Saddle Up?

by on March 27, 2007

Yeah, I know. It’s been awhile! But all is not forgotten, and I do plan to return to a blogging routine.

Lots happening of course, since Arctic1000, not the least of which has been a failed rehab of my ankle. A followup MRI in December suggested ligament damage quite a bit worse than what we originally thought, so May 9, I’ll be undergoing reconstructive surgery to rebuild my ATFL et al., remove scar tissue, etc., and start at ground zero en route to … uhhh … Phase 2 (!) of my trekking career! All is not lost, and I’m leaving no shortage of time for trip planning and map gazing, in the meantime. We’ll get to all that this year, don’t worry.

I have been skiing all winter. Something about ski boots that allows me to cover distances over winter snow that shadow the distances I’ve been able to cover in trail shoes – by a long shot. Seems that the ski boots hold everything together nicely.

Ryanjordancoestreammar06
That’s not to say that I haven’t been hiking – in fact, I’ve taken my first real (hey, it’s relative, work with me) walks of 2007 this month – a hike in the Rincon mountains of AZ for a NOLS IC a few weeks ago and another one at Coe Park in the Bay area last week for a BSA YLT course. How’d my right ankle fare? It hurt like a mother, that’s how. Hence the surgery. But not before one more trip in WY’s Red Desert with NOLS RM in a few weeks…

It does feel good to be back in trail shoes, pain aside.

I think I’ll spend about a month in a walking boot after my surgery. That should give me plenty of time to catch up on my writing for BPL!

Photo: Crossing a stream at Henry Coe State Park, March 2007.

  • http://profile.typekey.com/wunder/ Walter Underwood

    What was the BSA course and where did you go in Henry Coe? I haven’t been very deep into the park, but I hear that the population density thins out rapidly after you climb out of a couple of those steep valleys.
    Our troop likes trips where we can have a short hike in for beginners and a longer route for the older Scouts. Henry Coe has a couple of spots that work for that.
    Good luck on the surgery and rehab.

  • http://samh.net samh

    Many would say that skiing is more fun that hiking anyway, Ryan. Besides, there’s far less people on the trails in the winter.
    - sam_h

  • http://www.wildebeat.net/ Steve Sergeant

    If I had to guess, I would say that picture is on the Fish trail where it crosses the Little Fork of Coyote Creek. But then again, there are a lot of other places in the park that look a lot like that.
    I would have liked to have visited Henry Coe that weekend. Instead I skied 5 miles and hiked 6 miles in tele boots in Yosemite. Like viewing a casket, I came to accept the end of this year’s winter in the Sierra Nevada.
    In a couple of weeks I plan to do a 50 mile, 9,000′, 3-day weekend in Coe. It’s definitely a big-enough park for that.
    Best of luck on your surgery and recovery. Injury repair is never a fun thing to have to deal with.

  • Ryan Jordan

    Steve, the photo is the first creek crossing up the Grizzly Gulch trail from the Coyote Creek entrance. The stream was not named on my map. Yes, it’s a trib of Coyote Cr.
    We still have winter in Montana, so I’m hoping to get one more ski in!
    Walter: STEEP is right. I was blown away. It’s a rugged, beautiful place, with rewards for those willing to climb. The ridge trails were incredibly scenic, especially in the fog.
    We ran into only three other parties, hard to believe this is so close to the Bay area.