Trail Tales

The thing I probably miss most in North Texas is mountains. 

God, I wish I could put a couple in my pockets and bring them back here.

Brad,

I was just scrolling down this string and ran across your photos of the mountains. Although I had seen them before, it made me happy to see them again. They just sort-a jumped out at me as I scrolled down. That reconfirms my belief that beautiful and interesting photos have a place here, not just words.

I went out for my a hike last night. It’s starting to get dark earlier so I ran into a pre-sunset situation and shot this:


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It was a perfect night. Not too hot and not particularly windy either. I pushed it pretty hard. Near the top the heart monitor had me a 169 BPM. The plumbing seems to be working fine.

On a weekday like this, I tend to run into few people, which is the way I like it. I saw two chicks in the first 100 yards coming back in, and that was it.

Thank you, Mr. Kung. Although it’s always risky encouraging a loud-mouth, I do hope to inspire others to enjoy nature’s beauty. And I really should be taking my fancy-smancy Nikon DSLR with me. But the phones are just so convenient and take a relatively good picture.

This particularly viewpoint is about 1/4 into the climb. I park the car at the blue gate (Gibbnonymous knows what I’m talking about) and then it’s a really challenging steep mountain road to this viewpoint for the next 3/5ths of a mile or so. Even though one is not all that high up (technically speaking), you get a really good unobstructed view at this point. I included the foreground trees in the shot for effect but there are truly unobstructed views as well.

The light is good at least until 9:00. And I was out of there by 8:11 (and even then, it was looking a little dark). This shot was taken on the way down at about 8:00. I have a a pretty good LED light I can strap to my head if it gets really dark. I’ve used that a couple times in the past but generally don’t go out that late.

I did The Blue Gate route last night (Sunday). It was 81 degrees. I had had four days rest prior so I was fresh.

I made it to the campfire rockery (Gibbnonymous is familiar with that smallish version of Stonehenge) in 7:46. This is the first leg and it’s a particularly steep one. That’s a good time and I wasn’t particularly winded.

And to do the rest of the 1-3/4 miles in good time, you don’t want to go any faster than this. It’s a very hard climb on the first left up The Blue Gate route. I estimate for every 1 second gained under about 7:50 you lose five seconds because of how much getting that one second costs you.

But I felt good. And with a nice breeze on this first leg, I wasn’t particularly hot. But I knew the heat was there. I just wasn’t sure if it would be the master of me that night. I was rested. I thought I might have a chance at a good time.

But I was a victim of Heat Frustration. It just sapped me. It took the juice out of me. It tires you out more than anything. So my time suffered (31:59). My last time out on the previous Tuesday was a quite respectable 29:28, 27:30 (or so) being my best time ever a couple years ago when I was down on my weight. But anything under 30 minutes I consider good because it’s (according to my Workout app on my iPhone) a gain of 866-929 feet (depending on the app I consult…MapMyRide or Apple’s Workout app, respectively). That’s higher than the Space Needle at 604 ft (at the antenna spire).

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a little overweight and 61 years old. I’ll never be mistaken for Flash. And once in a while I will see some yute (likely training for the military) actually jogging past me. There’s always somebody better, smarter, faster, younger, etc. But The Blue Gate route is a good test at 30 minutes, for sure.

The temperatures will still be up in the coming but I’ll get it a go in a couple days. Because of the heat, I couldn’t really do an strenuous physical effort, therefore I didn’t get quite as tired. Hot, yes. But the next day (today) I don’t really feel it. So hopefully I can get out again perhaps as early as Thursday, if not tomorrow depending upon how I feel.

The Blue Gate beckons.

Oh, Brad, you stud! Are you saying it takes you just 30 minutes to the top of Green Mountain? A galfriend and I made the climb from the parking lot just past The Blue Gate on Saturday. We made the summit in just under 2 hours!!! Sure, we were talking, and stopping to make eye contact and breath, and do other important things, but we kept a steady pace otherwise. I'm impressed that you routinely trot up there in the same amount of time it takes me to have my morning coffee. At least I'm consistant, taking 4 times longer than you on the two separate legs of the trail I've recently hiked. My friend was pressed for time so we scampered down the mountain like little bunnies in just an hour. I'll give The Blue Gate another try after Wednesday when the weather drops back into the 70's.