The Life And Times Of Lou, The Smiling Tortoise: 14-93

"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, April 3, 2014

14-93

About 3 miles from the Prather's home is a network of nice trails in the adjacent national forest that straddle the Nevada/California state line. I walked 3.25 miles of these in 1:04:44 hours, climbing 308 feet in the process. Tortoise rating: 3.8. Calories burned: 509. For more pictures, a map, and more, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

Create Maps or search from 80 million at Humana Fit

The first two pictures are the signs at the trailhead

At a quarter mile I reach the state line. Maybe the quietest, least lit, passing of
the California-Nevada line I've ever traversed. Certainly no Whiskey Pete's!
I like this.

You want a positive story about my father? He could go on and on about the
motivating and amazing efforts that Pony Express mailman Shoeshoe Thompson
would do to make sure the mail was delivered, even over Sierra snowdrifts much deeper
than a person. Week in and week out. So I smiled when I saw this trail sign!

I love southern Utah trails and scenery, but I wish they would take a page
from the book of Sierra trail signs. Much more informative and easier to read.
I went to the right today.

Occasionally you can even find a little water in the desert mountains of the West.
Little admittedly being the key word, which makes it so exciting when you see it!
And its sound rolling over the rocks is wonderful too.

Turn a random corner in the woods and you see the valley and its homes again. ;-)

The walk ended a little after 10 am. By 5 pm I had finished my work in Nevada,
driven the 50 miles back to the airport, and flown the first leg back to Salt Lake.
This time I got to change planes in green, rainy, Portland, Oregon. Nice day.

2014 Stats:

273.40 miles walked, which is 27.34% of my 2014 goal.

85:40:13 hours walked, which is 27.37% of my 2014 goal

12,965 total feet climbed

44,099 calories burned

25.56% of the year has passed

I've walked on 75 of the 80 non-Sundays thus far in 2014, a 93.75% 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:

Becca BeecherApril 20, 2014 at 2:05 PM
So many gems in this one. I think my fav is at the end when you talked about the purposes of percentages :)
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UnknownApril 20, 2014 at 9:30 PM
Loves!
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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 :-)