Yosemite: Snow Creek Falls Hike

One of the few drawbacks about Yosemite National Park is that if you happen to like sleeping in a bed at night, you need to plan a trip very far ahead of time.

You have to make reservations for Yosemite Lodge almost a year ahead of time for any reasonable chance of scoring a room, so planning a hiking trip in the springtime - Yosemite’s most beautiful but most unpredictable time of year – is something of a dice roll when it comes to weather conditions. And when you’ve scheduled a date nearly ten months out, you’re pretty committed to seeing it through – even if spring snowfall totals approach record levels, or air temperatures are 25 to 30 degrees below average, or the forecast calls for another day of snow flurries. Or, in the situation we experienced last week, even if all three of those conditions apply.

Another notable, and far more distressing, drawback of Yosemite is that people die there. Lots and lots of people, in fact – more than 900 since the park’s inception. I happened to be acutely aware of this, because for three weeks prior to our trip I tore through Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite, an exhaustively researched, morbidly fascinating account of every known traumatic fatality within the park borders, written by two longtime Search and Rescue dudes. The appeal of the book – aside from the morbid fascination thing – is its reinforcement of what NOT to do when you’re cavorting in the wilderness. If you spend lots of time in the wild, the book should be required precautionary reading. If you’re interested in learning about the crazy things some (overwhelmingly male, naturally) people do to get themselves killed, it’s really an outstanding collection of tales.

But if you’re too busy to check it out, I’ll help you out a bit. The main theme of Off The Wall can be effectively condensed to a couple of fairly simple rules: 1) Follow the rules, and 2) Don’t be an idiot. Use common sense, and don’t overestimate your abilities just to stoke your ego. Coincidentally, we’ll file that little lesson away for later in the report on the hike my wife and I took in the Snow Creek Falls area. For now, we’ll get started with the photos:


Our hike began from the Tenaya Creek Bridge on the far eastern side of the valley floor. All week long, rain and snow showers had been forecast for this day – so when the morning broke with merely near-freezing temperatures but no precipitation, we decided to go for it. We weren’t sure whether this would be a 30-minute hike or an eight-hour day; we just knew we wanted to give it a try.


The first mile of the trail is actually a gently graded asphalt path that winds past Mirror Lake. During this trip, we learned that the name of the area is officially called Mirror Meadow now, for reasons that are more evident from above.


After the first mile, the trail assumes the signature Yosemite Valley mixture of dirt and granite, with large rock slide areas on one side …


… and the looming presence of Half Dome on the other.


About 2 miles in lies the trail junction for Snow Creek Falls trail, which is also the route to North Dome and Indian Rock. The Falls are about 1.8 miles from this point, most of which is straight uphill.


Snow Creek is perhaps the steepest route in and out of the valley, with several very tall switchbacks to help offset the morning chill.


Along the way, you cris-cross a handful of mini-waterfalls bursting from the overhanging rocks. In another park, a waterslide this large would at least be given a name; in Yosemite, it’s considered a seasonal runoff channel - one of perhaps thousands.


Gaining elevation quickly, we enjoyed some nice views down into Tenaya Canyon …


… and the series of Quarter Domes on the other side …


… as well as a cool angle of the top of Half Dome. That sharp upturn is where the cables run, and the little notch is the famous diving board. (Photo links from this report).


If you click to enlarge this shot, you’ll see a pair of waterfalls on Tenaya Creek (at lower right) in the floor of the Valley below. Even with our remote distance, the sound of these waterfalls was clearly audible for most of our ascent. Meanwhile, we were getting closer to …


… this thing, which was looking more and more like a real waterfall the nearer we got to it. It was also making the trail somewhat treacherous in places …


… as cold granite tends to get pretty slick with an ankle-deep sheet of snowmelt running over it. Trust me on this one.


Above 5500’ or so, the entire face of this rock was covered with runoff, and we were beginning to get hit from above by snow falling off of overhead tree cover. It was around this time that I optimistically remarked how lucky we were not to see snow on the trail.


Around 5600’, we saw it.


I found the view from the end of this switchback particularly arresting: water streaming over the granite ledge to the right, Half Dome still imposing on the left, and the steepness of the canyon we were climbing out of plainly visible on both sides.

Also, see those white clouds rolling in to the right? …


… They became more and more prominent, as we gradually lost our killer views across the valley …


… and quickly lost our trail underfoot. The trail we were following was about 6 to 10” below what you see here, but we were plucky, and decided to soldier on for another 500’ or so of vertical gain.


It wasn’t much longer before whiteout conditions found us: we couldn’t see the sky, couldn’t see the trail …


… and had completely lost our view across the canyon. And suddenly we weren’t so warm anymore.

Also, remember that book I mentioned earlier? Its chapters are (again, somewhat morbidly) divided into mechanisms of death: waterfalls, drownings, rock climbing (a very big chapter, by the way), BASE jumping, etc. I mention that because it was right around here that my wife and I started having the following conversation:

Wife: So if we die out here, would we make the book in the “Hiking Off Trail” section, or somewhere else?

Me: Nah … there’s a whole chapter on “Snow”, and another on “Getting Lost”; I think we’d be in one of those.

See, here’s the thing: when you’re having conversations about how your impending death might be classified, that’s probably a good indication that it’s time to turn around. Recall rule #2 – don’t be an idiot – that I mentioned above. And since the terrain ahead looked like this:


… and snow flurries were starting to fall on us, turning around seemed like a very good idea.

(However, to demonstrate that I can’t completely abandon my foolishness, we continued upward far enough to go from 6990’ on my GPS to an even 7000’. To her credit, my wife didn’t punch me when I proposed this.)


Aside from watching our step on a very slippery downhill slope, backtracking our route was fairly easy: all we had to do was follow the two lonely sets of footprints in the snow that we made on our way uphill.


Here’s another example of how I married the right girl: about 10 minutes down the hill, trying to escape a possible snowstorm, I said “Hey, wait! I need to get some pictures of the gear I’m wearing for a blog review!” and only received a mild eye roll before she agreed.


Curiously, once we descended below the cloud bank, the snow flurries seemed to cease as well; it was like the snow was completely self-contained in the overhead clouds, and couldn’t be bothered to fall all the way to the valley floor below. Not that we were complaining.

(This is also a great shot of why it’s called Mirror Meadow now; the whole area is more of a marshy pool than an actual lake. Credit Yosemite for being ecologically correct.)


At the base of the trail, we were kind of bummed that we couldn’t reach the summit of the climb, so we cruised around the valley floor for a bit – first, to this footbridge further up Tenaya Creek …


… and later on the trail that skirts the north edge of the valley towards Yosemite Lodge. The trail is full of massive rock slides and improbable boulder formations …


… such as this one that forms a natural cave, with a pine tree somehow growing straight out of the granite roof. Whenever I walk around Yosemite, I get the feeling that God just decided to show off a little bit when creating this place.


Eventually we made it back to Yosemite Falls, and then to the Lodge after about 10 miles of hiking. Our discouragement from not reaching the goal of Snow Creek Falls was quickly remedied by a heated room, hot shower, and a quick nap before dinnertime.

While it may be hard to predict exactly what you’ll encounter in Yosemite on any given day, it’s fair to say that any part of this park you explore will leave you impressed and amazed. Perhaps we’ll see Snow Creek Falls another day, or maybe we’ll keep discovering new hikes to occupy our days here. The only thing I know for certain is that I’m looking forward to finding out.

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Scenes From a Marathon, 2010

This is one of those weeks where I’ve got about twice as many things to report than I have days to write about them – so it’s likely that one of two things will happen: 1) The posts will come fast and furious for the next several days, or 2) I’ll have an acute carpal tunnel seizure somewhere around my third race or hike report that sidelines me for 6-8 weeks without splinting and/or high doses of anti-inflammatories. Honestly, I have no way which way it will play out.

We’ll get the week started with an insider’s recap of this morning’s Big Sur International Marathon that will appear in Monday’s Monterey Herald. Since I didn’t run the marathon myself (I was in the 5K with my daughter, one of the impending race reports on my docket), much of this information comes from my journalistic partner in crime Mike, who was also one of the Boston to Big Sur runners mentioned below.

I should also say that there’s really no way to spend a weekend around the Big Sur Marathon events without getting completely jazzed on the race; even though it’s not in my foreseeable plans, a large part of me is definitely chomping at the bit to race Big Sur again in 2011. Never say never, I guess.

**

Running Life 4/26/10 “Scenes From a Marathon, 2010”


With Big Sur’s 25th Anniversary in the books, we’re sharing a final handful of observations from another wonderful BSIM weekend …

Hometown Victory!

Even though it started as a small hometown event, the Big Sur Marathon never saw a local runner win the overall men’s title – at least, not until the 25th presentation. Big congratulations to Danny Tapia of Salinas, a recent Hartnell College runner coached by Chris Zepeda. Even more impressive is that this was Danny’s first marathon; it’s possible that we’ve got a legend in the making for future editions of the race.

Coach Zepeda tried making arrangements on Saturday afternoon for Danny to ride the elite bus, a privilege that top contenders in the race are offered by the race committee. Unfortunately, the van was already full, so Danny got up early to catch the Carmel Middle School buses with the “regular” schmoes, before taking off like crazy at the starting gun. He built a big lead after 5 miles, and never looked back en route to a 90-second victory. Next year, we’re guessing he’ll be on the elite bus.

Fast Ladies of Pacific Grove

Note that we said Danny was the first local men’s winner; on the women’s side, the Big Sur Marathon has had 3 local champions: Patty Selbicky in 1987, Nelly Wright in 1988, and legendary ultrarunner Ann Trason in 1989. Interestingly, all of these women were from Pacific Grove, the same town where 2008 Olympic marathoner Blake Russell currently resides. The lesson, perhaps: if you’re a speedy girl looking to win the Big Sur Marathon, you should definitely consider moving to PG.

Blake was at this year’s event as a spectator greeting runners after the race. She has recently returned to competitive running after having a baby a year ago, so if you ever see her on the start line at Big Sur, the smart money will be on her to win big.

Smiling Happy Little People

The JUST RUN Kids’ 3K was held in Pacific Grove for the first time on Saturday and had a record number of participants. About 3,000 kids and parents ran on a beautiful out and back course from Lovers Point. 33 schools participated, and smiling faces were everywhere. Hopefully these are the marathoners of tomorrow.

Boston to Big Sur Forever!

The Boston to Big Sur Challenge was a huge success, with fantastic feedback from everybody who participated. We’re happy to report that the challenge will be continued indefinitely in years to come. Like this year, the races will probably sell out early; mark your calendars now for the July 15th online entry date for Big Sur’s 26th presentation on May 1, 2011.

Where We Shamelessly Take a Portion of Undue Credit

A special shout-out goes to our running partner Carmella Cuva, for completing the Boston to Big Sur Challenge, for winning the top local female award at Big Sur, and for characteristically smiling her way through both races. We’ve run more miles than we can count with Carmella, so we like to think that some of those mornings together contributed to her amazingly successful week of racing.

By the Numbers

This year’s race saw 12,000 participants in the various events, with 2,800 volunteers helping them. 365 Porta Potties were picked up. 350 gallons of coffee were consumed, along with 85,000 cups of Gatorade on Highway 1. Post race, 25 kegs of beer vanished, as well as 2400 bagels, 72 gallons of soup, and 100 cases of bananas. The numbers keep getting bigger, and the race keeps getting better.

See you next year.

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Snow Day

I typically have a hard time admitting when Mother Nature has the upper hand, or conceding defeat to natural conditions. But sometimes, the decision is fairly clear:


Nevertheless, it was a bit frustrating when the hike that was on our Yosemite agenda today was cut far shorter than expected; details to follow in a report next week. In the meantime, I can still say with certainty that a rough day in Yosemite is still a lot better than a good day almost anywhere else.

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Princeton Tec Remix Headlamp Review

Princeton Tec is an equal-opportunity illuminator: for more than three decades, they’ve produced a huge variety of lighting systems for cycling, SCUBA, climbing and camping, as well as industrial and military applications. Or, according to their website: We've consulted great athletes, scaled mountains, traversed the poles, touched the ocean floors and rolled two wheels on every continent. By comparison, your routine morning trail run shouldn’t pose that much of a challenge, right?


Despite all this, the company lacked what I consider an essential accessory for early morning trail outings: a compact lamp that’s light enough to wear for hours, bright enough to take on single track trails in the dark, and small enough to fit in your pocket. It’s the category where Black Diamond’s Spot and Petzl’s Tikka XP2 really (pardon the pun) shine, and Princeton Tec lagged behind with the Fuel lamp, which fell short of the brightness and battery life of its competitors.

The Remix is an enormous step forward in both those regards, and makes Princeton Tec a legitimate player in the compact lamp category. Basically, they’ve taken the 3-LED Fuel design and supercharged it with an additional Maxbright LED bulb and extended battery life, while keeping the dimensions the same and adding only a fraction of increased weight.

Princeton Tec Remix

Additionally, the Remix offers some unique features that aren’t typically seen in compact trail headlamps. Its water-resistant casing has a single-arm bracket, which allows rotation through an expansive 120-degree range of motion. The 5mm LED bulbs are white on the standard Remix, but available in red (for night vision) or green (for reading topo maps) versions with the Remix Pro. The 3 AAA battery compartment is very easily accessed by a built-in opening tool on the headband.

Power output for the Maxbright bulb is quite impressive at 70 lumens, and each bulb type has a high and low setting. On high, the Maxbright bulb shoots 45m with a burn time of 28 hours, while the 5mm LEDs have a range of 30m for 61 hours. Functionally, the 5mm LEDs serve as a flood mode, while the Maxbright is more of a spot application. Extended battery life is up to 200 hours with the 5mm LEDs on the low setting. The Remix is compatible with rechargeable batteries as well as standard alkalines.


Three 5mm LEDs; 1Maxbright LED, single on/off button on top

Above the casing is a single large button that is used for on/off and for switching from the 5mm LEDs to the Maxbright. The button is large enough to be used with gloves, but I found it a little overly sensitive to mild pressure, as it accidentally turned on in my pocket a couple of times after I had stowed it away for the morning. One of these times, I didn’t notice until much later, unknowingly draining my battery life while I was oblivious.

Those episodes also highlighted (another pun – sorry about that) one other drawback to the Remix, in that there’s no battery life indicator to tell you when you’re running low. There’s also no strobe function, but for trail running applications that’s pretty much a non-factor.

Overall weight of the Remix is 83g (2.9 oz), and the sleek design sits very comfortably on my forehead even for a couple of hours. Its MSRP is officially $40, although both the company website (link above) and Amazon.com list it at $45. Either way, it's a fairly affordable option for a convenient and compact headlamp.

But how does it compare to the other compact lamps I’ve reviewed? I’ve got that taken care of for you as well. Click here for my comparison review of the Tikka XP2 and the Black Diamond Spot, and compare the specs with this review.


*Product provided by Princeton Tec
**See other product reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com

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Mess of Mii

“I've made a mess of me, I wanna get back the rest of me –
I've made a mess of me, I wanna spend the rest of my life alive.”
- Switchfoot, “Mess of Me” (video after post)

*
My wife and I both exercise consistently; unfortunately, only one of us seems to be getting any benefit out of it. At least, that’s the conclusion our video game system presented us with earlier this month.

If you don’t believe me, perhaps a visual representation is in order. This, according to our new Wii Fitness program, is me - or, in proper Nintendo parlance, my Mii:


I’d be the pudgy guy in the corner stretching out the belly of his blue sweatshirt. Prior to receiving our balance board, I created a Mii with my facial features, which was then attached to a body shape of my choosing. I made mine somewhat tall and slightly lean, keeping with how various people have described me over the years.

At least, I thought I was super …

However, when you order the balance board and fitness program, you enter your height, and the board measures your weight to calculate your BMI. Then it displays what the board “feels” you must look like. And if you're me, you look like this:


Let me ask you: does that look like a guy who’s ready to run an ultra in a few weeks? It looks more like a dude on the Blue Team waiting to meet Bob and Jillian at the Biggest Loser ranch.

More insults were quick to follow; my BMI rating came out as borderline overweight, and my “fitness age”, determined by BMI and my performance on some rudimentary balance challenges, was 49.

I’m, um … not 49. Barely within a decade of it, actually. But apparently all that swimming and biking and lots and LOTS of running in my past have only served to hasten my demise. I suppose it’s likely that my chocolate chip cookie addiction hasn’t helped my situation either. Somehow over all these years, I’ve managed to make a nice mess of myself.

On the other hand, consider my lovely wife, who in real life - as if that matters - was born just a few months apart from me (and no, I’m not saying who’s older). This is her Mii:

Very easy on the eyes, wouldn’t you say? Slim and curvy, and rockin' a snug green t-shirt. She runs a few days per week, and does a variety of workout videos on the days she doesn’t run. It must keep her in great all-around shape, because …


… even from the back, her Mii has got it goin' on. Given how out of my league she is, I sometimes suspect that her Mii might be looking around Wii Plaza for an upgrade to her virtual spouse in this picture. A guy can only wonder.


Whatever she’s doing fitness wise, it seems to working, because her Mii is perfectly lovely. Not only that, she’s much healthier than me; her BMI is smack in the middle of the “healthy weight” range, and her fitness age is – get this – 33. On the plus side, all this means that in Wii Fitness terms, I’m hooking up with a girl who is 16 years younger than I am. Go me! Or rather, go Mii!

Predictably, my kids now enjoy perpetuating my Mii persona as a tubby slob who struggles just to get a high score in Tilt City. Perhaps the ultimate indignity was voiced by my 6-year-old this week as I was about to eat a cookie: “Dad! Don’t eat that! Your Mii will get fatter!!” And so it goes.

Supposedly the Mii body will morph and adapt and become leaner once I spend some time burning calories on various games, or once it detects that I’ve lost some weight. Time will tell, I guess. Either way – whether it’s the prospect of running a 50-miler next month, or the shallow vanity of squeezing my Mii into a size smaller trousers – one thing is becoming clearer with each passing day: I need to get a little more serious about this training stuff.

*

As for the song, there’s not much explanation to it other than the obvious one, and for being a current favorite of mine.

Switchfoot, “Mess of Me” (click to play):

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Hydrapak Gel-Bot Review

Hydrapak is a relatively small operation compared to the heavyweights in the hydration pack business, but they’ve made some impressive strides towards winning over endurance athletes by making high-performance systems for a wide range of outdoor activities.


They’re also the creators of the Gel-Bot, an innovative bottle that allows you to consume energy gels from the same container as your fluids, without the contents of either compartment getting mixed together. And while the name sounds like something more suited for a Transformers movie, the device itself is a pretty clever combination of design and functionality.



The Gel-Bot integrates a 3.2-oz gel canister (enough for 2 energy gel packets) into the body of either a 20oz or 24oz BPA-free fluid container. A piston below the gel canister creates pressure in the chamber to help push the gel out when called upon. The prep process is quite easy - but just to be sure, Hydrapak has also created a video to show you how to load the gel, which I’ve embedded below this review.



Both nutrients come out of the top spout: if it’s pulled up, the fluid compartment is open, and if it’s in the down position, gel can be squeezed or sucked out of the center nozzle. The biggest advantage of this setup is one-handed access to gels or fluids at anytime, which is perfect for cyclists. (Knowing this, it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that Hydrapak’s roots and primary focus are in the mountain bike community – but they're beginning to diversify a bit, adding some ultrarunners and adventure racers to their roster of sponsored athletes.)

My preference for long runs is to carry unopened gel packs in a pocket of my waist pack – but that’s because I have the luxury of slowing to a walk while opening the things and tucking the wrappers away once I’ve finished. Cruising along on a mountain bike, that’s not really an option – so if you can suck down a couple of gels in the same fashion that you normally take fluids, that’s a major convenience to enjoy, not to mention a sweet competitive advantage.

Since it’s basically two separate nozzles combined into one, the spout has a slightly wider diameter than standard water bottles, but not so much as to be awkward. The gel container and screwtop cap are also compatible with any standard water bottle, so you can use them even if the original fluid container gets trashed. All components of the Gel-Bot are dishwasher safe - which is a good thing, because it’s fairly tricky to wash dried-up gel out of the nozzle by hand.

While this won’t take the place of my “every day, all the time” bottles that I carry in a waist pack - along with gel packs in a side pocket - for runs of 1-2 hours, it might be a good option for trail runners who don’t want to deal with getting their fingers sticky from handling gel packs mid-run. It’s also a great solution for mountain bikers or road cyclists who want a convenient way to take energy gels without sacrificing speed or aero position.

The 24oz Gel-Bot retails for $15 (24oz) from the Hydrapak website, and $13 from Amazon.com.

"Gel-Bot" by Hydrapak (click to play):




*Product provided by Hydrapak
**See other product reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.

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The Devil* Wears Vibrams

(*Or God or possibly an archangel or something; it hasn’t been fully sorted out just yet.)

Here’s how nutty this barefoot and Vibram craze have become: it’s led me to plug TMZ.

A few years ago, this wouldn't have seemed out of the ordinary; large chunks of column space on this blog were regularly devoted to Britney, Beyonce, American Idol reports, and pretty much any significant blip on the pop culture radar. Gradually, and seemingly unbeknownst to me at times, an evolution of sorts took place where the pop culture stuff took a backseat to all sorts of (admittedly, equally nonsensical) other stuff that occupied my attention. In hindsight, I’ve decided to consider that turn of events as “not better or worse, just different.”

(Rest assured, however, my annual Spelling Bee report - see right sidebar - is still alive and kicking, as I’ll hopefully demonstrate later this spring. I’ll pause while you mark your calendars.)

So back to TMZ.

Over the course of a single season, Mark Pellegrino has become a favorite enigma of Lost fans. Depending on which storyline you believe, his Jacob character is either a manifestation of the Creator himself, or perhaps an assistant benevolent holy being responsible for guarding the souls of people searching for redemption. There’s also a possibility that he’s the Devil, attracting those same souls by promising them whatever their heart’s greatest desire might be. Like I said, it hasn’t been fully sorted out yet – but presumably we’ll find out for sure in about 8 more weeks.

Mark Pellegrino as Jacob; photo courtesy ABC

He also happens to be a newly converted Vibram FiveFingers user, which is the rather thin premise for the video embedded below. A TMZ crew ambushed Pellegrino at the airport after returning from Hawaii, and seemed completely fascinated by the far-out crazy things he was wearing on his feet. His reply is perfectly straightforward: “These are, like, the new thing in running shoes.” And the remark of a TMZ staffer is pretty much what you’d expect: “Could you imagine walking in the bathroom in those?”

If you're so inclined, watch it for yourself here (click into website to play):


So … yeah. The whole thing’s neither here or there really – other than perhaps a slight indication that Vibrams, as well as all things barefoot, are starting to get some heightened exposure among mysterious actors and brainless tabloid companies. Also of note is that Pellegrino refers to the FiveFingers as “Zombie Feet”, when any loyal FiveFingers user can tell you they’re really Gorilla Feet. I'm sure someone will point that out to him sometime.

I don't really have anything else to say on this one, so I guess I’ll just leave it at that. And I suddenly remembered why I don’t do as much celebrity gossip anymore.

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