Heading for the Mountain

It is almost here.... the BIG Climb!

I leave this Friday, June 19th, to fly out to San Francisco where I'll meet Victoria, the other girl from Virginia! We'll then rent a car and drive up to Shasta to take snow school Saturday morning.

I've tried to start packing ... lots of gear to figure out how to pack so I can carry on my backpack and check a small suitcase. I'll also be staying out in CA for a week so I gotta pack tight!

Here are the snacks that will sustain me up the mountain... some turkey jerky, trail mix, a variety or CLIF and Powerbars, electrolyte mix, dried fruit, goldfish crackers, and for when the going gets really tough -- chocolate covered espresso beans .... YUM.


After 115 miles of training hikes, 8 months of training at the gym, and raising almost $7,000 I'm ready to be there looking up at this magnificent mountain.... take a look, she's a real beauty!

If you'd like to follow the teams progress while out at Shasta you can do so via the Breast Cancer Fund’s blog: http://www.breastcancerfund.typepad.com/!

Thanks for your support!

Climb On,

Jess

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." ~ John Muir

Endurance Hike - Three Ridges

Last weekend I decided to go on an endurance hike with longer miles and lots of elevation gain, but less weight. The trails were in Three Ridges Wilderness area. I started at Reedy Gap off the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiked the AT/Mua-Har loop that included Bee Mountain and Three Ridges Mountain. The AT started up from Reedy Gap as a cleared path over a meadow, but soon turned into woods and ran uphill along the spine of Bee Mountain.

Looking out from the second rock outcrop just at the saddle of Three Ridge Mountain, you get a great view of The Priest just across the Valley.

Me pointing to the summit of Three Ridges Mountian where I'm heading....

After passing up and over Three Ridges it was down, down, down many switchbacks to Harpers Creek. There is an AT shelter here along the cascading creek, a very nice place to spend the night I'm sure!
After crossing Harpers Creek it was back up, up, up all the elevation I'd just lost. After a mile or so the AT brought me to the Mau-Har trail, which I took back to Reedy Gap. The Mau-Har followed the cascades of Campbell's Creek for about 4 more miles.


Hiking up along all the waterfalls and cascads was gorgeous, but it was very very hot and humid and I was getting a bit dehydrated and tired by this point!

Finally, after 13 miles and 8 hours of strenuous hiking, I made it back to the meadow and the car, where a bottle of hot, but delicious water awaited me!





Climb On,
Jess


www.breastcancerfund.org/Climb09/Jbarton

Memorial Mountain

So I'm a little behind in my blog ... I have done a few wonderful training hikes since my last post, but I'll skip those for now and tell you about Mount Rogers and the land of wild ponies:)

For Memorial Day weekend Mike and headed to far south west Virginia to hike the state's highest peak, Mount Rogers. Rogers is in fact the talled peak East of South Dakota that does not have a road going to the top of it, so to get there you gotta hike!

We started our 2 day backpacking excursion at Grindstone Camp ground and hiked in on the Mount Rogers Trail. Although the trail bears the summit's name it is the least traveled route to the top, probably since it's the longest ... but that how I roll -- the longer less traveled path!

The path was beautifully vibrant green and we didn't see many people until we got up to the campgrounds near the summit. After maybe 4 miles or so we got on the AT to take us the rest of the up. You can see the first white blaze of the AT in the background behind Mike --


After more miles and uphill hiking we were rewarded with wonderful views of the high meadows of Grayson Highlands.

This is also where the wild ponies roam and live!


The tallest peak in Virginia turns is a humble one, not boastful of its towering heights. In fact its gentle slopes make the summit not stand out from the rest of the mountains around and you would never know by the eye that it was in fact taller that all the other peaks around. We walked up the short summit from camp after filling out bellys with dinner and dessert. It was quite on the top as the sunlight of the day was growing dim. We enjoyed our solitude and then hiked back down before dark.


I thought Mount Rogers would be a good training hike not only phsyically, but mentally because you don't hike it for a summit view, there is none. As with Mount Rogers, I will need to not fixiate on the summit of Shasta, but rather the experience all together and moments of the journey captured along the way.

The next morning we packed up to hike out and not too far from the ridge where we camped there was a really cool rock outcrop, which of course I had to climb up to see what I could see, and man could I see -- the view went on for miles and miles...

Proof once again that the best views are not always from the summit, but often seemingly random moments along the way.

Climb On,

Jess