The Life And Times Of Lou, The Smiling Tortoise: 14-86

"The Blog Almost Too Boring To Be The Most Boring Blog in America ... for Over 5 Years!"

until it got too many red cards from Wounded Duck and the Boredom Enforcement Committee ... now the tortoise's goal is to get to 10 red cards so he can get Big Dog to drive down and take a good long walk with the tortoise

P. S. This blog listens to its readers. We have the Benjamin Category Override for 5+ mile walks and now, it humbles Tortoise to say he has been named "Lou", by Doug Jr, in memory of Mr. Consistency himself, Lou Gehrig. Tortoise can hardly type the words to think he is in any way comparable to the noble Iron Horse. Thank you!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

14-86

Went looking for a trail near my hotel on the Santa Ana - Tustin city border today, and was very excited to discover the Santa Ana River trail. This is a cooperative effort of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties, apparently still in process and is eventually intended to be a 110 mile trail from Big Bear Lake to the ocean at Huntington Beach. Today I started near Warner Ave. and Harbor Blvd., went north as far as 1st Street, and then returned by taking the trail on the opposite side of the river. That's right, most of the way there are actually two trails.

I especially like the picture above, typical of the colorful plants and flowers I saw and smelled on this 5.16 mile walk, on which I climbed 70 feet in 1:24:56 hours. Tortoise rating: 6.7. Calories burned: 837. For a map and lots of pictures, please click below to continue reading.

Cheerio!

Create Maps or search from 80 million at Humana Fit

2014 Stats:

250.13 miles walked, which is 25.01% of my 2014 goal. I reached my first quarter goal with 3 walking days remaining in the quarter. Tomorrow we will set out to continue for another quarter, one day at a time. Thanks for your support!
79:07:28 hours walked, which is 25.28% of my 2014 goal
11,907 total feet climbed
40,295 calories burned
23.64% of the year has passed
I've walked on 69 of the 74 non-Sundays thus far in 2014, a 93.24% consistency rating.

The purpose of the percentages is to have a higher percentage of distance and time walked than of the year. This tells me I am on track. I'm sure this is more numbers than you are interested in, all I can say is I'm really good at setting high goals and having them slip away because I don't do them every, every day.

The tortoise is smiling!

2 comments:

RachelMarch 31, 2014 at 7:38 AM
This is righteous, and big congrats on dominating your first quarter goal, with 3 days to spare :) Love it. And the trail I've always wanted to do at home is the one I asked you abut that you can see from the side of the highway right after you pass Jacob's house before you hit the Walmart, it's just always intrigued me
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UnknownMarch 31, 2014 at 7:18 PM
That's the one you will get then. I will give you a personal itinerary and you can use it to tell me how much of it you would like to do with me!
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Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) Segments Hiked

Total lifetime PCT miles hiked: 205.0 out of the 2,650 total.

From 1966 to 1969 segment Tortoise hiked the portion of the PCT shared by the John Muir Trail, covering PCT miles 767.0 to 942.5 (175.5 miles). (While hiking the full 211 miles of the Muir Trail from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley to the summit of Mt. Whitney)

Tortoise then embarked on a long career at a desk, interrupted momentarily for a day hike in 1988 up Mt. Baden-Powell as a Varsity Boy Scout coach with his team. That took him from PCT miles 374.0 to 377.9, roundtrip. (There was also a second trip from Onion Valley to Mt. Whitney with the Varsity Boy Scouts in 1989. He barely made it, crying with joy and appreciation when he did. That is a story all of its own).

He returned many years later with these walks. Please click on the date for a link to that day's blog post:

June 14, 2012, hiked PCT miles 565.0 to 566.6 (1.6 miles) on both sides of California Highway 58 at the Cameron Road exit.

October 20, 2012, hiked PCT miles 341 to 342 (1 miles) mostly on the east side of Interstate 15 but also under the storm runoff tunnel just south of the exit to California Highway 138 near Cajon Pass.

February 2013, continued in two segments to do miles 342 to 347 (5 miles).

August 13, 2013, hiked miles 374.2 to 376.6 roundtrip from Vincent Gap trailhead at milepost 74.7 on California highway 2.

February 17, 2015, hiked miles 452.9 to 450.4 roundtrip from Vasquez Rocks Picnic Area.

March 16, 2015, hiked miles 341.9 to 340.2 southbound from Cajon Pass Road, then returned. Partial redo of October 20, 2012 walk ... plus a little more.

April 3, 2015, hiked miles 1089.8 to 1091.9 roundtrip from Echo Summit trailhead to near Echo Lake.

May 12, 2016, hiked miles 206.8 to 204.3 southbound from the Snow Canyon Road gate at the bottom of Mt. San Jacinto, then returned.

August 17, 2016, hiked miles 209.5 to 206.8 southbound from the underpass at Interstate 10 Exit 110 to Snow Creek, then returned.

May 26, 2017, hiked miles 369.4 to 364.4 southbound from the Inspiration Point trailhead on California Highway 2, then returned.

The tortoise may eventually set some kind of record for the longest time to complete the PCT in microsegments. You never know, but we're already at 51 years and counting since his first segment from Onion Valley to Taboose Pass in July 1966 :-)