Adventure 008, Hike 101 - Deer Springs Trail

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 008-101: Deer Springs Trail

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  September 6, 2012

Location: Mount San Jacinto State Park

Details: The last leg of the 8000 meter challenge. At this point it is in the middle of the night (after 11), your body is completely beat up, your energy is spent, and your mind starts playing tricks on you. It becomes a one foot in front of the other process. Although it sounds and is completely miserable, there is also this part of it that is completely rewarding because you are finding the limits that you can push your body to.

We hiked the 3.3 miles up to the last mountain, once again going up in elevation. There is the view of all of Palm Springs, and it’s a little surreal seeing all the blinking lights of the town below you, while you and 70 other people are trudging along in this crazy challenge. Everyone you pass coming down cheers you on and gives you encouragement. That is the really neat part of the challenge. The challenge is mostly against yourself. You want everyone to succeed, so it’s not a competition against everyone else. The only winners are the one ones that raise the most for Big City Mountaineers.

At a little after midnight we reached the summit, signed in, took a sip of a celebratory whisky, and hiked back down to our campsite where we collapsed in exhaustion.