DesertCactus

Greetings fellow trailblazers!

I am preparing for the AT next year. I started in December 100lbs over weight and it took all I could muster to push myself out of myself easy chair. I can report that I joined the gym and am now 30lbs lighter - only 70lbs to go. What I have really accomplished, though, is the stamina to hike the Tram Road in Palm Springs - 4 miles up approximately, and 4 miles back. The hike averages 2 miles an hour because the road strarts at around 8oo' but ends up at 2,643' - much of it in the last 1.5 miles it seems. My goal is to hike it 5 days a week (about 4 1/2 hours with a break of 1/2 hour at the tram station before heading down.)

I live on the Pacific Crest Trail and hope to do some hiking up San Garganio Mt (tops out around 12,000',or San Jacinto Mt (I can take tram up to 8,000' ridge and walk 54 miles of trails in temp zone of Alaska up to height of over 10,000.) You can easily find both these mountains on a google or google map search.

Soon it will be 115' here in the desert, when you must hike before sunrise. In dead of summer I will be driven into the gym, which I still use to build upper body strength and do an hour on the ellipitical, or more, if not hiking the tram road.

I have a long way to go. I hope to make it happen, God willing and the creek don't rise.