The Main Event!

It is 7 AM, the Jeep is loaded and Chris and I are just about ready to leave on our adventure.  Thoughts of are we ready?  Did I pack too heavy?  Too light?  Did I bring the right equipment?  Did I work hard enough?  Is my body going to handle the thin air?  We had our map of Google directions printed and hotel reservations for tonight made.  We said our goodbye's and set out on road. I could hardly believe it!  We are about to hike Mt. Whitney!  Our goal for the first day, Mesquite Nevada.  Our plan was one good nights sleep before we hit the trail.  Since we both hate to drive it made the 12 hour ride more interesting. 

Once in Mesquite, we hit the pool had a great meal and got to bed.  The next morning, Wall mart for treats and gas and set sights on Lone Pine California. 

Google maps was our guide and we made through Las Vegas with a hitch.  But somewhere between Area 51 and the middle of nowhere the directions told us to turn left.  This took  us right to the middle of Death Valley!  We knew something was wrong when our map millage told use we were 50 mile from Whitney and the signs said 150+.  Yep!  Google had us way off course!  We made the best of!  We explored Death Valley!  It was Hot!  At 117 degrees we high tailed it out of there.  But we did get >100 feet below sea level.



Once we figured out our directions we Finely  made it to Mt Whitney Portal!  The Portal  sits at just over 8,000 feet with a spectacular view the surrounding mountain.  There is  a lake for fishing, a stream, two camp sites, a few cabins for rent and the store.  The store makes the best Bacon cheese burgers and home fresh cut french fries! The breakfast is awesome!  They make the biggest pancakes I have ever seen! We found our way around and got settled in.  We received a briefing from the camp host about the family of Bears that lived around the camp  ground and how they ripped apart a SUV for 1 candy bar a hiker left in its wrapper in the glove box!  He also informed us that only 20% of the hikers summit Mt Whitney and the Search and Rescue average 5 rescues a day.  He then reassured us we should do just fine! 

Morning came and we got up and ready to go but no permit.  My advice is to get your permit the night before. No worries though.  We got our documentation, packs weighed (me and Chris at 55#, with the rest of our group ranging  25 to 40#). Starting photo taken and we were off!

Our goal was Base Camp 6.2 miles away and an elevation gain of over 4,000 feet.  It is one of the most challenging trails I have done!  Relentless!  But AWESOME!  The view is amazing of the valley and you quickly realize how fast you are gaining elevation when you stop and look back (more like down).

 

 

We hit Trail camp just before 4 pm.  We were beat!  Tents quickly went up and camp was built.  Time for R and R.  We ate dinner re hydrated for the summit  hike and went to bed.

Sun rise on the mountain is unforgettable.  The color of burning oranges turning to red and the deep blue sky!   Truly moving! Most defiantly worth the the hike!

Morning came quickly!  We got up and downed breakfast.  After we filtered water we headed up the 98 /99 switchbacks!  It was awesome! At switch back 55, I started to feel dizzy and a very light headed.  I got out my pocket pulse ox and found my oxygen saturation to be at 73% and my heart rate at 156.  I stoped and rested.  I remember that when I was going up Kings Peak I felt the very same way.  After about 1 minute my saturation's were at 90% and heart rate was now 100.  I felt a lot better and continued on.  My brother Dan reminded me I was caring a pack that weighted about 25 to 30# given the extra water I was caring.  We made a plans to leave a water cash at the top of the switchbacks.

 



Once at the top of the pass I felt great!  We dumped off our water cash and headed for the summit.  The Views were breath taking and You felt you were on the other side the Moon.

We kept pushing.  It was amazing.  We passed all types of people.  Age ranging from 4 to over 80 years old.  Everyone very positive and excited to make it to the top.  Yep we did pass people that had to turn around and could not go on.  But they motivated us and gave us hope as we passed them.  Once we had the view of the house in sight, we knew we could make it!

At the top we had lunch and headed back to camp.  We had to deal with only one member of our party with altitude sickness and mild dehydration.  Once he was doing well made good time back to camp.  It was time to celebrate!.  Skinny dipping in the river and dinner!  It was surreal!  I had meet my goal!  WOW!  top of the lower 48 states.  14,508 feet!  It felt great!  The time spent with my son Chris made it only sweeter!  We both commented the only thing that would have completed this experience was if my son Scott could had made the trip.

Would I do it again?  If and only if the right people came along!  This was tough but the bonds of friendship made is what made it all worth it! 

Hike Sat's:  22 miles, >13,000 feet of elevation change.  2 1/2 day s on the trail, 25,000+calories burned!

Echo's

 

Personal Echos

We all send vibrational energy out into the world. What most of us forget is that what ever we send out into the universe will echo back at us. It could return very quickly or take its own sweet time. If you want good things to come into your life you must be sending out good vibrational energy.

This starts with good thoughts. The thoughts of today become your reality of tomorrow. Once you start to understand this principle you start to monitor your thinking patterns. You become very careful about what you think about.

Thoughts lead to action, action lead to results. What I have learned is if I want specific results, I must start with that specific thought. Keeping my thoughts on what I want to echo back at me allows the universe to echo back at me what I want. The scary thing is the universe will echo the bad back at me as well. If my thoughts are on all the bad and anxiety provoking. Anxiety and stress and a lot of negative energy is what will echo back at me.

What you think about is what you shall be! The key here is what I THINK about and NOT what I want is the action that will be set into motion. The universe could care less about what I want. Thoughts not wants is what shows up!

Keep up the positive! I know if I keep my thoughts on the good and the wonderful, the good and the wonderful is what eventually will show up on time in perfect Harmony with my life!

Mahalo Ke Akua

Mahalo,  "Thank You".  Ke Akua, "God".

Thank you for the air that I breath, the water  I drink, the food I eat and the roof over my head.  But most importantly, Thank you for all the loving people that have, currently are and will come into my life!

Enough said!

Training Log

 My training log to get ready for the hike.  It is built around the 4 Hour Body  concepts of training for endurance races and mixed with Cross fit and P90X/Insanity.  I will update this on a regular basis.  I am sure it will be boring to read.  But it will give an idea how how much or how little I prepared for my 22 mile hike up to 14, 505 feet.  When ever possible I will record my workout with my GPS that monitors heart rate, distance, time and elevation changes.

Boot Camp:

April 8, 2012:  13.2 miles on my Mt Bike, 3,000 feet of elevation change, Max HR 170, time 3 hours on the trail,  1,800 calories burned

April 11. 2012:  2 mile run, Speed training on my Spinning bike (interval training, of the 45 min 20 min spent in zone 4 to 5 at 95% max heart rate 160)   Week one push up training form Men's Fitness (100 push ups at one time in 6 weeks)  total 70 push ups.

April 14, 2012:  2 mile run,Speed training on my Spinning bike (interval training, of the 45 min 20 min spent in zone 4 to 5 at 95% max heart rate 160)   Week one push up training form Men's Fitness (100 push ups at one time in 6 weeks)  total 70 push ups.

April 15, 2012: 2 mile run,  Speed training on my Spinning bike (interval training, of the 45 min 20 min spent in zone 4 to 5 at 95% max heart rate 160)   Week one push up training form Men's Fitness (100 push ups at one time in 6 weeks)  total 70 push ups.

April 17, 2012:  Mt Bike ride:  4.2 miles, 2,000 feet elevation change, Max HR 168, 1 hour  on the trail (Clarks time trial) 500 calories burned.

April 21,  2012:   2.5 mile run,  25 min.

April 26, 2012:  2.5 miles run, 25 min

April 27, 2012, Insanity,Cardio Power, 45 min.

April 29, 2012, Mt Bike, Fire Road, Ghost falls and Gas line trail,  9 miles, 3,000 feet elevation change,  Max HR 168, 1 hour and 30 min.  Calories Burned 830.

April 30, 2012,  Mt Bike ride Clarks Time Trial with Guy, 5 miles, 3,000 feet elevation change, Max heart rate 161, (22min to the top of Clarks 4 min shorter than my best this year and 4 min longer than my PB), total time 50 min, Calories burned 500.

May 2, 2012:  2.5 mile run

May 4, 2012:  Men's Fitness Push Up work out, Stair Stepper work out (Jane Fonda style)  with 25# weights in each hand.

May 5, 2012:  4+ miles with >3,000 covered vertical feet, White pine/Red Pine Hike with Chris.

May 6, 2012:  Mt Bike ride, Clarks time trial with my son Scott,  he set a new PB (his first time up the trail) up Clarks at just under 13 min,  I came close to my PB at 19 min.  We covered 8.21 miles in under 1:20 minutes, 3,200 ft of elevation change, 880 cal. burned, max HR 162, Max speed 24 MPH and average HR of 135 bpm. 

May 7, 2012:  Hike up Mt Olympus, 3.5 miles, 3,000 vertical feet in elevation change, time  1:35 on the trail, calories burned 700.

May 10, 2012:  Insanity upper body weight training,  50 min.

May 11, 2012:  Mt Bike Corner Canyon,  Clark's Time Trial,  00:18:50, 10 seconds off my PB.  But did set a PB for the loop at 1:09:20.   7.93 miles,  3082 feet in total vertical, max HR 163,  Average pace 8.3 MPH, Max speed 22 MPH, total calories burned 811.

May 14, 2012:  Mt Bike ride, Corner Canyon, Anne's trail, Clark's Time Trial new PB 00:17:45, 8.17 miles, total time 1:34, total elevation 3,000+ vertical feet.  Calories burned 793,  Max heart rate 164, Max speed 24 MPH.

May 16, 2012:   Power weight training, upper body, chest, back and arms, 60 min.

May 17, 2012:  Sprint training on Spinning Bike,  5 minute warm up the 3 full on at 100%, followed by 2 minute recovery, (3 on full, 2 recovery) for 30 minutes.

May 20, 2012:  Hiked the Great Western Trail, 4.5 miles, 2,000 calories 3,000 ft total elevation change, 45# pack.

May 21, 2012:  Mt Bike with Jaren, New PB up Clark's 17 minutes and 30 seconds (Jaren 11 minutes and 4 seconds up the trail.), a sprint up the fire road to set a new Max heart rate at 173 and sustained for over 2 minutes, total elevation changed 3,600 vertical feet,  total time 1:21, total calories burned 900,47 minutes spent in zone 4 or higher!  Thanks Jaren for the push!

May 24, 2012:  Mt Bike the Race for the Corner Canyon spring race,  11 miles in 1 hour 42 minutes, total vertical feet 3,600 ft, 981 calories burned, average pace 9.1minutes per mile.

May 26,2012:  Mt Bike ride today! 26.1 miles in 3 hours 37 minutes, 2,300 calories burned, 8,200 vertical feet at a average pace of 9.1 minutes/mile! Awesome! Oh ya, it started snowing at the top so we had to turn back early. :(  The first 10 miles all climbing.  No rest. Straight up from 5,400 ft to just shy of 9,000 feet!

May 28,2012:   Red Pine Hike 7.57 miles, 7,400 vertical feet, 2,178 calories burned, max speed 8 miles/hour and it took us just over 3 1/2 hours to complete the hike.

May 30, 2012:  1 hour Upper body and back weight training.

May 31, 2012:  Mt Bike Clarks Time Trial New PB at 16 minutes and 55 seconds, followed by a ride total of 8 miles, 1 hour and 10 minutes, 3,000 total vertical feet of elevation change, 792 calories burned.

June 3, 2012:  Bells Canyon; 4.91 miles, 4,520 vertical feet in 3.0 hours and burned 1,535 calories.

June 4, 2012:  Mt bike ride with Ryan,  8.1 miles, 1hour 33 minutes, total elevation 3,000 total vertical feet, 800 calories.  Max heart rate 176.

June 9, 20112:  Mt Bike with Jason H.  11.3 miles, 1 hour 53 minutes, 1,162 calories burned, 4,100 total vertical feet.

June 10, 2012:  White Pine Hike;  8.5 miles in 3 hours and 50 minutes, 6,700 total vertical feet,  1,790 calories burned.

June 11, 2012:  Mt bike with Guy,  5 miles, 41 minutes, 500 calories.

June14, 2012:  Mt Bike ride, 13.25 miles, 2 hours 11 minutes, total calories 1,418, total elevation change 5,300 vertical feet.

June 16, 2012: Beach run Cannon Beach 3.2 miles, 282 calories.

June 18, 2012:  Beach run, Cannon Beach 2.1 miles,  328 calories.

June 23,24,25:  King Peak Hike

Total elevation change 12,000 feet over 3days, hiked 28 miles and burned 15,000+ calories.  I lost 3 1/2 lbs.  Adaptation changes:  First night my pulse was 113 resting and oxygen saturation after the hike 86%.  At Dollar Lake Heart rate at rest 90 and oxygen saturation 91%.  During the summit hike at 11,911ft heart rate was 90 and oxygen saturation 85%, at the top of Kings Peak, heart rate 88 and oxygen saturation 93%.

July 1, 2012: Mt Bike ride Up Clarks, across Brocks, down Ghost, down gas line to BSLT, up fire road back across Brocks, down rush to Jeep, 11 miles, total elevation change 4,000 feet, 1,073 calories in 1 hour 35 minutes.

July 5, 2012:  Sprint training on spin bike,  5minute warm up, 5 minutes full 100% zone 4 to 5, 3 minute rest, 5 minute on.  45 minutes.

July 7, 2012:  Mt bike ride 15 miles 1: 40 minutes, 4,000ft total elevation change, 1,500 calories burned.  Max heart 178!  (back side of Jackob's ladder no hike a bike, made all climbs).

July 8, 2012:  Bells Canyon; 4.91 miles, 4,520 vertical feet in 3.0 hours and burned 1,535 calories.

July 11, 2012:  Sprint Spin work out plus upper body weight training,

July 14, 2012:  Sprint Spin work out (5 minute warm up, 20 minutes full on 100% out of saddle zone 4 to 5 sprint, 5 minute cool down).

July 15, 2012:  25 minute upper body weight training. 40 minutes of Sprint spinning (3 minute warm up,  followed by 8 to 10 minute sprint intervals and 3 minute recovery and a 3)

July 16, 2012:  Push up work out with upper body and spinning base training, 45 min.

July 22, Mt bike ride 3,600 total elevation change, 1 hour 11 minutes, 870 calories.

Aloha!

Aloha! Stand up and say it real loud ALOHA! Does that not feel really good! Did you ever wounder why the Hawaiian people used one word for hello and good by? I have always pondered this. I used to think it was because they are considered by the Western world to be a primitive culture. I beg to differ. What if they really get it? Aloha, the meaning of life! Why we are here on the planet earth. Think about this. If you understand that life is circular and what goes around comes around. Then why not have one word for hello and good by. You are never really saying either. Eventually you will see one another again. It may not be in this life but we will see one another again. So the logic works (if you have a knowing that we all come from and return to the same source).

So lets take this one step further. The Aloha Spirit. What is it? If you have ever spent time in the Hawaiian Islands you quickly come to understand the Aloha Spirit is the spirit of unconditional love. You must first love yourself unconditionally then you can began to love others unconditionally. Understanding the Aloha spirit means you understand you are a piece of God (source) just like everyone and every living creature on this planet. Therefor to love your self unconditionally you must then love everyone else the same way because we all come from the same source! We are all one in the same! It is the same energy beating all our hearts! The Aloha Spirit in action, unconditional love!

So say ALOHA! Keeping in mind we all are from the same source, one great Love on the same adventure back to the source we call God! So fill your heart with the Aloha Spirit and love your self and love one another! ALOHA my Friends!

I Belive In Me!

"I Belive In me"

A few days ago I was on the spinning bike working up to start Insanity (a new conditioning program) again when out of the the IPOD came a an old KISS tune "I". It was on  the album "The Elder". The chorus is "I believe in me!". It got me thinking; do I believe in me? If so, what are a few times in my life that I really had to dig deep and search my sole to really believe in me?

The first thing that come to mind was my sophomore year in high school. I wanted to play football. My dreams of being a  running back took a major set back after hitting drills during "Hell Week". We were doing this drill that required me to carry the ball and a line backer had to run up and make a hit and try to tackle me. I ran this kid over and kept on going until the coach started to yell at me to come back. As I returned to the group this kid was not getting up. I over heard the coaches talking that was one of the hardest hit yet at camp. The coach after attending to the young man approached me to informed me that I would not be running the ball this year but playing right guard. RIGHT GUARD! Did he not just see that hit?! At 130 pounds dripping wet how was I ever going to hold my own on the the line with the big boys. The coach gave me his word if I did this for him this year, next year I could move to the back field.

I gave it everything I had. I became the best right gard I could. Learning the plays and how to block. The next off season I worked hard hitting the weights gaining 30 pounds. By my senior year I had earned a starting position in the rotation as full back (because I knew how block as good as I could run the ball), I was starting middle line backer and one of three team captions! Yes, I believed in me!



During my days at Dixie College I was a good student with the exception of my first quarter. That first quarter pulled my GPA down. Despite doing very well otherwise, when I hit the University of Utah and told the councilor I was going to medical school she had a true detrol ( a drug used to treat urinary incontance) moment! She nearly wet her pants laughing so hard. You?! Get into medical school you have a Good GPA but that first quarter you did less than poor! I pointed I had a very competitive marks otherwise.


So I went to work! Pulling A's throughout my premed work and psychology degree at the U of U. Not only did I get in to medical school but went on to graduate from medical school in the top 5% of my class! Yes I believe in me!

Now my hike up Mt Whitney.  I need to over come my fears of high places and get into the best shape of my life to hike 22 miles to an elevetion over 14,000 + ft and a 50# pack on my back! Yes, I belive in me!  But so do a lot of other great people.  Without them what is the point.  It is the relationships in your life that make all worth while!


There will be times in all our lives when the only person pulling for you is your self. Never ever give in! Never ever give UP! Most importantly, keep showing up and give 100% to everything you do. Keep a positive mental picture in the direction you want to go and DO NOT stop believing in yourself! I believe in me and I believe in you! The human spirit with God's help can overcome and achieve anything!



In April 2012 I  embarked on this project to make my self better, stronger and and to persue what my mentor Wayne Dyer says "I do not want to be better than anyone else, I just want to be better today than I was yeasterday".  It is a work in progress!  So far I have lost 15 lbs and spending more time with family and building stronger and better relationships/friendships.  Yes I still slip but just I keep trying!

Getting Into The Zone

Several months ago I was reading an article on how to loose weight and be more successful in your training endeavors.  The article was on  Zone Training.  I knew about zone training and what it can do for you to help  getting more fit and loosing weight.  What I did not know is how do I know my workout are too much or just right.  When do I need to tone it down or work even harder.  Why is this important information?  I wanted a simple measure to tell me if I was on track.  More importantly I wanted a simple baseline to give my patients to help them loose weight.  I also need a measure to know which patients are telling the truth when they tell me "I am working my butt off and I am still not loosing the weight!  I am doing everything and its not working!".  Loosing weight is not hard formula to understand.  If you burn more calories than you take in you will loose weight.  The questions are: Are you really eating the right foods at the right times?  Are you sleeping the right amount of time?   Are your workouts efficiently burning the right calories at the right times?  And are the workouts hard enough for your current fitness level to get the results you want?

This installment is going to address Zone Training and how to use it to your benefit.  I will in the future address the other questions one by on in future blogs.

So, how do you know if your training is challenging enough  and when is it time to back off? It all starts with one simple question.  What is your resting heart rate?  More importantly what is you resting heart rate the next morning after a big intensity workout.  You begin with calculating your average heart rate over several days.  How you do this is? The very moment you awake in the morning you take your resting heart.  You do this before your feet hit the floor.  Do this for 5 days, add the numbers together and divide by 5.  For me when I started this training exercise my average waking heart rate was 55 beats per minute. Today at the half way mark, my resting average heart rate is 43 beats per minute.  Why is this important?  First it is a measure of how fit you are.  Second, it allows you to see how your body has recovered from the work out the day before.  If your resting heart rate is greater than or equal to 5 beats per minute higher than your average resting heart, then you need to take it easy on today's work out.  Your body has not fully recovered from yesterdays work out.  You put a large stress on  you body and it need to heal.  If your resting morning heart rate in in your normal range then your ready for more intensity.  You need to challenge yourself more!

So how does this play into Zone training and why is Zone train important in helping you loose weight and get stronger?
Stayed tuned!

Kings Peak: The Trial Run

This hike was set for two reasons. First and formost to get my son Scott on a back packing trip this summer.  Because of football, he is uable to make the Mt Whitney hike.  Second, to see if we are ready in our training to make the Whitney hike and to make sure we know how to use our gear.  We met the second objective, but Scott decided Lake Powell with football buds and girls in bikin's was going to be more fun and did not make the trip.

Kings Peak is the highest peak in the state of Utah.  It is 13,528 feet above sea level and located in the North East cornor of the state.   To get there from Salt Lake City, travel East on I 80 past Evenston WY to  Mountian View Wy  and take State road 414.  Go through the town and get on road 410 and continue towards Robertson WY for 6.7 miles.  The road makes a hard right turns heading west.  Do not head west.  We did and had to turn around.  Continue to head South and DO NOT turn right.  This is Unita County road 283/forest road 072.  Continue South at just over 12 miles turn onto Forest Road 077.  There is a sign telling you which way Hennry's Fork is.  This is the way.  Turn left here,  It will wind around and ends up heading in a Southward direction for about 3 miles.  Follow the signs to the Hennry's Fork Trail head.  Once you arive there are two parking lots.   One for horses and one for hikers just a liitle furher and sits right on at the trail head.

King Peak Trail Head

The Top of Kings Our ending point

The trail head is at 9,000 feet and it has pit tolites and many nice camp sites.  We arived around 7 pm and decided to change our plans.  Rather than stay the night at the tail head we  packed up to head off for Alligator lake.  Alligator lake is 2.5 miles from the trail head and the turn off is well marked (GPS N 40 53.033, W 110 21.878)  If you are adventerous, continue on the trail to the GPS point N 40 53.033, W 110 21.878. Turn right here and bush wack up a small hill  heading west.  You will run right into Alligator Lake and avoid the steep hike.  It should be 1/2 mile or less.  Set your GPS for the Alligator point above.

 Campling!

 

Aligator Lake

Starbucks at 10,000 feet!

We arived just before dark and set up camp.  It took 1 hour form the trail head to the lake and we all agreed that its was worth  it. We got a head start and a Awesome camp sight to boot! 

Elkhorn Crossing

We got going early the next day and decided to take a short cut  out of Aligator Lake.  We knew by checking the GPS that the trail was right throught the trees near our cmap and did not feel like back tracking down the steep trail out of Aligator Lake. We set a heading and off we went, bush wacking through the timber. In no time at all we hit the trail again (See above for the GPS cordinates to use this route).  We pressed on to Dollar Lake.  On our way we went through Elkhorn Crossing.

At Elkhorn you can turn Right and head for Hennry's Lake or Left to Dollar lake.  If you are ok with about 4 miles of extra hiking, but want some of the best fishing these mountians have to offer, then go Right to Hennry's Lake.  You can still summit Kings. It just means you will have a little father to base camp. The distance to summit is about the same and time wise may be less given you have the option of comming down the "shoot" off of the face of Kings right back near your base camp.  We went Left to dollar lake.    At Elkhorn you will see a small bridge to your left that will allow passage across the creek.  Keep going straight for about 100 yards and you will see a second newer bridge that is much more stable and less chance of getting soaked in the creek.

 

 From the trail head (parking lot) to Dollar Lake it is 8 miles. We arived after hiking for 3 1/2 hours after leaving ALigator lake. For a total of 4 hours of hiking from the trail head.  Dollar Lake is not visiable from the trail. In fact we walked right past it the first time. The lake is off the left side of the trail in a large grove of pine trees.  It sits a 10,813 ft.  I would not recomend camping here.  It is beautiful do not get me wrong.  There is tremendous pressure form all the hikers headding up Kings s is showing its wear with, well, lets just say the evidence of human scat was too much for me.  I recomend moving on about 1/2 mile to the next lake.  It may not have water year round, but the creek is close and it feeds two large lakes just off the right side of the trail about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away.  This site is in a small grove of pine trees with some of the most spectacular views of the large vast medows and "drainage" along the hike.  It sits at N 40 49.237, W110 21.568.  It is also a driect shot to Gunsight Pass.

We set up camp and and made ourselfs at home.  We got out the maps and started to plan our summit the following day.  Doing this we made note of specific trail marks we need to hit to make the summit.  Word to the wise, do not belive evrything you read on the web when it comes to tail advice and drections.  Go with experence and your gut. 

We got going early and set off for out for the summit.  We left  Dollar and headed to Gunsight Pass.  As you hike you will come to the trail that conects Henny's Lake to Dollar Lake.  The Hennry Fork Basin turn off (N40 48.853, W110 22.440).  Stay to the left and head toward Gunsight pass.  Right in this area we ran into a man from South Jordan.  He told us he had left his car at 04:10 in the morning and had summited and now on his way back to his car to set  personal best.  His goal was  trail head to summit to car in less than 12 hours (when we checked out he did it in <11 hours!)

 

You will pass  Unnamed lake to the right, which is 2 miles from Dollar Lake at 11,512 ft (N40 48.237, W 11021.724).

As you approach Gunsight you will see a carin just before you start the switch backs.  If you are up for some boldering, stay centerd and head right up the gut of Gunsight Pass.  It will save you a lot of time and distance.  Otherwise start up the switch backs to the top of Gunsight pass at 11,911ft (N 40 47.827, W 110 21.568).

If you are up for more boldering, take a sharp Right hand turn and head up the mountian up the bolder field and over this ridge.  Comming down the other side will put you right on top of Anderson Pass.  This saves you at least 2 hours of hiking.  Once you are in Anderson Pass, you are a very short distance to the summit trail head.  We did not realize it was a true right turn and up and over the ridge.  We were under the impression from what we had read on the internet and guide books this was a boldering around the upper portion of Painters Basin.  This misunderstanding explaned why everthing we read said there was no water after the unnamed lake.  We went into the upper Painters Basin and ran into all kinds of water. We were very early in the season, but I suspect after the snow melts this would dry up quickly. 

Anderson Pass

At the top of Anderson Pass you are now only 0.8 miles from the summit.  There is a trail that comes in and out of the boulders.

Once at the top the views are just breath taking! Well worth the trip!

On the way down we decided to go straight down the back face of King peak (see photo at the start of this blog).  We boldered down to Anderson Pass and admired some high altitude flowers on the way back.

  We made it back to camp and crashed!  What a great day!  It chanellged us and rewarded us!  What an Unbelivable experence!

This hike is a challenge but well wort it!  I recomend it highly!  We are already planning our next adventure into this area real soon!

Stats on the Hike:

Total elevation change 12,000 feet over 3days, hiked 28 miles and burned 15,000+ calories.  Chris lost 4 lbs and I lost 3 1/2 lbs.  Adaptation changes:  First night my pulse was 113 resting and oxygen saturation after the hike 86%.  At Dollar LAke Heart rate at rest 90 and oxygen saturation 91%.  During the summit hike at 11,911ft heart rate was 90 and oxygen saturation 85%, at the top of Kings Peak, heart rate 88 and oxygen saturation 93%.