Sunday, June 9, 2013

Hiking Mummy Mountain - Ace of Hearts

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to join 18 fellow hikers from the Hiking Las Vegas meetup group on the ~9.5 mile hike up 3,732 feet to the peak of Mummy Mountain (some people call it Mummy's Tummy) for a final elevation of 11,542 feet:
via hikinglasvegas.blogspot.com
It was a very strenuous hike.  It was as strenuous as you can imagine hiking up over 3700 feet of elevation at an already high elevation.  The first ~3.5 miles, although severely uphill, were on a nicely maintained trail that wound through gorgeous forests of bristlecone pine and aspen trees.  

However, around that 3.5 mile mark the hike takes a turn for the exceptionally strenuous as soon as you see this tree:
"M" is for "Mummy"
This tree signifies the make a sharp right turn off the main path and head up the steepest most evil scree slope I have ever encountered.  It was so steep and the rock was so loose that I often felt like I was spinning my wheels getting to the top.  


The only thing worse than climbing up was climbing down.  I was covered in dust from falling.  Fortunately no blood was spilled.

Once we got to the top, we had a very special celebration for my friend Dinorah became a 53er!!  This means that she has climbed the best 52 peaks in the area surrounding Las Vegas.  By hiking and climbing all of these peaks, Dinorah has climbed over 110,000 feet and hiked the equivalent distance of the distance between Las Vegas and Los Angeles!!  She's also an incredible ambassador for organ donation because 2 years ago she was the recipient of a life saving kidney transplant. 
In addition to celebrating Dinorah, reaching the top of Mummy Mountain resulted in me earning my first Ace!! 


It was truly one of those fantastic days.  I spent time with incredibly interesting people; burned a ton of calories; and saw some incredible views from the second tallest peak in southern Nevada.

Finally, my favorite pic of the hike: 
This tree was almost completely hollowed out by what appears to be lightning.  The opening was just wide enough for my obviously very broad shoulders.  This is basically my new tree house.

And of course...after burning over 3000 calories, I was starving and decided a treat was in order.  Have you figured out that I'm pretty obsessed with these McDonald's caramel shakes? 
Now, I really need to convince myself to make my way to the treadmill and run 6 miles, but I am pretty sore from yesterday which has kept me pretty firmly within the clutches of my couch.  We'll see how that pans out.

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What have your workouts looked like this weekend?
(I obviously avoided the 111 degree Vegas weather by traveling to the Mt. Charleston area where it was ~25 degrees cooler!)

What do you think about my I <3 Sweat shirt?
(If you're jealous, you can get one here - and a portion of the proceeds goes directly to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America)

How do you survive long treadmill workouts?
(I'm still figuring this out...but right now, I write workouts and switch up inclines and paces.  I'm still open to suggestions)
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2 comments:

  1. so many things about this post:

    1. congrats on your ace. you are my hero.
    2. those shakes look like crack cocaine, hence i will never have one for fear of getting addicted.
    3. im about to go look into that sweat-shirt.

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are very wise for choosing to avoid this deliciously evil creation that McDonald's is now offering. I am firmly in the grasp of addiction

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