We started hiking at approximately 0540, getting an early start to beat the day's heat. Temperatures on the ascent were bearable even after the sun fully came up. This “rollercoaster” trail always kicks my butt, and I knew I would be slow. Given the situation with my knees, I still reached the summit at 0946, a bit off my usual pace for this trail. I encouraged Phil and Amy to take the El Capitan spur while I continued to the ECM summit. This was Amy's first time on this trail, and I could use the head start to (ultimately) minimize the time they were waiting on me.
This plan worked well; they arrived at the ECM summit just as I sat down to eat lunch. After food, photos, and resting, we started the descent at 1100, agreeing on key points where they would wait for me to catch up. I put both knee braces on and began the trek back. Temperatures on the descent were brutal, quickly reaching into the 90s. I had started the day with 3L of water and 2L of mixed electrolytes; thankfully, there were prepositioned water coolers at two points on the trail, and I took full advantage of them. I felt I was well prepared with 5L of fluid to start, but I consumed 8L total and still lost 2 pounds of water weight after all was said and done. The combination of terrain and temperature made this an extremely challenging hike, more so than usual. I am no stranger to hiking in extreme temperatures, but I usually only do this hike in January.
Nonetheless, I finished wrapping up my SD 6POP. When I signed up for the 2023 challenges, I had no idea I would have ACL reconstruction in May. After my surgery, I figured the entire year would be a wash when it came to completing my hiking challenges, but I was able to start easy hikes 3-months post-surgery. With another ACL Reconstruction surgery scheduled for mid-November and my schedule between now and then, I cannot complete the SoCal 6POP; however, I'm thankful to have gotten this far! I'll hold off registering for next year's challenge until I fully recover from my left knee ACL Reconstruction.
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Responses
Congratulations, Dale. I’m glad your ACL is healing. Take it easy and give it time, as they say… “the mountain will always be there.”
By the way, with this peak you became a 2024 Legacy Challenger! Congratulations!
Thanks, I’m going in this morning, 11/17, to have my left ACL Reconstructed! At least I completed the SD challenge between my two surgeries 🙂 If everything goes well today, I expect another 3-4 months before I can return to the trails. We’ll see!