Hiking Mailbox Peak

Me, and Gimpilator (Adam Walker) nocited on April 25, 2008 that the weather was very good, and clear, so I called him up and asked him whats going on, and he says that perhaps we could go on a hike the next day. So I wake up the next day on a early morning, and he calls me, and he decides on Mail Box peak which was an exellent choice, also I have never been to this one, so I thought it would be a great experience.

So we head out and drive to the trailhead, and all is well, exept the fact that I forgot my food, and lucky for me Adam brought a muffin and some nuts for me. We hike up with our trekking poles, because he says the trail gets real steep which it does, but atfirst the trail was hot because it was below and was a bright sunny day. Later as we are hiking, we hike along side with a group of other people, we would pass them by, then they would pass up, and was very unusual for us to be going the same pace as them. Later we hit snow, which is when Adam decided it best to put on crampons, and gave me a pair that were not really crampons as much as a thing you put on your boot, and has these little rings that are made of metal and give you better support. well, as we head up, I start becoming very hungry and weak. So Adam gives me the rest of what I can have, and says that I have to save the muffin for the summit. Adam has a faster hiking pace then me, because he is in better shape than I, so later we slow down a bit, but is still very tiring due to the steepness of the trail and snow, and for the most part….. the lack of food. I never thought of food making so much of a difference, even though I been hiking for about 3 years and had serous times were I am out of food in the Mountains, but am able to pull through, but always would that happend on the way down, on the way up, its so diffrent. As I get higher and higher and evenually get through the trees, I start getting dizzy on top of that, and keep wondering how far the summit was. I keep pressing on as usual when I get into these kinds of sitiations, and once again ask my self “Why do I get myself into these sitiations”. So as we keep rising up and up, the slope of the hill gets very steep, but lucky the side is safe so its more of a safe, but difficult part of the trail. As we keep going up, the last part is in view, and thinking to my self how am I going to do this. As we went up the last steep slope, I was very dizzy, very weak, very hungry, and was loosing balance. Also next to the trail was a very steep part and beyond that I believe a cliff. So each step I made, I would use my ice axe and would constantly fight the desire in my head that screamed out “REST” but kept pressing on. I eventuallu started going crazy inside my self and perhaps a little of how I acted, and thought of it as maddness! Evenually I fell over of exaution, even though the summit was 30 feet away, so a moment later got up, and ran up to the summit with all my will in me. The first thing that I did on the summit was sit down and go through my pack for the muffin and eat. Never had I had a muffin of Apple Crumb sooo good, but because I was crazily hungry, I could not stand to just slowly enjoy it, if a crumb of my muffin fell in the snow, I would grab after it which I did. I never really got to touch the snow summit because it was a corness, and we were above the summit after all because of the snow pack. I wondered to myself on the summit, why haddent any readings of hiking had they explained about ferce hunger if you ever forgot it….. I guess it’s pointing the obvious. At the summit, I took a hundred photos or so, and stopped when Adam said we had to go down because he had to go somewere and the snow was softening up. It was unusually warm at the summit, and the breeze was’nt that cold which to me was a suprise. Also there were lots of people at the summit, which one of them were generous enough to give me some extra water.

The way down was so much easier, not only was it the way down, but its amazing what a little food can do for you, almost as if restoring me. although the way down at first was slow because I had to step, then use my ice axe and the slope was steep. Later I decided on that it would be better to just sled down, you know….. without the sled, a human snowboard. First Adam had to teach me how to use the ixe axe so I don’t go to crazy fast, then after that was a fun ride down. Later as I got back up to hike/ glisade the trail, I would some times sled down like a lot of other people who were with us at the start, and I would almost bump into them. So we hiked down the mountain which was so much easier, and got back to the car and had some pop corn, and talked with Adam a lot, but this was an awesome hike! Even though I had to go through all the hardship of that, it was well worth it! But next time I will do the right thing and always bring food!