Outdoor Adventures "FREE" Workshop for Ladies

Outdoor Adventures Workshop for Ladies

Date: October 17, 2009

Time: 9:30 am – 11:30 am

Place: Cesar Chavez Library
3635 W Baseline Road
Laveen, AZ

“Hiking AZ with Teri Ann” is offering a FREE Workshop
for ladies (& young ladies over the age of 7) only
(sorry guys—next time).


Topics will include:

* Hiking Tips
* Backpacking Tips
* The “12” Essentials
* 5 Medical Issues Ladies Face in the Wilderness
* Nutrition on the Trail, as well as for your personal life
* Children’s Hiking
* Introducing “Fifi” to hiking


Bring a bottle of water and a snack and enjoy listening to Hiking Guide,
Teri Ann, as she shares her experience on the trail, as well as her exercise/diet success story.
Teri Ann will also share her story and experience on her
recent “Mt. Whitney” trip this past August.


All participants will receive a 20% off coupon for any services that
“Hiking AZ with Teri Ann” has to offer, as well as other
outdoor retail coupons; and there will be handouts to take home for future reference.


This Workshop is great for anyone that has never stepped on a trail before, up to the more avid hiker and to meet other ladies like you.
You will also have the opportunity to join Teri Ann’s Yahoo Group,
so you can share and learn ideas with each other.

Any questions, please call Teri Ann @ 602-579-1437 or visit her website:
http://www.hikingazwithteriann.com/

I am finally heading out to Mt. Whitney @ 3 AM

After 5 years of planning, I am finally heading out to Mt. Whitney @ 3:00 am. For the past 6 months, I have been training for this moment. Our permit is for a one-day assent. This will involve over 6,100 feet of elevation gain, as well as 21.4 miles of hiking.

I have been in hard-core training for the past two months. I have summited Humphrey’s Peak 4 times, as well as doing other high altitude hiking in Flagstaff. We attempted to climb Humphrey’s Peak on the 24th, but had to head down the trail @ mile 6, when a rain/hail storm blew in. There’s nothing like being battered by hail when you are trying to get down a mountain. This also happened to me on the 12th when I hiked the Bear Jaw/Abineau trails. The rain and hail was so bad, I kept slipping and sliding on the sleek lava rocks while hiking down Abineau. By the time I reached my truck, I had been on the trails for 5.5 hours and I looked like I took a bath in mud.

I will be meeting my partner, Leo, @ the Lone Pine Camp Site. Bears are a big problem @ Whitney, so we will need to rent a bear canister for our food. I had to make sure that I grabbed all snack bars; I normally keep in the truck, and put them in my ice chest. Bears @ Whitney will actually destroy a car if they smell food. They are known for breaking into trunks and tearing out the back seats to reach food. In fact, if a bear is found by your vehicle and trying to break in, and you are not near, they will tow it. There have been quite a few bear’s shot, over the years, because a careless hiker left food in their vehicle, and the bear was creating a hazardous situation.

Saturday afternoon will be spent picking up the permits and setting up camp. The evening will just be spent relaxing. We plan on hiking up to the “Lone Pine Lake” on Sunday. This will include a 1,490 feet of elevation gain, and almost 6 miles of hiking.

We plan on beginning our hike @ 3 a.m. We know this will be a very long day, and may take 12-14 hours or more. The goal, of course, is to summit Whitney. At this time, there is snow and ice on a lot of the top parts of Whitney (from a late season storm). However, we understand from the rangers that the trails are clear.

Here is the trail mileage & elevation:

• Whitney Portal Trail Head starts @ 8,360 feet
• John Muir Wilderness Sign @ 8,500 feet (.5 miles)
• Lone Pine Lake @ 9,850 feet (2.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1,490 feet)
• Outpost Camp @ 10,365 feet (3.5 miles with an elevation gain of 2,005 ft)
• Mirror Lake @ 10,640 feet (4.0 miles w/an elevation gain of 2,280 ft)
• Trailside Meadow @ 11,395 feet (5.0 miles w/an elevation gain of 3,035 ft)
• Trail Camp @ 12,000 feet (6.0 miles w/an elevation gain of 3,640 ft)
• Trail Crest @ 13,777 feet (8.2 miles w/an elevation gain of 5,417 ft)
• John Muir Trail @ 13,480 feet—yup we climb down some (8.7 miles w/an elevation gain of 5,120 ft)
• Mount Muir @ 14,015 feet (9.0 miles w/an elevation gain of 5,655 feet)
• Keeler Needle @ 14,000 feet (10.2 miles w/an elevation gain of 5,640 ft)
• Mt. Whitney Summit @ 14,494 feet (10.7 miles w/an elevation gain of 6,134 ft)
  

WHEW----NOW WE GET TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, BUT CLIMBING DOWN

My good friend, Cherie who would have climbed Whitney @ midnight to be able to view the sunrise wants to meet us for dinner Monday night. Geez, I am not even sure I will be able to walk after all that, let alone have an appetite. I guess we’ll just have to see.

Tuesday morning will be spent relaxing and I plan on having one of the “Whitney Portal Store & Restaurant” famous big pancakes for breakfast. We will head out sometime on Tuesday.

Fitness Equipment that I use

Everyone should always do different types of fitness routines, not only to shake things up, but to give you a variety. Everyone knows I am an avid hiker, rock climber, and even a mountaineer. But, when I am in training, as I am now to climb Mt. Whitney, I need to do more than just hike. So, here are two items that I have begun using:

1. Sport-Hoop http://www.sports-hoop.com/hoop.com/


Remember playing hoola-hoop as a child? Well, I do. It was one of the greatest invention of all time.

The Sport-Hoop takes it up a notch. The picture on the left is the 5lb Acu-Hoop. It is easy to put together and will even come apart so you can take it with you when you travel.

I have to admit, I have had this hoop for a month or two but just now have started using it. It is weighted, so beginners look out; you might have some bruising on your hip. They recommend that beginners use the hoop no more than 3 minutes a day.

I was able to keep it going up to 165 rotations. The only thing I haven't been able to figure out is how to take it apart for when I travel. I might have to call the company. Since this hoop is big, I need to make sure that I have plenty of room around me, so I won't hit anything. The hoops come in different weights. Check out their website shown on #1.

2. EMPower EM40 http://www.fitnessem.com/

This is a perfect weight bench for ladie. It's very light to handle and easily stored. I have had this bench for almost two years, but am embarrassed to say my sister made me put it out

on the back porch. Well, with all the training I need to do, I brought it back in today, washed it down (spider webs and all) and got it ready to use. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the DVD that went with it, so I had to call the company and order a new one.

The bench comes with three different dumbbell sizes (3, 5, 8lbs) and has three different levels. I like to work out with the DVD; it works with all your muscle groups. The DVD even has an ab section (I really need to work on those) as well.

The EM40 is the best one they have, which is a little pricey, but well worth it. It was named as the best "Women's 2007 Fitness Equipment" in Health Magazine.

They also have an EM10 (workbench only) and an EM20 (workbench and dumbbells), but I highly recommend the EM40. You will be able to tone up your arms and abs like you won't believe.

Hiking AZ with Teri Ann - Beginning Hiking Clinic on April 25, 2009

We held our first “Beginning Hiking Clinic” on Saturday April 25, 2009. We had a small turnout, but it was a great class. There were three ladies, besides myself. The first part of the clinic was going over the “Beginning Hiking Clinic Manual” that I had written. It included an extreme amount information for a beginner hiker. Even though I will be tweaking it for the next class, I received a lot of very nice compliments on the manual.

After the class portion, we headed up the “Kiwanis” trailhead in South Mountain. This is an excellent beginner trail and is only one-mile in length (one way). Since this was a beginning hike, we started out very slow. We had a slow and gradual steady climb of 435 feet. At the end of the trail we took our lunch/snack break, which I am sure the ladies certainly enjoyed after doing their hike. We ate our food and took some great pictures, and then headed back down to the trailhead.

After our hike, Carol and I decided to head over to the “ECC” (Environmental Community Center) located @ the beginning of the park. We toured the “CCC” (Civilian Conservative Corp) exhibit, which I highly recommend for all families to see. We also toured the new gift shop, where they had some really cool t-shirts and souvenirs. So, when visiting South Mountain, you really should check that out as well.

We will be holding our next Beginning Hiking Clinic on May 23rd. So, for those of you that have always wanted to try hiking, now is your chance to learn.

Willa & Me - Our first Hike

Willa has been with us for a little more than three months. She has adapted very well on the farm, and is now allowed to stay outside all day with the rest of the motley crew. I have been so busy lately that I haven’t had time to even walk my own dog. So, yesterday I decided to take her for a simple walk, just around the block (our blocks are huge in Laveen). I went ahead and put on my hiking boots to continue breaking them in, and took my GPS unit to calculate the mileage.

As we were starting out, I decided to go ahead and take her to the end of Estrella and head up the 200-foot climb into South Mountain, and that’s it. Well, it didn’t end there. Willa did a lot of huffing and puffing on the climb, but she did very well. I was very proud of her and soon I was trying to decide if we should just head back home or do a little more exploring in South Mountain. Unfortunately, I broke my #1 rule. I had no cell phone or water for either one of us. But we went ahead and did some exploring on an unmarked trail, which had a pretty good climb to it.

Willa still did well, and after realizing that we had already hiked 1.5 miles, I decided to turn back before we reached the end of the trail. So, I never did learn where it went (that’s for another day by myself to explore). Willa and I headed back down the trail. She was a little weary about going down, however, because there were a lot of loose gravel and rocks. She was a trooper though. As we were descending down the trail, Willa showed her true self. She saw a bunny rabbit and tried to take off after it, by heading down the side of the mountain. So, I basically had to hold her back before she took us both off the mountain. After hiking three miles total (the longest she has ever been on a leash), we arrived home safely.

Our next adventure: Willa hiking with her doggie hiking pack on. Now that will be interesting.

Life on the Farm

Life on the farm can certainly get crazy. In the past month, we have added two additions to our menagerie. Introducing Zoë, a Quaker Parrot and Hazi, a painted mare. Hazi was apparently rescued but her new owner wasn’t able to ride her as much as Hazi needed. My sister knew I always wanted a mare paint and thought of me.

Hazi is 5-years-old and is quite the horse. Out on the trail I always have to be on my guard in case she spooks @ the wind or something flying. When I wasn’t on my guard she spooked over something blowing underneath her and did a 360. Now that was fun. But I stayed on…the most important thing.

This picture is of Jessica, one of the twins that comes and assists us on the farm, in exchange for riding lessons and trail rides. She is riding Casper, who has issues of her own lately. She will not ride past a certain point on the street that leads to South Mountain. We have worked and worked with her with no avail. We are determined, however, to get her up that dang mountain.

The picture to the right is of our neighbors chickens on our high wires. Perhaps they were trying to get away from the dogs or coyotes that seem to roam the farm quite often.

Now, on to Willa and me. Willa has been on the farm now for almost three months. She is adjusting quite well. As you can see in the pictures, she has gained a lot of weight. We are working on her always digging her way to China in the front yard, and eating everything in sight, rather it's edible or not.

Bear & Coop

This is Coop (left) and Bear (right) with me in their backyard. They are brothers and are Shiba Inu’s. They are cool dogs, but unfortunately being brothers sometimes they fight. The fight can get quite vicious. I have been training them, the “Cesar Milan” way for a few weeks, and a couple times while we were walking they got into a scuffle. I actually had to turn back one time.

Unfortunately, they were too much to handle for their owner. So Coop was adopted out and now it’s just Bear. It’s really strange how Bear didn’t act at all sad that his brother was gone. Now he chases Sylvester the cat, and we are still working on our training walks. I miss Coop and told his owner that she should have gotten shared visitation rights with Coop.