"Barney" Flashback

I have to admit, today I was kind of bummed I didn't have a backpack trip planned. Can you believe I missed my pack!
Instead I opted to take a friend to Crowders Mt. for a 5 mile hike. She was so green to hiking that it reminded me of what a "barney" hiker I used to be. Hahaha! Like when I used an Eastpak school bag to lug around ridiculous amounts of bottled water that I never got around to drinking. Or when I wore cotton t-shirts, cotton socks, and sneakers. I always came home with blisters, I was constantly twisting my ankles on roots, and the drive home in a soaking wet t-shirt was no fun. Wow... those were the days. Makes me wonder why in the world I stuck with this sport. I learned a thing or two along the way, like discovering wicking t-shirts, sock liners, and how good boots can make all the difference between a good and bad hike. By the way, for those of you that didn't get the "barney"reference; "Barney" is a word surfers call truly green, newbie surfers. Vocab I picked up from my years spent growing up in SoCal.
So my "barney" friend and I make it to the mountain and are on the loop trail right at 8am. The first 1/2 mile was gradual to get you warmed up. Then the trial went up for a 1000 foot ascent for about 2 miles in three humps. After several small breaks, I take a photo on a huge rock overlook. My friend in her cotton t-shirt and huge school backpack tells me she is feeling fatigued in her legs. She's already gone thru 3 of her 4 water bottles. I tell her that we are 1/2 way to the view where we can take a 20 min break, just a couple of rock scrambles to climb, then once on top, it's mostly down hill for 2 1/2 miles. Thank goodness that I got to stop along to trail to wait on my friend, because it gave me an excuse to catch my breathe. I felt like my heart was going to burst! I really need to up my cardio thru out the week to increase my heart rate.
Personally, I like a couple of rock scrambles thrown in my hikes. My novice friend?...not a fan of the scrambles. She was literally crawling on her hands and knees in some spots, and wasn't sure she could make it over the others. I told her it was 10% physical and 90% mental and that I knew she could do it. We finally reach the top and were rewarded with an amazing view. I had brought two 20 oz. water bottles in my REI hip belt and had only gone thru 1/2 of one of them. So I offered the other 20 oz. to my friend. She downed it in about 5 minutes. We pushed on and climbed down some never ending stairs. Only 2 1/2 more miles to go and the terrain from here is pretty gradual, flowing, and rolling small hills. I powered thru this like a champ. Huffing and puffing, but strong legged and fast. I look behind me every now and then to see where my friend was and to make sure she was ok. For the last 1/2 mile we take it slow to cool down. Over all it was a great hike, but a lot tougher than I initially remembered. I will surely be back to concur this mountain again. Oh, and my friend, when I dropped her off, the poor thing got out of the car so stiff, but she was grinning. Looks like I converted another one. :)