Heckel's Adventures

2021 Girls' Trip to Colorado Our hiking team included: Mary (me - ID), Ann (ID), Jen (MN), Lora (MN), Anita (MN), and Krista (MO) The expected altitude for the Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop is no joke with four mountain passes all around 12,500 ft. in elevation, so our preparation included arriving to the Aspen area for some day hikes for acclimation. American Lake Day Hike Lora, Anita, Krista, Mary, and Ann at American Lake Our first day hike on Aug 2, 2921, was to American Lake out of Aspen.  We left early due to the recent rain fall and forecasted rain for the afternoon.  Our starting altitude was near 9,000 and we climbed to  bird looking for handouts 11,400.  I started to experience altitude symptoms at 10,000 promptly, despite living at 2,700 and doing numerous altitude training hikes in ID.  My symptoms were primarily nausea, lightheadedness, and a mild headache.   I later realized I was a bit dehydrated, and this didn't help my body's effort to accl...

 Day 1, Sunday August 16, 2020: We (Lora, Krista, and Mary) started at the Windy Saddle Trailhead and began our journey in a clockwise direction at 9AM.  Elevation at the start was 7600 ft and quickly descended.  We turned and headed uphill to Cannon Lake for lunch.  This was reported in our guide book by Gary Jones to be one of the most swimable locations.   Our trail undulated on our way to Dog Creek.  We decided to camp at Dog Creek at 7000 ft due to the steep climg up to Dog Lake and the heavy weight of our packs.  Our day's climb and descent was 1000 ft and 1600 ft respectively.  We were treated to a fire pit with log benches, a nice stream for a rinse off and treated to visiting deer to the site. Day 2, Monday August 17, 2020: We began our day planning for the dry day as we couldn't expect any water (all dry creek beds) until we would reach camp at Baldy Lake.  I carried 4 L and drank 3.5 L during the day.  It was another hot ...

I love to travel and see new locations around the world. Most of my vacations are continental USA for backpacking, though recently I have done some trips abroad with the Wild Women Expeditions (WWE). This has been a great travel group for me to travel with as it is devoted to groups of women. WWE posted a couple years ago that they were beginning to craft a trip in Bhutan and I have been looking forward to this trip since then. I knew I needed to get into better shape for the vertical climbing to the renowned Tiger’s Nest, but I have been limited in what my body would tolerate due to an old spinal injury that resulted in a neck fusion in 2012. Since 2012, I have lost the ability to tolerate most of my favorite forms of exercise due to risk factors associated with them and I subsequently have gained some mass myself. I did however, with slow diligent progress beginning in March 2019, build up tolerance to spin classes, thereby building my endurance. By September 2019, I was ...