Mt Olympus Past the First River -- A Little Bit

A long time ago I documented hiking up Mt. Olympus in 5 min. intervals.

My Markers that I look for so I know how far I've come.

Because my back felt so much better after hiking on Monday, 

I wanted to go out again today. And for the first time in what seems like forever,

I didn't have a million things on my list to get done.

It was a beautiful day for a hike and a lot of people had the same idea I did.

My goal was to hike 15 minutes past the first river. 

I also remember there being 17 switchbacks to the first shale slide so I wanted

to make it that far.

(I have a weird habit of counting things... that is a HUGE post for another day.)

Starting at the first river: 

(It's hard to tell, but if you look carefully, that's water all the way to the bottom of the photo spilling out of the normal river bank and onto the trail.)

This tree is my friend. I've written about him before. He's actually lots of people's friend because his bark is rubbed smooth and polished.

It makes me happy to feel him when I walk by.

The first very small shale slide.

Rocks in the path.

The third helper tree which has smooth bark. 

But not as polished as the first one.

17 switchbacks up you get to the larger shale slide. 

You can scramble up the shale or go around it.

Took me 1:15 today to go 2.23 miles -- 1800 ft of elevation.

I love seeing how I improve over the summer!

I look forward to making it farther and meeting more "familiar faces":

The rock that's the perfect sitting spot amidst a big quartz slide.

The orange rock quartz slide and the 4 boulders you have to climb over at the top.

The second river and forest and grotto.

The rocky climb that goes straight up, goes on forever and feels like you're hiking a river bed.

The branch that goes across the path that you have to climb over or go under.

More forest -- how many switchbacks up there?

The saddle and the amazing views.

Bouldering.

The tippy top.

It will be a while. Last year I started hiking again in February/March.

We had so little snow.

By June Dan and I climbed Mt. Olympus and camped at Lake Blanche.

And then I got c.Diff.

Sigh.

Every year feels like I have to start my fitness all over from the beginning.

At least I know even if you start from the beginning, you can still make it to the top.

I've never seen rock climbers in this area before.

No matter how often I hike it, there are always firsts on Mt. Olympus.