Camping and Sleep Schedules

I recently read an article about camping and sleep schedules, titled Camping Helps Set Circadian Clocks Straight. It begins:

A new study, published in the journal Current Biology, reveals that if given a chance, our body's internal biological clocks will tightly synchronize to a natural, midsummer light-dark cycle.

The study found that a week of exposure to true dawn and dusk with no artificial lights had a significant effect on people who might otherwise describe themselves as night owls.  Researchers found that under those conditions, night owls quickly become early birds.

"By increasing our exposure to sunlight and reducing our exposure to electrical lighting at night, we can turn our internal clock and sleep times back and likely make it easier to awaken and be alert in the morning," Kenneth Wright of the University of Colorado Boulder said in a news release.

This might be the least-surprising study I've ever read, undoubtedly co-authored by Captain Obvious, Ph.D. Anyone who's ever camped could tell you that's one of the strongest appeals of camping. You can't help falling into a natural rhythm. When the sun goes down, you sit around the campfire for a while, and then you naturally want to go to sleep (especially if you've been hiking that day and your body is a little sore). And when the sun comes up and the birds are singing, you can't help but wake up.

You don't have to make a conscious effort to change your sleep patterns - it just happens.

Speaking of which, Maine '13 is five weeks away. More on that very soon.

Remembering TRNP

It hasn't been a great hiking summer so far, for reasons both good and bad. That will change soon, as Maine '13 is rapidly approaching (more on that very soon.) But I saw a couple of things recently that made me think of the Dakotas trip of two years ago.

The first was a feature article on Theodore Roosevelt National Park on CNN. It's a nice summary with some great pictures, and it mentions the Caprock Coulee Trail as a "don't miss" hike. That's the trail we did on our first day in the park, and I agree that it's a "don't miss" hike.

The second link is a YouTube video from National Geographic titled "Red-Tailed Hawk vs. Rattler". This is interesting in itself, but all the more so because on our hike on day 2 of our TRNP stay, we saw a red-tailed hawk fly overhead with a sizable dead snake in its beak.

This brought back some good memories, and I read back over my trip reports, which made more memories come flooding back. In some ways, it seems like that was *way* longer than two years ago. Good times.

Hiking in TRNP

Ridley Creek S.P., 3/3/13

I had a little free time the other Sunday, and decided to stretch my legs in Ridley Creek State Park. I know I take RCSP somewhat for granted - it's about 20 minutes away, and the nearest "real" hiking (i.e., a trail in the woods, as opposed to walking on a paved path), so it's basically my default option for when time is limited. But it's more than a default, it's a good option, with pleasant trails and some very pretty scenery.

The goal for this day was just to get out in the woods again, as I hadn't done any hiking in...a long time. A few months anyway. So it felt wonderful to get out in the woods. The day was cold and gray, but I was dressed lightly and quickly heated up once I started moving.

I did what I guess is my standard hike - a big general loop with a couple of smaller loops thrown in. I did everything in a counterclockwise direction. I only saw a few other hikers, all of whom were dressed like Eskimos in the depths of an Arctic winter. I guess they thought I was the crazy one.

I took a few camera phone pics, and intended to put a slideshow here. But Google has changed their web albums, and if that's still an option, I can't find it. So if you're interested, here's a link to a few pics.

Distance: 5.49 miles
Elapsed Time: 1:40

Maine '13: Initial Plans

The first meeting of the Maine '13 planning committee was called to order on a recent Saturday afternoon. John, Ted, and I were present, and Eric was on board with all the tentative plans and available by phone.

The first question was "when", and we resolved that pretty quickly by process of elimination. Looking at people's commitments, middle September seemed like the only time that worked for everyone. Looking at a calendar, we settled on Wednesday 9/11 through Tuesday 9/17.

The next question was "how" (to get there), and that was also quickly resolved. Someone said that USAir had cheap flights from Philadelphia to Bangor, ME, and we found that to be the case. It looked tailor-made for us - a cheap, direct flight, leaving the Wednesday afternoon and returning the following Tuesday afternoon. It seemed so perfect that we wanted to book immediately, before anything changed. So we got Eric on the phone, got his blessing to book it, and made our reservations.

That led to the question of "what" (to do while there.) We came up with a rough outline. We want to spend time in two spots while we're there, and Bangor is about midway between them. The first is Baxter State Park, where we'll camp and hike. Baxter contains Mt. Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Maine-to-Georgia Appalachian Trail, and the high point of the state of Maine. (More about Baxter and Katahdin in future posts.)

The other spot is Acadia National Park on the coast. That's been in our sights since 1986, when our college graduation trip to Acadia was scuttled at the last minute. So between these two places, we think we'll get the two classic Maine scenes - the woods/mountain/moose Maine at Baxter, and the rocky coastline Maine at Acadia.

The rough itinerary is to get into Bangor on Wed. evening, rent an SUV, and drive partway to Baxter. We'll have all day Thursday and Friday there, presumably doing the big hike to Katahdin on Friday. At some point Saturday, we'll break camp at Baxter and drive the few hours to Acadia. We'll have all day Sunday and Monday there, then break camp Tuesday, make our way to Bangor and airport, and fly home.

Nothing is reserved yet (campsites can't be reserved this far in advance), but this seems like a workable plan.

More details to come.

Hiking Year in Review

Looking back at my 2012 hiking, it was a year of quality over quantity. I did not do the amount of day-hiking I've done other years - just due to general busyness. I used a number of personal days as sick days, and to help take care of my mom. So I wasn't able to grab a personal day to do an A.T. day-hike, or even to get up to Hawk Mountain for a day of hiking and raptor-watching in the fall. But the hiking I *was* able to do was very memorable.

My Shenandoah N.P. weekend in May was memorable for the bear I saw, and the vistas from Big Devil's Stairs - and also because of the agonizing back pain I was in. Thankfully I recovered from that...though slowly. I've decided that I need to see both a bear and a rattlesnake in the wild every year. So this year was only 50% successful.

The boys' trip to the Adirondacks was another smashing success. It was the latest in a long line of fun and well-planned trips. I bagged two peaks (Marcy and Algonquin) - both were brutally hard, but the vistas from both summits were equally spectacular.

Finally, I had a fun day at Mt. Rainier. It was unfortunate that the clouds and snow took away the vistas I was hoping to see, but the hiking was still fantastic, and the pine and cedar mountainsides of Washington state have to be seen to be believed.

So 2012 is in the books, and I can't possibly complain. 2013 doesn't promise to be any less busy, but hopefully there will be more opportunities to get out for interesting day-hikes. Discussion and planning for a boys' 2013 hiking trip will be the subject of future posts.

Rampart Ridge Trail, MRNP, 11/11/2012

Part 2 of my Mt. Rainier hiking day. In my previous trip report, I cut short my hike to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground because I thought it might be snowing hard. When it turned out it wasn't, I decided on a second hike. I saw on my map that the Rampart Ridge Trail was a 5-mile loop, starting at the Longmire Visitor's Center, so I decided to give that a try.

My trip report follows.

12:06pm
I'm on the trail again. It's still lightly flurrying, but nothing to be concerned about. I'm parked at the Visitor's Center, and the trail starts just across the road. According to the map, I'll do a clockwise loop. I'll take the Rampart Ridge Trail for about three miles. When it junctions with the Wonderland Trail, I'll take the right fork, which will bring me back to the Visitor's Center in another two miles. That seems like a perfect hike for the time I have available - and especially as the last weather forecast I saw had heavier snow starting at 3pm.

12:55pm
Longmire Overlook. Holy smokes what a climb! After maybe a quarter mile of flat ground, the trail started climbing relentlessly, switchbacking up a mountainside. As with the last hike, the trees are enormous, and it just seems magical to be hiking in such a forest of monsters.

There's been the occasional break in the trees, giving me a view out to the surrounding area. I've had a few very brief glimpses through the thick clouds of distant snow- and ice-covered mountainsides. They're gorgeous views, but quickly gone (and un-photographable with my phone's camera) and are a tease of what the views could be on a clear day.

My GPS says I've come 1.9 miles, and I'm sweating profusely. The climb has been steep and unrelenting. I'm wondering how much elevation I've gained, and I'm guessing somewhere between 1500 and 2000 feet.

1:18pm
Junction of the Wonderland Trail. The last mile has been blessedly flat, and seemed to be a walk along the ridgeline. I'm pretty sure that on a clear day, there would have been vistas of Rainier itself to the left - but today I just looked out into clouds and fog. It's still snowing, and maybe a little harder then before. 2.0 miles to the trailhead, and there has to be a steep descent from this point on.

2:04pm
Trailhead, Longmire Visitor's Center. The descent was steep, but not as much as I expected. I hiked a little over 5 miles in about 2 hours, and that was perfect.

Postscript
I'm discouraged to see that the Park Service website says the hike I just did has an elevation gain of 1339 feet. It felt like *much* more than that. But no complaints, it was a beautiful and challenging hike.

I have nothing but good things to say about both the hikes I did in Rainier. The only unfortunate thing was the weather - the cloud cover took away all the mountain vistas, which are undoubtedly spectacular. But there's nothing you can do about the weather, and the chance to hike among such amazing trees was pure pleasure.

If the opportunity ever allowed, I would gladly return to Mt. Rainier National Park for more hiking.

Distance: 5.20 miles
Elapsed Time: 1:57:07

Rampart Ridge-Wonderland Trail Loop (hiked clockwise)

My two Rainier hikes, showing proximity to the mountain (which I never saw)

Kautz Creek Trail, MRNP, 11/11/2012

Last Sunday, I had the day to myself in the Seattle area. My only restrictions were that I had to deliver my friends to SeaTac airport at 7am Sunday morning, and I had to be at the airport myself the next day around 9am. The time between was mine to do as I pleased.

Two years ago, I also had a free day in Seattle, and that day I took John's advice and did a one-day exploration of the Olympic Peninsula that I still remember with great fondness (trip report here.) This time I wanted to do some hiking in Mt. Rainier National Park.

I had a hike picked out in the east side of the park - but I found out the day before that that section of the park is closed for the winter. I confirmed that the west side of the park was still open, and selected a hike: Indian Henry's Hunting Ground via Kautz Creek. This is a fairly long and strenuous hike, but I figured I had all day and I wanted to do something good.

Then at the party on Saturday night, I talked to a guy who works for the National Weather Service. He told me that snow was expected in elevations about 3000 ft. on Sunday afternoon. I promised I'd be careful (making him the latest in a long line of people  to receive my promise of being careful.)

Sunday morning arrived, gray and cool, and we left our cozy home-away-from-home at 6:10am. Part 1 of my trip report follows:

7:18am

Breakfast stop at McDonald's. I got my friends to SeaTac at 7am, and the rest of the day is mine. It's cloudy and cool, and the forecast is still not good. The park is maybe two hours away, and I'll get there as quickly as I can, so I can hopefully hike before the snow starts.

9:12am
Entrance to the National Park. Admission is free, as it's Veteran's Day. I got a few glimpses of Rainier over the last half hour, as I approached the park. I could only see the shoulders of the mountain, as its head is in the clouds - but even the first glimpse of that made me say "Woah!" It's *massive*, and I hope I'll get a view of the mountain today - though that's probably a long-shot, as it's getting more cloudy, not less.

9:39am

Kautz Creek trailhead. I drove maybe 5 miles into the park, and there's ice on the narrow windy road. I drove slowly and carefully and had no trouble. It's cold - probably a little above freezing. I'm dressed for it - with a few layers and my Gore-tex jacket. I have a water, a Gatorade, and a couple of energy bars. There are a few snowflakes falling, and the cloud cover is so heavy that there are no mountain vistas. Oh well, off we go.

10:15am
For the first 3/4 of a mile, the trail was flat and followed a stream. Then things got interesting - the trail crossed the stream, went into the woods, and started climbing. As soon as I went into the woods, I couldn't stop gaping. It was like entering another world...maybe Tolkien's Middle Earth. The trees were unbelievable - they were so thick and so *massive*. Some had fallen across the trail and had been cut, and its diameter was more than my height. They were mostly cedars and firs, and the smell was pure Christmas morning.

If you've read any of my trip reports, you know that a climb means that I start generating body heat like crazy. First my gloves went in my pocket. Then my jacket came off and got strapped to my daypack. I have a short-sleeve wicking shirt under a long-sleeve flannel shirt.

The trail is climbing relentlessly, and I'm huffing and puffing. There are no vistas, but hiking through these trees is magical.

10:42am
The trail is still climbing relentlessly, and my flannel shirt is now completely unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up. I'm stopping for a short rest and drink, and I've decided to turn around and head back to the car.

Snow has been falling steadily - I would call it a light flurry, but that's what I'm seeing under the canopy of these massive trees, and maybe that means it's really snowing hard. I'm a little less than halfway to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground, and I hate to abandon the hike - but as I already noted, I've promised a number of people that I'd be careful, and I don't want to get in over my head if it really is snowing hard out there.

11:43am

Trailhead. That was a grueling downhill - I find the steep downhills hard on the legs/quads, where steep uphills are hard on the lungs. As I came out of the woods and followed the last half mile along the creek, I buttoned my flannel shirt again and put my jacket back on.

When I came out of the woods, I realized that my fears were not realized. What was a light flurry under the trees was indeed just a light flurry - so light that I think my hiking for the day is not over. The Longmire Visitor's Center is a few miles away, and I know there are a number of trails that go out of there. I'll drive up there and see about a second hike.

Distance: 5.22 miles
Elapsed Time: 2:09