At some point during the day we all encountered difficulties, although Anthony had the worst of it - succumbing once again to altitude sickness and losing his lunch and the day’s liquids somewhere along the trail (and then twice again before hitting they sack). Erik’s also showing small symptoms of a possible cold, with a sore throat and cough. But, tomorrow is another day… and we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Actually, it’s eight o’clock right now and all of us are tucked into our bags for the night (it’s not even fully dark outside). However, we’re all more than drained and it’s just too chilly to sit around outside. So, we decided to retire early. With luck, the night will restore our bodies an spirits (and be bear-free).

Tomorrow should be a little easier, with a mostly downhill morning and a small climb in the afternoon. If we feel OK, we may entertain the idea of pushing on into the Mammoth area… but, after today, that’s a big “if.”

Until tomorrow (or when I have a connection to post this), keep sending us positive thoughts!

We ended up trekking a bit more than a mile further than we’d planned as the rangers warned us about an “aggressive” bear active in the area where we’d originally planned to stay the night. And, actually, having been able to check out the intended site on the way here, we’re at the better place.

Asking around the circle, everyone seems to be in good spirits, and I think we’re all happy with our stamina the progress we made. Then again, we’re still hiking on (relatively) fresh legs and aren’t trail-beaten yet.

It is absolutely gorgeous up here, and the trails aren’t as crowded as we expected for the holiday-led short week. I’m trying to take in more of the scenery this time around, instead of watching the feet in front of me and the terrain coming up.

Tomorrow sees us at our highest elevations for the whole of the hike, and likely our most brutal day in terms of exertion.

Wish us luck!

Happy Labor Day folks.

Hope you’re enjoying your time away from work.

As promised, I’m posting a detailed rundown of this week’s JMT hike.  And, as you read this, the guys and I are probably halfway to the Eastern side of Yosemite National Park, where we’ll begin our journey with high hopes of finishing what Anthony started last year and couldn’t finish.  Tomorrow (as you read this), we’ll hit the trail around 9:30am after gathering our passes and bear-canisters from the ranger station.

Below you can see the waypoints we’ve fed into the GPS we’re taking, and sort of track our progress.  Day two is our highest elevation day, while day five is our longest haul.  We pass through civilization only once when we go through the Mammoth area on day four, stopping in the Red’s Meadow area and maybe grabbing a real sit-down meal and a thermal shower from the hot-springs.  Aside from that, it’s miles and miles of scenic high-Sierra backcountry.  Check it:

Sorry for the fuzziness, I didn’t do it all html-table fancy like I did last year and just used a screencap of our Excel file.

If you’re so inclined, you can click on the following links to get an aeriel veiw of where we plan to camp each night (providing we stick to the schedule above): Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday afternoon (exit point).

And, that’s about it.  If we happen to have wireless access at Red’s Meadow I think I’ll try and scramble off a quick post on our progress up until that point.  If not, look for me back here in a week.

Wish us well!

Hi guys, it’s Friday.  I’m ready for the weekend.  Ready to pack, and take to the skies around 10am Monday to get to the trailhead for our early Tuesday hike-start.  Let’s do this.

Tonight around ten o’clock, and after doing the dishes after watching Barack after eating dinner after playing with Keaton after taking off my workclothes and putting on gym shorts with no shirt after turning off the iPhone that was streaming the freshly-leaked Mogwai album after pulling into the garage after leaving work after running my staff meeting after working like three men again after grabbing Indian buffet for lunch after working like three men after grabbing my coffee and a fuji apple for breakfast after driving into work while listening to the freshly-leaked Mogwai album after getting dressed after showering after waking up, I decided to make a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios to satisfy a latenight craving for something sweet.

Sharaun was in the living room stretched out on the big couch and had a good vantage of the countertop where I placed the empty bowl I pulled from the cabinet.  She watched as I pulled the box of cereal down from the cabinet and poured it into the bowl.  Here’s a pretty good approximation of how that went:

Oh my God David, how much cereal are you putting in that bowl?  Did you leave any? Why do you fill it that much?  Who makes bowls of cereal like that, anyway?  I saw you use your hand to push it down so it would fit!  What do you think it’s the Mongolian Grill?  Is there going to be any for Keaton in the morning?  Where are you even going to put the milk now?  Seriously.

I didn’t leave my side of the conversation out of that either, I just sort of stood there chuckling as she went on.  Sometimes these unprovoked rants really crack me up.  And, even though she was half-joking, there were definitely shades of the three-hundred babies thing from blogs of yore.  Anyway, I thought it was funny, and smiled all the way through my enormous bowl of delicious Cheerios.

Goodnight.

It’s the end of Wednesday and I swear I’ve done a week’s worth of hard work in this first half.  Between making up for my vacation last week and trying to get a little ahead to take the edge off my vacation next week, I’m cramming…

Random and scattered today, be prepared.

Today, I got re-excited about our hike for a whole new reason.  Turns out Ben has a pilot buddy who owes him a favor and is likely going to be in town next Monday.  In recompense, he may be willing to ferry Anthony, Ben, and I to a small airstrip in the Sierras close to our trailhead.  This would be a in six-seater twin-engine job, flying from here down there in a fraction of the time it would take to drive, and, probably more importantly, salvaging my marriage by taking the burden of the eight-hour roundtrip drop-off from Sharaun and Keaton.  I can just imagine packing into a private plane, all geared out for our hike, loading our packs up and taking off into the mountain skies.  I mean, it’s like a whole super-bonus beginning to what stands to be an incredible adventure already.  And, while it’s not 100% confirmed at this point, I would say we’re trending positively (sorry for the sawmill-speak, laymen).  So rad.

Late last night the new New Kids on the new New Kids on the Block album leaked, and today I downloaded it for Sharaun.  Oh man was she happy.  What?  Oh, you didn’t know the New Kids on the Block were back together?  Yeah, they are.  All their songs sound like the last Akon or Chris Brown song you heard on the radio, right down the the thinly veiled sexual lyics and robotic pitch-shifting voice effects ala Cher’s Believe.  But, my wife, whom I love to death, loves this band to death… and has spent ungodly amounts of dosh on concert tickets for their upcoming shows (where, in the apparent fulfillment of one of her lifetime dreams, she’ll actually be going to “meet and greet” the band).  Anyway, we listened to the album most of the evening - it was even our dinnertime soundtrack.  And, let me tell you guys… it’s bad.  Real, real bad.

Today Keaton and I had a teaparty with three of her dolls, Finny, Claudia, and Hannah.  Although, instead of tea we had coffee… and we doctored it with sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg (her idea, I promise).  We had “biscuits” with our tea, which were actually tiny pieces of plastic fruit (go figure).  Sometimes I like to play the big brother role and do things like pretend to spill coffee or “accidentally” knock over one of the babies… maybe you think that’s mean but I enjoy seeing how she reacts to things.  Sometimes her reponses to situations floor me, she’s so mature seeming in some ways (well, for a two and a half year old… or whatever).  Parts of my insides cry when I think how fast she got here though… so I want to enjoy as many teaparties as I can, while I can.

Goodnight people.

I actually don’t have much to write tonight… but I wanted to share something I thought was funny.  By way of introduction, if you’ve read this blog for a while you likely know I’m a music nut.  And, I find a lot of new tunes “online.”  In the course of this process, I occasionally visit one specialized (completely legal and blessed by the RIAA and whatnot) website in particular and, on this website they occasionally run random polls on the frontpage.  The other day, the poll asked, simply, “How old are you?”  Check out the results:

Looks like I’m sqaurely in the minority, huh?  Me and a bunch of college kids.  In some way, that makes me feel a little “tuned in,” and in another way not.  Either way… it makes me feel old.  Don’t old guys like music anymore these days?

Goodnight.

8:30 or so on this week-starting Monday, and work came at me like an avalanche today.  Who knew a week of work sandwiched in between two weeks of vacation would be stressful?  Everything to catch up on, everything to make up time on and get done early.  Ugh.

Sharaun and Keaton are out again, and I’m using every ounce of my internet prowess to once again play gumshoe in search of an old breakbeat mix I had on tape back in highschool.  I’ve written about the mix before here on the blog, and I’ve been searching for it now for something like ten years.  I feel like I made some more progress in recalling some tracks which were featured on it, but try as I might, I can’t seem to find mention of a “common” southern US DJ set featuring them all… I’ll never give up!

OK then.  Another entry about Keaton today… seems to be a theme of late.

Sharaun went to the gym early this morning, somewhere around 5:30am.  She does it a couple times a week when she can, since Keaton’s sleeping and I’m home with her doing the same.  She usually gets back to find me about ready to head out to work and Keaton still down.  This morning though, sometime after she left I stirred in bed to a noise in our room.  Chalking it up to the cat getting into something, I hunkered back down into my fetal position.  Right after that though, I jumped as a sleepy little voice said, “Hi Daddy.  I waked up.”  Opening my eyes, Keaton was there, staring up at me.

Noticing that not much morning light was trying to push its way through the cracks in the blinds, I grabbed the iPhone to see what time it was.  At the same time I reached out and tussled Keaton’s hair with my other hand.  6:03am.  She was standing there with her hair all mooshed and tangly and clutching her babydoll (it was Claudia, I have seriously come to know them by name).  I told her, my voice crackly with the first words of the day, “Keaton, it’s too early to wake up baby.  You have to go back to bed.”  And then, “Do you want to go back to your room and climb back into your big girl bed, or do you want to sleep her with Daddy?”

“I want to sleep with Daddy,” she replied.  “OK,” I said, scooping her and Claudia up alongside me and covering them with the comforter.  I had some doubts I’d get any more sleep, as bringing Keaton into bed with us has never worked in the past.  She ends up wanting to play more than she wants to sleep, and, eventually, she’ll actually ask to go to her crib to get some real sleep if she gets tired enough - she’s never slept a whole night with us in the bed.  But, she actually settled right down and I started to drift off.

Sometime later, I was roused as by a tiny hand settling over my mouth and Keaton saying, “Don’t snore Daddy.”  I chuckled, and didn’t move her hand as I tried to get back to sleep.  Over the next fifty minutes or so, she put her hand over my mouth (and one time a little bit over my nose too) and implored me not to snore twice more.  I thought it was the cutest thing, and secretly hoped Sharaun would come home and see us asleep there, Keaton cuddled into my armpit with her hand over my mouth - and sneak a picture so I could see what we looked like.

But, by the time Sharaun got home my alarm had gone off and I’d gone back to take a shower while leaving Keaton to watch a new Backyardigans with some juice and graham crackers (a Dad-style pre-breakfast snack, I suppose).  Owell.

G’nite.

Early evening Sunday and Sharaun and Keaton packed off for a dinner thing at church without me (I’m still feeling a bit worn-down from the case of the sniffles I had last week).  Had a nice lazy day today, watched the new Rambo flick on DVD with a buddy and then, our thirst for manly movies still not quenched, queued up John Wayne’s El Dorado afterward.  Now, though, with the house to myself, I’m just watching some old TiVo’d Leave It To Beaver reruns - I take solace in black and white sitcoms from days-passed, for some reason… maybe there’s something to that whole “past lives” thing.

Anyway, Saturday after we took Sharaun’s mom and dad to the airport I came home and took off  the front side of Keaton’s crib, effectively turning it into what the instruction manual calls a “daybed.”  We instead call it her “big girl bed.”  It was something that had to be done, although Sharaun protested the fact.  Keaton’s been climbing herself out of the crib now for quite a while, and I didn’t see any point in keeping her in it any longer.  I mean, we feel lucky we got two-and-half years with the four walls - most our friends with kids Keaton’s age moved into “big kid beds” a while ago.

Anyway, Sharaun argued for keeping her in it longer; I think partially because Keaton wasn’t really protesting the arrangements (other than climbing out), and because she thought that converting it would make it all the easier for her to get out of bed on a whim, or, rather, give her less of a reason to “settle down” and drift off to slumber.  In fact, I was almost wishing I’d listened to her when we put her down for her first nap in the newly-converted bed that afternoon - as it took her a while to get herself to sleep.  I maintained the same had been happening for the past week (which it has), crib or daybed making no difference, but Sharaun still insisted I’d made a mistake.

To save my “Dad cred” a bit, I went in and put an extra effort into soothing her into sleepy-time that afternoon, and the nap eventually went off as a big success (as did that night, and everything since).  So once again, I have proved my fathering chops… or something.

Today, however, the naptime exchange I had with Keaton was worth noting.  Sharaun had a baby shower downtown after church in the morning, so Keaton and I headed home together for lunch, a little playtime, a much-needed bath, and, finally, her scheduled nap.  After drying her off, fresh out of the bath, I put her in some comfy clothes.  Normally, this is when we’d retire to the rocking chair where I’d sing her a few songs to hasten the sandman’s arrival.

But, before I could scoop her up into my shoulder and sit down she said, “I need to take my nap now, Daddy; I’m tired.”  OK, that’s different; she followed with, “I don’t want to sing any songs before my nap.” Hmmm, “You don’t?,” I asked.  “No.  And I don’t want to say a ‘dear God’ either.  I’m just gonna climb into my big girl bed and you close the door and I go to sleep.”  Honestly, I came out and wrote that down word-for-word verbatim as soon as I left the room, those are her exact words.

So, that’s just what I did.  She did let me tuck her in, and I did manage to sneak a kiss on her forehead.  Turned out to be a great nap too, perfectly long enough for Rambo and El Dorado.

Well, that’s that… time to shut this thing down.

Seven days, friends; seven days from today… that’s when the guys (Ben, Erik, and Anthony) and I head down to Yosemite for the first nights camp on our epic John Muir Trail “redo” hike (well, it’s a “redo” for Anthony and I, maybe just a “do” for the rest of the crew).  We’ll make camp that night and hit the trail early the next morning.  I’m getting more and more excited by the day (and developing just a little anxiety as well).  As promised, I’ll get the full day-by-day itenerary up sometime this week before we ship off into the hills.

Goodnight.

Friday, Friday; the Lord brought us another Friday.  Give thanks, plebs, give thanks.

Today, while my father-in-law and I were sitting around the house playing with Keaton, she retreated back into the hallway and, this time, didn’t come back right away like she normally does.  Usually, she’ll go back there into her bedroom or our bedroom and get some toy or doll or something before she comes right back out to the area where everyone’s hanging out.  This time, I noticed she’d been gone for a while and got up to go look after her.

When I found her, she had her shorts and underwear around her ankles and was sitting on her little potty (which we’ve moved into the tiny toilet-area in our master bathroom while we have guests) reading one of my bathroom Newsweeks.  I asked her what she was doing, and she matter-of-factly told me: “I’m making a poo-poo and a pee-pee and reading a magazine; just like you, Daddy!”

Awww… she even apes my bowel movements y’all… that’s love.

Goodnight.  Goodweekend.

Thursday and the sand in my vacation hourglass is running low.

Also running low, the time between my writing this and our departure in a little more than a week for our John Muir Trail “redo” hike.  I put a meeting on the group’s collective calendars for next Tuesday to do a shopping run at REI and some pre-trail pack stuffing and checking (yes, we are so bound to technology that we “calendar” our hike planning sessions).  As time gets closer, I get more and more excited… I really can’t wait to get out on the trail again.  Later next week I’ll publish our finalized itinerary with GPS links for the data-driven and curious.  But, for now, let’s do some boring blogging.

Vacation with the parents-in-law has so far been perfect.  Sharaun’s folks are low-key vacationers, not really wanting to run around and see this or do that… but rather wanting to spend time together hanging out and relaxing.  I can really identify with this kind of vacationing.  Last night (Wednesday) we had some friends over for some barbecue, drinks, and Olympic-watching socialization.  We’ve been to a couple different parks to let Keaton run around and play, made a visit to the zoo, and are planning a trip halfway up the mountain tomorrow to go swimming and picnic at a little tucked-away spot on the river.  And, even though I’m technically not on vacation today… I sure am giving work the short shrift.

Now to change the subject a bit, to the nerd-stuff…

With the advent (or rather, my recent discovery) of programs like Simplify Media, which streams your home-based music collection to your iPhone, I’ve become painfully aware that, despite previous monumental efforts on my part to clean up and standardize the MP3 tag structure of my music collection, I’ve still got a long way to go.  This becomes immediately apparent when using applications like Simplify, which rely solely on the MP3 tag data of your collection to sort and display your music.  Minor differences in band naming schemes (to capitalize the ‘I’ in Architecture in Helsinki’s name or not, for instance) presents as two different artists, as an example.

Because of this, I’ve dutifully undertaken my most monumental tag “cleanup” effort to-date: Using a combination of tagging and renaming programs to scroll through my entire library and edit things for efficiency, accuracy, and useability.  I figure that this whole remote-streaming/access to home music collections is the way of the future, so I may as well baseline now and be ready for the glory that is to come.  It’ll take time to change all those instance of “Eric Burdon and The Animals” my preferred “Eric Burdon & The Animals,” but I think it’ll be worth it.  Update: I wrote these paragraphs a couple days ago (on one of those days I didn’t end up posting), and have since finished my great tag-update.  The work didn’t end up being that bad and, even though I still have a few things to tidy, I got it done in relatively short order.

Bye guys, I’m off to dial into a meeting (told you it was some sort of quasi-vacation)…