Exciting Hike

It's always exciting to go do an out-of-town hike. The mountains were clear this time, going against their name. At the Smoky Mountains' Ramsey Cascade trail, a big 200-lb mama bear with 3 cubs found us and came towards us. We bunched together, made noise and eventually she went away, but we had a few anxious seconds, which will be retold for hours. A solo hike might have been scary, so there is safety in numbers, if not peace.

The 8-mile Boulevard climb to Mount LeConte took me 4 hours, and I came in 3rd of 16 to the top, beaten by two ladies... one with a bad back and the other with recent knee surgery. Not great but not too bad either.

I continue my Saturday hikes in between my bike commuting, with the Sunday 55-mile loop ride getting shorter lately due to the extreme heat. I've got to admit that I'm now in much better shape for hiking than biking, mostly because there's shade in the mountains. In today's group hike, we did an 8-mile 900-footer in 3 1/2 hrs, with a rescue afterwards. And still lift and do daily cardio at gym.

I do what I can, and I do a lot.

- © 2008 by Willy
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