August 27th, 2011 Last training hike at Tiger Mountain

Team Bonda took on Tiger Mountain at 6 am for our last training hike.  For the first time, the trail wasn't open on arrival.  Sandra, our mountain goddess who already finished a successful summit (yay!), joined us, which was awesome! We had a great hike up.  On top, food experimentation lab took place to figure what could be eaten/quickly cooked, at Camp Muir.  We finished our hike in great time and I was looking forward to the rest of my day, when, alas, I could not find my car keys!  I then realized I must have locked them in the trunk with my purse.  The day was not lost however, as Archana adopted me and took me on a needed shopping spree to REI flagship and then we ate brunch, followed by lunch with our families in the city.  Ajay and I then went back to the trail head only to wait 90 minutes for triple A! There is truly never a hike without an incident! 

August 28th, 2011 Last week day hike!

We did Poo Poo point trail for the occasion.  The hike started positive with everyone clocking record times and then enjoying doklas while watching para gliders on the top.  When we decided to gleefully pose for pictures, poor Resh jammed her finger on my shoulder.  She powered through on the way down, but ended up with a swollen finger and a ring that could not come off!  Poor girl had to go the urgent care two days later, luckily no broken bones...

August 20th, 2011 Camp Muir or bust

Distance 9.2 miles round trip
Elevation gain 4600 feet
Max Elevation 10,050 feet



Team Bonda takes Muir!


Reshma, Archana, and I headed up to Paradise in Rainier National Park.  We were greeted by beautiful weather, much warmer than our hike here a few weeks earlier.  We trudged up to Muir, taking breaks on the hour.  This time I carried the full 35 plus pounds.  Arch and I rented boots from Whittaker, which,thankfully, worked great. The first hour was quite brutal, but after that, it was challenging but doable.  The views were spectacular!  We saw Mount Adams, Mount St. Helen's, Mount Hood, along with waterfalls, wildflowers, and of course Rainier herself. 


Resh, adjusting my load lifters

View of Rainier from Paradise

Team Bonda did great, with all of us being able keep up with the RMI group.  At camp muir, the RMI guides showed us the bunker we would be staying at during our summit climb.  They also were amazingly helpful and answered all our questions. 

The way down was a slog because the slush made the glissading less than ideal, and the ground sooo slippery.  Nevertheless, we were all in good spirits as we headed to dinner in Ashford at Wild Berry, a Nepalese restaurant Sandra had recommended.  The food was amazing and totally hit the spot!  A very long but super successful day.

the trudge up to Muir

Base Camp!



August 18th, 2011 Poo poo point

Distance: 5.0 miles

Elevation gain: 1650 ft

Highest point 1850 ft

Ajay and I hiked on the lovely Thursday afternoon with Maya and Chayya.  On the top, we enjoyed watching all the para gliders along with the beautiful views of the Snoqualmie valley.  I felt good on this short but pleasurable hike, and was glad the dogs could join us.

Paragliders galore!

August 13th, 2011 Lake Serene

Roundtrip 7.2 miles
Elevation gain 2000 ft
Highest point 2521 ft

This weekend a trip in honor of Ajay's birthday was planned with the whole family to Sleeping Lady Resort in Leavenworth.  As I still had to get a hike in, Ajay, my dad, Maya, Chayya and I headed out before the rest of the family to hike to Lake Serene.  I carried my now usual 35 lbs.  The hike was beautiful with old growth forest, waterfalls and streams.  What made it slightly moderate in difficulty as opposed to easy was that all the elevation gain was in the last 1.5 or so miles in the form of 23 switchbacks.  This was fine for everyone except old Maya, who had to be helped at several points, but still she willed her way through.  My dad was, of course, the fastest on the hike.  He liked the hike so much he is going to join a hiking group when he moves to New Zealand.  Lake Serene, with Ajay's bad luck on hikes, was completely fogged in.  However the waterfall made the hike worthwhile for both training and enjoyment!

good thing dad was there to catch this stump from falling!

Bridal Veil Falls

August 11th, 2011 Painful Solo Hike on Si

Distance 8 miles
Elevation gain 3700 feet
Highest elevation 4167 feet




Above the clouds at the summit of Mount Si


So I decided because of a busy weekend ahead to tackle my big hike on a week day.  I approached the hike like it would be no big deal.  I forgot to take my aleve, and had no music to distract me.  Carrying the 35 lbs up Si, my knees and feet were feeling it.  I made it up in 2:35 minutes, and down in 1:20 minutes.  I was completely in pain at the end.  That evening, I couldn't step on my right foot because I would get numbness and shooting pain down my 2nd and 3rd toes.  My knees were swollen up.  Maybe it was the lack of medicine or Si is just hard on the joints, but, by gosh, this hike totally brutalized me!
Every morning for the last few weeks,  my right ankle hurts when I first get out of bed, and if I step on my feet a certain way, I get the same shooting pains.  Uggh!  I blame the heavy pack.  Hopefully, this is the worst of it!

August 6th, 2011 The Beautiful Granite Mountain

Roundtrip 8.0 miles
Elevation gain 3800 feet
Peak Elevation 5629 feet

Archana and I got an early start on this Saturday morning.  We started our hike at 7am, and what a beautiful hike it was!  I carried 35 lbs and braked for 5-10 minutes every hour again.  I had good music to listen to, and even better scenery.  After the first hour, the trail is actually not in the forest, completely different from all the hikes on the Snoqualmie corridor!  It is basically on a small trail, uphill of course, through gorgeous meadows of wildflowers.  There were also streams and mini waterfalls to add to the splendor.  The hike was harder than Mount Si because the first mile was flat, so all the elevation gain was in the last three miles.  In addition, the trail was rocky and more irregular.  But, so much more interesting than Si for sure!  I made it up in three hours.  Archana rocked the hike as well, carrying 40 lbs! 
The last 1/4 mile involves climbing boulders to a tower, we went a little way and decided it wasn't worth the injury.  Not to mention coming down the boulders looked frightful indeed.  Though no panoramic views, the mist did clear on one side to enjoy seeing the jagged mountain and a beautiful field of snow.  This hike, other than Camp Muir, was by far my favorite! 

gorgeous wildflower meadows

Arch, glad to pose without her extra heavy pack

Archana's great photography at its best!

7/31/11 Trek to Camp Muir, the base camp for Mount Rainier

Distance 9.2 miles round trip
Elevation gain 4600 feet
Max Elevation 10,050 feet




Grinning silly on the descent!


Ajay and I headed out at 6 am to Paradise in Rainier National Park.  We met Archana, Reshma, and their friends who are training for Kilimanjaro, Denise and Vanita there.  We headed out at 945 am, after poor Archana dropped her bagel twice.  The second time a loving bug creeped in ruling out the "three second rule".  Poor Archana also sustained a fall on her knee (ouch) early on.
This hike was entirely different and more difficult than any of our training hikes, namely the whole hike was almost straight uphill on snow.  Also, this is the only hike we have had to deal with higher altitudes.
The visibility on this day was quite poor, and only got worse as we headed up the trail.  Ajay and I hiked together, breaking every hour for 5-10 minutes, RMI style (RMI is Rainier Mountaineering Institue, the guide group who we are using for the Rainier summit).  The wind picked up big time by hour three as did the lack of visibility.  At one point I said something to Ajay and he was nowhere to be seen!  He had stopped to tie his shoe and was 30 yards below looking for me.  Once we found each other we also found the RMI group heading to base camp for their summit climb.  Using their foot prints to help track on the snow, we tailed them essentially the rest of the way up.  I have to say, I loved the wind and the crazy visibility, I felt quite adventurous!

Picture I stole from the internet of a clear day at Camp Muir

The last 90 minutes was the hardest, but I really felt great overall, despite the calf and thigh burn.  The visibility improved near Camp Muir and we were rewarded with views of part of the Rainier summit, but very windy conditions at base camp.  Ajay and I made it up in exactly five hours.  We enjoyed hot lentil soup, and then I almost passed out using the disgusting Camp Muir toilet facility.
The way down turned somewhat bittersweet.  We ran into the rest of the team at about 9000 feet.  They had through a combinations of reasons (boot issues, lack of visibility, etc), decided not to continue to base camp.  Resh and Arch also were now worried about the actual summit climb.  This fear was luckily fixed the next day when they both spoke to RMI guides who said they were doing great (I had said this to them as well, but of course it is more meaningful coming from experts).  We did enjoy a team snack on the way down of banana bread from Resh and grilled peaches from Arch, as well as more of Ajay's lentil soup.  Ajay and I then hustled down, enjoying glissading down several shoots.  Total time down was 3 hours.




Me, Reshma, Archana, Vanita and Denise innocently smile before the hike