Saturday, John and I left the house early for a day hike on the Low Gap Trail in the Cosby area of the Great Smoky Mountains. By all accounts we (I) have some serious work to do to get in shape for our August hike in the Maroon Bells Wilderness (Colorado) where we will be scrambling about at elevations around 10,000′-12,600′ for a week.
We last hiked the Low Gap Trail in April (see post), when the temperature was cool and lightweight daypacks were slung on our backs. While short in length (2.9-miles to the AT), this little trail packs a lot of elevation gain (just north of 1,800′) and is uphill all the way. Sometime during our April hike, John determined that the Low Gap Trail would be the perfect conditioning hike to help get us over three high elevation passes in Colorado. Little did I realize that he had inked it in on our weekend exercise schedule and had plans for us to hike the trail till I can comfortably (aka without whining) carry a 50 pound pack up and down at least once.
So yesterday the “conditioning” began in earnest. While John’s pack was almost at full weight, I decided to ease into things, loading my pack with 25 pounds. The sky was overcast, shielding us from intense sun but the humidity was a beast. Not too bad hiking on the lower part of the trail but oh, as we climbed higher… I think I did pretty good for the most part but John tells me the whine factor was off the charts for the last .5-mile. Hmmm, I don’t remember whining so much but I was really, really ready to be done!!! Guess this means I am in for a summer of “do overs” with an increasingly heavy pack.
