becoming a bit of a drag..no pun intended..I think I will do a little more "slack packing" in April and try to let the body recover, I think back packing tends to beat up the body a little more..
I don't know I have set any goals for year, but I have found the self-momentum thing to be very cool. I only tracked my hikes towards end of year last year, so I honestly don't think until then I could have ever really given an accurate estimate of how much I hike/back pack in a year...
Prior to HAZ and self-momentum, if someone asked me how much I hiked in a year I would have said, oh about 500 miles...Well I am already at 300 in my first year of logging all miles, so that almost seems silly to me that I thought I only hiked about 500 miles a year..that aside I think it would be cool to log a 1000 miles this year and at least 20 new destinations...so I guess those will be my new unofficial goals, which I am on pace for..sadly I probably logged 500 plus miles in the Supes alone last year..sigh..didn't really get out much..lol
Speaking of Chumley, no more harassment for my 50 plus pic photo-sets, I just crunched the numbers you take and post 2.8 pictures for every 1 mile you hike...Me I post 1.85 pictures for every one mile I hike.. ;)
Lets put it in a story problem, If F.T.G hikes 307 miles and posts 566 pictures but Chumley hikes 160 miles and posts 450 pictures, who really posts more pictures per actual miles covered? please show all work
friendofThundergod wrote:If F.T.G hikes 307 miles and posts 566 pictures but Chumley hikes 160 miles and posts 450 pictures, who really posts more pictures per actual miles covered?
I've done the math: the correct answer is Tibber.
I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.
In walking distance? Really!? How interesting, I didn't know you enjoyed backpacking. I know we don't have 1/10th of your figure, from south of the Beeman Ridge to just south of Alamo Canyon, and over to the west side road, in hikes on trails, but then how many "hikes" are there in the dex that are nothing more than a side destination off of the A trail?
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