|
| | | |
| |
|
| Hiking | 16.00 Miles |
1,400 AEG |
| | Hiking | 16.00 Miles | 7 Hrs 25 Mns | | 2.16 mph |
| 1,400 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Triplog 7 22 2012
5am departure Saturday morning... drove down the hill in the dark with a huge load of cordwood cut the evening before. I unloaded the wood, attended to a few in town errands, then headed back up the mountain. At 9am I stopped off for a short hike on the Switchback trail, meeting up with the local Rails to Trails group for some maintenance work on the Switchback... it was an easy few hours clearing dirt and rocks out of the gazebo area and cinder debris from an old wooden culvert. From there... on up to the mountain top...Sunday was to be the longer hike of the week.
It was not an early start Sunday morning... just did not feel all that great, but, up at 6:55am... walking out for the trail by 7:05am. It was clear and nice... partly cloudy. The day looked to have potential.
I'm camped at 9400'... so for the most part the early parts of the day would be mostly downhill. I headed cross country off trail to connect up with the old Upper Wills Canyon trail. The guide book shows the trail to be there; it is not... has not been there for ten years. The official route now tops out at Forest Road 64 instead of over in Hubbell Canyon, but if you know where to look, it makes for a nicer access to walk the old route. ATV campers dominate the trailheads along FR 64... It is nicer to miss out on those gatherings to kick off the day.
I hit the old trail... followed it down and into the official trail and wound down and around to the end of Upper Wills, intersecting Wills Canyon Trail about a mile below it's upper end. At this point, Wills Canyon Trail moving down and around follows the railroad grade... the same grade that winds up and over into Hubbell Canyon. The upper end of Wills Canyon tracks up a side drainage on the north side of Wills Canyon finally reaching the ridge top at the same junction point of the old logging road 6411, and Willie White trail (113) heading either down Telephone Canyon... or Willie White Canyon. I'd hiked that portion a few weeks ago... today would be an exploration down and around towards the bottom of Willie White Canyon.
This is a very nice hike. The old railway bed makes for a soft grade to climb or descend, and the old remains of the railroad provide inspirations for reflections back to a very interesting time... passing the reversing hairpin switchback put my thoughts right into the moment where the train whistles would have signaled the last car clearing the switch rail... the ground man throwing the switch track... the train clanging connections as it rolled back down, then up the reversed grade.
I paused at the rotting wreck of an old trestle spanning one of the side drainages... munched down a banana and energy drink... wondered why I'd not sited a single animal all day...? Might have been the earbuds... I was listening to Texas Swing for the first three hours of the day!
I looped around to Willie White Canyon, caught the Willie White Trail for the beginning of the climb back up to the top. Old rusting rails piled to the side of the grade were the final reminder of the train activity... most of Willie White was not graded out for trains... probably more tractor and drag line activity serviced the logging for this steeper canyon.
At the top, I thought about cutting down July canyon... a hidden route descending to Upper Wills Canyon and providing a connecting access to 6th Gate Canyon road... but the weather was closing in. I decided to keep it easier with no unnecessary looping descents. I headed off up the old logging road 6411... Pausing only long enough to drag a log across the road bed. ATV users are prohibited from using this route, but it is so nice, they continually violate the restriction... I work at blocking off the illegal access, at least making them take a moment to have to clear the route, ideally giving them a subtle reminder to stay out...?
The rain started as I was dragging the log... out came the umbrella. I walked in a soft but steady rain for the next hour. It was interesting to walk and take notice of the additional side routes I'd discovered over the last few weeks... off trail drainage cuts that would allow easy access between this high ridge road, and the lower valley routes to the south. As I wound higher, I could gaze down into Brown Canyon to the north... remembering yet more off trail routes I'd enjoyed. This set of weeks camped up off of Forest Road 64 has been an impressive series of discovery hikes. I think there are probably four or five more areas to explore, then I can reset camp further along FR 64... And begin to explore the High Valley section of hikes. I don't expect that they will be as impressive as the High Ridge section has been... but... who knows!
With today's 7+ hour effort I think I am finally back in good enough shape to plan out some real training (pretty bad when I have to train for six weeks to get in good enough shape to be able to begin to lay base miles!)
I've plotted out a 12 week program for base cardio training... using heart rate monitoring to control the effort.{113/124}{120/130}{126/139} It is in three progressive levels of 4 weeks each... after that I meet Susan mid October to hike Wheeler Peak.
Next, if all goes well, I'll do a second series: 12 weeks of slightly higher level cardio training... in the mid range that has the most profound impact on endurance level training. {125/130}{130/135}{140/146} ... that should get me ready to finally drift back to Tucson to score a x4 on Finger Rock Trail...
That should also get me up to the level wherein I can then do a final 12+/- weeks of upper level training...{125/130}{140/146}{147/152}{153/165} refined efforts that will include some enhanced hikes that ideally will allow me to take a shot at breaking my single day records... just in time for my 64th birthday in March! Either 7 or 8 loops on Guadalupe Peak over in Texas?
The 12 weeks will each have four cardio workouts: 2 hour, 3 hour, 4 hour and a progressive day: hour added each week, 6 hour...taking it up to 18 hour day at the end of the 12 weeks.
36 weeks of careful efforts... lots could go wrong... but, it should be fun to give it a try.
Interesting that the use of the heart rate monitor (which I used back in 2008/2009 to set my current records) is not to make sure that I work hard enough... but instead is used for the most part to make sure I do not work too hard on any given workout... the idea is to do the right workout each time I head out the door.
Then again... I might just be getting too old for this over the top nonsense.
Not a single animal sited all day!!!! |
| _____________________
| Ageless Mind... Timeless Body... No Way! Use It and Lose It. Just the way it is... |
| | |
|
|
|
Route Editor
Route Scout
