Dieter.us

It was hard. Over 200 miles in sixteen days (August 6th to August 20th), at times carrying a pretty heavy backpack, traversing eight up to 13,500 feet passes and finally summiting Mt. Whitney.  It was incredible. It is difficult to put the beauty of the scenery into perspective, and the photos don't capture well the incredible size of it all. Taking wide lens shots just make the enormous mountains shrink to meager hills.  Weather clearing up at Lower Palisade Lake (10,600 ft). In the end, it only rained for ten minutes on the entire hike. The John Muir Trail in California Elevation Profile of the JMT It is very isolated. The John Muir Trail traverses the Sierra Nevada from north to south starting at Yosemite National Park and ending on Mt. Whitney in Sequoia National Park. In between the trail goes through the Inyo and Sierra National Forests as well as Kings Canyon National Park. The entire area is uninhabited, and the trail does not cross a single road. Resupply was only pos...

And another year of exercise came to and end. Overall a new record of overall millage, probably due to my retirement in May. On the running front highlights included the Uwharrie Marathon in March, the Ridge to Rails Half Marathon in June, the Iron Mountain 16 Miler in September, the Medoc Mountain 10 Miler in October and the City of Oaks Half Marathon in November. Most weeks I ran Mondays at Trophy Brewing and I frequently joined the Wednesday run out of Raleigh Brewing as well as some Thursday and Saturday runs with the Raleigh Trail Runners. Despite specific goals I realized in early December I could beat the 1,535 miles I achieved in 2017 which I accomplished on December 31 by 0.6 miles. Biking was also really enjoyable throughout the year. Some weekend greenway trips with friends riding from Clayton to Raleigh and many rides from home to the local brewery. I only mountain biked about 200 miles, but always at interesting spots such as Old Fort, Lake James, Medeoc Mountain and of co...