On The Fly

Summer on my calendar has officially arrived. The fourth of July celebrations have already come and gone and Le Tour de France is underway! This morning the sun peeked over the horizon in California at 5:45 a.m., a comfortable 60 degrees, the skies were turquoise blue, the winds calm, bird’s singing quietly in the background, and the fresh smell of the trees filled the air. Well, not exactly, you see today’s chore was to empty and completely scrub the cats litter box. As you might imagine the smells were not exactly that of a floral bouquet. Anyway . . .  For me, summer continues to build the anticipation of this year’s annual high Sierra adventure. This will be my fourth consecutive year wildness backpacking near Bishop, CA. It’s less than two weeks away and my motivation for training increases daily as the trip approaches. My challenge is to not overdo it, maintain a balance between workout and proper rest. As a devoted cyclist and French compatriot, anticipation al...

Little Lakes Valley “ Merde ! It’s only been five miles. My legs are dog-tired from carrying this backpack.” was the comment I mumbled inaudibly while hiking yesterday to begin the full regiment of training for this year's Sierra adventure.  Lori led the way for my first full backpack training exercise, “We need to get you out more these next few weeks; your trip is less than one month away.” “Wow, you’re right. How is it that all that work I’ve done, bicycling and hiking, is not enough? This getting older is a bitch!” We were hiking the Calavera Hills Nature Preserve in Carlsbad. I wanted to climb close to home to try out the new backpack. Granted, the 513-ft. Mount Calavera is not really a mountain at all but rather a 22 million-year-old volcanic plug—a mass of volcanic rock that solidified in its vent and feeding system millions of years ago. It is an excellent training area. This year, our intrepid team will explore  Little Lakes Valley,  nestled i...