Almost Granite Mountain AGAIN!

Attempt two of Granite Mountain has failed. I swear by the end of this summer, I will be on the summit of this mountain!

Dan and I started this hike with new equipment. I now have a bigger pack and hiking polls and Dan has a backpack and hiking polls. I will have more to say about the hiking polls in a minute. The climb was just as I remembered from three weeks ago except it was a nice sunny warm day. I expected to have some rather breath-taking views from the top.

At the start of the hike, Dan was feeling a bit tired and sluggish. I, on the other hand, was pretty upbeat. I wanted to get to the top of this mountain to see the countryside. I have been thinking of this hike for about three weeks and was psyched to get to the top. By about halfway, things reversed. Dan was full of pep and I was begining to get sick to my stomach. I considered stopping there, but decided that I was OK and I really wanted to get to the top.

At about the 2/3 mark, I changed my mind. I was not getting any better and I was afraid of getting worse. Walking for hours both tired and sick did not seem like the best plan in the world to me. I decided to turn back early. Dan was OK with this.

The sad part of the story is about half way back down, I began feeling better. If we had just pressed on, I would have been OK. If I had just called the psychic hotline before the hike, I would have known this and made it to the summit, but no, I had to have common sense and know there was no such thing as psychics. shesh

I broke out my hiking polls on the way up and they were a bit of a hinderance. I think they take getting used to. I am not sure if they helped me or not going up. On the way down, they did not seem to be in the way at all and when we finished, I had no knee pain at all. I do not know if the reason for the lack of pain is the shortened distance or the polls. I will find out on the next hike.

When we finished, I asked Dan if he wanted to go to Snoqualmie Falls. He went there a couple weeks ago and I had not seen it yet. Neither of us were overly tired and it was an interesting sight to see. We took the hike to the bottom of the falls and walked on the boulders on the river bed below. Dan can navigate these boulders like walking on pavement. I took slightly longer (as did almost everyone else). Our hypothosis is that Dan is always off balance and the rocks exactly compensated for his balance problems. According to the hypothosis, if I were drunk, I would have walked just as fast.

The half mile hike back to the top of the falls was a killer. It was not overly steep or overly long. At first I was suprised at how hard it seemed. Then it hit me. Hmm, you have just hiked about 6 miles on Granite Mountain, then jumped from boulder to boulder for 20 minutes, now you are hiking uphill for half a mile. DUH! At that point I made a mental note. After hiking up a mountain, no more hiking that day. I believe this rule fits into my philosophy of life No pain, GOOD.