Rattlesnake Ledge, 4/5/08, 4 miles, 1200 elevation
This year, Michael and I decided to get serious about hiking. OK, several of you out there are laughing, but really, we want to go on further hikes so need to work on our stamina and endurance. Our needs were answered with a class offered by the Mountaineers - The Conditioning Hike Series. The class takes you from shorter distance and lower elevation gain hikes to some extended and Higher elevation hikes (I think one of the graduation hikes is 17 miles). What better way to get ourselves ready for an adventurous hiking season?
Our first hike was to a favorite old haunt - Rattlesnake Ledge off of I-90 in North Bend. We met our group in the parking lot for brief introductions before walking around the north end of the lake to the start of the trail up. Now, Michael and I are slow hikers - there's a reason we call ourselves Trail Turtles, so it wasn't much time before we lost sight of our fellow hikers as they quickly made their way through the lush green of a coastal forest. Never wanting to be left behind, I began to push my pace so I could keep up, only to feel the nausea swell in my throat as my heart pounded through my chest. A trip up Rattlesnake generally would never make me feel this way, but I was pushing myself too hard to keep up and had to stop to regain my breath and heart rate.
This year, Michael and I decided to get serious about hiking. OK, several of you out there are laughing, but really, we want to go on further hikes so need to work on our stamina and endurance. Our needs were answered with a class offered by the Mountaineers - The Conditioning Hike Series. The class takes you from shorter distance and lower elevation gain hikes to some extended and Higher elevation hikes (I think one of the graduation hikes is 17 miles). What better way to get ourselves ready for an adventurous hiking season?
Our first hike was to a favorite old haunt - Rattlesnake Ledge off of I-90 in North Bend. We met our group in the parking lot for brief introductions before walking around the north end of the lake to the start of the trail up. Now, Michael and I are slow hikers - there's a reason we call ourselves Trail Turtles, so it wasn't much time before we lost sight of our fellow hikers as they quickly made their way through the lush green of a coastal forest. Never wanting to be left behind, I began to push my pace so I could keep up, only to feel the nausea swell in my throat as my heart pounded through my chest. A trip up Rattlesnake generally would never make me feel this way, but I was pushing myself too hard to keep up and had to stop to regain my breath and heart rate.
We again met up with the group where the snow still covered the trail and obscured the ferns that grew so thickly near the start of our journey. After stretching Yak-Trax over our boots, the way became a little less slippery and we made good time to the ledge. Clouds hung in the sky threatening rain but none fell on our little respite overlooking the partially drained lake. Our leader broke out some chocolate covered hazelnuts to share with the group as we sat sharing stories and views.
Our way back down the hill was paused as Michael whipped out his saw and helped to take a fallen tree out of the trail. I learned a bit on this hike. The biggest lesson learned that signing up for this class is the thing to get my rear in condition.
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