Back on the Tour d’Joko: Bridal Veil Falls & Lake Serene Edition
My leg muscles feel like jello. My feet ache like they’ve trampled upon by a herd of wild llamas. My knees are like those a 93 year old career ditch-digger. Yes, I hurt. See, I hiked 9 miles today. That number may not sound like a tremendously long distance, even for a 41 year-old pack-a-day smoker who could stand to lose 50 pounds or so. Healthy adults can walk 20 to 25 miles a day. Ah, but here’s the thing, my walk also included a 2500 foot elevation rise, the equivalent of walking up the stairs of two Empire State Buildings. And back down. And it was covered in rocks, ice and stream beds.
It was Hell. Most difficult hike I’ve ever been on.
And I am so glad I made the trip.
My first Tour d’Joko trip since getting my car back…
I walked nine miles. You can watch a nine minute video.
Some notes on the video and my day:
1. I find out there really isn’t such a thing as “bear repellant spray”. Well, maybe there is, but they don’t sell it at Fred Meyer, and they sell everything at Fred Meyer.
2. I’ve become a hesitant, scared driver. As you may know, I’ve just gotten back on the road after a 20 month absence, and driving a car is not like riding a bicycle! Perhaps it’s because of what happened in March 2010, but I’ve been experiencing some mini panic attacks since I started driving again. I’m hesitant. Timid. I’m sure I totally annoyed the people behind me as I puttered along at 50 mph on the 55 mph one-lane highway that lead to the trail head this morning.
3. Harry Connick Jr plays the piano at the end of the video.
4. The white, fluffy, frost stuff. The sentient frost-life that I murdered… Since I’ve been home, I’ve done some research on the internet and discovered that what I was seeing was very rare “frost flowers”. This is frost that is created when freezing cold air actually draws the moisture out of plant life in a steady flow that creates these flowery patterns. The exact type I was looking at is also called “Frost beards”.. that link is to the Wikipedia entry. It was not that Frost Beards develop on newly fallen branches (a poor branch that has lost its strength, yet has lots of moisture still in its sap has it ripped out of by the brutal thermal forces of the otherwise innocuous sounding “frost flowers”…sounds like branch rape to me), it‘s that the bark actually gets ripped off the foliage in the process of creating this kind of frost. Never seen anything like it in my life. I have no idea why it is so rare. I hope to see it again.
5. As I note at the end of the video, it was the hardest hike of my life. Perhaps this explains why, once I got to the top, I started speaking to the mountain and the lake as if they were puppy dogs.
Well there is a pungent Gain detergent will probably put off bears, it likely destroys the total human odor, Uggg! And the frost looks like finely strung fiber glass, its awesome Ive never seen it either…cool!!! I hope you have an emergency cell phone for those hikes just in case…soldier on Joko!! The panic attacks will lessen as you grow more secure and you will, I know Ive been there. I wish I could go 9 miles on a connection with nature. I simply cant walk that far, so I shall see such awesomeness through your camera’s eye. Thanks for sharing and I did watch the whole video 🙂 peace and Merry Christmas!!!
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lol never seen any weird white (snow)stuff like that either.What a manly man thing to do with such winter hike.Wow!
Theoretically I’m not moving my bum out in nature till March.And u Still have a voice even after all that climbing and frost! 😯
You are a braver and hardier soul than I, Joko.
I would think that bears would be in their winter sleep by now not stalking around the woods. There is bear repellant which is basically a pepper spray, but I’ve always wondered….if you’re close enough to shoot a bear with a spray, isn’t that really too close anyway?
Here for your future reference is a little bear/human encounter advice courtesy of the Elk River Trading Company.
http://www.elkrivertradingco.com/bear_repellant_safety_tips.htm
That would almost certainly kill me. Well done, Joko! 😀
Joe.
It’s about the mileage…
Feeling curmudgeonly today, so maybe don’t read the following.
One day I would like to ask a human rights professional if a theory I have is correct. Or better yet, hang out at a few human rights conferences and see for myself. Here is what I wonder:
Is it my imagination, or are smokers so self-centered that among wide-spectrum human rights advocates (those who belong to human rights organizations that help groups they do not belong to), a much lower % are smokers than in the general population?
And I have to say that starting at five minutes, I am a lot less likely to view an online video.
Nonetheless, I begrudgingly admit that you do have a plethora of witty comments on this site. You know – ones that I was just about to say myself, but you just barely beat me to them.
Thanks for sharing this with us, Joko. It is so beautiful there- I always wanted to see that area, and now I have 🙂 thank you. Although, experiencing it in person, I can imagine it was breathe taking. LOL
:entertained:
Joko, this was literally a breath of cool fresh air to come home to yesterday…..having just dived in headfirst to central Melbourne in 31 degree c heat, and a hot ride home on a tram so crowded my head in some many peoples armpits….
Thanks :love: