Fitness Update

I've been doing pretty good with my workout regime. Generally, I have been hitting the gym five or six days a week. I am now up to doing 5.5 miles on the treadmill, starting off with no incline at 4.1 mph and progressively speeding up and increasing the incline until the last mile is at 4.7 mph and a twelve degree incline, which is about as fast as I can walk without running. After that its a half mile warm down and I'm done. All together, I'm on the treadmill nearly eighty minutes and it says I am burning about 800 calories, though I don't really believe that.

I didn't get a good weight when I started, so I don't know exactly what I have lost, but I am going to guess that I started out at about 238-240 or somewhere close to that. As of yesterday, I was down just below 220, so I've lost 15-20 pounds. My goal is to have lost 25 pounds by the time I leave for the trip, which would put me between 210 and 215. Hopefully, by the time I reach Yosemite in about six weeks, I will be down below 200, so I can take a shot at the Half Dome hike which has 4800 feet of elevation gain, which is roughly the same as it will take to hike out of the Grand Canyon, so that will be a good test. The Half Dome is a climb up, so if I can't make it, I can always climb back down. With the GC, once you're down you're committed. My goal for when I hit the Grand Canyon is to be around 190 pounds or close to fifty pounds from where I started five weeks ago.

One thing I should have been doing is stairs - I started doing them a few days ago and was shocked at how little my treadmill training had prepared me. I could barely make four flights without my legs seizing up. I am now up to seven flights at a time and have been trying to do at least fifty flights a day, but its still hard. Hopefully, another 20-30 pounds and some experience with less strenous hikes along the way will get me in shape for the Half Dome and GC. If not and I really enjoy the trip, it will motivate me to come back and continue my training so I can try again next year.

Tomorrow, I am planning on going on my first practice hike. A group from work goes out every Saturday to different locations to stay in hiking shape. Its a fourteen mile hike with little elevation and they start in the middle, so I can quit after seven miles if that's all I can take. It's supposed to be raining, so I may or may not go. Don't really want my first hike to be in the rain, but we'll see. I'll have to do some of that out in the wild of course.

I'm pretty close to having everything I need. The only major thing I haven't gotten already is a camp stove. I still haven't found one that I really like and is relatively inexpensive. Most of the parks will not allow campfires so its either a camp stove or cold food.

Its getting relatively close and I'm starting to get pretty psyched about the trip. I am dreading the initial drive of nearly 1056 miles from Fort Worth to the Badlands National Park, South Dakota, where I am planning on starting. Nothing but the heartland between here and there, so there won't be much to look at along the way. After that my longest one day drives are in the 300-500 mile range, so they won't be too bad.

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Ordered Most of Major Camping Gear

I ordered most of the major camping gear I will need - tent, sleeping bag, backpack, battery power supply, super-insulated ice chest, and inflatable sleeping pad - all from Amazon. In addition to good pricing, Amazon is also giving away an Annual National Park pass that will save me another $80. I also ordered some hiking boots so I can start to get them broken in.

Planning the Trip

The purpose of this trip is to see as many beautiful places in the American West as possible, to get physically and mentally healthy, and discover some things that I've never known or experienced.

The length of the trip will depend upon just when I can get started - the later in August I leave the shorter the trip will be, mostly due to the fact that I don't want to miss too much of the University of Texas football season!

The plan is to head north from Fort Worth and start the trip with the Badlands and Blackhills of South Dakota. From there, head west into Montana for the Tetons and Yellowstone. If the timing works out, I'd love to take a multi-day whitewater rafting trip in Idaho. Its pretty late in the season for that, but I might be able to get a rafting trip down the amazing Salmon River Canyon.

Next up would be Glacier National Park, then up into Canada to visit Banff and Lake Louise. Then over into British Columbia, with some golf at Whistler BC. Quickly down through Washington State and Oregon, both of which I have been to several times. Probably stop at Crater Lake and then down into California for Yosemite and Sequoia with a side trip to Lake Tahoe.

After Sequoia, over to the Grand Canyon. Hopefully by then, I will be in shape to hike down into the canyon and then back out. After the GC, there are several stops planned in Utah - Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, then into Colorado for Estes Park and the Black Canyon in Gunnison National Forest. One thing I have always wanted to do is the Durando to Silverton narrow gauge railroad, with perhaps a stop at a zip line course - 22 separate lines to travel - it takes all day.

The last stop will probably be at Carlsbad in NM and then back to Fort Worth and a warm shower and bed.