Mt Williamson yesterday

Another week gone by between posts! Not what I intended, when I started this.

Anyway, I did Mt Williamson yesterday - it's up in the Angeles National Forest, above Islip Saddle - it is NOT the Mt Williamson in the Sierra Nevada's, with a height of over 14k. This one has a height of about 8245. Islip Saddle is the same starting point as the hike I did with the group LAST Wednesday. And this was with the same group. A good hike - not very long - my GPS said I only did about 4.5 miles - but a good climb - the last half mile quite steep - and the elevation added to the workout.

I need to do some more research, but I found one note that says you get 5% less oxygen for every 1000 feet in altitude. So if I nornally hike at, say, 3000 feet, and now I am at 8000 feet - that 25% less oxygen. So it makes sense that I would feel like I was working harder, or needing more rest, on a hike like this. And it also says I need to do MORE of them!

Back to the hike - I did wimp out a little bit. I got to the top of Mt Williamson. From there, some of the people hiked on a ridge to a couple of other "bumps" - one of them even seemed a little higher than Mt Williamson. I kind of started to go with them - but there were a lot of rocks, and a little dip (that I would have to climb on the way back), and then the climb to the higher bump - and I was already beat, and had achieved my objective - so I decided just to wait for them. And as I rested, I got my strength back, and said to myself "great - you wimped out here - so it means you will have to come back and do the whole thing all OVER again, so you can do the bumps!" WIMP!

But, still, it was a good hike. Nice views to the north east of ... not sure what exactly. Supposedly, the San Andreas fault was visible below us - but no one could point me at a specific feature. The map shows Highways 138 and 18, running from Pearblossom to Victorville. Mostly a lot of empty space. But we could see it really well! Except for the haze, of course.

That's it for today. More, soon.