Let’s call it like it is – Torture, Insanity and Masochistic hike in the 90+ degree temperatues.
Zach is being kind
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
– we made the summit in 5.5 hours but it was a grueling approach, I could not seem to get my legs under me, let alone get my breathing relaxed. On a scale of 1-10 where Grand Canyon Rim to Rim was the 10 this was at least an 8 for me. I held him up and made this a longer day hike than it should have been.
I was struggling from Heaton Saddle onward as my body knew it was hotter than what the forecast (I checked on two sites the night before) had indicated. I had to take 3 minute breaks on numerous occasions, just to get my breathing under control every 100 feet or so on the way up.
Once we were on the summit, it was a crack-up to open the registry box to find a pack of Marlboro Cigarettes half empty with a lighter next to it
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
– that’s the last thing I thought I would ever find on the summit of Iron Mountain #1.
Thank God for north facing slopes
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
as there was some residual snow in the shaded areas and we both took advantage of the left over’s to collect some in our water bottles, plastic bags and water bladder. I used most of mine for watering down my bandana to keep my head cool on the way down – I’m a mid-western guy that struggles in temperatures above 85 degrees and when it reached 95 it became the slowest, hottest, drudgery of a hike I’ve ever done. If going up was the “Oven” than coming down was the “Frying Pan”. By the time I reached the shaded area at the very end of the trial just above the “Pit Toilets” at the beginning/end of the trail, I was down to a steady crawl and wishing for a one hour soaking in the nearest pool.
I will never do that hike again in those conditions;
![Embarrassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
I would rather fight the ice and snow in the dead of winter than attempt that “inferno” again.
I will never underestimate that mountain either
![Embarrassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
, those 8 or 9 saddles take a toll on you in that kind of heat – I can say that I completely avoided all the “Yucca” plants and did not get “Poked” one time – took a lot of extra concentration, but I was able to do that – no easy task on that mountain.
Funny as it may sound but it was "Zach" who was saying to Lilbitmo, that "it's only a little bit more"
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
and not the other way around this time.
Pictures here
http://s728.photobucket.com/albums/ww28 ... mview=grid