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Ferns don’t fall, water does

Jacob — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:23:44 +0000

This last weekend, Sandy and I, along with our friend Lori, went up to Rocky Mountain National Park to do some hiking.

We arrived in the park about 1 pm, and ate some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the parking lot before beginning our journey. We started at the Fern Lake Trailhead, which is just off of Moraine Park in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The beginning of the trail followed Big Thompson river for about a mile.

Eventually our trail started following Fern Creek, which feeds into the Big Thompson. At one point, we were so confused because we could hear rivers on both sides of the trail. About 2.7 miles into the hike, we arrived at Fern Falls, supposedly named after Fern Creek, which I hear is named after a woman and not all the ferns that we saw along the trail.

Although a few rain drops were threatening, we decided to continue hiking another mile to Fern Lake. The total distance to which was 3.7 miles.

We ended up departing from Fern Lake in a hurry because of a furry of thunder looming near.

The total trip took about 4 hours, 6.7 miles, and we had climbed (and then decended) about 1000 to 1300 feet in elevation.

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Quick video of my last hike

Jacob — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:59:32 +0000

I’m just starting to learn how to take videos with my digital camera and place them on the Internet. Here is my latest experiment from my latest hike.

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Wells Gulch hike

Jacob — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 04:00:30 +0000

Today I hiked the Wells Gulch trail in Lory State Park, Colorado. It was a good little hike, with plenty of variety. Hiking on an overcast day in March, spring hasn’t quite emerged yet, so a lot of the great spring color and wildlife wasn’t present. There was, however, still some icy spots which made things more interesting.

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Stuff that happens at 4am

Jacob — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:34:06 +0000

Hiking the Y isn’t that great of a hike, but for some reason I hike it a lot. Twice in the last week. I hiked it on Friday at about 8am. It took me 28 minutes, which was less than the 30 minute goal I set for myself. I hiked it again today, reaching the Y at 3:25 am; hiking it at a more casual pace of 30 minutes. Hiking the Y in the middle of the night without a moon and without a flashlight can be kind of spooky, but I was surprised how lit up things were from the city lights from Provo down below.

I hike the Y for exercise sometimes, and sometimes I hike it to think, but mostly both.

Tonight I was thinking about who I am, what I want to become, and why I want to become that. I still can’t decide if my reasons are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated.

Within 18 hours I’ll be in Oregon. I think I might hike saddle mountain while I’m there. I have some events Wednesday and Thursday, but I’m not sure about my schedule other than that. Maybe I’ll just lay low.

One of the things about feelings, is that it is hard to figure out why we feel a particular way. Do we feel that way because that is the way we think we should feel, or is it something more?

Boldness is something I’ve been thinking about doing more of. Even though sometimes it is good to be all cool like, actions don’t always go noticed unless they bold. Colors can be bold or weak, and even though the soft colors can produce lovely scenes, they might not be appreciated unless something is bold and stands out more brave than the rest. Clouds are the same way–they are easier to recognize when they are well defined–brilliant white contrasted against a deep blue sky. After everything is done, I hope that maybe being a little bold will end up being for something positive–even if it isn’t the positive I seek–because otherwise it might be a little embarrassingly awkward.

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Friday evening Y hike

Jacob — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 06:40:45 +0000

After a long and difficult week at school, I decided to hike the Y tonight. It was a little disappointing compared to previous hikes, because I just didn’t really have the energy to do it, but I did anyway–it just took me a little longer. While hiking, I saw the sun set, but I also saw something on fire in the valley down behind Provo Town Centre. I hear a siren, and I looked down and saw a big bright orange spot with lots of smoke coming out of it. Then I watched a bunch of flashing light go toward it from all different directions. I don’t know what caught on fire, but I hope everyone is alright.

Another disappointing aspect of the hike was that there was some spray painted graffiti that wasn’t there before–on some of the switchback posts and rocks. That is just pretty uncool, whoever did that. Stupid.

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Benches added along Y trail

Jacob — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 04:20:04 +0000

Yesterday I was hiking the Y, just for fun and exercise, and I noticed a few new things.

First, they had a new gate and fences around the bottom that make it look quite a bit better than the previous chain linked fences.

The also had a nice sitting area at the bottom with about 9 benches facing the valley below. This will definitely be a great place to leave those friends who don’t quite feel up to the adventure of hiking to the top.

There are also a couple of benches scattered through the first few switchbacks which will also be a nice place to sit an have a talk if you are hiking with someone special.

I’ve already hiked the Y three times this year, and I hope to be able to do another ten or so trips, to help keep me in shape for grander adventures which will surely come this summer.

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Great weather for hiking the Y

Jacob — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 05:47:17 +0000

Last Saturday I did a quick Y hike. This was my first hike of the year in which I timed myself. My goal was to get up in 30-35 minutes, but I ended up doing in in 27 minutes. This is still a few minutes slower than my fastest time, but pretty good for the beginning of the season.

I love my hiking boots. They make hiking a pleasure.

The weather was also great, not to hot, not to cold, with clear, crisp air.

On the way back down the mountain, I met Tyler, who is a freshman at Helaman halls and is going on a mission to Sweden. Good luck Tyler on your mission.

If only I had time for more adventures like this.

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About hiking socks

Jacob — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 06:03:33 +0000

I’ve been doing some research into socks for hiking and backpacking. I need some new adventure socks. I found a page at REI that describes how to choose socks. The page is helpful and straight forward. Related posts:Great weather for hiking the Y Last Saturday I did a quick Y hike. This was... Personal [...] Related posts:

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Personal best time for Y hiking

Jacob — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 08:35:22 +0000

Thursday I went out to hike the Y. Of course, this isn’t my first time hiking the Y. I think perhaps it is the 4th or 5th time this summer. Last time, I hiked it in 29 minutes, which was really difficult and at the time I didn’t think there was any way that I could make it in less that 30 minutes, but I did. This time, I was a little more confident after hiking Kings Mountain in Oregon last week, so I set a goal for 15 minutes.

I set my stopwatch, and decided to only take my one liter water bottle. I started at about noon, and the temperature was about 80 degrees. I hiked solid, only stopping for a few seconds at a time to swallow some water. With the stopwatch as a constant reminder to my 25 minute goal, I kept up a solid pace, and if anything, increased my pace over the duration of the hike. I reached the Y at the zeroth second of the 25 minute of my hike, with about half a liter consumed out of my bottle. I was pretty tired when I reached the top. My heart was going pretty fast and I definitely needed the 10 minute rest once I got up there. The hike back down lasted just about as long as the hike up, mostly because I was taking a fairly safe pace for hiking downhill.

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Kings Mountain

Jacob — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 07:22:08 +0000

Today I hiked Kings Mountain, which is about halfway between Tillamook and Hillsboro, Oregon. The hike was pretty difficult. The total elevation gain was 2500 feet, and I hiked 5 miles (2.5 each way). It took me 2 hours to get up, and about an hour and a half to get back down. In some parts, getting along the trail was really steep and it was kind of a scramble getting up. Today was hot, which meant that the liter and a half of water I took wasn’t quite enough.

Overall, it was a great hike, but nothing for beginners. My shoe wear wasn’t good enough; I wish I had a good pair of boots. I’ll post pictures when I get them developed.

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