And the ankle says "Snap!": amid huge Yosemite snowstorm, dodging self-pity...

  
In the aftermath of El Jumbo Snow Dump in Yosemite (well, really, it's still happening), Bear is thinking he'll maybe ski this weekend (he supresses a drooling-and-jumping-up-and-down-clapping response every time skiing and all this fresh snow are the topic).

And he's in Yosemite valley today, all day, for meetings.

My first thought last night was "Can I go to the valley tomorrow, too?"

Then I can hike in the freshly snowed valley, take amazing photographs, get them back to you (yes, I think about you a lot), then work (day job) on my computer in the Yosemite bar.

PERFECT!

Then I remembered.


biobabbler is lame


On my last day in New Orleans, after a week of hazards,

• super busy conference so overwhelmed-by-sessions-and-socializing-from-8am-9pm
• speed-walking back and forth between my hotel and the conference in new-professional-person-shoes (NOT used to them, trust me, I live in running shoes) amid traffic & construction
• sleeping-away-from-home exhaustion stupor
• getting yelled at by hotel security at 10:30 at night (guy was 10 feet tall, I SWEAR!) for TALKING (yes, talking)
• exploring French Quarter streets day and night with all the attendant people-freakiness and crowded, cobbly, bumpy streets
• eating famously fatty/hazardous food
• a pontoon boat tour of the bayou, rubbing shoulders with alligators

I injured myself.


How, you ask, did the ever-so-light-of-foot and (semi-) adventurous biobabbler succumb?


NOT running from alligators, as was suggested I proffer in lieu of the real story.*

(photo by Matthew Field)

NOT running from New Orleans muggers or cops or defending a helpless child using my new mixed-martial-arts-fitness-class skills.

(photo wikipedia user Nt2bd)

NOT dancing with the handsome kilted Irish men in the nighttime St. Patrick's Day parade.

NOT battling for beads.

NOT lugging 10,000 lbs of over-packed luggage 6 blocks from one hotel to the other 'cause I'm too cheap and carbon-embarrassed to use a taxi.

Nope, here's the pitiless marauder, the heartless villain:

(Paul Frederickson photo)

A lawn. I hurt myself walking across a lawn.

A LAWN.

Mind you, biobabbler has:

• Tromped MILES across the rocky intertidal zone, through ocean waves, on slippery kelp, teetering boulders, carrying piles of equipment. For YEARS.

• Climbed then hung head first off of the edge of crumbling sea stacks to measure owl limpets, dangling 20 feet above ocean and rock.

• Walked 27 miles in one day.

• Hiked down into, camped overnight at the bottom of (in rain), then climbed back out of the Grand Canyon, with rain-soaked (tent leaked, so everything was 20 lbs heavier) camping gear during a SNOWstorm that was blowing snow sideways (a friend I saw at the conference last week reminded me of that, and said that my face was blue) days after being really sick.

• Rafted down 87.5 miles down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, including some of its most notorious rapids (and learned that only there and on major roller coasters can I scream at a bat-like high pitch).

This is the Hance rapid. It's the highest rated rapid of those I experienced (rated 7-8 on a scale of 1-10 for the Colorado River Grand Canyon, 10 is most crazy, 1 is mildest. Pretty sure our guides said the water level made it an 8).

• Been complimented on my balance by people I barely know.

• Been paid to relocate rattlesnakes.

(photo Tigerhawkvok)

• Was in a burning car once, briefly trapped, then escaped with just a slightly melted jacket and an irrational fear of the smell (so diesel exhaust freaked me out years afterward--I'd always look to make sure there weren't flames at my side).

And a lawn brings biobabbler down, making her ankle go "SNAP!" Sprained, not broken.

So I am biohobbler, once again.

And with all this (possibly record breaking?) SNOWY GLORY I do NOT get to SNOWSHOE IN AT LEAST EIGHT FEET of fresh snow in MARCH.

ARRRRRRGH!

Logic equation: If bb = snowshoeing, then bb = happy.

And today it's been snowing for hours at my house, so it's STILL piling up at Badger Pass.


Anyhow, I've not exercised for days, now. Too busy pouting.

And the options are pretty much pilates or sitting down/one-legged yoga and possibly free weights and pushups and sit ups (wheeee!).


However, I've decided on a new mental approach.

I will try to view this exercise as the start of my summer-hiking-get-in-shape program.

In high country with trail-dirty bum: bb happy.
Gaylor Lakes, Yosemite NP.

Work on building strength (since cardio will be hard to come by for a while), muscular endurance (lotsa situps, pushups, back exercises, core stuff), so I will not tire as easily as I might if I hike with bony back and arms.

The thought arose this a.m. while viewing photos of summertime Yosemite high country.

Trail side creek on hike to Elizabeth Lake,

Yosemite NP.

Unicorn Peak, from Elizabeth Lake,

Yosemite NP.

View south (I believe) from Gaylor Lakes,

Yosemite NP.

Yeah, could be worse.

And at least my legs usually work.

And I live pretty near a staggeringly beautiful place, and have the time and health to explore and enjoy it.

For that I am truly grateful.

bb

* BTW (by the way): who knew re: many sites telling you how to avoid, and most interestingly, survive an alligator attack. Think you don't need to know what and where an alligator's palatal valve is? THINK AGAIN! And, by the way, it can only be reached if your ARM is in the animal's MOUTH!


P.S. Do they really need to suggest you see a doctor promptly if you've been attacked by an alligator? How stoic can people be?!?


P.P.S. I just LOVE that there's a "crocodilian biology database"--that's where the palatal valve link takes you. TOO cool! University of Florida, of course. =) )

Holy snowstorm!

 
Uh, is this how our chicken/cat sitters are going to have to get to our house?!?

(biobabbler-happy-as-clam: LOVE snowshoeing)

I just checked the weather forecast. Normally, no big. But, now, since we're leaving and asking other people to keep our animals alive (and our quarter-mile-long uphill driveway is not paved), I'm a little nervous!

Tonight: Snow showers. Chance of precip 90%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.
Thursday: Snow likely. Chance of precip 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.
Thursday Night: Snow. Chance of precip 80%. New snow accumulation of 6 to 10 inches possible.
Friday: Snow. Chance of precip 90%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.
Friday Night: Chance of rain & snow 50%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.
Saturday: Snow likely. Chance of precip 70%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.
(somewhat-modified-by-bb forecast courtesy of NOAA, of course)

uh... I just did the math, and the max # of inches of new snow predicted is 30.

I thought this was the FOOTHILLS?!?

Even though we have someone scheduled to stop by while we're gone, I'm thinkin' I'll call a neighbor in case someone has to walk to our house through the snow (we get snowed in) to feed cats and change/melt chicken water. AND ask if they have or would like to borrow our snowshoes and/or snow boots and/or skis!


Woah.

Guess winter's not over, yet.


biobabbler

Yosemite: snowed in or out!

  
Just heard through the grapevine that 4 of 5 Yosemite entrances are CLOSED DUE TO SNOW. I am SO planning on getting out there once this snow stops and the sun's out. Got my snowshoes drying as we speak. 
 

Badger Pass, December 2010

Woo-hoo!

See you there? Or, somewhere "out there"?

=)

bb

snowy Yosemite Mumday interpreted

 

Just loved this beautiful round rock.

Bear enjoying the view.

Our little jaunt started out with some cool clouds.

Oh, YAY, the potty is still open this season.

It's the little things that can make your day. =)

Tall, gorgeous tree.

The flash went off so I shut it down for the next shot, but this one with the flash on the bottom branches I liked best. Just slightly weird lighting made it more interesting.

Love the dark dark bark and chartreuse (reindeer?) lichen that was everywhere.

Noticed half way through the hike that I was dressed just like the trees.

Dark background (black/ultra-dark brown), w/ chartreuse fuzziness on top.

=)

Deer hoof prints by my snowshoes, right at the beginning of the trail.

Nice!

It was super deserted. Literally miles of empty parking space.

The extreme empty nature of these lots emphasizes the amazingly self-centered oblivious nature of the parking job of a car there which I'll share in another post. It was so extreme it was funny. And the car had a park sticker so is a park employee, either NPS or a concessioner, so they should know better...

=) Anyhow, a nice trial run of wintry fun, just a short trip, and about half way through I noticed my body relaxing, getting used to snowshoeing, and that's a good thing. Now, I'm officially ready!

biobabbler

snowy Yosemite Mumday

 

bb

may be busting out the snowshoes, today...

  

So if we do, and I will bring my camera, I may get some pics of the park under snow. =) However, tonight being game night, probably won't be able to process and post until tomorrow, so if this all works out, we may have a snowy Mumday.

Hope your weekend is going swimmingly!

=)

bb

thank heaven my doctor has good taste...

May have to temporarily change my name to biohobbler.

Went to doctor’s office today to have him check out my ankle. Happily they shoved me into his packed schedule. Kind of them.

I must say he has the BEST magazines. Read Smithsonian (African lions, as studied by researcher based deep in Midwest) in the waiting room, and was devouring an article on the potential secession of Greenland (aided by global warming, interestingly enough) in Outside mag. when my doctor arrived.

The conclusion is a sprain of some sort of an ankle tendon, no x-ray needed, and that if I keep up the RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) action and up my ibu a bit, I can at least TRY snowshoeing this weekend, as long as I “have an exit strategy.” I said we’d be bringing sleds…he smiled, and escaped to his other 99 patients.

Nothing like a quick trip to the doctor to make you grateful for your health. Invariably there are people there with MUCH bigger health issues to make me feel grateful.

Plus, they took my blood pressure and it was 110 over 60. SWEET! I actually said that out loud when the nurse told me. I wonder why they tell you your blood pressure but never say your weight or pulse? Is there a reason for that?

Anyhow, hoping for the best, and have surfed web for extra pair of snowshoes to buy to complete our set. LOVE the MSR snowshoes—a-MA-zingly easy to use. I’ve never needed the fins ‘cause the snow out here is so heavy and wet, but we’ll buy them just in case.

Oh, and I’ll bring my camera for SURE so I can show you the Sierran snow and skies.

xoxo biobabbler

P.S. 2 days ago chased either a sharp-shinned or a Cooper's hawk out of the garden. I believe it was going for the little birds there, not my chicken, but nevertheless, continued my "cursed varmint!" vigilance. Cool bird to see, though...

where is the line?

Yeah. So. Was getting psyched about seeing friends (impending visitors chez-nous) and going snowshoeing this weekend. Really psyched.

Because:     I    LOVE    SNOWSHOEING.  Seriously. Guaranteed happy if I’m warm, dry, and snowshoeing. And I almost never go.

So, yesterday doing exercise DVD (that I’ve done before) which involves jumping (an imaginary) rope. My ankle started to hurt a tiny bit. Felt stiff, really. So, I stopped jumping and did squats instead. Fine.

Then, when the exercise was mountain climbers, I thought I’d try them. Ankle still felt stiff. And I thought, well, what about the “walk it off” thing guys do in football? Sometimes that works.

So, kept jumping and then BAM, I felt real pain. Stopped immediately and thought – oh, crap. Snowshoeing! I felt a hot pain in a very small space on my ankle, which reminded me of the pain I felt in my right ankle when I’d apparently chipped the bone.

So, I did the rest, ice, compression, and elevation thing and took Ibu and hoped (and hopped) for the best (e.g., extremely short-term injury).

So my question is, where is the line between pushing yourself during a workout, and overdoing it? Hmmn?

From what I've been reading, strengthening supporting muscles (like calf, ankle, quadriceps, hamstrings) may reduce my risk of future injury, and is an approach I intend to pursue.

Nevertheless, I wish I could actually SEE the line between pushing myself through a tough workout vs. pushing myself too far. I’d be very happy to stay on the good side of it. Really. But, clearly, it evades me.

You?

xo biobabbler