Saddle Mountain, Oregon, September 1, 2009
My week of vacation has been going very well so far. I feel very relaxed and energized. I've been getting lots of chores and odd jobs done around my apartment, and around town, such as getting my "once a year whether it needs it or not" oil change. (Since last September's oil change, I'd only put about 2,200 miles on my car.)
I've been going to bed a little later than usual, but still waking up very early (around 7 am), even though I've kept my alarm turned off.
This morning, though, I "forced" myself to sleep in until 9 am, after waking up around 7:30 am and deciding I should take advantage of this opportunity while I have it.
After I got up, I got ready and went out for a hike in the mountain range near the coast, to my favorite hiking trail: Saddle Mountain.
I got a surprisingly late start (around 1 pm), and nearly drove away without my hiking boots. But fortunately I ran through a mental checklist one last time as I was driving away from my apartment, so I only had to double-back a couple of miles to go and get them.
Once on the road, I made very good time and reached the parking lot at the base of the mountain by 2:30 pm.
I haven't been hiking as much this summer as I would like (my annual complaint, it seems), so I am not as well-conditioned by this point as I'd like to be. Therefore, the hike was not easy, but I persevered.
Sara and I had hiked partway up Saddle Mountain earlier this year, but didn't make it all the way. The lack of completion gnawed at me over the last few months, so I was able to "get closure" and complete the hike today.
I didn't take many photos, just a few. Instead, I took a lot of video (perhaps 10-12 minutes worth), which I extemporaneously narrated along the way. I haven't viewed the video yet, but I'm confident that I won't be comfortable posting it here. Public speaking ain't exactly a natural talent of mine, so I prefer to stick with something I feel like I do a little better: writing pages of narrative where reader can supply their own bass profundo, silky-smooth narrator's voice inside their heads. (EDIT: I had a change of heart and posted the video; look toward the end of this journal entry for the link.)
Anyway, enough self-deprecation for now. . . .
I ended up up hiking up Saddle Mountain (about 1,600 feet elevation gain in 2.5 miles) in about 75 minutes, reaching the peak before 4 pm, which has got to be a record for me (though I never recorded my time before so I'm not sure).
(As usual, click on the photos a couple of times for progressively larger versions of the images if you want a closer look. . . .)
Looking up, from halfway up Saddle Mountain
Looking up, from halfway up Saddle Mountain
I was really worn out by the time I reached the summit (which I captured on video; another reason I'm hesitant to share that video . . .), but in a few minutes I had regained my normal breathing, had slowed my pounding heartbeat back down, and was eating one of the best turkey sandwiches I've ever had. (I recalled Warren Zevon's advice, which he offered in an interview with David Letterman (around the 2:15 mark) shortly before he died from terminal cancer, to "enjoy every sandwich." As hungry as I was after that power hike, I enjoyed that sandwich a bit more than usual.)
Homemade turkey sandwich, featuring Dave's Blues Bread (mmmm!)
Some raw milk cheese (Morbier), a handful of organic walnuts, and a banana rounded out my lunch.
Walnuts and cheese
After lunch, I took a few photos and some video (see the end of this journal entry for a link to the video).
Hazy view from the summit of Saddle Mountain
Precarious, unauthorized walkway on a ridge
View from the summit of Saddle Mountain
After a little while, I quickly went back down to my car, getting down in under an hour (wow!).
I didn't set out to hike quickly, it just happened that way. I fell into a good quick pace, and it felt right, so I stuck with it.
While I've enjoyed the last few days, and I'm glad I was able to get some chores done, I'm already looking forward to things starting to "get back to normal" later this week.
EDIT (Wednesday, September 2, 2009): I integrated seven photos into the narrative above (as I mentioned, I only took a handful). Last night, I used Windows Movie Maker to compile the 17 minutes of video I took during this hike. After viewing the material, I have decided it's not so bad, so I have uploaded a video to YouSendIt.com. It's only available for a few days, so get it while you can.
The video is about 45 MB, so after you go to the link below, save the video file to your hard drive before viewing. Trying to just click and view the video as it streams is likely to only cause delays and frustration (and YouSendIt might prohibit doing so anyway).
Click here: https://www.yousendit.com/download/YkxKSmJ3dWNveE5jR0E9PQ (45 MB)
Apologies for the WMV (Microsoft proprietary video) format; you will need a video player like Windows Media Player (ugh) to view this video.
One final note about Windows Movie Maker: I'm disappointed that they don't have a "save uncompressed" option for videos edited in this software. I edited together nearly 2 GB of videos in AVI format, which looked very good. But when I was ready to save my work, the highest quality video option to save as was a heavily compressed WMV file that's only about 260 MB.
Viewing the resulting WMV, it is obvious that the quality was dramatically reduced, which is disappointing. I realize I need compression to share the video online, but I had also wanted to save the edited video as a 2 GB AVI file, which I could then put on a DVD-R to share with family. Oh well; it's not that big of a deal.
Regarding the narration on the video, in retrospect I'm pretty sure I'm wrong about the lake I mentioned a couple of times. I think I was recalling a different lake that can be seen from a mountaintop; perhaps it's a mountain in Olympic National Park in Washington state that I was thinking of. Ah, the risks of narrating without a script!
I was correct that there is snow in-between the two humps of Saddle Mountain, though. I have a photo from 2002 or 2003 that proves that. :)
Also, turns out I was actually around 3,200 feet elevation at the summit, even though my Timex Helix watch indicated around 3,000 feet. This is because the watch estimates elevation based on barometric pressure readings, and is therefore not as accurate as my GPS's altimeter would have been (if I'd brought it, which I hadn't).
Finally, my forearms/wrists are thin, but that Timex Helix watch is abnormally large. So the effect on the video is that my wrists look as narrow and brittle as a pencil, but that's not entirely accurate. More like a rolling pin is a better comparison.
I've been going to bed a little later than usual, but still waking up very early (around 7 am), even though I've kept my alarm turned off.
This morning, though, I "forced" myself to sleep in until 9 am, after waking up around 7:30 am and deciding I should take advantage of this opportunity while I have it.
After I got up, I got ready and went out for a hike in the mountain range near the coast, to my favorite hiking trail: Saddle Mountain.
I got a surprisingly late start (around 1 pm), and nearly drove away without my hiking boots. But fortunately I ran through a mental checklist one last time as I was driving away from my apartment, so I only had to double-back a couple of miles to go and get them.
Once on the road, I made very good time and reached the parking lot at the base of the mountain by 2:30 pm.
I haven't been hiking as much this summer as I would like (my annual complaint, it seems), so I am not as well-conditioned by this point as I'd like to be. Therefore, the hike was not easy, but I persevered.
Sara and I had hiked partway up Saddle Mountain earlier this year, but didn't make it all the way. The lack of completion gnawed at me over the last few months, so I was able to "get closure" and complete the hike today.
I didn't take many photos, just a few. Instead, I took a lot of video (perhaps 10-12 minutes worth), which I extemporaneously narrated along the way. I haven't viewed the video yet, but I'm confident that I won't be comfortable posting it here. Public speaking ain't exactly a natural talent of mine, so I prefer to stick with something I feel like I do a little better: writing pages of narrative where reader can supply their own bass profundo, silky-smooth narrator's voice inside their heads. (EDIT: I had a change of heart and posted the video; look toward the end of this journal entry for the link.)
Anyway, enough self-deprecation for now. . . .
I ended up up hiking up Saddle Mountain (about 1,600 feet elevation gain in 2.5 miles) in about 75 minutes, reaching the peak before 4 pm, which has got to be a record for me (though I never recorded my time before so I'm not sure).
(As usual, click on the photos a couple of times for progressively larger versions of the images if you want a closer look. . . .)
Looking up, from halfway up Saddle Mountain
Looking up, from halfway up Saddle Mountain
I was really worn out by the time I reached the summit (which I captured on video; another reason I'm hesitant to share that video . . .), but in a few minutes I had regained my normal breathing, had slowed my pounding heartbeat back down, and was eating one of the best turkey sandwiches I've ever had. (I recalled Warren Zevon's advice, which he offered in an interview with David Letterman (around the 2:15 mark) shortly before he died from terminal cancer, to "enjoy every sandwich." As hungry as I was after that power hike, I enjoyed that sandwich a bit more than usual.)
Homemade turkey sandwich, featuring Dave's Blues Bread (mmmm!)
Some raw milk cheese (Morbier), a handful of organic walnuts, and a banana rounded out my lunch.
Walnuts and cheese
After lunch, I took a few photos and some video (see the end of this journal entry for a link to the video).
Hazy view from the summit of Saddle Mountain
Precarious, unauthorized walkway on a ridge
View from the summit of Saddle Mountain
After a little while, I quickly went back down to my car, getting down in under an hour (wow!).
I didn't set out to hike quickly, it just happened that way. I fell into a good quick pace, and it felt right, so I stuck with it.
While I've enjoyed the last few days, and I'm glad I was able to get some chores done, I'm already looking forward to things starting to "get back to normal" later this week.
EDIT (Wednesday, September 2, 2009): I integrated seven photos into the narrative above (as I mentioned, I only took a handful). Last night, I used Windows Movie Maker to compile the 17 minutes of video I took during this hike. After viewing the material, I have decided it's not so bad, so I have uploaded a video to YouSendIt.com. It's only available for a few days, so get it while you can.
The video is about 45 MB, so after you go to the link below, save the video file to your hard drive before viewing. Trying to just click and view the video as it streams is likely to only cause delays and frustration (and YouSendIt might prohibit doing so anyway).
Click here: https://www.yousendit.com/download/YkxKSmJ3dWNveE5jR0E9PQ (45 MB)
Apologies for the WMV (Microsoft proprietary video) format; you will need a video player like Windows Media Player (ugh) to view this video.
One final note about Windows Movie Maker: I'm disappointed that they don't have a "save uncompressed" option for videos edited in this software. I edited together nearly 2 GB of videos in AVI format, which looked very good. But when I was ready to save my work, the highest quality video option to save as was a heavily compressed WMV file that's only about 260 MB.
Viewing the resulting WMV, it is obvious that the quality was dramatically reduced, which is disappointing. I realize I need compression to share the video online, but I had also wanted to save the edited video as a 2 GB AVI file, which I could then put on a DVD-R to share with family. Oh well; it's not that big of a deal.
Regarding the narration on the video, in retrospect I'm pretty sure I'm wrong about the lake I mentioned a couple of times. I think I was recalling a different lake that can be seen from a mountaintop; perhaps it's a mountain in Olympic National Park in Washington state that I was thinking of. Ah, the risks of narrating without a script!
I was correct that there is snow in-between the two humps of Saddle Mountain, though. I have a photo from 2002 or 2003 that proves that. :)
Also, turns out I was actually around 3,200 feet elevation at the summit, even though my Timex Helix watch indicated around 3,000 feet. This is because the watch estimates elevation based on barometric pressure readings, and is therefore not as accurate as my GPS's altimeter would have been (if I'd brought it, which I hadn't).
Finally, my forearms/wrists are thin, but that Timex Helix watch is abnormally large. So the effect on the video is that my wrists look as narrow and brittle as a pencil, but that's not entirely accurate. More like a rolling pin is a better comparison.