A Novice’s steps up the mighty mountains!
I am no pro hiker or a mountaineer, but am definitely aspiring to be one. In that regard, 2017 has been an instrumental year and I hope that my climbing journey only continues to move up!
I have come to wonder about this love for hiking and mountains I have — when did it all start, and how did I even come to like this?, actually no. ‘How did I even come to LOVE this?”
As a child, I remember that I used to hate walking long distances. One of the vivid memories I have is that of my mom having made me walk up the Vaishnava Devi temple at Katra, J&K in India. I was 10 years old then. This was a 28 km hike up and down a mountain and the temple was at a total altitude of about 5500 ft above sea level. While my mom, in her religious pursuit, walked up the mountain steadfast, I remember struggling and gasping for breath, even though there were paved roads and restaurants on the way. I also remember taking a silent oath that I’d never walk such a distance ever in my life! Funny, how life plays tricks on you!
Thanks to California for opening my eyes to the beauty and thrill behind hiking up mountains. It all started in 2015 when Vignesh and I hiked up Mt. Tallac, the tallest peak of Lake Tahoe and the gorgeous 4-mile trail in Yosemite, within a span of 2 days.
Compared to the peaks of the Sierra Nevada range, Tallac is a mere child, standing at 9735 ft above sea level, with an elevation gain of 3500ft. It takes a round trip of 10 miles to walk up and down this mountain. This is the first mountain in US that I’d hike up. As I was hiking up, I was asking myself if I’d come to love doing this after I finish it. I was also asking myself, what is it about hiking that people like? Within minutes of asking those questions, I came across views like these and instantly realized what’s in it for me in hiking up mountains. The process of hiking up mountains is like practicing music — the more you do it, the better it gets.
For every few steps I took forward, I looked down in astonishment to see that I was already a few hundred feet above from where I was previously. At the same time, I’d also look up to see how much more I’d have to go. This gave me a sense of achievement and humility, both at the same time.
After Scrambling over a huge pile of rocks, we finally made it to the summit of Mt.Tallac.
As we reached the summit, I quickly looked out for a nice rock to sit and give my legs the much needed rest they deserved. When I started to dig into my peanut butter sandwich, I noticed an old couple scrambling the same rocky path that we had just finished. They must have easily been more than 60 years old. The joy I saw on their faces as they finished the rocky path was a pleasure to watch. I gave them a smile and turned around to enjoy the view that had the gorgeous blue skies intersecting with the deep blue lake Tahoe, as the sun continued to kiss us with her warmth. I have had opportunities before to witness views from mountains, but this one was different. I felt that I had earned this.
Well-trained hikers can do this hike in 6 hours, but I ended up taking 9 hours. Needless to say, I was exhausted, but still managed to put on a smile on my face as we took our last picture for the day.
That very same night we drove to Yosemite. We were anxious to step into the park because we had heard so much about the beauty of this place. The very next day, we started Yosemite’s 4-mile trail. It was similar to and different from Tallac trail in many ways. While Tallac requires hiking up the path, there are certain stretches that are plain. So, there isvariety in the terrain and the legs could get some rest, not always climbing up. The 4 mile trail, while shorter in distance overall, is a continuous climb right from the start. But, even with fewer steps than Tallac, the views get incredibly beautiful. Throughout the hike, it was exhilarating to keep viewing the mighty half-dome as we kept telling ourselves that one day, we would go on top of that mighty dome of Yosemite.
By the end of these 2 days in 2015, I had officially declared to myself that my love for mountains has begun! I truly felt humbled to have been able to earn such spectacular views just by walking.
As my final job offer got confirmed in California during my MBA, I couldn’t wait to go back. The mere feeling of being close to the mountains gave me sheer joy. After moving to California, going on regular hikes became a part of our life style. More importantly, Yosemite became our happy place!
As we continued to gaze at Half-dome in amazement, we finally hiked it in June 2017. The weird thing about this hike was that, while the path itself was a test to our physical endurance and provided for gorgeous waterfalls throughout the way, the view itself from the top was not what I had expected. Perhaps because, we couldn’t see Half-dome anymore!:) Nevertheless, the views were stunning and mesmerizing.
In November 2017, we got an opportunity to hike up Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak after the massive Mt. Denali in the US. The peak is about 14,500 ft above sea level. This hike is about 22 miles up and down with an elevation gain of 6100 ft. We decided to do this over 2 days, carrying our heavy backpacks. I had read about the difficulty of this hike and was mentally prepared, or so, I thought!
We chose November even though it was cold because starting November, there is no need to get permits for this trail in advance. We could directly drive close to the trail head, fill a form and get a permit. This was about an 8 hour drive for us from South bay, California. We reached the trail head the night before, camped near a parking lot. We started the hike at 9 AM the next day morning.
Since it was early winter, the weather was quite cold for me (below freezing) although as we hiked during the day, our bodies warmed up. Some parts of the trail also had icy layers that were interesting to walk over. I had to make sure I don’t slip and break a limb, especially since this was a weekend trip and I had no intention to take off from work.
For the first 2 miles of the hike, we were greeted by the view of Alabama hills to our left. As always in such hikes, this view kept becoming better and better as we gained elevation.
After we had walked another mile or so from this point, we decided to take a break by Lone Pine lake. It was indeed a serene place to give some much needed rest to our legs and shoulders.
On the way, we were also greeted by frozen waterfalls.
Just before we reached our campsite for the night, I decided to take a few moments to catch this beautiful sunset. Although, the truth is that I was thoroughly exhausted and wanted to really sit down for few minutes (Shhhh!!:)). A friend who was accompanying me was gracious enough to wait with me.
As I reached the campsite, which was at 12,000 ft above sea level, 3 folks from our group had already started preparing food for all of us. (Thank those good souls). As soon as I reached, I started to offer my help to open up food packets, heat water and put up the tents. By this time, the temperature had started to drop considerably and winds were blowing against us at 40–50 miles an hour (atleast it felt like it). It was quite difficult to make our tents stand. We put our backpacks in hoping that those weights will prevent our tents from flying.
When you camp in such low temperatures, you realize that even the most boring food such as maggie, that you may not want to eat on regular days, tastes so good with hot water. It is amazing to realize what nature’s harshness can teach us a thing or two about contentment.
After eating, I entered my tent, wore all my hand and leg warmers, placed a bottled of hot water inside my sleeping bag and went to sleep. Well, I tried to sleep! By now, I was already wearing 5 layers of clothing. Throughout the night, the winds were roaring at such a high speed that I was constantly awake with a feeling that our tent is going to fly anytime.
We woke up the next day at 5 AM and started hiking, we had another 5 miles and 2500 ft elevation gain to summit. As the sun emerged, the mountains in front of us brightened.
And I continued to walk with winds constantly blowing against us at more than 40 miles an hour and Vignesh pushing me harder from behind. In the picture below, literally and metaphorically, he is behind me!:)
Focusing on one step at a time, I kept telling myself “Just keep walking” (like Dori in Finding Nemo). Then we reached what is called the Trail Crest point, from where the summit is another 2 miles. But, the last 2 miles looked like this.
Trail Crest point — 2 miles from Whitney summit
And I said “oops, now there is no looking back and I am not going down without going up. As I was scrambling up these rocks, I was asking myself “What would be the view from the summit? Will it be gorgeous like the Yosemite hikes? What if it is not that great — will I be disappointed?”. The curiosity to find answers to these questions made me keep walking. Finally at about 11 AM, we reached the summit. By then, my hands and legs were freezing. The summit view looked like this.
Not impressive, right? But then, I told myself that it is not always about the outcome. Sometimes, it is the journey itself that makes the experience enriching. In that regard, Whitney was truly enriching — it made me realize what more I need to work on to be a good hiker. More importantly, it made me realize that I have a high endurance — I may struggle a lot through the path, but I will not give up. To know this about myself was an immense confidence booster.
Besides all this, we got to sign our names in the Whitney summit book at the top. Ain’t that cool?:) If I do this hike again, I should remember to check if our names are still there!:)
We started our journey down and reached the trailhead by 9 PM in the night. Two of our friends, though they couldn’t summit with us, were kind enough to wait for us and drive us home for most part of the journey. We reached home the next day at 5 AM and ended up going to work at 9 AM that day. Needless to say, I was like a zombie at work that day. :D
As 2017 turns out to be a beautiful memory of nature and mountains, cheers to all the exciting climbing journeys I look forward to in 2018 and beyond! Adios!
