San Gorgonio

So if last weekend's brutal abuse of my body and psyche in the backcountry wasn't enough, I'm now planning a trip to San Gorgonio. Granted, I'm planning on leaving in 31 hours, which doesn' tgive me a lot of time to put things together.

So what's entailed this time? San Gorgonio, a 11.5k ft peak in Southern California via the Vivian Creek Trail. Day one: planning on hiking from 6k ft to just under 10k ft to High Creek camp (or something like that). Sleep, then push for a peak ascent by noon on Sunday, then come down to the car by the end of the day. Let's review the differences from last week and this week, shall we?

Last Week	This Week
Camped at 12,000 ft in the Sierras Carried my Arc'teryx Bora 80 pack - a nearly 5000 cu in volume pack for multiday excursions Went with two experienced and former wilderness guides Detailed topos and descriptions across beautiful flat trail with some talus Was looking to face my mortal fears and refresh my spirit	Camping at 10,000 ft in Southern California Planning on bringing along my Deuter pack - a 2500 cu in volume pack for weekend excursions Going alone Single topo map and some trail descriptions online across a 5000 ft ascent Need some alone time and face more demons

A few nights ago, Johnnie expressed some fear for me - that lately I've been striking her as suicidal. I laughed when she brought it up - far from it, I knew I'd be safe in the Sierras with my friends and I was looking for a way to learn more about myself (besides there's more than one kind of "death"). But looking at my plans for this weekend, I'm starting to wonder, and to be honest, I'm experiencing a tinge of fear that I didn't experience with the previous weekend. Oh well - I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm well acquainted with the signs of altitude sickness now and I know how quickly the symptoms can come on. I'll just turn around if it comes down to it to safer altitudes. I don't want to give that girl reason to take her worries seriously :)