This summer has not been what I hoped it would be, on so many levels. The obvious reason is the rainy weather we’ve been having for two months, but really that’s only a small part what’s been going on for me.
I’m still dealing with weird health issues. They aren’t as bad as they were during the winter, but I still don’t feel right. Work has also been much busier than usual. And finally, my wife gave birth to our second child, a daughter, this spring. Obviously a joyous event, and we are thrilled, but the little one’s had some unexpected rough spots in her first few months, which is super stressful and time-consuming for us as parents.
The net result of all this is that I have done nothing adventurous this summer. I bike to and from work and that’s about it. I did some orienteering events early in the summer, until my back gave out (see: weird health issues, above). My longest hike was up Flattop. Damn, that’s embarrassing. As someone who deals with stress through exercise, its been a tough time for me.
I was finally so desperate to get outside that last week I cashed in some vacation time, simply so I could go for a hike. I wanted to hike all day, but since I haven’t been out at all, I figured I should stick close to home and have a few bail out options. So I left Glen Alps with a loose goal to climb Mt. Williwaw, but my route was undetermined. I ended up going up Little O’Malley and O’Malley peak first, then dropping down to Williwaw Lakes before picking my way up the Williwaw gully. Due to the rain and cold temperatures, the snow in the gully was almost ice. My running shoes couldn’t dig in at all. Luckily I had my ice axe, otherwise I would not have made it up. From the top of Williwaw, I skirted the ridge over towards Koktoya and briefly thought about bagging that one too, but decided not to push it on my first day out. I dropped down to Long Lake, then went up and over the ridge behind Wolverine and back to Glen Alps.
The sun wasn’t out, and it was very windy, but it was a glorious day as far as I was concerned. I was able to sweat out a lot of frustration during those 18 miles and 7500 feet of vertical. I didn’t go fast, but I was encouraged that I felt pretty good even after seven and a half hours. Thank god it’s hard to lose base endurance.
