Training Log Archive: Lori

Hiking with Sam and Presto in the Trinity Alps! We left our tent and backpacks and did a day hike around the Four Lakes Loop with a side trip up Siligo Peak and Seven Up Peak. The great thing about fall camping is that there is A LOT of time for sleeping, so after 10.5h of sleep (glorious!), we had some breakfast and headed out.

We first summitted Siligo Peak, which was right above Summit Lake. There was a pretty obvious use trail up Siligo Peak and the views from the top were awesome over to Caribou Mountain. We had a snack at the summit and then headed down towards Deer Creek Lake and then continued down to Deer Creek Camp. Since this is probably our last opportunity and why not add an extra couple thousand feet of climb to a hike when you have the option, we also tacked on an attempted summit of up Seven Up Peak.

From Deer Creek Camp, we headed up the side of Seven Up Peak to the pass above Granite Lake and then skirted around the side of Seven Up Peak on a super sketchy trail that was incredibly narrow and only sort of attached to the side of the mountain. We ended up on a shoulder that had a longer, less steep path up to Seven Up Peak than the one from the pass. Sadly there was no use trail, so we just trudged on up the mountain. It was pretty junky with lots of boulders everywhere and not a lot of great footing. We made it to an awesome local maximum about 100-200m below the summit where in consultation with the fact that there weren't *that* many hours of daylight left and after some eyeing of the increasing steepness, continuing junkiness, and ominous looking scree slopes above us, decided against going the rest of the way. Our rocky outcrop had some absolutely amazing views of Sawtooth Ridge and the mountains around Sapphire Lake and Canyon Creek Lakes, so it was totally worth it.

After lunch, we headed back down to Deer Creek Camp and then up to Luella Lake. Luella Lake was really pretty and covered in toads, which was super fun :-). Then we continued up into the pass between Luella Lake and Diamond Lake and then down to Diamond Lake for awesome views out across the Trinities. Then it was just one last push back up to Summit Lake. Awesome day!!!

A small amount of stretching after a vague attempt at rinsing off in the lake without freezing to death.

Backpacking with Sam and Presto in the Trinity Alps! The smoke finally cleared out of the Trinities (mostly), and it might be our last opportunity to backpack in CA, so we headed up north to do the Four Lakes Loop. People normally start this hike from Long Canyon, but since this is almost certainly our last chance to hike in the Trinities for the foreseeable future, we decided to go in from the Stoney Ridge trailhead so that we would have the option of summitting Granite Peak on our way out.

The hike in was steep and gorgeous, so very Trinity Alps-ish :-). We hoped to get to Red Mountain Meadows for lunch, but we were only halfway to the meadow at 1pm, so we stopped for lunch amongst the manzinita bushes with a nice view towards Trinity Lake. Hiking was significantly easier after lunch and we made pretty good time up and over Stonewall Pass, Little Stonewall Pass, and finally to Deer Creek Pass with the views getting more and more awesome as we went. We skirted around the scree slope above Deer Creek Lake up and over the pass below Siligo Peak to Summit Lake where we snagged a campsite just before sunset. Dinner was in the dark, but the moon was really bright, so it was all good. I love backpacking!

Running with Presto after lab/not-lab! Well. That was a depressing run... Today was my half-day in lab, and I worked the morning shift, so I was able to tear myself away from the computer in time to get out while it was still light, and my plan was to go for a longer loop tonight to take advantage of the sunlight. We had just set off when we saw a juvenile deer up on an embankment by someone's house. The deer saw us running along the sidewalk and jumped like 20ft down the embankment towards us and then out into the road where a mail truck was driving along. The deer hit the truck, smashed off the mirror, flew up and over the windshield, and landed on the other side of the road.

I hurried over to first check on the mailman. His hand was bleeding a bit from some truck shrapnel, but he was otherwise ok. He called USPS who told him to come on into the post office, so he left. The deer meanwhile was lying under a parked car. I assumed the deer was dead. But then it moved, and it appeared to be stuck under the car.

Some other people were around by this point, including the people who owned the car. The internet suggested the police were the best people to call, so several people ended up calling the police who said they'd deal with it. I figured there wasn't much point in me sticking around any longer, so I left.

It was dark by now, so I headed to do the short loop instead of a longer, darker loop. The short loop came back by the deer on the way home about 30 minutes later. I was expecting it to be gone by now, but it was STILL UNDER THE CAR, thrashing around, and crying. I called the police again, who said they would come when they had time, but that they would just shoot the deer. I thought it might be best for the deer to have a quick death rather than a slow lingering death, but also wanted to check that there wasn't anything else I could do, so I contacted a few different wildlife rehab people to try to figure out what the best solution was. The general consensus seemed to be that a quick death was probably best.

I'm not really sure what ended up happening in the end because the next morning the deer was gone and there was no blood, but at least the deer wasn't still stuck under the car anymore! Presto now does not seem to like that area of the sidewalk AT ALL.

C • That's so terrible 2

Normal abs.

Normal stretching.

Running with Presto after lab! I briefly thought I would get out of work kind of early tonight, and then realized that I actually had time to do something else before going home, and then I didn't get out of lab early at all. Sigh. I still got home before Sam, though, so I headed out for a run as soon as I got home. Running felt really good tonight for both me and Presto. Presto is pleased that the temperature is more normal-Berkeley this week and was trotting along quite happily tonight. Good to get out!

Normal abs.

Normal stretching.

Running with Sam, Tori, Carlo, and Presto up Mt. Montara! After a bunch of searching around for places near the ocean that Presto is allowed, we finally settled on heading to Mt. Montara for a fun weekend run. The parking lot for the beach was already super crowded when we got there at 8:45, but we managed to find parking, and then headed off to the trailhead. I was worried that I'd be really dragging on the uphill, but I actually felt pretty good! It helped that Presto was super excited to be running in a pack, and was actually moving along at a pretty good clip :-).

We had a really fun chatty run with some awesome views of the beach and the ocean and then the fog rolling in. We stopped at the top to enjoy the view for a while, and then got the long run back downhill to the cars. So much fun!!!

We popped down to the ocean on the way back to the cars and waded in a bit. The Pacific continues to be really too cold for swimming, but excellent for fog production. Presto was displeased by the waves, but seemed resigned to his fate. Fun, fun!

Stretching back home after a picnic with Chinese food from wonderful restaurant and bubble tea, which was indeed pretty wonderful. An excellent weekend day :-).