A Kenpo Family Hiking Invitation

[Rich_Hale]

Want to put all those squat kicks to good use?

Then let's hang out together at 14, 497 feet. Of course to do that we have to find some place that's 14,497 feet in elevation, which is easy - Mt. Whitney, in Southern California. The difficult part is getting there (under our own power).

Here's the deal. I have a couple spots open for this years hike up Mt. Whiney, which is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States. The hike isn't all that long, just 22 miles round trip, but if you haven't spent any time hiking in air that thin, it's a lot longer more difficult than you can imagine.

This is not a technical hike, and you don't need high tech equipment. There is a small list of common equipment that you'll need, like trail shoes, daypack, hat, jacket, gloves, etc, but all in all, if you're in good shape, have a positive attitude and aren't too bright, you'll be just fine.

The hike is the weekend of August 5th. We will drive up, from the LA area, on Friday, hike on Saturday, and drive back on Sunday. Out of pocket expenses are only for food, lodging, any gear you need. I already have the hiking permits.

As a side note: Some years ago, hiking this mountain (in a very unrealistic span of time) was a prerequisite for my 4th degree black. We won't have a time limit on us this year, but if you what to put your physical/mental training to the test, this is a good one.

If you're interested in taking on this interesting challenge drop me an email at [email protected]. We can discuss the details.

 

[Sam]

Wow. Good luck with that.

This is the same weekend as the meet & greet though... so I'm not sure you'll find many takers.

 

[Rich_Hale]

Hi Sam,

That's okay, I'm not looking for many takers. And I only have a couple of slots available. These few slots I can fill easily, I just wanted to give some of my Kenpo buddies a shot at it first.

Mt. Whitney is the kind of hike people are definitely interested in . . . or definitely not interested in.

For those who may be interested, but don't know anything about Mt. Whitney, a quick search on Google may be helpful.

 

[Rick Wade]

Another Good Reason I should live on the mainland.
Good luck with that Mr. Hale.

V/R

Rick

 

[Kembudo-Kai Kempoka]

You're a sick man, Mr. Hale. I love it.

Dave

 

[Rich_Hale]

Rick,

Like you have it so rough out in the Islands. But all is not lost my friend, we'll be hiking Kauai the week of Ausust 26th with a couple days on the Big Island as well.

I attached a couple of pictures from last year, to show our Kenpo brothers, and sisters, how rough you really have it.

Maybe we can hook-up and you can hang in the jungle with us.

 

[Rich_Hale]

Dave buddy,

I can understand what would make you thing it takes a sick man to hike Whitney, but to appreciate the depth of our sickness you have to consider our Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim Hike. AKA The Kenpo Death March.

It's a 48 mile non-stop hike from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, down to the bottom, across the valley, up to the North Rim and back again.

The good (sick) part is it has to be completed in under 24 hours, from start to finish. If you take so much as 24 hours and two minutes, you didn't do the Death March, you just went hiking in the Grand Canyon for "Two" days.

Now that's sick!

 

[Kembudo-Kai Kempoka]

Dave buddy,

I can understand what would make you thing it takes a sick man to hike Whitney, but to appreciate the depth of our sickness you have to consider our Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim Hike. AKA The Kenpo Death March.

It's a 48 mile non-stop hike from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, down to the bottom, across the valley, up to the North Rim and back again.

The good (sick) part is it has to be completed in under 24 hours, from start to finish. If you take so much as 24 hours and two minutes, you didn't do the Death March, you just went hiking in the Grand Canyon for "Two" days.

Now that's sick!

A couple of us used to do a Havasupai rez trail thing every May; in one day, spend a few nights and play in the water, then hike back out. The switchbacks out alone kicked my butt enough to not even fathom hitting a down/up/down/up in 2 days. You are, truly, a sadist. Awesome.

Dave

 

[MA-Caver]

If I can make a suggestion.
For anyone wanting to do this kind of high altitude hiking and haven't done it before. Especially for those west of the continential divide (read: lower altitude folk): Drink twice as much water as you normally do several days before the hike. It'll thin the blood and thus make it easier for oxygen molecules to reach the brain, thus less likely to "pass-out" enroute up (or down) during the hike.
I've seen it happen with people who come to Utah and try to hike what to us, a relatively simple hike up 7-8,000 feet and they're "dying".