Breathing Through Boulders

     Recent hikes have proven to me that I'm out of cardiovascular shape.  My pulmonary stamina has dropped through the floor in recent years.  It used to be that I could go for miles without feeling fatigued or winded.  About ten or so years ago I went on a trip down the entire 16 mile length of the narrows in Zion Canyon over two days with a 25 pound pack and wearing Teva sandals for footwear.  That trip was AWESOME!  Yeah, I was tired at the end.  But I could have gone back and done it again.


     Two years ago this month I was in Grand Teton National Park on my way with a couple of good friends to ascend the upper Exum Ridge on the 13,770' Grand Teton.  I got altitude sickness at 10,000' and spent an awful night suffering it out in the Petzolt Caves before literally dragging myself down the trail the next morning.  Oh, did I mention that I had WAY over packed and this time I was carrying a 50 pound pack?  I thought I was strong enough.  What a difference a decade makes!


     The point of all of this is that I need to get back to the shape I was in before I acquired three kids and a bad eating habit.  Not that I'm fat, I just don't eat things that would contribute to my body's ability to function properly.  So lately my focus has been better nutrition and exercise (except for the nightly cookies and milk as I'm laying in bed watching TV).


     On Saturday of last week I decided to push things a bit.  It was time to test out my progress physically.  I had always wanted to see the lakes in Maybird Gulch in Little Cottonwood Canyon.  But this hike would be different.  Instead of lugging my camera equipment in a backpack with a 3 liter hydration bladder and an assortment of other non-essential crap, I would try to go as light as possible carrying only the absolutely essential items.


     I picked up my old, but highly reliable, Mountainsmith lumbar pack that I bought in high school and loaded it with my wife's point-and-shoot camera, a first aid kit, a 1 liter Nalgene water bottle, an MSR water filter, my Marmot rain jacket, a lighter (just in case), and a Cliff Bar and two packs of powdered Gatorade that I had bought that morning at REI.


     I made the trail head by 12:00 and hurriedly put on my mountaineering boots as I had anticipated making a rocky traverse under the Pfeifferhorn and dropping into Red Pine Lake.  I started on the trail with great enthusiasm.


     About 1-1/2 miles in I was feeling great.  My heart-rate was good, breathing was relaxed, and feet were doing fine.  I had purchased a Spenco 2nd Skin blister prevention kit and applied it to the backs of my heels where my boots have a tendency to destroy my skin.  No problems thus far!


     At the 2-1/2 mile mark I came to the diversion in the trail between Maybird and Red Pine.  I stopped for a quick hydration break and to check my vitals to see how I was feeling.  I couldn't believe the energy I had!

     After pausing, I crossed a small foot bridge, headed west, and disappeared into the forest along a not so obvious trail.  This is where I love to be.  I love when the trail becomes less traveled and you have to pay close attention to the lay of the land and keep your bearings constantly in mind.  As I walked along hopping over fallen trees and passing through the most beautifully carpeted meadows of wild flowers, I couldn't help but notice how good I was feeling (except for the now present and familiar sting on the backs of my heels).


     A little over a mile later I reached the Maybird Lakes and stopped to filter some water.  I met a couple that had also recently arrived and we sat on the lake shore in the shade and chatted about cars and our kids for about a half hour.  What a pleasant setting.  People pay millions of dollars to landscape their yards in hopes that the end result will look like this!

     After taking the customary "I was here" shot with my wife's camera, I made my way up into the boulder field to the south of the lakes (just to the left of my head in the above photo).  I had debated whether or not to continue up the mountain, but was satisfied to know there were plenty of opportunities for gathering water.


     After a half mile or so of boulder scrambling, I reached an apex on a ridge that revealed the most spectacular views of the Pfeifferhorn, the ridge line into Hogum Fork, and the serrated ridge line eastward into Red Pine Gulch.  I sat in awe for a few minutes taking it all in.

     Across the canyon, to the north, stood Broads Fork Twin Peaks.  I have wanted to summit that peak since I was in high school, but have never made the attempt.  Soon my friend... very soon.


     Looking to find a passage to Red Pine Lake, I continued my boulder scramble along the vast field of scree that lay before me.  I picked out a point on the east ridge and made my way quickly, but cautiously.


   As I reached the crest of the ridge, I was caught off guard at the scene before me.  There was Red Pine Lake, the trail down the gulch from the lake, and a 1,000' couloir with an 80 degree slope between me and the lake!!  For a moment I contemplated turning back.  But as I calculated the route I would have to take to descend this slope it became more and more doable in my mind.  There was an ample amount of hand and foot holds along the parallel cliff band that I could employ my 26 years of rock climbing experience in tackling.  So off I went!

     I reached the bottom faster and easier than anticipated.  As I looked back up the slope, the thought came to mind of just how fun that was!  I had a Bear Grylls moment and believed I could conquer anything in these hills!

     Red Pine Lake was beautiful with deep, mineral rich aqua colors and crystal clear water.  I rested again before making my way down the trail back to the car.  I was feeling great!  I had so much energy, in fact, that I found myself running down the trail.  This after I had just blazed through some pretty unforgiving country and descended the "couloir of death".  

     I reached the car after 8 miles and 5-1/2 hours.  I knew my heels weren't happy, but the rest of my body could have gone 8 miles and 5-1/2 hours in reverse!  I had gone further than I thought possible and felt energetic and strong at the end.  Maybe it's coming back.  Maybe I'm not as out of shape as I thought.  Maybe, just maybe, I need to stop carrying so much non-essential gear with me when I go into the mountains!


     Next on my tick-list:  Broads Fork Twin Peaks!!

My Review of Spenco 2nd Skin

Originally submitted at REI

Spenco® 2nd Skin® soothes, cools and protects against rubbing and blisters.

Spenco 2nd Skin

Needs better adhesive pads!!!

By BoulderBouncer from Taylorsville, UT on 8/15/2010

 

2out of 5

Gift: No

Pros: Soothing, Easy To Use

Cons: Needs stronger adhesive

Describe Yourself: Avid Adventurer

I picked this up after suffering through several blister bouts from my mountaineering boots (including one particularly painful one in the Tetons where the ENTIRE back of my heels peeled off). I had already changed out the insoles but still had blistered heels. The package says that it helps prevent and treat blisters. I bought it for the prevention end. Instantly, after application, my boots felt better. I spent an 8 hour day in the Wasatch making a spectacular loop below the Pfeifferhorn through Maybird and Red Pine gulches. After returning to the car I discovered the adhesive pads had sluffed off my heels, leaving my skin unprotected resulting in more blisters. The moist pads are great, but the adhesive pads would gain a great deal with stronger glues to keep them in place. Next time I'll use the Moist pads in conjunction with Band Aid Tough Strips!

(legalese)

A Fall Through a Donut

     I am inspired by great outdoor photography.  I spend more than my share of time perusing through images of far off lands and many a local oasis in search of an image that sparks my creative process into action.  I often return to shots by the likes of Jack Brauer, a Colorado photographer who travels all over the world photographing breathtaking mountain scenes.  I emailed him once asking him about his processes in creating such visually stunning works.


     Mr. Brauer uses a 4X5 field camera, drum scans the transparency, and creates a digital image file that he (I assume) edits and then prints.  I have sat in awe in front of my computer screen analyzing every aspect and detail of his work finding it both compelling and inspiring.  His 4X5 scanned images result in a digital file of somewhere in the neighborhood of an equivalent 200 megapixels of resolution at 300dpi!!


     In my email I asked if doing the same process with my medium format Mamiya 645 would yield better resolution and clarity that my 10.2 megapixel Nikon D200.  He responded that it likely would since the effective "capture" area of the transparency was nearly four times that of my camera's sensor.  He also noted that my Mamiya's lenses were probably better optically speaking than those of my Nikon.  I was a little stunned by this thought as my Mamiya cost me no more than $250.00 from a friend, and just ONE of my Nikon lenses was around $2,000.00.  I had to put this to the test.


     I picked a spot up Big Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains, just east of the Salt Lake Valley.  Donut Falls was my destination.  During the short hike in to the falls I walked slower than I normally would, the whole time scanning the scene for something worthwhile to shoot.  Eventually I made it to the falls after nothing lower on the trail struck me as noteworthy.  The falls weren't much better.


     I set up my Mamiya with an 80mm Mamiya Sekor lens atop my Manfrotto tripod and searched through the viewfinder for something to shoot, all the while forgetting that what I was really here for was to experiment with film versus digital image resolution and clarity.  I could have just stayed home and photographed the dog doing its business on the lawn.  What I mean is, the subject really made no difference!  But why not try to make it something pretty while I was at it right?


     I shot the whole role of film and dropped it off at the processor the next morning.  An hour and a half (and one mowed lawn) later I picked up the film and was excited to see just how good things turned out.  As I sat at the light table looking through the loop at my film, a brief urge to sell all of my digital equipment surged through me.  I excitedly cut out one of the images and handed it to the girl at the counter and asked her to scan it at their highest resolution possible.  She dutifully took my order and charged me for the work.


     Today I got the link from them and downloaded the resulting 116mb TIFF file.  I loaded the image into Adobe's RAW tool and read the image info.  I was shocked to see that this scanned image was the equivalent of a 40 megapixel digital file!  So, it would seem, I have a film camera in my arsenal that shoots an equivalent 40 megapixel file when scanned using their process!  I am jazzed!


     There is a drawback though.  Film costs about $2.50 a roll, processing is $5.50 a roll, and scanning at this resolution is $11.50 per scan.  $19.50 (before tax) per image just to create a digital file from film isn't very cost effective at all.  And this doesn't include any printing, mounting, or framing.


     I read somewhere that shooting with medium or large format film requires a lot more intuitive creation of an image.  What I read implied that the intuitive process really meant "make sure your shooting something important because this is gonna be expensive".


     Below is the image created from my medium format Mamiya 645.  Its transparency size is 6cm X 4.5cm (hence the 645).  After scanning, I edited first in Adobe RAW correcting some color and sharpening a bit, then brought it into Photoshop where I added an edge burn.  Hope you enjoy this one.  I will surely do this again, but on a more important or visually interesting subject.