I have a neighbor who is a Russian fellow and he has told me he is a hiker. When I ask him the hikes he has done they have left me slightly underwhelmed. I had a cancellation on my longer hike planned on Christmas and decided to do a moderate but at times steep hike to Towsley Peak and to cross the Razorback ridge over to the top of Pico Canyon. He calls me in the morning and asks if I'm hiking and if he can come. I tell him sure, be here in 10 minutes and told him the hike should take about 3.5 hours. He comes wearing a button down dress shirt and proceeds to drive the 405 at 85 miles per hour zigzagging through traffic like it is an episode of CHiPs. We somehow make it to the TH in Santa Clarita without getting pulled over or in an accident. I have my backpack ready to go and he pulls out what looks like a mini Arrowhead bottle like they have at work. I ask him if that's all he is bringing and he says sure what else do I need? I go OK we may not do the complete hike if you start running out of water but I do have a little extra.
The beginning of the hike up Towsley Canyon is as flat as it gets and he asks me if this is considered the uphill section and I tell him no that's coming later. We finally get to the narrows and cross over to the old road. I had mentioned that there are some drop offs on the trail when we hit the ridge and he sees some wash-outs on this road and asks if this is the drop-offs he needs to be concerned with and I say no this isn't it. We finally reach the base of the climb proper and I tell him you go first so I can assess his fitness and not have him stressed out about speed. The climb is in two sections and he moves well with his massive water bottle swaying side to side as he holds it in his hand. We reach the first flat section and he asks me to go ahead and I do and he manages quite nicely to the ridge and the short hop to the peak. He takes his first swig of water and I ask him if he is good with continuing along the ridge. He assures me he's good to go. I move purposely slowly though this section as I want him to feel comfortable and he is oblivious to everything just talking and telling stories. We finally get to the top of Pico Canyon and I can tell he is a bit tired out, so we rest at the picnic table and I force feed him some of my food as he takes another swig from his water container.
On the way back to Towsley Peak its time for me to get some exercise so I move at my usual clip and see him having some difficulty with the upclimbs which are more numerous on the way back. I see he is gamely trying to run down the drops so continue moving until I get back to the peak. A few minutes later he catches up and I eye his water which is still 1/3 full. I've drunk half of my water and most of my Gatorade and this guy still has that much water left. The remainder of the way down he also doesn't fall too far behind and when we reach the road I give him a high five and tell him well done. I was sure that this was going to be an utter disaster or an abort but never underestimate a Russian. Oh yeah the hike took just over three and a half hours. I also told him he could join me for a longer hike but next time he has to bring a backpack with some food and stuff.
Russian Hiking
Used to be we could prove our toughness by not drinking water. Plenty of high school football players could probably attest to that - I played basketball and we didn’t have water breaks at practice.
Anyway , good hike and it took just as long as your estimate.
Anyway , good hike and it took just as long as your estimate.
"Argue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours".
Donald Shimoda
Donald Shimoda
