Mt. Baldy, gliders and missed opportunities
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 10:56 pm
Years ago, I was a pretty serious hiker. But after a while, I started to lose interest and eventually stopped. Hiking was my main form of exercise, so with that gone I really got out of shape. I tried hiking Baldy a few months ago and barely made it to the Ski Hut without passing out. What has happened to me? I finally got fed up and decided to get healthy again. I started working out and walking around my neighborhood.
This past weekend I went back to Mt. Baldy, my old friend. I woke up at 6am and surprisingly wasn't tired at all. This is not normal because I've been having chronic fatigue every time I wake up no matter how much sleep I get. Maybe this exercise really is helping.
I elect to go light and bring minimal gear. I even leave my camera at home, which I never, ever, ever do. I always have a camera. But I tell myself it's just Baldy and I've been here a hundred times. Who knew how much I would regret this decision later.
I hit the trail at 9am and am a little tired, but soon I'm getting into the groove of things again. I'm feeling good and climbing slowly but steadily. I pass several people and this makes me feel even better! Then a group of young people in their 20's and their freakishly large brown dog blow right by me. Damn those meddling kids and their ability to hike with no effort!
I get to the summit and I'm pretty happy with myself. There are a lot of young people up there. As I sit down and enjoy some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I notice a full scale glider coming closer. He circles several times, but amazingly people don't understand it's a real airplane. Some think it's an R/C plane, others claim it's a "drone." I tell people it's real because hello there is a person inside it! They nod, but no one really believes me. Goddamn YouTube generation. A second glider appears and this time he comes at us much, much lower. Apparently a friend of the pilots is on the summit with a camera and he's talking to them with a radio. They're coordinating a bunch of photo passes. This second glider circles so low you can tell he prefers Ray-Bans. Then he climbs out, turns around and dive bombs the summit. Oh man, I have to get a shot of this! Wait, where is my camera? NOOOOOO!!!
The gliders eventually leave and I feel pretty dejected with myself. Oh well, better luck next time. I stand there to stretch my legs and just people watch. A rather cute and incredibly fit young Asian girl arrives to the summit and passes by me. Darn, if only I was brave enough to talk to her. She starts walking around and stretching, then moves to a few feet in front of me. I'm trying not to stare, but c'mon she's doing that right in front of me!
Honestly, I really was just standing there, but then she suddenly turns to me and says something in Chinese. Oh man, she must be pissed and is going to chew me out! I play dumb and say, "Sorry I only know English!" She says, "Oh sorry you look Chinese to me. Were you born here?" We talked briefly and then she walks off. Dammit, I need to up my game quit missing these opportunities.
I decide to head back via the scree run down the bowl, which is all messed up. There's a huge trench down the length of the bowl. What the heck happened here? It's like someone tried to gold mine it by ripping it with a dozer--so strange. By this time I wasn't feeling good anymore. The hike back down to the car was exhausting and I started to get nauseated again. I got back home and was wiped out. I'm still feeling it today. Man, that was such a hard hike. Baldy never makes it easy.
This past weekend I went back to Mt. Baldy, my old friend. I woke up at 6am and surprisingly wasn't tired at all. This is not normal because I've been having chronic fatigue every time I wake up no matter how much sleep I get. Maybe this exercise really is helping.
I elect to go light and bring minimal gear. I even leave my camera at home, which I never, ever, ever do. I always have a camera. But I tell myself it's just Baldy and I've been here a hundred times. Who knew how much I would regret this decision later.
I hit the trail at 9am and am a little tired, but soon I'm getting into the groove of things again. I'm feeling good and climbing slowly but steadily. I pass several people and this makes me feel even better! Then a group of young people in their 20's and their freakishly large brown dog blow right by me. Damn those meddling kids and their ability to hike with no effort!
I get to the summit and I'm pretty happy with myself. There are a lot of young people up there. As I sit down and enjoy some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I notice a full scale glider coming closer. He circles several times, but amazingly people don't understand it's a real airplane. Some think it's an R/C plane, others claim it's a "drone." I tell people it's real because hello there is a person inside it! They nod, but no one really believes me. Goddamn YouTube generation. A second glider appears and this time he comes at us much, much lower. Apparently a friend of the pilots is on the summit with a camera and he's talking to them with a radio. They're coordinating a bunch of photo passes. This second glider circles so low you can tell he prefers Ray-Bans. Then he climbs out, turns around and dive bombs the summit. Oh man, I have to get a shot of this! Wait, where is my camera? NOOOOOO!!!
The gliders eventually leave and I feel pretty dejected with myself. Oh well, better luck next time. I stand there to stretch my legs and just people watch. A rather cute and incredibly fit young Asian girl arrives to the summit and passes by me. Darn, if only I was brave enough to talk to her. She starts walking around and stretching, then moves to a few feet in front of me. I'm trying not to stare, but c'mon she's doing that right in front of me!
Honestly, I really was just standing there, but then she suddenly turns to me and says something in Chinese. Oh man, she must be pissed and is going to chew me out! I play dumb and say, "Sorry I only know English!" She says, "Oh sorry you look Chinese to me. Were you born here?" We talked briefly and then she walks off. Dammit, I need to up my game quit missing these opportunities.
I decide to head back via the scree run down the bowl, which is all messed up. There's a huge trench down the length of the bowl. What the heck happened here? It's like someone tried to gold mine it by ripping it with a dozer--so strange. By this time I wasn't feeling good anymore. The hike back down to the car was exhausting and I started to get nauseated again. I got back home and was wiped out. I'm still feeling it today. Man, that was such a hard hike. Baldy never makes it easy.
