Training Hikes

I head to Chile next week for a bit of tourism in Santiago and then a week of backpacking in Patagonia: the O circuit in Torres del Paine. Julie and I have been doing some training hikes around the Napa valley to help me train up.

Rain hiking in Skyline

I’ve been gradually building up the backpack to my full start weight, probably around 35 lbs. I’m carrying all my breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the week plus two dinners. The other nights I’ve pre-purchased dinners at the refugios where we’ll be tent-camping. So the weight will go down as the trip moves along. Drinkable water seems to be abundant so I’m not bringing a filter.

Our first training hike was 6.5 miles in the beautiful and so accessible Skyline park just east of Napa. Lighter bag but a lot of climbing, about 1000 ft.

Poppy on the trail

Next we went up valley to hike in the hills above Lake Hennessey, the Moore Creek trail. A bit more weight on the back for this one, about 28 lbs, and 4.25 miles with 600 ft of climb. Straight uphill it felt at the start, but then you hit this beautiful grassy ridge line with gorgeous views and a few California poppies emerging.

On the Eliot Trail

Today Julie and I went down to Sonoma County near the raceway and hike the Eliot Trail plus a bit more. This is part of a discontinuous network of bay area wetland trails. Couldn’t be more different than the first two: 6 miles with about 10 ft of elevation, just the initial climb up to the dike path. Nearly full pack for this one at about 33 lbs. Neck and back complained a bit but more good training. Some awesome raptors on the hike: northern harriers, white-tailed kites, and red-tailed hawks.