Day 12 - Bangalore

Finally reached Bangalore. We had enough time and space to put the bikes together in tran itself. That was good. We got off at the main station and from there had a long ride back home. It was peak traffic time on weekday. But Rahul showed great navigation skill and we were able to do the whole ride by inner roads, away from bad traffic. I did have a fall on the way though, not bad, but just some combination of downhill and breaks. I was just so glad to finally reach his apartment and have the ride over with!

Day 11: Alappuzha - Ernakulam: 70km

The houseboat ride had still refreshed me enough that I could so the final stretch to Ernakulum. It was all on NH and we knew that there is going to be lot of traffic and pollution. No surprises there. Going was slow, but ok, we were covering the distance. We reached a place called Aarur, from there we were able to take a Kochi bypass in Ernakulum. That was good, my cold was bad, whole respiratory system was fried and I had to get this over with. Ernakulum city was worse than expected, really had traffic and it took us really long time to navigate the last 9 km to railway station. Someone I got there, still alive. Then it was long wait for the train. We spent the time at a restaurant, having lunch and then coffee etc.
On train, we decided to take the bikes with us. After bus's terrible experience, I did not want to leave the bikes anywhere else. So we paied Rs1000 and took the bikes with us. Vaibhav helped us take them apart and we could adjust them under the seats. Here again I saw another reason for this country's backwardness. People are just mean and greedy. There was an empty cupboard in train where bikes would had fitted. But the person managing it probably wanted money, so he won't let us put bike in there. He locked it and just would not listen. We also decided, whatever happens, we are not giving him money. Luckily folks on other seats were nice and adjusted with the bikes. Train ride was overnight and turned out to be ok. Away from pollution, my cold was little better.

Day 10: Amritapuri - Alappuzha: 60km

I got up feeling much better. The medicine had worked to hide the symptoms. So we decided to ride. We started early, but we had to again go on highway which I know was not good for my respiratory system. Early morning helped, though not much. We reached Allepey in afternoon and had to find houseboat. I was not really into it, because taking a boat would also mean that we will again be starting Ernakulum ride in the afternoon. But it was not an option. So we took the boat and loaded all our stuff in it, including bikes. Boat was ok, at least it took us out in waters away from traffic. I wish it was away from pollution also, but there was lot of pollution of all diesel engines of the boats. It was still enjoyable, somewhat relaxing. The backwaters were definitely very beautiful.
I had a really bad night on the boat. It was A/C, and that's usually worst thing for my cold. I could not sleep much at night, and got up with headache and bad throat. I could not wait to get this over with.

Day 9: Varkala - Kollam - Amritapuri: 40km biking

We started really early, before dawn. The plan was to reach Kollam, and then from there take ferry to Amma ashram at Amritapuri. I had never seen ashram and wanted to see what its all about. The ride would have been great, but we did most of it in dark, at least the fun parts. We could feel that road is lined with ocean and backwaters, but could not see much. Still terrine was so much flatter now, it made for a good ride. Soon we had to join NH 47 though, and it was back to traffic. Good thing is that at least we were getting narial pani now. We also enjoyed some other fruit on the way.
There were some nice bridges over backwaters on the way. Ride to Kollam was ok, not as great of east coast ones due to traffic, but better than previous 2 rides because we started early. We reached Kollam well before time, around 8:00. We took a stop at Railway station to book some tickets and then headed off to take the ferry. I had proper cold by now, and could feel a fever coming. Due to whole NH traffic and pollution condition, I did not have much interesting in riding anymore. We had the option to go all the way to Alleppey in ferry. That will almost end our ride there. But I wanted to see Ashram, and I thought I will be ok if I can get away from pollution. So we stopped at Ashram.
Amma ashram was quite disappointing. It was nothing like what I had expected. It was small and crowded, and my cold did not help either. I got a dorm room, we could not get a place together. The room was terrible. Overall, the experience was not at all what I expected. I had a fever by now and it felt like I won't be able to ride to Alleppey tomorrow. If the ashram was nice, I might have wanted to stay there and take boat later. But it was not. So I took medicine and slept.

Day 8 - in varkala

Finally reached here after two days of really hard biking on rolling hills on kerala coast. It was totally unexpected. By end of yesterday I was completely exhausted and not enjoying it anymore. So we took a day break here. This place reminds me of Mindo in Ecuador. The place is very touristy. Not my type of place. The beach was beautiful though and we desperately needed the break. Thanks to Vaibhav's friends, we got a decent room, not over-priced, at a quiet place. Rahul took a Kerala massage here.

Day 7: Kovalam - Varkala: 60km

I got up early as usual. Some of the tiredness was gone. Rahul and I decided to check out the beach. So we went to the beach and played in water for some time. Today we had to go up to Varkala, which was another 60km north. I did not really want to ride, especially since we were gong to leave in the afternoon in lot of sun. But I guess we had to. So we again started after 11:00, under full heat of sun. On top of that we were not going to take the beach road, but fact NH 47 traffic. I knew its not going to be good, but after yesterday, beach road option was also not looking great. I just hoped that we reach Varkala fast, and then able to start early in morning from there. At least that will take out the heat element from the ride. It was clear here that the fun riding part is over, it was only on the east coast.
As expected, we joined NH 47 and its traffic. The road was still up and down, though a bit less than yesterday. We were still going slow due to accumulated tiredness. At some point we left NH and went into side road to Varkala. On this road, traffic was less, still it was really hot, and I had going slow. I had to walk some of the hills as I had no energy. Finally we reached Varkala beach. We met Vaibhav's friend there and they suggested a really good quiet place to stay. I liked the place, and I wanted to take a day's break here. If we have to ride on NH at least we can make it a bit pleasant by started early morning.
The beach here was very good. Today I had no energy to do anything. So I just went to beach, sat there, then had a huge dinner and then slept. Saw a really good sunset on the beach where suns becomes smaller and smaller. We don't see that in Seattle ever due to all the mountains (and also its cloudy 277+ days)

Day 6: Kanyakumari - Kovalam: 120km+

We got up early to see the sunrise. It was a cloudy day, still we saw some sunrise. Then we went and saw other memorials in Kanyakumari. We could not go to the main attraction Vivekanand smarak as it took 3hrs to get there. I enjoyed the beach in morning and then later at the meeting of 3 seas. I am sure water of Indian ocean was bit colder than Bay of Bengal.
It was almost 11 by the time we started out for Kovalam. According to the plan we had 80+km to go. In the beginning, I saw first road-side nariyal pani. The road was still good.
It was hot, but I was expecting we take the beach road which will be flat. Little did I know what was in store. We somehow ended up on NH-47. There was moderate traffic, but it got worse as we got close to city. Nagercoil city was just terrible, traffic jam, not sure where what road is going. I thought if we took the beach road, we will be away from traffic. So we asked around and got up to the beach road. The road was much longer, but I expected us to make faster progress as we won't have to deal with traffic. Starting out it was good. It was along the oceam with glimses of backwaters. But soon that road just turned nasty. The road was completely potholed, and on top of that it was long rolling hills. This road was not flat at all. Add to that the heat of day and fatigue from dealing with all the traffic before. It made for a very unpleasant ride. It was clear that we were not going to make into Kovalam before dark. So we aimed at getting into Kerala at least. We had a very short bad lunch, and then just kept riding on. I was just really getting tired of the hills. Uphills were bad, but downhills were worse because the road was so bad, we could not go fast. It was scary at places. We just had to keep riding on. At one place, finally too tired, I asked where we were, and it turned out to be last town in Tamil Nadu. That was a bit heartening. We will be in Kerala soon. And we were, and it was quite clear. Its one long village, and constant noise of loud speakers playing bhajans never leaves you. The road was better now, but still all ups and downs which were really tiring. We reached the first town in Kerala - Poovar. Rahul and I wanted to stop here, I was clearly tired beyond fun. But Vaibhav wanted to push on to Kovalam which was another 20+ km. So we decided to push on. It was soon dark, and I had really slowed down. Somehow we managed to get into Kovalam. The beach is a long downhill and I had to walk it because I was just too tired to ride carefully. This ride was no fun.
Vaibhav found us a hotel on the beach and we stayed there. I was too tired to even eat, so I just had some bars and slept.

Day 5: Rameswaram - Kanyakumari: 62km biking

e woke up to a very heavy rain, in fact it rained all night and our bikes were completely drenched. Rahul and I were not prepared for rains at all, our bags were not waterproof.
We had decided to cut short the bike ride and take the bus from Rameswaram to about 60km before Kanyakumari. Since KK is southermost tip, I wanted to ride there and not arrive in bus. We were also fighting against time. So we took early morning local bus to take us out of Rameswaram. Ride from hotel to bus stand was only about a km, but in the rain we were completely drenched, head to toe, not to mention the bags were covered in mud as bikes did not have a mud guard. Getting bikes on the bus was interesting. I missed that fun because Rahul and Vaibhav took care of it while I watched the bags. We were not sure how much we wanted to ride given that we were running against time, rain and tiredness. But I really wanted to ride to KK. Vaibhav nicely agreed to stay with us till we are ~60km from Kanyakumari.
The road was not great and very bunpy. With every bump I wondered if something broke on the bike! Finally bus stopped at a place for lunch where it said 62km from Kanyakumari. So we decided to stop there and start biking. We got the bikes down and I was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was intact on all 3 bikes. We fixed the bikes back, had a lunch and then headed out. This road was not completely flat, but had rolling hills. Still road condition was good and hills were not so bad. The road also hugged ocean and we could see glimpses of it on the way. Thankfully it did not rain, and remained cloudy preventing us from heat. The scenery was beautiful and we were able to ride fast. As Kanyakumari came closer, we also started seed windmills. Near Kanyakumari, we also had a short section on golden triangle road. That road is just great, smooth, it was like gliding! The section was short lived though :(. We reached Kanyakumari before dark, and it was definitely the best ride of the trip.
In Kanyakumari, we found a hotel with very good view from balcony. It was facing east and we could see sunrise. Like Rameswaram, here also there was no lack of good north Indian food. We again ate a lot. I had aalu parathas. At night we saw great full moon from balcony. It had been a tiring day, so we slept early.

Day 4: Thondi - Rameswaram: 110km

We started really early, before day break around 5:30. We had a total of 110km to cover today. Starting early was a great decision. Morning ride was great. The road almost hugs the coast, though we could not see any ocean. It was a very good road and completely flat and in morning devoid of any traffic. We had lot of fun riding on that road. We saw good bridges and good birds. As we neared Ramnathpuram, traffic also increased. Getting in to the city was bad, but we had to since we were meeting Vaibhav here. We reached really fast, and then took a break in Ramnathpuram. Rameswaram was another 50+km from here. Heading out to Rameswaram, we met some traffic and it was also hot afternoon. Still nice flat road made ride good. As we neared our destination, we could feel the ocean coming closer. Rameswaram is a island, so to get into it, there is a long beautiful bridge. I loved riding on that bridge with water all around. From bridge its another 10km into the city, and that was very long 10km. I was quite happy to finally reach Rameswaram. It was smaller and dirtier than I thought. The temples was also not as impressive as some others in Tamil Nadu. After parking our bikes we roamed around a bit. One great thing was good north Indian food. Its a big pilgrimage place. so they had loads of great north Indian food. I ate so much, especially after the 110km ride. We checked out the 'beach', got a bit wet in rain and then ate some more. Next day we planned to leave early again in order to gain a day in our trip.

Day 3: Sivagange - Thondi: 67km

We started really early in the morning. The day was still cloudy and we were expecting some drizzle. Getting out of Sivagange, we met some really bad road, completely potholed. Thankfully, the road was flat and there was no traffic. It still made a pleasant ride. On the way we were coordinating with Vaibhav to see where we can meet him. Bad road was followed by really good road, and then some more bad road. We also saw a temple in between, it was flooded, so could not go in. Today was also a very pleasant ride, road lined with fields, some snake and bird sightings. Thondi was a very small fishing village. We found a small place to stay, cleaned our bikes, washed clothes, has good lunch. After some sleep, in evening we decided to go out and explore the village. Finally saw waterfront. Went to bed early and next day was a 100+ day.

Day 2: Madurai - Sivagange: 57km

Next day morning, we checked out early and waited for the luggage place to open. They opened and surprise, the bikes were still not there. One more talk about they will arrive in an hour! I had had it by now, and I said tell us where the bikes are and we will go get them. No more relying on those idiots. So they told us the place and we got out to the godown to finally get our bikes. Good they were there and intact. We loaded the bikes and started our trip.
First destination was Sivagange. Getting out of Madurai was not nice, had to deal with all traffic and route finding. It was also middle of day, but thankfully cloudy. Somehow we managed to get out of the city and on small state highway to Sivagange. Biking was pleasant from the beginning. Road was almost empty and quite good, and we were making good time. Road was lined with water filled fields. We reached Sivagange soon, not much tired, found a small place there to stay. We wanted to leave early next day to avoid any traffic and sun. So there was not much to do, but eat and sleep and wash clothes. So that's what we did.

Trip Day 1 - Madurai

We started our biking trip in Madurai. Getting to Madurai was interesting. We had booked Volvo bus tickets and its truck is suppose to be bog enough to fit in the bikes. At the last moment though, the bus operator caused problems and asked us to send the bikes in 'luggage' separately. We went to luggage place and things appeared very dicy. I don't know why they cause so much problem, probably just wanted some more money. It did not look right from the beginning. But we sent the bikes in luggage. They promised that it will arrive right in the morning with us. ok. As I will learn multiple times, Indians have no sense of time, or of meeting any expectation. Tomorrow never really means tomorrow.
We arrived Madurai very early morning, and then roamed around to find a hotel. Found a not so cheap place. Then we headed out at promised time to check out the bikes. No surprise, the bikes were not there. The guys at counter had 20 different stories - it will come at a different place, it will come in afternoon, it will come in evening and then finally it will arrive tomorrow! I can't help wonder if this type of non-commitment is the reason why this country is still so backward even though there is no shortage of talent. Honesty and sincerity are missing big time.
There was not much to do in Madurai. We saw the main temple, which is great. And then some other temples.

70 mile ride - last weekend practice ride

Today was last weekend of practice ride. We had decided to go to Hosur, then some other small place and then return by Benarghatta road. It was a good almost 100km loop. Once on hosur road, I started cribbing about traffic and pollution. At that time I really thought it was bad, I was not enjoying the ride at all. So we decided to take a detour to Jigni, expecting to follow the scenic route we took last time. It was not the way, we ended up in Jigni industrial area. The road was nice and paved, not much traffic. It was also mostly downhill. We were able to go quite fast there. Reaching Jigni, we had breakfast - dosa and idli at the same place. (I can never get tired of Idli and dosa and looking fwd to 8 days of that!).
From there we asked for directions to Ankele. Finally we were able to reach this nice 12km stretch, low traffic and beautiful. I had a feeling that we had been there before. Reaching there we asked for directions to Benarghatta. People pointed us back towards Jigni! The way to benarghatta was through Jigni!. So we retraced our steps. I did not mind because that 12km was the most beautiful stretch so far. From Jigni we almost recognized the way, taking the detour from benarghatta road to a less traffic better road.
In all we did only 70km, but it was good that we were not tired. I guess we will reach the 100 km mark only during the trip.

Weekday practice

We have been biking the same 2 hour route, and did the same today. But today I was just not in mood to bike, and today I was trying a new shorts and they were somewhat uncomfortable. Today traffic was less, and that was good, but we had to return few meters short of usual turn around point.

Biking 80km with hill

After 2 weeks of practice, it was time to bump up our weekend ride. We wanted to do 100km, but the 100km loop had 3 long hills. So we decided to go for the route which was ~80km with a long hill. Starting out it was mostly downhill. This road was not so good, pot-holed etc. The route was such that we go downhill, and then come back up the hill. This was part of the 100km circuit. While going downhill, I could see it was so steep that it was almost scary. Steep down and windy road. I could see how going uphill would be killing. Little bit down the road we turned back to go up the hill. Gear had to be 1:1, even at that I was not able to pedal and move the bike up. I was so wishing for the time when all I had to do was run up, far better than the effort I was putting with that bike. I had to stop 2 - 3 times to catch my breath, re-engergize and start again. I don't know how, somehow I reached top of that really long hill. From there on also it was a bit flat, bit also quite a bit gradual uphill. After that gargantuan hill, even the small uphills were feeling too much.
Good thing, on the way we found a coconut walla and had some fresh coconut water. This was so good, so much better than what we had in the city. This was also with malai, sweet!
After that point I was tired and just wanted to get home. On the way we had seen quite a few trucks, and so much pollution. My nose and eyes were all hurting. I would need to find something to cover my face on the trip.

Bike day 2 - 30km

Today we decided to do a shorter ride on our own. The plan was to ride for 2 hrs. We decided to take the same road as last time. Traffic was usual now, not much on the way out, and since we were coming back earlier, not too much on the way back also. Once we entered the city, we decided to take inner road instead of the higway we took last time. This was good. Inner road was nicer, much less traffic and we got few extra miles also.

Bike day 1 - 40km

Today was first long ride on the bike. We had to leave at 5:00am in order to avoid traffic. It was dark, but nice as there was no traffic on road. We met with Kiran on highway and then started to go out of the city towards Benarghatta. After a bit we reached close to Nilgiris. The smell of mountains was over powering, and it felt good to be back near nature. Then we reached a forest road that will take us into real forest, A forest where there are elephants. Kiran was quite excited about elephants and had taken many trips there to spot one. Thankfully we did not spot any, I am still not fan of wild wildlife. Forest road was good, narrow but no traffic. We could ride much faster here, and also try out the hills. The turn around point on top of the hill was interesting. I could not place the semi-dense forest I was seeing anywhere. Usually when we see natural beauty, we are able to relate it to other exotic place we have seen before. This was just different, and I was of course not impressed, being spoiled by beauty of Seattle.

Still, it was cool to be able to get out of the city and breath real fresh air. We stayed there for about 30 min, then started back. The way back was different, it was light and there was lot more traffic than before. Kiran asked me to not get off the road, and keep my ground. I did not know if I could trust that truck driving down at me to brake at right time. Mostly they did, I was driven off the road only couple of times. Still I cannot call it good experience in any way, only the crazies would venture out like that. I don't know how we reached at turnout of apartment safely. To celebrate that we had idli breakfast outside and then took the final easy road back to the apartment.

Getting the bike

As soon as I landed in Bangalore, we did not waste any time and got my bike. I had already decided on Shwinn Sporterra sport, had seen and tried it at Performance bikes in Redmond. The bike guy Kiran put together the bike in front of us, it was interesting to watch. We rode the bikes home through Bangalore traffic at peak time. That was a life threatening experience. Of all the adventures I have been into, cycling in Bangalore is going to turn out to be most life threatening, on occassions I felt, this is it, I am going to be the next road kill. But somehow half walking, half riding we got back to the apartment.

Biking in India

If someone told me a month ago that I will be thinking about doing a multi-day cycling trip, and that too in India, I would have said no way! clearly no way! I am not into biking. But as it happened, I did end up signing for one. After unsuccessful Rainier, this year end was looking glum. I was going to spend my birthday, december and new year in India quietly. Somehow that is not want I wanted to do. But just as I was getting used to the idea of spending quiet time (after a highly adventurous year), I saw Vaibhav's status message talking about biking southern coast of India. hmm, I will be in India! So that is how it started. I seriously started thinking about doing part of the trip with him, it was new, exciting, uncertain, fun! I did not know if I am going to make it more than 1 day, and the logistics seemed huge, but I wanted to try it.

Mt Rainier story

Sometime in March 2010, I started training to climb Mt Rainier, a 14000+ highly glaciated peak. I hiked on the trails covered with snow where I would never have gone before, I hiked in rainy weather, and with 30lb packs.
Finally after lots of canceled plans, we started for Mt Rainier on 4th September. Weather predictions were not good, it was going to be cloudy and windy. It was already late in the season, so we just had to make the attempt.

Day 1:
Starting from Paradise, it was already cold and cloudy, but they assured us that clouds go away once you get up to Camp Muir @10,000 ft. So we packed our bags and started. Beginning was nice and easy, it was very different landscape from our previous hike to camp Muir when everything was covered in snow. We encountered some snow just before pebble creek, but nothing difficult to navigate. We refueled at Pebble Creek and got ready to get on snow. It was softer by now, so we did not need crampons. Grade got a bit steeper and going little slow here. As promised, we got glimpses of the peak among clouds and it got clearer and clearer as we got closer to Muir. Finally Muir hut was in view, though we knew its a long way away.

At Camp Muir, we took a short break and got ready to travel on the glacier beyond to Ingraham flats. We put on all the gear, crampons, harness and roped up. The first part to Ingraham flat is flat :). Soon we got to a rocky section on Cathedral rock. This was harder to climb with crampons as there were loose rocks and steeper grade. After the rocky sections comes a bit more trickier part, steeper and icier section to get up to glacier. I was quite tired by now and was having some problems in the couple of steep icy parts. Finally, we reached Ingraham flat, a flat area where we could camp.

It was really cold by now, and my hands and everything was freezing. I was almost out of energy and had to get inside a tent to warm up a bit. I could not help much with tent setup. Once the tents were setup, I just wanted to get in my sleeping bag and sleep. So that is what I did, after some food.

Day 2:
Today was sort of rest day here. We were going to do some self-arrest etc. training and then start the climb at mid-night. But the day started late and with bad news. Weather was not getting any better and it was expected to be very high winds and low temperatures at night. It was looking like we were not going to start our climb. So around 10:30am, it was decided that 2 rope teams should attempt the summit. Some of us were going to get left behind, and being slowest member, I volunteered. So 3 of us got ready to prepare food and water of rest of the 8 who were making an attempt. We knew it was late, wind was strong and they would have to go really fast. Rest of us were going to do some training, in the hope that we can start next day. But I knew from beginning that it was not going to happen.

We spent most of the day melting water for drinking, and preparing food. We did some training, but it was just cold and windy. Finally one of the teams returned from mid-way, it was too windy to go further. They headed down to Camp Muir and we waited in tents for the second team. The finally arrived around 9:00 after a successful summit and we all went to sleep.

Day 3:
As expected, we woke up to a proper winter storm. Snow was flying everywhere and it was a whiteout. Inches of snow had fallen overnight and everything left outside was buried. It was clear that we were not going to make summit attempt and top priority was to packup and get everyone back to Muir safely. So that's what we did, geared up again, wearing everything we brought, roped up and started back. It was interesting going down with so much fresh snow. Fortunately route was still marked and we could stay on trail. I think fresh snow made it easier to get down, especially in the rocky part where snow made for a bit more traction space for crampons. Finally other side of Cathedral rock it was completely different story, clear blue skies, calm winds. We reached Camp Muir with no problems. On the way I got to see crevasses up close.

At Camp Muir, we regrouped. We had no water and everyone was just dehydrated. So we boiled some water, drank a little. It was also time to get out of snow gear, crampons, ropes and everything. Mood was good, and somewhat excited to finally go back. I was of course disappointed to not be able to make summit attempt. But there will be other mountains! Going down from Camp Muir was interesting. Snow was fresh with a ice underneath. So it was skidding and slipping. We tried to glissade many times, some successful and some just too much effort. We saw the famous Muir whiteout were it was impossible to see anything. We stuck together to not get lost. Finally Pebble Creek, were we filled water and drank our fill, finally. From there on it was easy going down to Paradise.

Mailbox Peak

Elevation gain - 4000ft
Distance - 5.0 miles
Pack weight - 10 lbs
Time: 3hrs up, 2hrs down

Finally a check on Mailbox! I decided to do this hike today as it was warm, clear and dry. I decided to not take the pack as I was going with meetup and needed to maintain my speed. The hike starts out ok, but then wastes no time in becoming outright steep. Its literally cable line times 2. But I soon realized that I was lot more scared than I needed to be. It was steep, which is usually ok going up and I kept thinking about way down. First 1/3rd is dirt trail. After that it becomes full of roots and becomes a little confusing. Just follow the white diamonds. Roots help as they make it more of a stair master. After a long time you get out of the trees and reach a rocky section that can be scrambled, but I decided to take the trail. There is still about 30 - 40 min of hiking left after that. Towards the end its Bandera Mtn style scramble, a little less steep. This is where I found some tricky spots, especially going down.
In this last section there were great display of wild flowers, tiger lillies were just everywhere! And so were paint brushes. Finally reach the false peak and from there can see the mailbox which was awesome!
Coming down was easier than I had imagined. Couple of tricky spots in the beginning and then towards the end, rest was just slow careful stepping to not trip on roots!

Squire Creek Pass

Elevation gain - 2400ft
Distance - 6.5 miles
Pack weight - 10 lbs

The hike starts at Eight Mile trailhead. It used to be one-way hike with car shuttle, but part of the trail after Pass got washed out. It starts out quite steep, almost too steep for 2400ft hike. Mid-way we saw the 3'o clock rock and saw some climbers. After 3/4th of the way you get into meadows where the grade eases out. There were couple of interesting creek crossings and muddy patches. There are no real clear views on the way, its all in the forest. Only when you get to the pass you see 4-fingers and other mountains. In all I was not very impressed, too much work for such little reward.

Bandera Mountain

Elevation gain - 3300ft
Distance - 8 - 9 miles
Pack weight - 35 lbs

Gorgeous day to hike Bandera. Beargrass was in almost full bloom, and so were lot of other wild flowers. I carried ~30lbs for conditioning. The trail is easy, so that was not a problem. First glimpses of Rainier were great, but main attraction was definitely beargrass filled slopes. We first went to the lake which is about a mile from junction. It was not really impressive, probably good to sit and eat lunch but nothing else. Then we headed up the scramble section to the top of Bandera. Its much longer than it looks, there is bit of climbing even after the scramble section ends. But the scramble was definitely the best, wild flowers and bear grass everywhere. I saw so many tiger-lillies, it was just delightful!

http://picasaweb.google.com/tulika.agrawal/BanderaMtn2010#

Mt Si and Tiger West 3

5200 ft elevation gain and 14 miles, that was the hike for today, and just 40 min away from Kirkland. I took Saturday off because I thought my leg needed rest. It was rested today so decided to go for Si and was prepared to turn back in case it started hurting or anything. Started the hike with 30lb pack. Around 2 mile mark, it felt that I should get rid of some of the water and lighten my pack. So I did, and down to 25lbs.
Made it to top in about 2hrs with a light pack. I did not want to run down this time as that puts too much pressure on legs. Walked down slowly. I started at 8:48 and was back before 1:00.
While going up Si, I was thinking, not yet challenged enough, especially with light pack, so how about Tiger. I remember from days of training for full marathon, how I really needed to push myself beyond what I could do. A hike up Si was not going to do that. So next I went up Tiger West 3. No pack this time, but it was still tough. Last 1/2 mile was really hard. Luckily I saw some tiger lillies. That totally made my day. Tiger lillies on top of tiger mountain :) I did the last 1/2 mile from one flower to other.
The way back was fast as I just wanted to get in the car, go home and relax.

Adams Day 2

We headed out @8:00 am. First task was to gear up in the cold, put on crampons, helmet, ice axe etc. etc. That itself felt tiring. The day was perfectly clear and we could see all the way up to the false summit, straight way up. The slop is steep at places where we were learning to traverse by making our own switch backs. At the false summit it was very windy and cold. The real summit was looking like in a full all white-out. It was also very cold at this point and I needed to put on second layer which was impossible to do in the cold and wind and with cramponed shoes. I had chosen a full pants as extra layer instead of proper rain / wind breaker pants that have side chain. Now I know why they make those special pants with side chains so that they are easy to put on and off. Not surprising I tore part of the leg of the pants with crampons, I did not care. Finally were on and provided little relief from the cold. I almost did not want to go any further. We did not take much break, just headed straight up. The way from false summit to real was much better, longer traverses, but I was able to follow. It also felt less cold, less exposed.

Finally a summit, one quick summit photo and then heading back. It was all ok to false summit but from here the way to go down the steep slope is glisade! There were a couple of glisading tracks made, you are support to just sit in one of them and slide down. Me, terrified of sliding of any kind, even never went down the phisal-patti in school, did not know how to do it. The alternative of walking down the steep slope was also worse. Somehow skidding sliding, sometimes making my own path, I made it down. Phew.

Adams Day 1

Gear check, permits etc.
Drive to trail head
Lunch Counter, no crampons, not icy, grade was ok, feeling good.
Dug to create platform for tents
Too windy, melting snow, not feeling great, too cold I suppose even with all gear. Did not eat too much.

Adams Day 0

Drove to Beacon State Park, camped

Ecuador!

Can't believe that I am visiting Ecuador trip advisor forum, less than a year after I was exploring Kenya and Tanzania. This seems to be turning into year of foreign travel. If I can make New Zealand happen at end of the year, I would have visited all 6 continents in same year! (yes, Antarctica does not count!) Just booked my tickets, but there are still so many unknowns in the trip. Though if I did end up going and doing something even of not much hiking, it will not be a waste of $1000.

4th-of-july-creek

Today was a beautiful sunny day in Leavenworth. I headed for 4th-of-july-creek with meetup group. Its a not so easy hike, so I decided to not take heavy pack. I needed to keep pace with rest of the group. This hike starts out steep, gaining lot of elevation in first 3.5 miles. After that you enter the ghost forest and its quite flat from here. After a mile or so of ghost forest, you climb up to Icicle Ridge with lots of switchbacks. There is some snow towards the very end, but its melting fast and was not a problem at all. I did not need to use my stabilizers also.

I do not know why, but I was quite exhausted in the beginning. I just could not make my legs move any fast on the steep uphills. Had to dump some of the water in the middle to keep up with the group.

The views were just amazing. Clear blue skies. First we saw the Cashmere range, then Enchantments. The hill sides were full of wild-flowers rigth from start. At places we were literally switch-backing through fields of flowers, mostly purple lupines. We also spotted a few tiger littles and bunch of unknown purple, while and yellow flowers. There were also some pink wild roses. After 4 miles, you enter the ghost forst, its a bunch of tress burnt down in a forest fire a while ago, it looks creept and ghostly. When you reach the Icicle Ridge, there were views of North Cascades behind, enchantments and cashmere ranges in front.

Elevation gain - 4800ft
Distance - 11.5 miles
Time - 4:00 hrs up, 3hrs down
Pack weight - 20 lbs

http://picasaweb.google.com/tulika.agrawal/4thOfJulyCreek#

Rock'n'Roll Volunteer

A day of volunteering at Rock'n'Roll marathon expo! This is second year of Rock'n'Roll marathon in Seattle and they had 28000 runners. I chose not to run this year as I wanted to concentrate on hiking, plus I am not keen on running same course again. So I decided to volunteer this year. The Expo was less grand than last year's. There were more and more things for sale, than for give away. There was also an increasing number of energy bars and gels, things I have never heard of or seen at REI. They all tasted almost the same, the world as just become even more confusing!

Seeing the runners from other side of desk was interesting. Some were seasoned runners, just give me my packet and I will get out of here. Some were OMG, my first marathon, I have no idea what's happening. There were couple of people who (or their significant others) wanted to record every moment, even packet pickup. I think it was rude to take my picture handing the packet without asking me - bcoz I would have said no! Overall it was quite fun!

Mt Si - 32lb

Today was quite a sunny day and I decided its better to not waste it sitting in office. So I put the idea on meetup group to start the hike @2 and 3 other people joined. I am loving meetup! We started the hike @2:10. This must have been my first sunny Mt Si hike this year and I was glad for all the shade along the trail. View of Rainier and surrounding mountains was gorgeous! Temp up at peak was nice and warm and it was hard to leave and come down.

Pack weight - 32lb

Time up - 2hr 15min

Time down - 1hr 15min.

Tiger West #3

This weekend was totally miserable. Wanted to go to Bandera yesterday with meetup group, but just could not get out of rajai, tired and gloomy weather. Then got paged just when thinking of leaving, so good excuse to not go. Spent rest of the day sleeping. Today packed the backpack and lunch to do a Mt Si and then Tiger hike. It was raining on the way, lost interest and ended up just doing Tiger West. The trail is not as easy as I thought, or I was just struggling because of yesterday's comatose state. Hopefully sun will come out and will have better rest of the week.

Elevation gain - 2000ft
Distance - 6 miles
Time - 2:30 hrs
Pack weight - 30 lbs

Cable line

A quick hike up cable line today. Decided not to carry pack, the weekend and rest of week had been very tiring. Did not seem to have made any difference to timing!
Pack wt - 20lb

Lake 22

This was a easy hike, wanted to chillout before the weekly madness starts. Did not even carry a pack. The views were just great.

Data:
Elevation gain - 1200ft
Distance - 5.4 miles
Time - 4:00 hrs
Pack weight - 15 lbs

http://picasaweb.google.com/tulika.agrawal/Lake22#

Mt Washington - 3

ya, fine, call me crazy, stupid, why, what or whatever. I decided to go back to Mt Washington again this weekend. Last weekend was cloudy and I did not take heavy enough pack. This time I took 32 - 35lb pack. The view was as awesome as I had remembered on this clear day. This time went up the shorter 4 mile trail and came down the great wall trail.

Data:
Elevation gain - ~3400ft
Distance - ~10 miles
Time - 6:00 hrs
Pack weight - 32 - 35lb

http://picasaweb.google.com/tulika.agrawal/MtWashington#

Mt Washington - 2

Second trip to Mt Washington. The first one was a snowshoe, so this was different. I was carrying only about 25lb this time. We took the great wall trail up and regular trail down.

Data:
Elevation gain - ~3400ft
Distance - ~10 miles
Time - 6:30 hrs (a 40 min detour also)
Pack weight - 25lbs

At the first junction, we were suppose to make right, but we thought that we needed to go straight to go on the great wall trail. This trail led us to some sketchy trails which were clearly meant for climbers and not hikers. So we came back to the juction and followed the one on right. Soon we were at owl lookout point. Little bit ahead of that is second junction, the real one for Great Wall trail. So we took that one to summit. Its long and mostly flat. But there is a nice ridge walk with much better views that the shorter trail. Way back the shorter new trail. It was partly cloudy, some view of Rainier and surrounding, nothing as dramatic as what we saw last time.

Tiger Mtn Cable line

Yesterday we did the "short" after work hike to Tiger Mtn. Cable line to go up - 1 hr 13 min. I had a pack of about 20lbs. The trail is relentless climb of ~2000ft in 1.5 mile. I am beginning to find flat section on the trail now :). Back using the regular 3 mile trail - 50min.

Mt Si with 35lbs

or probably 40lbs. This was a long weekend, but weather had squashed all the plans. So I headed back to Mt Si. This time I opted to be brave and stuffed almost 35 lbs in my pack. I don't think I have ever carried more than 30lbs in any of my backpacking trips. And it totally showed. Even at the first mile, I was already tired and celebrating the quarter of way done. By mile 2, I was starting to doubt if I will make it, and I was playing with the idea of emptying half of the 5 gallon water. Then I told myself, the only difficult stretch is mile 2 - 2.5, rest is easy. So I went upto 2.5. I was doing 18 min per half-mile. After 2.5, there was no way I was going to give up. It actually became better after 3 mile, though the last section was getting really hard. I reached the peak in little under 2 & 1/2 hrs, what a disaster! I gave up at bottom of the rocky section, sat there and had my snack bar. It was strange that I did not see too many hikers with pack this time.
To make up for the shameful extra 20 min I took, I decided to hike down with same full pack. I really had to pace myself so as not to hurt my knees. Just one stop at the flat mid-way point and was down in well under 2hrs.

Mt Si with 30 lbs

When it is rainy and cloudy and alone, I hike Mt Si for timepass :) This time I carried a 30lb pack. There were about 200 people at the trailhead and a group of high school boy scout something. I usually don't mind crowded trails, and definitely not when I am hiking alone. Though this time it was a nuisance. I started just about the time the scout group started. First they wanted to run, and overtake me, then like usually teenagers, lost all energy and I had to pass them all one by one. It was rainy, and still there were all lot of annoying young people on the trail, who have no idea that they are suppose to give way to folks going up.
After 3 mile, I started seeing snow. It was actually snowing there. A couple of slushy patches slowed my down a little. I made it safely to the top, and it was great, I was not tired at all, the pack seemed fine and I made it in 2hr 10min. It was a proper snowfall at the top, nothing to see. The rocks were covered in snow, so I decided to not scramble with my pack. My hands were getting numb and I could not find the stupid gloves. Somehow found the cap when I was almost about the cry and warmed my hands one at a time, while almost running down to get to lower elevation.

Camp Muir

On this perfect and sunny day, we headed for Camp Muir. Some of us started at 4:00 in the morning to make it a day hike. I was somewhat apprehensive if I would be at my best given before 4:00 wake up and 2 & 1/2 hr drive. But I was fine, driving was ok and I was in good spirits when we started. I took the bold decision to not carry my snowshoes, and see how that goes. Since we had a early morning start, 7:00am snow was still packed ice. The first section was easy, I soon got comfortable walking on the snow and there were quite a few boot tracks to follow. Then came a very steep section. Luckily folks before us had already dug steps and I could follow it like stairs. I got a little stuck at the second tiny steep section, but managed to scale it. Rest of the way was not that hard. Soon we saw the Muir hut and that made it easier.

At the top, it was cold and windy. Temp was def below 0. It was hard to find a spot away from wind, but we found a rock and settled there to make hot chocolate. Spent close to 30 min at Muir before starting down. The plan was to glissade as much as we can, ahem! I started first couple of glissades apprehensively. It was ok on less steep slopes, but definitely glissading down steep slopes is not my thing. Snow was much softer now and we were postholing like anything. Somehow managed to slide, glissade, walk down to Paradise. Total time close to 8hrs.

Whidbey half-marathon 2010

Another half-marathon down, this time 2:28:49, could have easily shaved off 5 more min from it, but the course was just way too beautiful to run though. I had to stop every few miles to take in the view and enjoy it. This was the first marathon, I really totally enjoyed. The course is all full of rolling hills. The hills did not bother me at all since I trained for the worst in Kirkland. I stopped took photos, maintained a steady pace, never really strained, it was a easy glide through!

10.8 miles in Kirkland

Running in Kirkland is pure torture and only for the insane! But then so is Whidbey and I signed up for that insanity months ago. So here is a 10 miler in Kirkland which will train you for Whidbey.
URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3565044

But after the short hike yesterday (I don't want to talk about it!), I thought I would give myself a treat and go for a quick 10 mile on Sammamish River flats. Managed 7 bcoz was not prepared for the rain, but it was good in the end.

URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3500116

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tuls

8 miles

My first 8 mile long run after the full marathon. Now that I live in Kirkland, I ran this in Kirkland and running in Kirkland is always a mistake. The killing hills were just too much for the first run.

Walking on streets

walked from dinner place to apartment, 10:00pm at night, -4C temp.
URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3439478