Trainin' on Heinen

In early June, I wanted to get one last training hike in before I left town for a business trip. The week following the trip I'd be going on a camping and backpacking trip, so I wouldn't have time for any more training hikes between the two trips. 

Now, I wanted to stay the night at the trailhead and then hike out first thing in the morning, but my husband checked the weather forecast and made the call that we should sleep at home and drive out in the morning. I was a bit disappointed, because I do love sleeping outdoors, but I don't like getting wet. 

So we woke up at 4:30 am, got ready to go, and drove out to the trailhead. When we arrived, it was clear that there had been rain over night. Yes, I admitted to myself, Ambrose was right to pay attention to the forecast. 

As we were getting ready to hike out, Ambrose casually mentioned that he had been up since midnight, unable to fall back asleep. I was a bit amazed that he had been able to drive - had I known earlier, I would have offered to drive us out as well as back. So I understood that he was going to go as far as he felt comfortable and no farther. 

I honestly didn't want to go very far myself. It's the dread of those first two miles that really makes me not want to go very far. And the weather was overcast and threatening to storm, so I gave myself a soft goal of getting to the peak with the hitching posts and barbed wire. 

Of course, as soon as I hit that first uphill on the front, I wanted to turn back and take a nap. But I powered through, hoping that if I could make the peak that I could do the whole trip faster than I have before. I also didn't bring my camera for this one, though I did have a camera in the form of my phone, since I was using my phone to track my distance and time. 

I took my first break a little bit after the first mile. I was planning on a snack and break every hour on the hour - or so, and my first mile only took 54 minutes, so I hiked on a bit before stopping for snack break number one. And for snack break number two, I went well past the 2 mile top out. It was at that top out that I began to feel good about being out there. 

The sky stayed overcast, but didn't do anything more than a bit of sprinkling rain now and again. I ran into a hiker coming down and we chatted a bit; she wished she had started a bit later since she ended up turning back before the peak due to the threatening weather. She was going to go and do another hike, maybe Cervidae, since she'd driven all the way out. 

I was happy for the clouds, because they kept the temperature comfortably in the 60's. A bit warm for strenuous hiking, but not as bad as it would be if the sun were to come fully out. I made it to the hitching post hill and knew I wasn't stopping there. My body really felt good, and I knew I could make it. 

At one point, my inReach device chimed; Ambrose was letting me know he was heading back to the car. I didn't expect to see him again on the trail since I was still heading up to the peak. I'll admit, a small part of me did a little gleeful dance at the realization that I wouldn't be doing the cooking at the car. Ambrose would get there first, so he would do it! 

I reached the peak around a quarter to eleven, which was less than 4 hours from when I started at seven. Yay! There were four people up there, taking pictures and kind of hanging out there. I took a few pictures for proof and then turned right around to continue my hike. One of them asked if I was already leaving and I replied that it wasn't break time yet. 

When it was breaktime, I finished off my first water bladder and switched to the next one. I think I could do this hike with 3 liters, but 4 provides a nice buffer and a little extra weight for the sake of training. Going down went much faster than coming up, as per usual. 

After I finished the steepest climb on the way back (also the steepest descent on the way out), I came upon two hikers and I stepped off the trail. I was sucking wind from the steep trail, and one of them asked if I was okay. I said I was, just that it was super steep. She was not happy to hear that a steep section was coming. 

I ran into more and more hikers as I continued to descend, but no dogs, which was a first for me. I also saw several little lizards run across the trail (five in total), so that was cute. When I got down to the final mile, I saw that I had caught up with some people who had passed me earlier. I figured if I really went hard on the last mile, I might catch them, but I decided to be safe instead. I'd rather not get injured on a lark. 

But I did end up doing a little running on those last descents, just letting gravity kind of pull me along. My pack jounced, which was a bit uncomfortable, but it was also fun. Especially since I made it back to the car in less than 7 hours, beating my previous time by almost an hour. 

As I had hoped, Ambrose had cooked up the chicken and rice. He also had a brilliant idea of pouring water over my head, and I was all for that! It felt so nice to rinse the sweat out of my hair and cool my face a bit. Then I got to sit in the scant shade of the car and eat before I drove us home. 

Not sure what these flowers are, but I was enchanted by them.

Threatening clouds sped my steps.

Obligatory peak selfie.

Nice view from the peak.

I didn't expect so many flowers to be in bloom. 

I guess May showers brought June flowers this year.

And not just flowers - everything was gorgeously verdant.

Took a break with a view.

My favorite flower.

The sun was out by the time I got back to the car.

Heinen Again! A Tale of Three Shoes

The first time I tried hiking Mount Heinen, I only made it 2 miles in before turning back. On that trip, I wore the Softstar Switchback boots and found myself disappointed that my toes felt so banged up by them, especially when hiking that steep downhill. I also felt how lacking full gusseting impacted the amount of dirt that managed to get inside the boot, though I think a combination of gaiters and proper lacing will mitigate that significantly. 

So for the next hike, I wore my Lems Boulder Boots to see how those would do. I had to figure out some lacing tricks, especially for the downhill parts, where I undid the top two lacing holes so my ankles had more room to bend. But on the downhill, once again, my toes were just banging up against the end of the boot. 

Now, this hike is not an easy one. The downhill sections can be super steep and a bit ridiculous. So I decided on the third trip to wear my ol' reliable Altra Lone Peaks. If my toes still felt banged up using those, then I could lay blame solely on the trail, since they are mostly quite comfortable. 

And so, it came about that I wore my Altras to hike Mount Heinen. 

Ambrose and I also made a few changes to our hiking plan, because we didn't want to be quite as wrecked as we were after the first full hike of that trail. We both planned to eat more frequently and intentionally on the trail itself, and I suggested we have a meal at the trailhead after we finished. We also decided a Saturday hike would be a smarter move for us than another Sunday, so we could use Sunday as a recovery day. 

On Friday night, after eating dinner at home, we drove out to the trailhead. This time we didn't drive down towards the beach, because it was much more crowded. Instead, we parked closer to the road, and then ended up laying our tarp out just behind the car. Even though we could hear music being played at the beach, it wasn't loud enough to disturb our sleep, and we had a good night. 

Up at 5 the next morning when a pair of hikers drove into the trailhead. Ambrose asked them the time, and they apologized for waking us, but they hadn't. Ambrose was already up and so was I. We packed up our sleeping situation and ate breakfast, again getting started just before 6 in the morning. I headed out to try and beat last week's time. Ambrose had the same goal, but I'm still faster than him (for now). 

I got passed by two separate hikers before I even reached the two mile mark, which made me feel quite slow. But at least it wasn't Ambrose passing me. 

I was able to go faster than before in part because I now knew where I was going, and had somewhat of an idea of what to expect as I hiked. More uphill, that worst downhill section of the back, Heinen in sight. 

The day was cool, and I made good time as the sun rose. I tried to pay a bit more attention to the terrain as I walked the ridgeline so that I would recognize my landmarks on the way back. The Altras were doing well on both uphill sections and downhill sections. 

Every now and then I'd look back to see if Ambrose was about to catch up with me, but I didn't see him behind me this time. For the most part, I hiked as though completely alone. I knew there were the guys ahead of me, and I wondered when I'd see them coming back. 

That made things complicated when I needed to dig a hole. I didn't want to be caught in sight of the trail while doing my business, not with people certainly ahead of me and behind me. Though if Ambrose were to come upon me, I wouldn't have an issue. Luck was with me, and I managed to find a spot on the ridge where I could walk into the trees and be concealed from the view of the trail for my hole digging. 

This time, I knew better than to rejoice at the top of the hill with the hitching posts. I knew which peak was the peak I wanted to reach. And not long after I caught sight of Heinen, the early bird hikers came back from the peak and passed me. 

And while the steep uphill hiking wasn't that much easier, I was keeping up with my snacking and hydration. It was much easier to keep up with drinking water when I was carrying 4 liters to drink instead of just 2. 

For this trip, I had my first 2 liter bladder filled with caffeinated electrolyte mix (Nuun Fresh Lime), and the second 2 liter bladder had herbal tea. And this time I took the tea bags out after the 2 liters were brewed - last time I didn't remove the tea bags and they obstructed my drinking tube. 

As I reached the final line of the ridge, the first guy to pass me hiked down, and, shortly after, the second. No one was left between me and the peak! I didn't spend much time at the peak, just long enough for a picture and some admiration of the view.

I passed Ambrose right at the edge of that final ridgeline. He was making good time and looked like he was in good shape.

I didn't end up finishing the first water bladder by the time I reached the peak. But at my next snack break, I checked the level and found that I had just managed to finish it! I swapped over to the full water bladder and ate my snack before continuing on. 

I relished the remaining climbs, knowing that I would soon be on a steep downhill stretch. I managed to find another place to dig a hole that was mostly not visible from the trail, and no one came upon me while I was doing my business. 

But more people were coming up by this time. A couple of solo hikers and several pairs were headed up, along with some dogs. But after I got to that last 2 miles, I didn't see anyone else coming up on the trail. 

I got focused on the extreme downhill. And while I didn't appreciate how much my toes were hurting as I went down the trail, I did appreciate that even the Altras banged my toes coming down from Heinen. My experience with toe banging with the Lems and the Softstars was nothing to do with them, necessarily. It was the trail!

I took my time on the downhill. I didn't want to slip and fall. Not when I had a meal waiting for me at the car. 

The timing was just about perfect. I made it back to the car, spread out the tarp and got myself set up to cook. I made Minute Rice and Dinty Moore Beef Stew, and just as I finished, I saw Ambrose making his way down the trail. I started eating, of course, but I didn't eat all of it before he got there to grab a bite. 

We finished eating just before the rain started to fall, forcing us to retreat into the car. I drove us home. 

Mount Heinen!

 This time we approached Mount Heinen with a plan - and a knowledge of how long the trail was. The first part of our plan was to spend the night near the trailhead so we wouldn't need to drive in the morning. Not only does that allow us to get an early start, but it allowed us to indulge in a night spent outdoors. 

When we arrived near the trailhead, we drove down towards the reservoir to find a spot to claim. There was a decent spot available; not one that we'd want to spend a lot of time at, but usable for the night. 

When we opened the car doors, we were greeted by the echoing calls of sheep. There was a huge flock up on the hillside, and they were quite vocal. A bit hard to hear on the video; you'll need to take my word that it was much louder in person. 

I found a flat enough spot to spread our tarp and we were pretty much set for bed before long. The sun was still up when we got comfortable on our sleeping pads, but it didn't stay above the ridge for much longer. 

However, the moon rose soon after the sun sank. I have rarely seen a cooler moonrise. It just crept up over the ridgeline like a spotlight, huge, full and bright. The water cast a rose-gold reflection like a path from the moon's light. 

Sheep on the hill.

Moonrise.

Moonlight dancing on the water.

I stayed up a bit too late reading, but I did get to bed at a reasonable hour, anticipating a 5 am wake up call. Ambrose wasn't setting an alarm, but he didn't really need to. He's always waking up early! I trusted that he would wake me up right around 5. 

Since we had both made an effort to stay hydrated, we both got up a few times in the night to answer calls of nature. On one of Ambrose's, he saw people starting up the trail by headlamp around 4 am. 

I was awake when Ambrose woke me, but I didn't realize what time it was. I was just lying there considering whether I needed to get up to pee or could just go back to sleep for a bit. But sleep was not to be. 

We got dressed and packed everything into the car. Then a short, if bumpy, drive to the trailhead parking. We ate breakfast in the car, and then started off on the trail. I realized as we began that I had forgotten to charge up all my equipment. My phone was only about 35%, and I wasn't sure it would run for the whole trip with Map My Run recording my hike. My camera and my GPS were both down to their last bars. So I ended up taking less pictures than I normally might. 

Just like last time, the first part was awful and steep. Lots of the trail is chewed up and difficult to hike. And there's about 2000 feet of gain in the first two miles. That's not easy. But I did it much faster than the first time. 

I had planned on taking a break once I reached the first main plateau, but when I got there, I could smell and see that the sheep had been there first. The ground was a bit churned up, and I could smell the poop that I could see scattered about on the ground. Rather than putting my brand new sit pad on poop, I hiked on until I found a relatively clear spot to take a snack break. 

Before my next break, two women came running down the trail. I stepped off so that they could pass, and when the second thanked me, I told her she was doing a great job. I could hear her, a moment later, say, "Yeah, we are doing a great job." Soon after that, I took that break at the point that we'd turned back the last time. I didn't take a very long break, just enough to rest my feet and eat a bit. Then it was time for new trail. 

Starting before the sun rose.

Looking back down; can you spot the tiny Ambrose?

This part of the trail just inspires dread. 

Almost to the top of the first section.

Trailside mushrooms.

Time to start the new section of trail!

Let the ridge walking begin! 

Part of what made me turn back on the first attempt was seeing how much the trail went downhill before climbing right back up again. Now, I went ahead and descended, knowing that I'd have to climb back up. But the trail had several ups and downs in store for me. 

I wasn't too far from my break when I heard a voice behind me. Ambrose was in sight! And in hearing. He told me, from afar, that the runners were planning on running all four peaks of the Boise Grand Slam in one day. I was excited that he was so close behind me; uphill hiking hasn't been his strong suit. 

I thought the small double peak that was visible from my first few ridge walking hills was Heinen, but as I got close, I saw the trail actually went around that peak. And, as I could see that it was not going around to come up the back, I pulled out the GPS and discovered I was still almost 2 miles from Heinen as the crow flies (the GPS didn't have this trail on it, so I could only get straight line distance). 

Now if there was one thing I wasn't expecting, it was to see another person coming down the trail. But what I really wasn't expecting was to see a young man leading a small herd of horses towards me. Some of them had pack saddles on, but others lacked any gear at all. I waved at the guy and wondered what all those loose horses were doing. Maybe they were just going for a walk. 

This trail, in addition to being completely switchback-phobic, seemed just determined to go over the top of every high point on the way up Mount Heinen. When I saw structures at the top of one, I thought I was reaching the peak. When I got there, I saw the structures were hitching posts (and I had to step over some barbed wire lying across the trail). I took out the GPS and... still not Heinen. 

But I was getting closer! 

Not long after that was a very challenging downhill section, very steep. I had tightened up my Lems Boulder boots a lot, but I found that the tightness higher up on my ankles didn't work very well on the downhill sections. The leather dug into my ankles a bit, and I knew two things. One, I was going to be sore there, and two, I needed to figure out a better lacing strategy after I turned around. 

My next GPS check wasn't so much to determine if the peak I was currently on was the peak, but rather to see if I could use the map to determine which of the peaks looming ahead was Heinen. And I was able to determine, at last, my target point. 

It's funny how a hike can go a bit faster when the end is in sight. I still had a good bit of climbing to get through, but it went smoothly. And I finally got to the peak, marked by not one, but two benchmarks. One from the USDA and one from the USGS. There was even a peak register for me to sign! I haven't had the pleasure of signing many of those. Kind of makes me hungry for a few more peaks in my life. 

From the peak, I could see Ambrose making his way up. I decided to wait, on the very windy peak, until he arrived so I could get a picture of him at the top. And he ended up being only 13 minutes behind me! I feel like it won't be long until he's hiking faster than me again, if I don't keep up with my training. 

Ridge walking!

Horses on their way down to the road.

I thought I could see Heinen from here, but I was wrong.

Snow on the distant mountains.

Hitching Post Hill - also not Mount Heinen. 

Almost there, that's Mount Heinen on the far left.

A bit of snow near the peak.

USDA Benchmark

Peak Registry!

USCGS

Mountain selfie, with accidental perspective lines.

I signed the registry!

Proof Ambrose made it to the top - and only 13 minutes after I arrived. 

We started back together, finding a place out of the wind to take a break, but Ambrose wanted to eat lunch, and I preferred just to have a bar and keep hiking. These training hikes are supposed to be harder than what we plan to do backpacking, so I push myself. I hadn't gone far before I came upon another hiker and his dog. 

I ran into several more people as I continued back to the car. A pair of older gentlemen, and then a younger couple. I chatted very briefly with each as we passed. Then I saw a larger group up ahead of me, a mix of men and women. One of the women looked familiar, but I thought to myself, there's no way that's my old coworker. 

So when I walked by the group, I didn't even look at that person until I heard my name. It was my former coworker! I was so excited I gave her a great big hug, and then spent several minutes chatting with her and her group. I let them know that my husband was behind me and reminded her of his name so she could "freak" him out by saying hello by name (which she did, and he was startled). 

The horses and their boy passed by again, going in the opposite direction. Ambrose asked if he was with the shepherds and the guy said yes, but for a different flock than the one we heard bleating on the hill near the reservoir. 

From there, I kept expecting the turn back towards the car to be just over the next hill. I had mentally divided the trail into four sections. First, the front, which was about the first mile straight up from the car. Next, the traverse, when the trail took a left after the front and before it took the right towards Heinen. Then the front back (between the traverse and going around those two little peaks) and the back back (once Heinen was in sight). And every summit I crested seemed like it was the start of the traverse again, until I saw yet another downhill section. 

The good part about the downhills was that I got to have another section of uphill after them. Which was good, because Ambrose was actually in sight behind me before at my last break before I reached the traverse! I mean, I did give him some time to catch up, what with the long chat with my former coworker. But he was actually catching me, and I knew he'd be faster on the purely downhill sections coming up. I had to skeddadle! 

I'd figured out that undoing the top two lacing holes on my boots made downhill hiking much more comfortable on my ankles, but the toes of my right foot got into a banging position and I had a hard time not aggravating them on the downhill sections. I wondered how much of it was the boots and how much of it was that this was simply a rough trail to hike. Next time, I'm going to use my Altra shoes and see how they do when it comes to my toes. 

More snow visible once I turned around.

Barbed wire across the trail.

Rolling along the ridge.

Getting back in sight of the water.

The horses came back fully laden.

After I reached what I called the traverse section, I ran into two more hikers along with two dogs, and I chatted briefly with them about the Grand Slam peaks before continuing on. I was so close to the end, I could feel it. I just needed to keep myself from falling down, which wasn't entirely easy. The trail, by this point, was quite dry and dusty, making traction on some downhill sections hard to come by. I almost fell once, but managed to catch myself with my trekking poles. 

Once I got to the car, I looked up at the trail. I could see Ambrose making his way down off the front. So I got in and drove off. Literally. But I didn't go far :) 

I drove myself over to the nearby pit toilet to use the facilities, and then drove back to wait for Ambrose. I even left the car running because he was very close, and I was very hot. The AC felt great! 

My body felt absolutely wrecked, but I was able to drive us home. And I was very grateful that the trailhead was only an hour's drive from home rather than the three to four that our usual training hike is. And now that I've done the peak once, well, I can't wait to do it again and see how fast I can go now that it is a known trail. 

I love these flowers!

The sheep were still on the hill, making a ruckus. 

So close, yet so far away from the car...