Dave's Team in Training Hike Training

West Tyson County Park - 6/5/2010

2010-06-13T08:32:00.002-06:00

This week's scheduled hike was at West Tyson County Park. We had a great turnout by the team to hike part of the Chubb Trail and the Flint Quarry Trail.

Once we got the team all at the same trail head, we started out on the connector trail from the parking lot to the Chubb Trail trailhead. The 2 mile hike to the picnic table at the high point of the hike was good except we missed the switchback that is hidden in the rocky terrain.

Once at the picnic table, I asked Reida to share her story of why she is part of the team and her incentive to do the fundraising. Her husband lost his battle with blood cancer and serves as her inspiration to hike and raise funds for the mission that may provide a break-through technology to eliminate blood cancers in the future.

We proceeded down the hill toward the Meramec River bottoms. The walk down the hill was easy but I warned the team that coming back up the hill would not be as easy. The hill comes from the river bottoms and changes in elevation about 400' in approximately 1/2 mile.

Once back at the top of the hill, we made quick work of the remainder of the Flint Quarry trail back to the parking lot for a total of 7.5 miles.

Great job everyone!!

Meramec Conservation Area - 5/29/2010

2010-05-31T08:05:00.002-06:00

This was an unscheduled impromptu hike that I will offer occassionally through a season to allow people to catch up on hikes they may have missed. I like to explore new locations for these hikes and they are sometimes an adventure for both me and the others who elect to join me for the excursions into the unknown.

This hike was not a disappointment. It starts out walking a short distance along an paved pathway that is handicap accessible. After finding the start of the Old Reedville School trail, it meanders along the Meramec River for about a half mile before turning away from the river and heading up to the top of the bluffs overlooking the river.

At one point there is an overlook point that looks out over the river. In the summer, you can only see a small section of the river below, but I'm sure that the fall colors would be beautiful from this vantage point and in the winter you should be able to see a larger section of the river below.

After making it to the eastern entrance to the conservation area, we turned back to the west and south to make it back to our cars. There are several creek crossings that may present challenges if there was a heavy rainstorm, but this hike did not present those challenges as the creeks were pretty dry.

We did find the location of the Old Reedville School. All that remains is a piece of stone that bears the name of the school and several names of teachers from the school and when they taught there.

The trail was advertised in multiple places as a 6.1 mile trail. In all we traveled just over 7 miles on this one, but I have to say it was a good hike and I'll keep this one on my list hikes to go back to in the future. I will most likely do this one in the fall again depending on how brilliant the colors are.

5/22/2010 - Labarque Creek Conservation Area

2010-05-31T07:49:00.002-06:00

It was a beautiful morning to hit the trail. I was in the mid 60's and skies were clear. There were 8 people hiking in total including two prospective participants and me.

The 4-mile trail was a little muddy in spots from the rain earlier in the week but as the tream climbed out of the creek bottom, things dried out quite a bit. This trail is fairly new but well traveled. Last year, when I hiked this trail for the first time, there was no bridge across the creek and the trail was only marked with small orange flags. This year, there was a new bridge across the creek at the start of the hike and the trail was well marked and easy to keep on track.

The hills are long steady climbs but not all that steep. I particularly enjoy the sound of the water running through the sandstone and limestone crreks that drain into the Labarque creek.

This hike is a keeper since it is close to home but fairly remote in that you don't hear any vehicular traffic.

Lime Kiln Trail - 5/15/2010

2010-05-21T19:39:00.002-06:00

On May 8, the new season of Team in Training kicked off. The Zion hike team had 11 members at the time of the kick off.

May 15th was the first scheduled group hike. There were 6 members of the hike team present on a soggy Saturday morning at the trailhead. Cindy, the LLS Staff member for the hike team was also at the hike and we talked her into hiking with us.

It rained through the entire hike. About 1/2 mile into the 3 mile hike, there is a spot where you have to cross a small stream. Usually there are a couple of rocks that allow you to cross over the stream easily and continue the hike. On this day, the water was deeper than usual because of the rain. Several people ended up with wet feet, but we continued anyway.

The hike was 3.25 miles and everyone was still smiling at the end.

The next hike is on 5/22 at Labarque Creek Conservation Area.

New Year, New Team

2010-04-02T16:17:00.003-06:00

Well, it's been a while. I got really busy after the last post 9 months ago. I got a new job, pushed a team through all of their fundraising and training, and completed the 3rd hike event in as many years.

Now I'm starting to train again for the 4th event. I'm recruiting a team to hike in Zion National Park in October of this year. We'll start training in mid-May and complete the hike event on October 2nd - roughly a 5 month training schedule.

Starting now, I will post my training activities including the hikes I take and the progress of my team. I hope to have another great team this season and hopefully it will be somewhat larger than last year's team.

Wish me luck, donate at my site and visit here often for updates, pictures, and progress.

Greensfelder County Park

2009-06-28T20:14:00.003-06:00

Larry, Sharon, and I hiked out at Greensfelder County Park on June 27, 2009. We hiked sections of the Eagle Valley and Deer Run trails and the entirety of the DeClue trail for a total of 9.4 miles.

It was an interesting hike because the Eagle Valley trail has changed since the last time I hiked. The County has done a ton of work on it to allow bikers on the trail. I think I liked the trail before the work was done. Also, having cyclists barrelling down a hill with a bunch of switchbacks doesn't really appeal to me a whole lot. By opening the additional trails to cyclists means that there are going to be a lot of extra people on the trails. As readers of this blog know, I like my solitude when I'm hiking.

As we went from the Eagle Valley trail to the Deer Run trail, I spotted a two foot rattlesnake on the trail. It didn't seem to mind that we were there, but I minded that he was there. It didn't coil or rattle at all so we stood there and watched it for a couple of minutes before moving on.

Even though I haven't posted real regularly to this site, I walk on a daily basis averaging over 4 miles per day. My strength training is okay but I need to pump it up a little. My team has not hiked all together at all, which is disappointing. The most people I've had on a hike is 4 of the 6 team members.

The next hike is Hawn State Park which is a really nice hike.

Weldon Springs Conservation Area

2009-06-14T20:56:00.003-06:00

On June 13, the team members that could make it hiked the Lewis Trail at Weldon Springs Conservation Area. The mosquitos were incredibly bad. The four of us plowed through them and completed the 8.2 mile hike in just under 3 hours.

Since I forgot my camera at home, no pictures are posted for this hike.

West Tyson County Park

2009-06-14T20:52:00.002-06:00

On June 6, the hike team (or remnants of it), hiked the Chubb and Flint Quarry Trails at West Tyson County Park. The hike was cut short at the picnic table when everyone but me decided not to go down the hill to the river, but instead opted to head back to the parking lot. My hike was 6.2 miles and their's was 4.2 miles.

Pictures are posted on my Flickr site at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8905882@N08/sets/72157619315047857/

Also included in those pictures is the track from my GPS.

God bless Mike

2009-06-03T09:17:00.002-06:00

My brother-in-law was diagnosed with Periferal T-Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma last September. Yesterday, June 2, 2009, he lost the battle against the cancer and now is in the hands of God.

Mike was a very good man. He was a loving husband and father of 4. He was a great son and son-in-law. He was a fantastic brother and brother-in-law.

My mission with Team In Training and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has taken on a very new and strong meaning. As I train for this and future hikes, Mike will be with me on all of them as I'll carry him in my thoughts and memories on the trail. He will always be on my backpack as well in the form of a ribbon and picture.

We will miss you Mike.

Labarque Creek Conservation Area

2009-06-02T13:30:00.004-06:00

On Sunday, the hike team hiked the Labarque Creek Conservation Area's trail. It was a beautiful day and very comfortable in the shade but a little warm in the sun. The round trip hike was about 4 miles and we lost the trail a few times since I'd never been on this trail before.

After the team left, I hiked the trail again and this time searched for the 3 geocaches in the area.

I have been walking several miles daily and have been sporadic in my strength training but will pick up that pace this week.

Tuesday evening we are at the stairs in Creve Coeur Park again and on Wednesday I will lead an alternate hike day hike at West Tyson County Park.

Pictures from the hike on Sunday are at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8905882@N08/sets/72157619020484283/

The conservation area site is at: http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/applications/moatlas/AreaSummaryPage.aspx?txtAreaID=200608&txtAreaNm=&txtCounty=&txtRegion=St.%20Louis&txtUserID=guest&txtDivision

May 16, 2009

2009-05-16T15:01:00.001-06:00

We had our first group hike today at Queeny Park in Manchester. MO.

It was an overcast, dreary morning that threatened rain most of the time we were on the trail. We hiked the 4.4 mile Hawk Ridge trail which is a trail that follows the perimeter of the park.

There were 4 people on the hike. My three team members and I walked the trail in just over an hour.

The next hike is on June 6th at West Tyson County Park. We'll also start the stair training at Creve Coeur Park on Tuesday this week.

May 11, 2009

2009-05-11T10:12:00.002-06:00

I need to be a little more diligent in my updates to this site.

My total for the year so far is 559.5 miles through yesterday. I got in 12.5 miles over the weekend with one hike and several dog walks.

Strength training is going pretty well although I tend to put it off. I'll get more into it soon, I promise.

Weekend hike is a Queeny Park hike on the Hawk Ridge trail. I hope to have some alumni out there for this one and hopefully will get some more people signed up for the team. We'll see.

April 21, 2009

2009-04-21T12:25:00.003-06:00

Another information meeting is tonight. I've contacted a few people about the hike event. Hopefully, a few more people will become interested over the next couple of weeks and sign up for the team. I've raised $300 in funds so far. Not too good considering I've raised almost $10,000 in the past two years. I guess it could be worse.

I've walked/hiked 478 miles so far this year. I'm planning to hit close to 1,600 miles this year.

More to come....

April 10, 2009

2009-04-10T17:22:00.003-06:00

The training has started. I've worked the strength training for a couple of weeks now and I haven't stopped the cardio. I'm walking/running about 6 miles daily, especailly over the past 2 weeks since "retirement".

Monday, I'm taking the Red Cross certification class for CPR and First Aid so I can be a legitimate coach for the team. Monday evening starts the information meetings that I note below. I hope there's a good turn out for all of them and I hope there are a lot of interested hikers.

I found out today that there is an Earth Festival at Forest Park on April 26th and the LLS will have a booth there to recruit hikers. I understand that it is a good place to attract hikers.

March 19, 2009

2009-03-19T11:34:00.002-06:00

I've been asked to coach the hike team for the fall hike to Rocky Mountain National Park. There are several information meetings coming up in April that you should attend if you are interested in joining the hiking for a really good cause.

Here are the dates, times, and places for those meetings:

Monday, April 13, 2009 at 6:30pm
Maryland Heights Centre
2344 McKelvey Road
Maryland Heights, MO 63043
Map

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 @ 6:30pm
Ramada Inn
6900 N Illinois St.
Fairview Heights, IL 62208
Map

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 @ 6:30pm
Kaldi's Coffeehouse
17211 Chesterfield Airport Road Chesterfield, MO 63005
Map

Thursday, April 16, 2009 @ 6:30pm
Big River Running Co
5352 Devonshire
St. Louis, MO 63109
Map

Monday, April 20, 2009 @ 6:30pm
St. Peters City Center
St. Peters, MO

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 @ 6:30pm
Big River Running Co
14059 Manchester Road
Manchester, MO 63011
Map

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 @ 6:30pm
Big Shark Cycle Shop
6133 Delmar Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63112
Map

Thursday, April 23, 2009 @ 6:30pm
YMCA
1200 Esic Drive
Edwardsville, IL 62025
Map

Saturday, April 25, 2009 @ 10am
Alpine Shop
440 N. Kirkwood Road
Kirkwood, MO 63122
Map

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 @ 6:30pm
REI Outfitters
1703 S Brentwood Blvd
Brentwood, MO 63144
Map

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 @ 6:30pm
The ARC
1701 W. Ash Street
Columbia, MO 65203
Map

Saturday, May 2, 2009 @ 9am
Spazio Restaurant (Comfort Inn)
12031 Lackland Rd
Maryland Heights, MO 63146
Map

I'm looking forward to it.

September 18, 2008

2008-09-18T13:35:00.005-06:00

It's almost time to start training again for another adventure with Hike for Discovery. This coming weekend, I'll be working a booth at The Earthtones Festival in Alton, IL promoting the Hike For Discovery and Team In Training programs.

The upcoming events in early 2009 are:

GO! St. Louis Marathon - April 19, 2009

St. Anthony's Triathlon - April 26, 2009 in St. Petersburg, FL

Grand Canyon Hike for Discovery - May 9, 2009

This year all of these events will be handled at the same informational meetings which start in October. The scheduled meetings are:

10/21 - 6:30 PM - REI @ 1703 S. Brentwood Blvd., 63144

10/22 - 6:30 PM - Big River Running Co @ 14059 Manchester Rd, 63011

10/23 - 6:30 PM - The ARC @ 1701 W. Ash St, Columbia MO 65203

10/27 - 6:30 PM - Mid County Library @ 7821 Maryland Ave., 63105

10/28 - 6:30 PM - Kaldi's Coffeehouse @ 17211 Chesterfield Airport Rd., 63005

10/29 - 6:30 PM - Ramada Inn @ 6900 N. Illinois St, Fairview Hghts, 62025

10/30 - 6:30 PM - Big River Running Co @ 5352 Devonshire, 63109

11/4 - 6:30 PM - BIPOD @ 1063 S. State 157, Edwardsville, IL 62025

11/5 - 6:30 PM - St. Peters Senior Center @ 108 McMenamy Rd, St. Peters, MO 63376

11/6 - 6:30 PM - Alpine Shop @ 440 N. Kirkwood Rd, Kirkwood, MO 63122

11/15 - 9:00 AM - Spazio @ 12031 Lackland Rd, Maryland Hghts, MO 63146

11/18 - 5:30 PM - Shakespeare's Pizza West @ 3304 Broadway Business Park Ct., Columbia, MO 65203

The kick off meetings immediately follow the last 2 informational meetings above.

For more information or to sign up for a free, no-obligation information meeting, call the LSS Gateway Chapter office at 314-878-0780. I will be at many or all of these meetings and look forward to meeting the participants for these activities.

June 19, 2008

2008-06-19T12:58:00.004-06:00

WE DID IT!

Yosemite was a truely awe inspiring event and Half Dome was a great hike.

The numbers stack up like this:

$4,040 raised during my fundraising campaign - THANK YOU!
Over $67,000 raised by the 15 people participating in the St. Louis area.
The Yosemite hikers over the weekend had raised $1,470,000 and it was still climbing!
There were 300 participants during the last weekend.
I have personally hiked over 480 miles while training since the beginning of the year.
The hike was over 18 miles and took 14 hours to complete.
There was a 4,800' elevation gain from the valley floor to the top of Half Dome.

I thank everyone who contributed to the fundraiser and made this year a success once again. I am related to and know some truely giving, loving, and caring people. I couldn't have done it without all of you helping me out.

Pictures of the hike event are posted at: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/563840370McYeWb

Currently, there are no captions on the pictures but eventually I'll get that updated as well so you'll know what you are looking at.

May 26, 2008

2008-05-27T09:26:00.002-06:00

Walked the dog about 1.5 miles in the neighborhood.

Only 3 weeks to Yosemite and Half Dome!

May 25, 2008

2008-05-25T12:44:00.005-06:00

Ok. It's time to get serious about updating this blog. I continue to train, I just don't update this like I should. Since my last update on May 15, I've be on several hikes including:

May 16 - Hiked the Chubb and Flint Quarry trails out of West Tyson County Park and covered 6 miles.

May 17 - Hiked 9.75 miles at Cuivre River State Park.

May 22 - Hiked the Chubb and Flint Quarry trails in West Tyson again for 6 miles.

May 25 - Hiked portions of the Eagle Valley, Deer Run, Greenrock, and DeClue trails in Greensfelder County Park for a total of 5.6 miles.

In that time I've also walked with the dog on most days for around 2 miles per day. I'll update the pedometer on Tuesday.

The pictures from the Cuivre River SP hike are here:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/563585795pvhvxM?vhost=outdoors

The track from the GPS from Cuivre River is:

The track from the GPS from the May 25 Greensfelder hike is:

May 15, 2008

2008-05-15T10:00:00.003-06:00

Wow. Time has really slipped by and I haven't had a good chance to update this lately. What have I done over the past week? Here goes:

May 8 - walked 2 miles in the neighborhood with the dog.

May 9 - hiked 6 miles on the Chubb and Flint Quarry trails in West Tyson and 2 miles after that in the neighborhood with the dog.

May 10 - 2 miles with the dog in the neighborhood.

May 11 - Happy mom's day - walked 2 miles in the neighborhood with the dog.

May 12 - walked 2.5 miles in the neighborhood with the dog.

May 13 - hiked 5 miles on the Greenrock trail after work and 1.5 miles in the neighborhood with the dog.

May 14 - walked 1.5 miles in the neighborhood with the dog.

I'll try to be more diligent in the updates from this point on. There are only 30 days of training left before Yosemite! I can't wait to go.

May 8, 2008

2008-05-08T10:51:00.002-06:00

The past couple of days have been slower days for hiking for me. I took the dog for 2 miles on Monday and Tuesday and about 1/2 mile in the rain last night. I hope to hike on the Chubb from West Tyson tomorrow. That should give me about 5-6 miles before the hiking this weekend which will probably end up being about 15 miles.

The date is getting closer for Yosemite. A month from next Friday, we'll be travelling to the destination. I'm extremely excited about it.

May 5, 2008

2008-05-05T15:42:00.006-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. There have been a lot of things going on in my life that took precedence.

The hiking sort of slacked off last week. Since my last post, the only hike I went on was this past weekend with the Hike for Discovery team at St. Francois State Park. We hiked 12.7 miles. It was a chilly day and very overcast. Toward the end of the hike, it cleared off and warmed up just a little bit.

I ended up in the ER last night after slicing my thumb open while using the chisel to set hinges on a new door for the garage. I got 3 stitches for my efforts in the process. Woo Hoo! I think I'll do something different next time.

Here is a link to my pictures from the weekend hike and a copy of the track from the GPS.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/563313465RXxhhk

April 29, 2008

2008-04-29T10:47:00.000-06:00

Just walked the dog yesterday afternoon for a quick 2 miles around the neighborhood.

April 28, 2008

2008-04-28T12:20:00.002-06:00

I only hiked on Sunday this weekend. Friday was my daughter's prom and Saturday was a wedding and another party in the evening.

Sunday's hike was at Greensfelder County Park. I started at the visitor's center and hiked the Eagle Valley Trail to the Greenrock. I hiked south on the Greenrock to where it meets the DeClue Trail. I hiked most of that loop to where it meets the Greenrock trail again. I took the Greenrock back to the radio tower, then took the DeClue back to the Deer Run trail and back to the visitor's center. I forgot my GPS to mark the exact distances but I estimate it to be around 7 miles since I hiked for 2 1/2 hours and I usually hike an average of 3 miles per hour. This was a really good workout and the inclines on the Greenrock were strenuous. Next time I'll probably do it without the dog and with the GPS and bug spray. The ticks were all over the place. When I do it next time, I'll post the exact mileage and track from the GPS.

April 25, 2008

2008-04-25T11:44:00.001-06:00

I walked the dog in the neighborhood last night for 1.5 miles. Then I went to the Jimmy Buffet concert.

April 24, 2008

2008-04-24T11:09:00.002-06:00

I hiked the Grotpeter Trail again at Castlewood SP again yesterday afternoon but in the opposite direction. I grabbed a geocache that I decided not to hit on Monday and went back to the Monday cache to pick up something that I forgot there. It was still there.

The hike was 4 miles again. The dog played in Keifer Creek for a little bit to cool her down a little. It was about 84 yesterday afternoon.

April 22, 2008

2008-04-22T19:10:00.003-06:00

I hiked the hill from hell (HFH) at Greensfelder this afternoon with another team member. We hiked the hill round trip 3 times in about 50 minutes. The hill has a 250' elevation change over a 1/4 mile or so. What a good workout. The total mileage on the GPS was 2.3 miles.

I went home and walked the dog another 2 miles.

Here's the track for the HFH:

April 21, part Deux

2008-04-21T20:14:00.002-06:00

Hiked the Grotpeter Trail at Castlewood SP this afternoon. Put in 4 miles and grabbed a geeocache in the process. Dropped off the final of 10 travel bugs for the Hike for Discovery. Depending on how these fare, I'll put together some more and send them pn their way. I'm definitely going to bring a couple to Florida this summer and a couple along for the ride to Springfield when I take my daughter there.

Update on the fundraising is currently at $3,355. That is above the goal set by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for me but below my personal goal of $5,000. There's still time though.

April 21, 2008

2008-04-21T07:34:00.002-06:00

Went on a quick walk with the dog at Castlewood SP yesterday morning and covered about 2 miles. I wanted to walk one of the 3 mile trails there, but when I got there I realized I forgot my boots at home. SMART! I'll probably go back out there this afternoon WITH my boots and do that trail.

I also forgot to add the 1.7 mile walk on Friday afternoon with the dog and the 2 miles Saturday afternoon with the dog.

April 19, 2008

2008-04-19T16:01:00.003-06:00

No geocaching on the hike today. I hiked with the Hike for Discovery team today at Meremac State Park near Sullivan, MO. It drizzled the entire way to the park but when we arrived at the park the drizzle stopped. There were ten of us in the group today to start out and one had to leave a little early to be somwhere.

Here is the GPS track of the 11.1 mile hike. I also attached a couple of waypoints on the image to highlight a couple of things.

Waypoint 1 (labeled as Wpt001) was an area that looked to have been cleared out by fire at some point in time, but it allowed a good look over the valley next to it and the hills on the other side. The wildflowers were very pretty here.

Waypoint 2 (labeled as Wpt002) was at a spring at Copper Hollow. The bluebells were all over the place. And me without a camera. I hope that one of the other hike members will share theirs with everyone.

It was a great day to hike!

April 18, 2008

2008-04-18T07:16:00.004-06:00

Happy Friday!

I hiked the Eagle Valley and Deer Run trails at Greensfelder yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful afternoon for hiking and a great workout for Jerry and me. The total on the GPS was 5.4 miles but it felt more like 7. The Deer Run trail is shorter than I remember from the last time I hiked it. I guess I'm in better shape now (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

I'll post the GPS track for it this weekend.

The Hike for Discovery team is hiking at Meramec State Park tomorrow morning. That should be a good hike and one that I haven't done yet. I'm looking forward to it.

April 17, 2008

2008-04-17T10:21:00.003-06:00

I went to Castlewood State Park yesterday afternoon with the dog. I wanted to climb up to the bluffs and then do some work on the stairs. We hiked to the bluffs and then along the bluffs picking up a cache along the way. When we got to the stairs, about 1/3 of the way down I ran into a blockage on the stairs indicating they were closed due to flooding. We finished on the Lone Wolf trail for a total of 2.5 miles. I didn't get the incline workout I was looking for but it was a good hike anyway.

Today I'm hiking at Greensfelder and I know I'll get the workout there.

April 16, 2008

2008-04-16T06:16:00.002-06:00

Well, I didn't post yesterday. I was mourning the loss of more of my money to the federal government in the form of my taxes.

I did, however, take the dog on a 2 mile walk yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful afternoon with clear blue skies and temps in the mid 60s. Today is supposed to be more of the same. I hope to be able to get to one of the area parks this afternoon and do some caching.

April 14, 2008

2008-04-14T08:45:00.000-06:00

The dog and I went for another 2 mile walk at Queeny Park with geocaching included. There was very few people in the park so caching was easy. Gigi ended up with a tick on her so I guess I need to find out about tick reppelent for her. I know what works for me but it wouldn't be good for her.

April 13, 2008

2008-04-13T12:55:00.005-06:00

The Hike for Discovery Team hiked at Forest 44 Conservation Area near I-44 and Hwy 141. It started out as a cold blustery spring day with sleet in the air, etc. We started out by going past the amphibian pools near the parking lot on the way to the Dogwood Loop. We hiked the loop and then hit the brown trail. From there we hiked the yellow to the red trail then back to the yellow on the west end of the trails area. We hiked from the yellow to the north side of the gray trail almost back to the parking lot, turned back on the white trail and hiked back to the yellow trail and then back to the parking lot on the yellow. We hiked a total of 9.8 miles.

I stayed around and went geocaching after the rest of the team left. I found both of the caches in the area and it added another 5.5 miles to the total for a grand hiked total of 15.3 miles.

I'm not a real big fan of these trails here since they are multi-use trails and there is a lot of horse traffic on them. When it is sloppy out, like yesterday, these trails can become really muddy and treacherous. I don't think we had any mishaps on the trail but I know of a couple of close calls.

Here is the track from the GPS for the hike yesterday:

I also took the dog to Queeny Park for a short 2 mile walk.

Next week is a hike on the wilderness trail at Meramec State Park (if the park is open by then).

April 11, 2008

2008-04-11T13:50:00.002-06:00

Finally, Friday is here. I've been waiting for it all week.

Yesterday, the rain finally stopped and I took the dog for a quick 2 mile walk in the neighborhood. I wish I could have gone on a trail somewhere but the sidewalk had to do. I may try to grab a couple of caches near home this afternoon with Gigi. If not, I'll definitely get out and walk somewhere.

I'm hiking with the team tomorrow morning at the Forest 44 Conservation Area. It should be a fairly good hike. I've been there once before and some of the trails run along I-44 so it's a little noisier than I like my hikes to be. It will just make me get through those areas that much faster.

Have a great weekend!

April 10, 2008

2008-04-10T10:38:00.002-06:00

Took the dog for a quick walk through Queeny Park yesterday. We covered about 2 miles and chased a couple dozen geese. That was fun! I was hoping to do some hiking today, but it doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate. Maybe I 'll get a hike in tomorrow. The rain is getting really old. I feel like I'm living in New Orleans again.

April 9, 2008

2008-04-09T10:14:00.004-06:00

Monday, I took the dog for a 3 mile walk. Yesterday, Jerry and I went hiking at Greensfelder County Park. We hiked the Eagle Valley trail at 4.2 miles. We were going to hike a combination of that trail and the Deer Run trail for a roughly 7 mile hike, but we got a late start and ended up only doing the shorter hike.

It was a good incline workout in spots and Jerry said it was the toughest one he's done with me since he started hiking with me.

Here's the track from the GPS of the Eagle Valley trail:

April 6, 2008

2008-04-06T21:07:00.002-06:00

Went back out to West Tyson with Gigi the Wonder Geocache Dog. We trekked through all of the trails at the park for a total of 6 miles. we also did some bushwacking to hunt for geocaches. The dog is a trooper when it comes to the gruelling uphill climbs and the slippery downhills when going off trail to hunt for the caches. I really got a good workout in this morning.

On Friday, I went out to West Tyson and scooped up a couple of caches while covering about 4 miles.

The weekend was beautiful weather-wise and today was a great day to be in the woods.

April 4, 2008

2008-04-04T09:56:00.004-06:00

No hiking last night. It was too wet and cold. So much for spring. I did walk the dog in the rain last night - she loves the rain. She also likes getting dried off after the walk too. I walked her 2 miles. We were both soaked when we got back home but she got her fix for the day.

I'll try to get out again this afternoon. It's supposed to be cloudy and chilly but no rain.

April 3, 2008

2008-04-03T10:54:00.003-06:00

My legs were screaming at me last night. I decided to hunt for some caches yesterday after work. I thought initially that I might be able to find a bunch that I haven't gotten to on the north side of West Tyson County Park. I tried to park on the back side of the park near the railroad tracks, but there was still a lot of water over the road, so I scratched that idea and went back to the normal hike area. I started up the Flint Quarry trail and decided to get a multicache that has eluded me a couple of times. No problem - walked right to it this time. I got back on the trail and decided to go for the cache that I decided not to go for last Thursday.

It was down in a pretty steep valley so I stumbled/slid/fell down to the cache site and grabbed it. Then I looked up to see where I had to go to get back on the trail. Good grief! It was a 140' climb out of this hole I was in to get back to the trail. Oh well, I wanted a workout so I did it. What a workout!

Back on relatively flat terrain, I decided I had time to grab one more. I set the GPS to the next one and moved on. When I got to the point where my GPS told me to leave the trail, I looked up and saw a hill with a slight grade to it and the GPS pointing in that direction. Good, not such a bad climb, I'll get that one easily. The problem was, when I got partially up the hill, the GPS told me to go into the ravine on the other side. And what a ravine it was! After stumbling/sliding/falling down the steep slope, I was rewarded with a cache that was next to a small waterfall that people would never know was there if they stayed on the trail. At this point I was at an elevation of about 560' and I had to get back up to the picnic table at 800'.

I finally got back to the table and took a 5 minute break to hydrate myself and let my heart rate slow down a bit. I hustled back to the car to get home at a reasonable time.

In all, I hiked only 3.3 miles but it was one of the more strenuous outings I've had in a long time. I was glad that I did it.

Oh yeah. When I got home, the dog was ready to go for a walk. I took on a 1.7 mile walk in the neighborhood which satisfied her for about 5 minutes. I was tired. If the weather holds up this afternoon, I'll probably go back out there to grab a couple more caches. The hike team is supposed to meet up out there too, so I'll probably hike wih them too. I'm a glutton for punishment.

April 2, 2008

2008-04-02T13:09:00.003-06:00

I haven't done much in the way of hiking this week. I have taken the dog for a couple of short walks and I was going to hike at West Tyson yesterday but got stuck in a late meeting for a couple of hours and had a headache when I finally got out of that. So I just went home and got rid of the headache. I plan to hike there this afternoon and do some geocaching while doing the hiking. Should be a good workout. I'll post the results this evening or tomorrow.

March 31, 2008

2008-03-31T07:01:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, I just took the dog for a short 1/2 mile walk.

March 30, 2008

2008-03-30T12:36:00.002-06:00

Sorry I haven't been updating this daily.

I've met my recommittment goal of $2,000 and have submitted the paperwork to stay on the team! Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this cause.

Since my last post on Wednesday, I've done the following:

Wednesday, I took the dog on a short walk of 1/2 mile. I continued with the strength training/

Thursday, I went hiking at West Tyson County Park. Jerry and I hiked on the Chubb Trail to the picnic table and then took the Flint Quarry Trail back to the cars for a total of 4.3 miles. I logged 3 additional caches and dropped a travel bug into one of them. Then I took the dog for a 2 mile walk.

Friday, I hiked through Love Park in Manchester. I logged about 2 miles looking for caches in that park. I found all of them there and left a travel bug in one of them. I also walked the dog for about 4 miles and located two additional caches.

Saturday was the team hike at Hawn State Park. With all of the rain that we had over the past 2 weeks, the creeks were flow very nicely as evidenced in the pictures that I'll post. we hiked a total of 13.2 miles and I added an additional .3 miles looking for a cache. I found 2 caches and dropped 2 Hike for Discovery Travel Bugs. It was a great hiking day all the way around.

The pictures are posted at: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/562943058EjtIOu

The track that we took (until the GPS batteries died) is:

March 26, 2008

2008-03-26T11:15:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I went to Creve Coeur Park again to do the stairs. I completed 6 rounds on the stairs which equates to 1,550 steps each way for a total of 3,100. Gigi went with me and she was beat but continued on with me until the bitter end. We also did about a 1/2 mile walk.

I dropped off a travel bug at the cache located in the park near the top of the stairs. I received word this morning that the first TB that I dropped off at the end of February has gone missing. I contacted the last person to log their visit in the logbook at the cache site but haven't heard back yet. The person does not appear to be very active in the geocaching activity since they only have 11 (logged) finds in 5 years of being a member. Oh well, I hope that I hear back from them soon.

March 25, 2008

2008-03-25T14:05:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, I rested a little and only walked the dog 1/2 mile.

Yesterday, the dog and I did the 3 mile loop in the neighborhood.

March 23, 2008

2008-03-23T14:56:00.005-06:00

On Thursday, I took the dog to Creve Coeur Park for a 6.3 mile walk around the 2 lakes. We then did a 1/2 hour on the stairs during which we climbed them 4 times for a total of 900 stairs. Both of us were really tired after that workout.

On Friday, Gigi and I went to Queeny Park for a 5 mile walk. It was a really pretty day and there were lots of people around. In the afternoon we walked the 2 mile loop in the neighborhood.

Yesterday we hiked the trails at Pere Marquette State Park north of Grafton, IL. It was a blustery day especially on the overlooks but a great hike nevertheless. We started by hiking the Goat Cliff trail to McAdams Peak. From there we hiked the Ravine trail back to the Visitor's Center. We then took off on the Hickory South Trail which connected us to the Fern Hollow Trail. We followed that back to the Hickory North Trail and the Oak Trail and then back to the Visitor's Center. The total hike was 9 1/2 miles. What a great workout! Pictures are posted at: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/562873563NBpWAI

Yesterday afternoon I walked the dog on the 2 mile loop around the neighborhood again as well.

March 20, 2008

2008-03-20T07:23:00.001-06:00

Took the dog to a new park yesterday, Manchester Schroeder Park. There is a series of asphalt trails that we walked along and we pretty much stuck to the trail since the ground was really soggy and muddy. I wanted to find a cache there and drop off a bug, but I didn't want to get the shoes and the dog all muddy walking through the woods. We walked about 1 1/2 miles through the park.

March 18, 2008

2008-03-18T06:59:00.002-06:00

I walked 3 miles with the dog yesterday afternoon. I was going to put another travel bug out but my GPS unit was on the fritz, so I blew that off and just walked. The bug from Nana's cache was retrieved and moved to the Critter cache yesterday. It's on its way.

March 16, 2008

2008-03-16T20:37:00.005-06:00

We hiked the Little Grand Canyon today. We probably covered about 8 miles by doing the loop twice and a couple of us going down to the bottom while the others stayed up higher. This was a beautiful place in southern Illinois. It took a little longer than I had expected to stay but the hike was a good one since there were several inclines to get the heart pumping pretty well.

After I got home, I took the dog on a 1 mile walk in the neighborhood.

Here are some pictures taken from the hike: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/562810311vzgako

March 15, 2008

2008-03-15T09:54:00.002-06:00

Hiked out at Queeny Park yesterday with the dog. We hiked 5 miles in about 1:20. That's a pretty good pace. We walked a 1/2 mile yesterday afternoon to satisfy the afternoon walking urge of the dog. She seems to start getting antsy at about 4:30 every afternoon if we don't walk somewhere.

We also walked about 3 miles this morning around the neighborhood. I dropped off a HFD travel bug in a geocache near the house. I need to really start putting these out and hopefully it will generate some fundraising from people unknown to me.

March 14, 2008

2008-03-14T07:30:00.002-06:00

Worked out at the Powder Valley Conservation Area last night. At first, I didn't think it was going to be much of a workout but I had forgotten about the hill on the back side of the long loop on the Hickory Ridge trail. It was pretty steep! I did 3 loops for a total of 3.6 miles in 53 minutes. Not bad. The only thing I didn't like about that hike was that it was on an asphalt trail. I prefer to be on natural surfaces especially with my boots on.

March 13, 2008

2008-03-13T06:32:00.002-06:00

Hiked the Hawk Ridge Trail at Queeny park yesterday afternoon with the dog. The afternoon was beautiful and there were a lot of people at the park.

We walked a total of 4.5 miles which is the entire perimeter of the park. That puts my total mileage for the year so far at 160 miles.

March 12, 2008

2008-03-12T08:40:00.003-06:00

Jerry and I hiked 6 miles yesterday on the Chubb Trail in West Tyson County Park. We hiked the connector trail and then the Chubb Trail almost down to the "steps". We hiked it in 1:50 after getting off the trail before hitting mile marker 1. We managed to bushwack our way back to the trail and gonig back we found where we managed to lose the trail.

It was a beautiful afternoon to hike and there quite a few people on the trail with us. It was a good hike. I'll post the GPS track later.

Here's the GPS Track:

March 11, 2008

2008-03-11T08:57:00.001-06:00

Today marks 30 years of wedded bliss for me and Bobbi! 30 years - sort of hard to believe in this day and age.

I walked 3 miles last night with the dog and did my strength training routine. It keeps getting easier and I'm getting back on the right track.

March 10, 2008

2008-03-10T09:38:00.004-06:00

A couple of things happened since my last post. We had 10" of snow on Tuesday that hampered the outside activities for a day or so. I was also out of town on Friday and Saturday, so I had limited time to walk/hike.

Yesterday, I was supposed to meet up with M. from Columbia to hike at Graham Cave State Park. M. never showed up and called me when I was on my way home. I had the dog with me, so we hiked all of the trails in the park for a total of 6 1/2 miles. This was the first time I hiked without having the dog on the leash and she loved it. I did too. She did really well and my weekend hikes will include some off leash time when I can from now on. She was really tired afterward and pretty much slept the entire ride home.

Graham Cave state Park is a very interesting place to go. Here is a link to the site: http://www.mostateparks.com/grahamcave.htm Go check out the trails and the cave if you ever get a chance. I'll post pictures later in the week and also the track from the GPS.

Here's the track from the GPS:

Here are some pictures from the hike:

March 2, 2008

2008-03-03T08:42:00.003-06:00

Walked with the dog around a longer loop in the neighborhood today for a total of 3 miles. A neighbor of mine told me about the route yesterday after walking the dog 2 miles on the normal route. It was a good one and the dog loved it.

Walked another 1/2 mile in the evening.

March 1, 2008

2008-03-02T12:51:00.005-06:00

We hiked as a team today on the Fox Run Trail at Rockwoods Range. It was a beautiful day to be out hiking. It was about 30 degrees this morning when we started out and the ground was slightly frozen and fairly easy to walk on. As the day went on, it got warmer and the ground got softer. By the time we were hiking back to the parking lot, we were hiking in a lot of mud. It was a challenge to find solid footing with every step we took. Thank goodness for the trekking poles. They definitely helped with the footing and balance.

The total hike was about 6 miles - hiking from the parking lot to the Greenrock Trail intersection and back. The legs were sore that night not from the length of the hike but from trying to maintain footing. It was good.

I'll try to get the track uploaded from my GPS this week sometime.

Here's the track from the GPS unit:

February 29, 2008

2008-02-29T09:45:00.002-06:00

Well, I hiked the 3 mile Flint Quarry Trail yesterday afternoon. Going up the first incline was a treacherous mess. It was incredibly sloppy and by the time I arrived at the top of the hill by the bench, my boots had about 3 extra pounds of mud caked to the bottom of my boots. After that point, the trail becomes substantially rockier and less mud.

For those geocachers out there, I dropped off my first of ten travel bugs that are to raise awareness of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Hike for Discovery program in particular. Hopefully, it will raise funds as people become aware of it. I'll let people know how it goes with that idea over the next several weeks. I'll probably drop some more of them this weekend.

We hike the Fox Run Trail tomorrow morning. It should be a good workout.

February 27, 2008

2008-02-27T14:54:00.003-06:00

Hiked on the Fox Run trail at Rockwoods Range yesterday afternoon to see how Saturday's hike would be. There were some good climbs that were icy in some cases and extremely muddy in others. They were okay going uphill although they tended to wear you out faster since I had to approach them with a little more caution than I normally would. Going downhill coming back they were even harder on the legs. I definitely felt like I had a good workout.

I hiked about 5.25 miles of the 6 miles on the trail in about 1 1/2 hours.

I'll try to post the track from my GPS unit that I had with me yesterday. If I don't post that track, I'll post the one from Saturday's hike. I'll post that one anyway. I need to start doing that for all of my hikes anyway.

February 26, 2008

2008-02-26T13:39:00.002-06:00

I haven't posted anything for a week. I thought it was time I did something about that.

This past weekend I missed the group hike to Route 66 State Park. I was checking out Missouri State with my daughter. I did, however, manage to take the same hike on Sunday morning. It was a good hike but not necessarily a good workout because it was completely flat. I did hike for about 6 miles though.

I've started my strength training regiment again. I've combined the previous workouts with some new parts of the workout from Realage.com. Some of those looked pretty easy until I actually did them. They were harder than I thought and harder than they looked. Oh well, they should get easier over time.

I'm hiking with Jerry this afternoon to scope out the Fox Run Trail at Rockwoods Range which is our hike coming up this weekend. I've never been on that trail so it should be an interesting hike. we're going to shoot for the entire 6 miles this afternoon. We'll see how it goes. It may be a little slippery since it's been snowing/raining off and on today.

February 20, 2008

2008-02-20T08:29:00.002-06:00

First, Happy Birthday to my wife, Bobbi.

The hike yesterday was just me and Jerry. There were no takers from the Yosemite team. We hiked to the Castlewood Loop and then out to the river and back to the trailhead for a total of about 4.2 miles. We moved at a really good pace finishing in about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I have to get into my strength training routine. I've been doing the routine sporadically, but I need to get into to it big time again - Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

February 19, 2008

2008-02-19T11:22:00.002-06:00

Worked on strength training yesterday and also printed out my letters for the mail campaign and stuffed envelopes. Boy, that was fun. Again, I remind myself why I'm doing this and it turns the negative feelings into positive energy.

I received an email from a coworker indicating that her husband is a 13-year APL survivor because of the experimental treatment program the oncologist was able to get him into and it's probably a result of the work of the LLS research funding. One more success story!

This afternoon I'll be leading a hike on the Chubb Trail. I've invited anyone who wants to join to meet at the trailhead at 3:45 this afternoon. Jerry from work will be joining us as well.

I'll update the blog tomorrow with the results of the hike.

Week 1 Hike

2008-02-18T13:27:00.003-06:00

We hiked on the Lime Kiln trail on Saturday Feb. 16.

We met at the trailhead at 7:30 AM. Mark (the hike leader) gave us all a couple of pointers about the hike and also indicated that mile #2 of the 3 mile hike was going to be a silent mile where we reflected on the mission of the hike. I gave my mission as follows:

I wear ribbons on my pack to honor or remember those who I’m hiking for. I hike for my wife, my mother, my father and my mother-in-law who’ve all survived cancers. I hike for my father-in-law who battled cancer and lost. I hike for friends and coworkers. I hike for friends of friends. I hike for relatives of friends. I hike for millions of people I’ve never met. I hike because I can. I hike because others need me to hike to raise funds to help them.

Last year, I hiked because I knew a couple of people who had had Leukemia and Lymphoma and it sounded like a fun thing to do. During those hikes, I found out that one of my fellow hikers had survived a blood cancer and both he and his wife were on the trail. I found inspiration in the fact that he was still in recovery mode as he hiked. He made his first year milestone the day before one of the training hikes and he shared that with us on a snowy day, in a parking lot at the trailhead.

There will be days that I don’t feel like getting up, putting on my boots, and trudging out the door to be at some remote trailhead at 7:30. But I look at the ribbons on my pack and remember why I’m doing this. And I’m at the trailhead pumped up and ready for the challenge.

Some look at my ribbons and all they see are ribbons with names on them. I look at them as badges of courage for the people who names are written on them.

I hope that I've inspired my teammates to think about why we are doing this.

Donations to date are just over $500 or 10%.

February 11, 2008

2008-02-11T10:12:00.000-06:00

It looks like we have about 17 people signed up for the Yosemite hike in the summer. Thursday night there was an informational meeting and about 7 people signed up then.

The kickoff meeting is on Wednesday at 6:00PM at the Alpine Shop in Kirkwood. Training should be starting very soon. Mark, the Hike Leader, seems to be pretty knowledgeable and driven. This will be a good experience again from what I can tell so far.

More to come. I need to get my email and letter campaign kicked into high gear. It looks like I'll be sending out about 500 emails and letters. I'm also going to start the travel bug campaign to see how that goes. It should be interesting.

I've been doing strength training about 1-2 times weekly. I need to get into my program again where I'm working out 3 times a week and walking 7 times a week. I'm pretty close to the walking goal now.

January 15, 2008

2008-01-17T13:46:00.000-06:00

Well, I've signed up for the June Hike for Discovery to Yosemite. I've been asked to be a hike captain this year and I've agreed to do that. I'm looking forward to the training (I've already started the strength and hike training on my own) hikes with the group again. I wonder how many of the hikers I trained with last year will be training this year? I guess I'll find out in February at the kickoff.

If you are interested in signing up for the training and the hike on June 16, 2008, contact Jeff Shaw or Jessica Harvey at the Gateway Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Their site is at www.hikefordiscovery.org/gat or you can contact them by phone at 314-878-0780. The information meetings will be held at REI on Brentwood Blvd on 1/29 and 2/5 and at the Alpine Shop on Kirkwood Rd on 1/31 and 2/7. All 4 of the sessions will be held at 7 PM. The kickoff is at the Alpine Shop on 2/13 with training starting shortly after that.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

2007-05-03T06:41:00.000-06:00

I've posted my pictures at http://community.webshots.com/user/hansondm

Enjoy!

Monday, April 30, 2007

2007-04-30T06:41:00.000-06:00

WHAT AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE!

The Grand Canyon is an incredible sight. If you've never been there, you have no idea what you are missing. This is a must see place for everyone on the planet.

I have to thank the hike leaders, Cami and Lynn. Those women are die-hard hikers and they have provided an incredible training program for the participants of this program. If you follow their lead and don't skimp on the training, you can hike anywhere you want to hike. In fact, when I got home last night and was going through the mail, there was another one of those brochures that got me into this program 3 months ago - and it was for the Grand Canyon. If you want to try the experience, sign up and start training.

I also have to thank Jeff, the director of the Hike for Discovery in the St. Louis Area. Without him, this program would fail miserably. The weekend was flawless thanks to him, his staff, and the national staff.

And thanks to the hike guides that we had from The Walking Connection on hike day. They were truely knowledgeable people about the canyon geology, flora, and fauna. Stephan and Margie were also a lot fun to have with you on the trail in addition to their knowledge that they readily shared.

Now the numbers. My personal accomplishments were:

I raised $4,911 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Thanks to all of my contributors!
I hiked over 235 miles in 3 months.
I lost 28 pounds and I feel great!

Other accomplishments were:

St. Louis had 10 participants in this hike and 4 of those participants raised over $10,000. One of those raised over $17,000!
The 72 participants that hiked this weekend from across the country raised an incredible $350,000.

There were participants from St. Louis, Albuquerque, Massachusetts, and Long Island. It was fun sharing training stories and other experiences with all of those people. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat.

The next Hike for Discovery program starts in the St. Louis area soon. That program is for the Grand Canyon on October 11-14, 2007. Information meetings will start soon. Here is the schedule that I received in the mail this past weekend:

May 16, 7:00 PM at the REI store on S. Brentwood
May 17, 7:00 PM at the Alpine Shop on N. Kirkwood
May 23, 7:00 PM at REI
May 26, 9:00 AM at the Alpine Shop
May 26, 10:00 AM at the Alpine Shop

Or you can contact the Gateway Chapter of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at 314-878-0870 ext. 22 or visit http://www.hikefordiscovery.com/gat

Overall, the Grand Canyon is an incredible experience for everyone regardless if you hike down into it or stay on the rim. If you have the opportunity to go, do it. You won't be disappointed. I'll be posting my pictures in the next few days.

Monday, April 23, 2007

2007-04-23T09:16:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the lack of updates over the past week. I was out of town Monday - Wednesday for work and didn't get any time to update this on Thursday or Friday.

Saturday, I missed the hike at Lone Elk Park that was scheduled with the group. I did get out there on Sunday morning and hiked the Chubb - Castlewood Loop route that I've taken several times before. After completing that, I hiked the White Bison trail in Lone Elk that completed an estimated 10.5 mile hike. It felt good to be back on the trails. There were several people on the trails that are usually empty during the week.

I did my strength training this morning for the first time in a week. That felt good too.

The Grand Canyon hike is on Saturday. We fly out to Phoenix on Thursday and come back home on Sunday. It should be a rather exhausting trip but well worth the effort.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

2007-04-14T16:23:00.000-06:00

IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE SPRING!!

We started our hike at 7:00 AM sharp today. We were scheduled to do a 8 hour hike. The usual suspects were in the lead from the beginning - Cami, Jeanine, Carol, and me. We covered the first 2.5 miles in just under 40 minutes in what was supposed to be the first hour. We met up with the Rocky Mountain team at the Round House parking lot at 8:00. Tony caught up with us and joined the lead group. We were off again cruising through Greensfelder park on the Greenrock and making really good time. After 3 hours on the trail (10:00 AM) it was time to stop and refuel. We had made into Rockwoods Reservation about 20 minutes earlier. It had been raining pretty steadily since we left the Round House, but with the rain gear, we stayed relatively dry. As we ate our snacks, lo and behold, it started to snow and sleet on us. Needless to say we didn't rest very long. It started to get pretty cold.

Our return trip was pretty interesting. Since it had been raining, the trail was really sloppy. There were times that you'd take a step and sink up to your ankles in mud. We caught up with the others near the intersection of the Greenrock and the Eagle Valley trail in Greensfelder. We left them to finish their lunches and continued to make good time even though the creeks were quite a bit more swollen after all of the rain.

Back at the Round House lot, we figured that we could have done the entire trail in the 8 hours we allowed for ourselves, but given the weather and the trail conditions, we decided 6 hours was plenty. We finished back at the starting point at nearly 1:00 PM. We estimated we covered 17 miles in the 6 hours of hiking - quite a feat in the conditions that we were encountering.

I'll have to miss the final training hike next week with the group, but I can do it during the week since it is at Lone Elk on the White Bison trail.

I think everyone feels ready for the final adventure in the Grand Canyon. I know I can't wait. 2 more weeks!

Friday, April 13, 2007

2007-04-13T09:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday the 13th!

Yesterday afternoon, I ended up hiking on the Chubb Trail and the Castlewood loop instead of going out to Greensfelder. I ended up leaving work later than anticipated. I did hike 7 miles though. It felt good.

This morning was my strength training day.

Tomorrow is the long hike day. Hopefully the trail won't be too sloppy with the rain we're supposed to get today and tonight. We're hiking 8 hours which will probably get us close to 20 miles of trail. It should be a good day.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

2007-04-12T11:51:00.000-06:00

Well, the antiicpated hike on Tuesday didn't materialize. Too many things got in the way after work. I ended up doing 2 miles on the treadmill.

Yesterday was strength training in the morning and then the dreaded stairs yesterday evening. We did 47 minutes on the stairs and did 9 sets of 220 steps or 3,960 steps. That's a lot of steps.

This evening, I plan to go out to Greensfelder and hike some on the Eagle Valley and Deer Run trails (7 miles). But, we all know how plans go.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

2007-04-10T07:10:00.000-06:00

Time is really flying by. Before you know it, we'll be hiking in the Grand Canyon.

Yesterday was strength training day. I mixed up the exercises a bit again yesterday.

Today I think I'll go out to the Greenrock trail in Rockwoods Range for a quick 90 minute hike. I'm going to hike the only part of the trail that I've never been on and that is the southern-most section. I'll update the post when I finish it this afternoon.

Below are a couple pictures from Saturday's hike at Babler.

The last picture is result of Joe's hot cross buns. Even though he was sick and obviously still contageious, he decided to come out and bring breakfast. Looks like Tony's still trying to eat some of them.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

2007-04-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Easter!

Friday was my strength training day. I didn't hike since we were hiking 5 hours on Saturday.

Saturday was cold again. It's supposed to be spring. We hiked the Virginia Day trail and the Equestrian trail at Babler State Park. That was a total of about 11 miles. We finished it in approximately 4 hours. It was a fairly easy hike.

Next weekend is the longest hike. It will be back on the Greenrock trail and we'll probably hike the majority of that trail for 8 hours. It should be close to 20 miles! More on that hike later in the week.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

2007-04-05T06:45:00.000-06:00

I forgot to post yesterday but here's the scoop.

Yesterday morning I did my strength training. After work, I made it out to Creve Coeur Park and walked the 3.7 mile Lake Trail before the stair training. Then we did 8 sets of stairs (1760 steps) in 40 minutes.

Oh yeah - it was cold! What happened to spring and the nice warm temperatures from earlier in the week? The wind coming off the lake didn't help either.

I think I might take today off. I'll see what happens later today. It may be a treadmill evening.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

2007-04-03T06:29:00.000-06:00

On Monday, I did my strength training in the morning as I usually do on Mondays. My knee was still bothering me from the weekend hike so I didn't do any leg work - only upper body and abs. I rested the legs one more day.

I got up this morning and the knee feels good. I plan to hike this afternoon but I'm unsure of where or how long. I'll update this post later when I figure it out.

This weekend we are hiking 5 hours at Babler State Park. We will be hiking the Virginia Day Trail and the Equestrian trail. After last weekend, 5 hours will be just a walk in the park. To find out more about Babler State Park, visit their site at http://www.mostateparks.com/babler.htm

Update: I hiked about 5.0 miles on the Chubb and Castlewood Loop starting and returning to the entrance tower at Lone Elk Park. It was a sloppy but good walk and the trail was deserted thanks to the heavy rains this afternoon. Two turkeys shot out of the woods about ten yards in front of me and scared me. I was just walking along fairly quietly enjoying the solitude. Those things make a lot of noise when they want to.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

2007-04-01T13:24:00.000-06:00

Well, no April Fool's joke on this site today, although I did get an email from one of the online local hiking communities this morning that said they were reintroducing the grizzly bear to Missouri in the Tom Sauk region. I was thinking - reintroducing? I didn't know they were even there before. It was an April Fool's joke.

Yesterday's adventure through Rockwoods Reservation was very tiring. We started at 7:30 AM with our timed mile again. I had to guess what my time would be last week and I said that I would do about 14 minutes since my original time was 15:25 and I knew by my current hiking, I could beat that easily. My time was 13:23 - over 2 minutes better than a couple of months ago.

At 8:00 we proceeded to hike on the Greenrock trail. We were going hike in for 1 hour and 50 minutes and then turn around and go back to the starting point. We managed to hike in about 4.5 miles over some pretty rough and slippery (muddy) terrain. I hiked with the lead group and we managed to meet up with the tail group and the mid group after about 45 minutes coming back. We passed them and then had lunch after we returned to the starting point.

We started to hike the Rock Quarry trail which is a loop of about 2.25 miles. We were almost at the end when we met up with the others who started coming from the other direction. We decided to turn around and redo the trail in the opposite direction with that group. Once we got back to the starting position, the Rocky Mountain team was free to go but the Grand Canyon team still had one hike left to do. We proceeded to hike the Lime Kiln trail which is about 3.25 miles. When we got back the total time was 7 hours hiking and 17.12 miles according to the GPS unit we had in our group.

The weather decided to hold off so we didn't get any rain until I had been home for an hour or so. That is the longest and hardest single day hike I've ever been on. I was extremely tired when I got home. But I'm also glad that I can do this for those that need it.

According to the "Tot" board, I've raised nearly $4,800 as of last night. I'm hiking with 12 names on my pack in honor or in memory of people that contributors know who have battled these cancers. I think of these people and all of the people whom I am helping every time I hit the trail. It helps me take my mind off of the miles I hiked and the sore muscles the next day. It's the least I can do.

4 WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE GRAND CANYON!!

One more ribbon picture below.

Friday, March 29, 2007

2007-03-30T08:13:00.000-06:00

One month to go! Four weeks from tomorrow I'll be hiking in the Grand Canyon! I'm extremely excited about it.

This morning I did my strength training exercises. I might try to get a quick hike in over at Queeny. Tomorrow, hiking should be fun. It's supposed to be wet, nasty weather so the trail will be extremely muddy and slick if it's anything like the other trails at Greensfelder. Should be a good time - and if you believe that I have several bridges for sale that you can choose from.

If it's really nasty tomorrow, don't expect to see pictures of the hike.

The contributions keep rolling in. I'm at $4,200 as of yesterday afternoon. Everyone has been extremely generous. I have such great family and friends. Thanks to everyone for supporting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and helping to further its cause.

I made another ribbon this morning. The picture is below. Floyd is the father of one of my wife's coworkers who was diagonsed in January with AML. He is now preparing for a bone marrow transplant and I will keep him in my thoughts as I continue on my treks.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

2007-03-29T06:43:00.000-06:00

Yesterday morning was strength training again.That always feels good first thing in the morning. Sometimes I just feel like laying in bed and blowing off the training for the day. But then I remember why I'm doing this and it gives me renewed vigor to get up and move.

Speaking of moving. 1,320 stairs - 30 minutes - what could be more fun? What a good workout! I was tired but not sore, which is a good thing. The stair training at Creve Coeur Park was yesterday evening again. Not as many people showed up as last week, but the die-hards were there.

Cami had pictures to share of the Dripping Springs trail from last year's HFD to the Grand Canyon. There were some great shots. They made me want to be there now. I also found a blog site from last year's HFD at the same place from some people in Atlanta. Their site is here:
http://www.fullfrontalnerdity.com/hfd/ I like the name. They've posted some great pictures as well.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

2007-03-27T06:41:00.000-06:00

No I didn't fall off the planet. That would have been easier than cleaning my garage, which I did on Sunday.

Monday morning was my strength training again. Didn't get any hikes in or any treadmill work.

This morning I got up and did 2 miles at a 7.5% incline. I didn't get very winded but my legs were sure tired. It felt good.

I made my trail selection for the Grand Canyon yesterday after much deliberation and soul searching and assistance from the hike leader, Cami. I've decided that I'd like to hike the Hermit Trail to Dripping Springs or the Hermit Trail to Santa Maria Springs. Both sound very challenging and very rewarding for their features along the trail. I'm looking forward to it. I'll post some sites that include pictures and topo maps in a later post.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

2007-03-24T14:12:00.000-06:00

WOW! What an incredible hike today! We hiked the 8.2 mile Lewis Trail loop and then turned around and hiked the 5 mile Clark trail. The trail was pretty muddy in a lot of different places but in all was a tremendous hike. The bluffs overlooking the Katy Trail and the Missouri River were really nice places to stop for breaks. Some thoughtful scouts also put benches along the trail exactly where we wanted to take breaks.

Best quote of the day: "Does anyone have a lizard noose?"

The few pictures that I took are below.

Friday, March 23, 2007

2007-03-23T07:07:00.000-06:00

What a long week! TGIF.

I did a few new exercises this morning targeting the Upper and Lower Abdominals, the Obliques, Lower Back and Tranverse Abdominus muscle groups. They felt different but good. I'll keep those in my program. I also did my regular upper body strength (weight) training and stretches.

I'm looking forward to the hiking this weekend. Watch this site for updates and pictures.

Have a great weekend.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

2007-03-22T06:44:00.000-06:00

I didn't get any mileage in on Tuesday, but I did get the Lake Loop and the Mallard Lake Loop hikes in last night prior to the stair training. The total mileage for both loops at Creve Coeur Park is 6.3 miles. I think I prefer to hike on the woodland trails vs. the paved trails at Creve Coeur Park. I walked on the side of the trails most of the way since the asphalt was a lot harder on my feet than the dirt and rocks on the sides.

The stair training was good. It amazes me that several people were running those stairs. Why? They aren't going anywhere.

This weekend is a group hike on the Lewis and Clark trail in Weldon Springs. It looks like there are some nice overlooks of the Katy Trail and the Missouri River. I can't find much about it on the internet, but here's one link for it: http://www.localhikes.com/HikeData.ASP?DispType=0&ActiveHike=0&GetHikesStateID=1&ID=4894
The hike in this site is only the Clark Trail and does not include the additional 3 mile Lewis Trail.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

2007-03-20T14:43:00.000-06:00

I got 4.4 miles in yesterday afternoon out at Queeny Park. I really get some strange looks out there with my backpack, trekking poles and hiking boots on when everyone else is running. Oh well, what do they know anyway.

We have stair training tomorrow evening at Creve Coeur Park. I saw Mike from our hiking group last night and he said he went out there for a sneak peek. He counted 220 stairs. Sounds like a blast and tiring. I told Mike that he shouldn't count them, just move up them and not think about how many there are.

I'll try to get a few miles in tonight.

Monday, March 19, 2007

2007-03-19T14:27:00.000-06:00

Well, hiking yesterday didn't happen. I got too busy around the house helping the wife, then it was time to go to the "shower" for my nephew.

I did my strength training this morning - the usual Monday morning ritual. I hope to get a 4 mile hike in this afternoon somewhere though I'm not sure where yet. Guess I ought to figure that out before the end of the day gets here.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

2007-03-17T16:54:00.000-06:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

I hiked the 7 miles yesterday afternoon. It was a good hike. Nice and quiet. I don't think I saw one other person put there until I was almost back to the trailhead. And then those people were in a car. No one was on the trail.

I probably won't get any hiking in this weekend. My dad called and said we were going to have a "guy's shower" for my nephew at Smokey Bones. I may try to get some hiking in earlier tomorrow, I'll just have to see how everything shakes out.

Friday, March 16, 2007

2007-03-16T11:43:00.000-06:00

TGIF!

I need some hike time this afternoon. I feel like I need a challenge and the Chubb, White Bison and Hawk Ridge trails don't quite have the climbs that I'd like to get in today. Maybe I'll go back to Greensfelder and hike the Eagle Valley trail again but take the Deer Run trail at the point it meets the Eagle Valley before the stables to avoid the stench that I got on Tuesday. That would give me close to a 7 mile hike.

I did my 30 minutes of strength training this morning.

I'll update the post after this afternoon's hike.

This weekend, there is no group hike. I need to figure out something for Sunday. The wife is going to a wedding shower. I don't need to go to that. Maybe I'll try the 10 mile trail at Washington State Park that CK mentioned a couple of days ago.

Hike on and have a good weekend.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

2007-03-15T12:41:00.000-06:00

I didn't see any elk yesterday during my hike at Lone Elk Park. I did hike the 4 mile loop there. I won't be able to hike this afternoon, but I hope to get a hike in tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

2007-03-14T06:18:00.000-06:00

Well, the DeClue trail had several cyclists on it so I opted for the Eagle Valley trail at 4.2 miles. There were several steep climbs along the trail and on the north side of the trail I missed a turn and ended up a little further north than I expected. I retraced my steps and found where I should have made the turn - it wasn't very well marked - and continued. One bad part of the trail was behind the horse stables. It was bad because of the urine smell, not the trail being bad. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

This morning I did my strength training exercises. I will probably go to Lone Elk park again today to hike the 4 mile White Bison trail. I was a nice, fast hike last week.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

2007-03-13T11:17:00.000-06:00

Monday was a strength training day. I worked out early in the morning - 5:00 - 5:45 AM.

This afternoon, I should be able to get out on a trail. I'm thinking I may go out to Greensfelder near Six Flags and hike the 4.8 mile DeClue trail or the 4.2 mile Eagle Valley trail. If I get out of the office early enough, I may try to do the DeClue and Dogwood trails for a total of 7.8 miles. We'll see how the afternoon goes.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

2007-03-11T06:18:00.000-06:00

Yesterday's group hike was phenominal!! The weather was fantastic, the trail was incredible and the training was superb. We couldn't have asked for a better day. As I mentioned in the last post, we went to Hawn State Park which is about 75 miles south of St. Louis, near Ste. Genevieve, MO.

We got on the trail at about 8:20 and hiked the North Loop of the Whispering Pine Trail. At the junction of the South Loop, we picked up the South Loop and hiked that loop. At the junction of the Pickle Creek trail, we crossed Pickle Creek and hiked that back to the starting point. It appears that by hiking the two loops and the Pickle Creek trail, we hiked about 10 miles.

While I didn't take as many pictures as I would have like to, below are some of the pictures showing some of the vistas and Pickle Creek. Enjoy - I sure did!

Friday, March 9, 2007

2007-03-09T09:12:00.000-06:00

Well, the hike yesterday afternoon was supposed to be about 4 miles which I felt could be completed in about 1 hour. I was hoping to get to the Castlewood Loop trail from the Chubb Trail by passing through the tunnel under the railroad tracks either going out or coming back so I wouldn't have to travel along the tracks 3 times.

As I hiked out toward the Castlewood Loop, I looked for the tunnel. I couldn't find it so I traveled along the tracks to the road that crossed the tracks about 1 mile from where the tunnel was supposed to be. I was thinking that I could find it from the Castlewood Loop side of the tracks.

To make a long story short, I never did find the tunnel on either side of the tracks, so I ended up hiking an additional 2 miles and an extra 1/2 hour than originally planned. In all, it was a very nice hike especially hiking along the river.

I did the strength training routines this morning and I don't think I'll hike this evening since we'll be hiking at Hawn tomorrow morning. That should be a 10 mile hike or longer (5 hours).

Thursday, March 8, 2007

2007-03-08T08:15:00.000-06:00

I hiked the entire Red Hawk trail at Queeny Park last night after work. I completed the 4.4 miles in just over an hour.

I plan to hike this evening after work again. I will probably start the Chubb Trail at Lone Elk Park and go to the Castlewood Loop near the river and back. Since the loop is 3 miles and the trail to get to it looks to be about .5 mile, the total hike should be about 4 miles.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

2007-03-07T07:24:00.000-06:00

I went to Lone Elk yesterday to hike on the White Bison trail. What a nice trail! It was a different view of the park compared to the road. The hike was an easy 4 miles that I completed in an hour. The elk out there are pretty tame, though I still wouldn't want to get much closer than I did yesterday. The closest one got to me was about 20 yards. Those things are huge! I decided to move more quickly when one started to move toward me. It stopped as I was walking away.

This morning I did my strength training again and I have my gear to go hiking after work again today - time permitting. I'll try to get the 4.4 mile loop at Queeny in this evening.

Hike on!

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

2007-03-06T12:48:00.000-06:00

Well, I got the hour walk in last night after I worked on the bathroom for a while. I walked 3.5 miles in that hour. I'm planning to go out to Lone Elk Park this afternoon after work to hike the White Bison trail which is 4 miles. Lone Elk Park is pretty convenient for hiking after work since it's right up the road from the office. I used to eat lunch out there all the time. I'm not exactly sure of how the terrain is on the trail, but I know the roads in the park can be quite steep, especially around the Bison area - I don't think the trail goes back that far. I know I won't be going back that far.

Monday, March 5, 2007

2007-03-05T11:19:00.000-06:00

First, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who donated to this effort. My tally to date is $3,295 and it grows daily. It gives me a good feeling to know that I've surrounded myself with such generous and caring people.

I continued with the strength training this morning. I worked out for about 30 minutes and primarily upper body exercises with streching before and after the workout. I hope to get in an hour of walking tonight although it will probably be on the treadmill since I'm trying to finish up the kid's bathroom make over that I started sometime late last year (I don't want to think about it).

Saturday's hike is going to be at Hawn State Park near Ste. Genevieve, MO. It's been a long time since I was there last (10 years, I think). I think we'll be hiking the Whispering Pines trail which is 2 loops for a total of 10 miles. I think the Grand Canyon team is hiking for 5 hours and the Rocky Mountain team will hike for 4 hours. It sounds like we'll be doing lunch afterwards - always a good time.

Information on Hawn State Park can be found at: http://www.mostateparks.com/hawn.htm

Sunday, March 4, 2007

2007-03-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I haven't been real diligent in keeping this blog updated this past week. I'll try to do better this week.

Thursday was a busy day. I didn't any walking in on Thursday. Friday morning I did my strength training.

The hike at Pere Marquette State Park on Saturday was an invigorating one. This biggest challenge of the day was getting around all of the downed trees from the ice storms and winds that we've had in the area this winter. The wind yesterday was pretty brutal in spots as well, especially when we topped out at McAdams Peak. The view was incredible though. We hiked for 3 hours with the Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park hikers. After that, the Grand Canyon hikers hiked for another hour.

The trails that we hiked can be seen at http://www.greatriverroad.com/Pere/hikingMap.htm

and are as follows:

Hickory South - 1 1/2 miles

Fern Hollow - 2 1/2 miles

Hickory North - 3/4 mile

Hickory - 1/2 mile

Goat Cliff - 1 1/2 miles

Hickory South - out for 1/2 hour and back - 1 mile (My guess is we made it about 1/3 of the trail in)

In all, I think that we hiked about 7 3/4 miles.

I'll try to get some mid-week hikes in this week. I may try the Chubb Trail from the Lone Elk Park side of it and hike west from that trailhead. I'll likely go to Queeny again too.

Here are a couple of pictures from the trail yesterday.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

2007-02-28T08:45:00.000-06:00

Training yesterday - I didn't feel like doing much. I walked for 30 minutes at various speeds and inclines. Total distance was 1.75 miles.

This morning I worked out with the strength training routine and added an extra set of every exercise. I plan to walk for an hour tonight. I'd like to go back to Queeny Park and do the 4.4 mile loop, but I'm not sure that I'll get out of work on time to complete it before the park closes.

I made it to the park but only hiked the 3.5 mile route. I had my daughter with me and she decided to go the shorter route since she had homework to do.

I made three new ribbons last night for the people that Angel in New Orleans sent to me. The pictures are posted below.

Monday, February 26, 2007

2007-02-26T07:25:00.000-06:00

I did my strength training this morning. I worked out for about 30 minutes.

Since my usual day off is on Sunday after a day of hiking, I don't think I'll walk tonight.

This weekend's training hike is at Pere Marquette. They have some pretty steep trails there I think, but I'm not sure which trails we will be hiking. I know that we will be hiking for 4 hours.

More to come later in the week.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

2007-02-25T15:45:00.000-06:00

Saturday was my day of rest this week. I guess I missed the wet hike with the Takoda (Indian for "a friend to all") Trekkers yesterday.

To catch up in my training, I went on the same hike today that my fellow trekkers went on yesterday. Although I didn't have the rain, I did get a couple of sleet showers and a lot of wind. The mud at the river was slippery and sticky. My boots were caked. I saw more wildlife today hiking alone rather than with the group. At the river, I saw a couple of hawks flying over the fields, a blue heron was in the water, and I saw a couple of deer crossing the trail behind me. There were two overly friendly dogs at one point in the hike and I caught up with their owner near the prairie trails by the river.

I took a couple of pictures that I submit below.