Thursday, August 18, 2016

First Solo Hike! Mt. Tecumseh--8/16/2016

8/16/2016
Mt. Tecumseh Trail
About 5 miles roundtrip
2,200 feet of elevation gain

This was my first solo hike up Tecumseh!  It seemed like a good idea to start solo hiking on a smaller mountain first and then work my way up to hiking larger mountains by myself.  I was quite excited to begin.  Hiking by yourself is very different than hiking with a group of people.  I noticed that I heard more, saw more, etc. and my senses were more active than normal.  It was amazing.


The first water crossing is right by the trailhead.  Even though I have been up this mountain many times, it felt like a whole new experience ascending it by myself.


Up we go...still pretty flat, though.


Me, myself, and my shadow.


It was odd that this water crossing was almost dry--it is usually full of gushing, running water.


I love to rap and sing, and I'll admit I was quietly practicing a little on the way up.  I'm working on memorizing "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea.





I eventually stopped rapping, because rapping + hiking = no breath.



Friendly early morning sunshine glowed at me through the trees when I came to the viewpoint.  I walked a little down the path and took a nice picture of the mountains beyond and some of the  vegetation in the way.


Here is the picture I took.  The sky was as blue as a bird's egg.


Heading up steeply...



A cairn along the trail...not really needed (because the path was clear), but satisfying to see all the same.


A perfect long, flat rock that ought to be sat on.



When I got here, I was happy to get on the ridge.  I was also thrilled to be off the steep section.  I continued straight ahead...




I loved how the shadows of the trees cascaded down the sides of the trail and fell across it in a striped pattern of light and dark.  It is hard to distinguish the sign in this picture, but here is the intersection with the two different ways to head up the last couple of tenths to the summit.


Up, up, up and almost there...


Yay...


And there I was!  A gentle breeze was blowing and the soft blue mountains stared at me from the distance.  The sky was a froth of white clouds and blue color.


My mom specifically told me to take a bunch of selfies, so I did just that...


I got out my peanut butter and jelly sandwich to have as a snack.  I also had trail mix in the pack, but I wasn't hungry enough to have that too.

Estoy loca! (in a good way, I hope)


Beautiful.


Perfection is a cairn overlooking a lovely view through parted trees.


It was a little buggy up top, but nothing that was too uncomfortable.


Heading back down...


I passed a bunch of people coming down, and some of them had dogs.  The dogs were well-behaved and perfect, so I had no problems at all!  All went well.


My first solo hike coming to an end.


That was a wonderful experience, and I look forward to doing it again on a different 4K.

13 comments:

  1. Nice! no doubt first of many. you have built solid skills and should have the confidence to keep trying harder trails by yourself. I still need to get at least one T25 trail for this season :-/

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    1. Thank you! It was an amazing experience, and I can't wait to try to solo hike more difficult trails. Good luck with the T25, and hopefully I will see you on the trails sometime!

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  2. Hi Alex,

    Awesome Job!!! Great picture roll too. I think you captured the nuances of the trail from beginning to end perfectly!

    I really like this quote you mention: "Perfection is a cairn overlooking a lovely view through parted trees"...is this yours? If so, well said.

    Looking forward to reading more on this blog and hopefully introducing my daughter to it when she can read (right now she just turned five, so soon hopefully!).

    Karl

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    1. Thank you for the positive comment!

      Yes, I wrote the quote that you mentioned. I wanted to capture the images in my head and put them on paper the best way that I could.

      It would be awesome if your daughter read my blog! I hope she likes it! :)

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  3. Alex, really enjoyed this. Loved all the comments along with all the great photos...great job of everything!

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    1. Thank you so much! Solo hiking is wonderful...a different experience than hiking with a group. I'll be hopefully doing more of it in the future.

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    2. Thank you, Livinlaguna!

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  4. Good work and great observations! Congrats! You are very fortunate to have the skills and to have parents that encourage and allow you to do this. My father was so over-protective I was lucky to walk the family dog alone! Best wishes for good solo hikes in the future.

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    1. Thank you! I am grateful to be able to solo hike. On Mt. Tecumseh, it is almost impossible for me to get lost; I have done it so many times. Therefore, it makes sense that it would be my first hike alone.

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  5. I just came across this blog when looking for info on Tecumseh on a hiking FB page... I'm going to follow it and have my daughter read it too. She's turning 9 this week and we are celebrating with a hike up Tecumseh (#6 for her and #2 for her little brother).

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    1. That's awesome! I hope you had a great time on Tecumseh!

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