I Love It When A-Team Gets Together!!!

"In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem...if no one else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you should hire the A-Team!" (cue machine gun fire and theme music)


That was then...this is now! The year is 2010 and there is another team on the run who survive as modern day soldiers of fortune. They are an eclectic band of characters as diverse as Hannibal, Faceman, Murdoc, and B.A. Barakas. Every Saturday there is a new action packed episode about how these renegades risk it all to fight for what's right for people in trouble who need help. If you want a cure...if no one else can help...and if you believe in the power of research...maybe you can support TNT! (cue machine gun fire and theme music)

O.K., so we aren't really escape war criminals from the Vietnam war, we don't have a cool van, we don't wear disguises to hide from Colonel Decker, we don't carry automatic riffles and/or explosive devices, and we don't build armored cars out of ice cream trucks. We do have a fun team that is always on the run trying to help people and have an explosive title (TNT). We have catchy nicknames like EAZY-P, Tator-Tizzle, Love-Kitten, and Doodle. Some of us are crazy, some of us are smooth talkers, some of us are wise leaders, some of us are body-building, gold chain wearing, irritable guys with mohawks (ok, maybe everything but that last one). We have no fear and we all love it when a plan comes together!
On this week's hike, we felt a lot like mercenaries on the run. We hiked Pyramid Peak above Hemet, California via the PCT. The Pacific Crest Trail is a world famous stretch of hiking trail that goes all the way from Mexico to Canada. Being in the middle of nowhere on a trail that could hypothetically lead to your freedom in another country gives a hiker the distinct feeling of being an outlaw fugitive on the run. It took nearly 2 1/2 hours to get to the trail head which made us as irritable as B.A. Barakas being forced to board an airplane. Once we rendezvoused with the rest of our team, we set the plan into action!

Driving through the clouds on the way up the mountain was our first indicator of how high we'd be hiking. When we began the hike, we could instantly feel the difference in altitude in our lungs. We knew we would be breathing harder on this hike as its purpose was to get our bodies use to the altitude we will face in Yosemite. It began at around 5000' and we climbed to about 7000'. The hike was as formulaic as an 80's TV action adventure show, as two hike members got separated from the group and had to match wits and utilize their survival skills to reconvene with the team before lunchtime was over. Once we got back (yes I was one of the ones who hiked too far, er-um, got separated), we had lunch and began the ascent to the peak. When we got to the top, we had a killer view, from a precariously rocky Pyramid Peak, of the surrounding San Jacinto mountains, Coachella valley, and Hemet Lake. It was as windy at the top as being under the roter-wash of a military chopper coming to rescue us (we wish). The rest of the hike was, as they say, all down hill from there.

The gang had a good laugh about their adventure back at the truck (God I wish we had a cool van) once it was all over. I love it when a plan comes together!

Tune in next week for another action packed episode!

If you want a cure...if no one else can help...and if you believe in the power of research...maybe you can support TNT! Go to: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ocie/Yosemit110/TeamLostDogs to help support our mission!

Goonies never say die!

In 1985, an antique map discovered in an attic launches a group of youngsters on a thrilling adventure in pursuit of long-lost treasure, pirates, crooks, and monsters. In 2010, a map on an old bandana given to a member of the team leads a group of team in training hikers on a thrilling adventure in pursuit of a cure for blood cancers. Big Santa Anita Canyon was the 9.5 mile “tunnel” we trekked in our adventure. Although we did not encounter the Fratelli’s, along the way we did face booty traps (“that’s what I said, boobie twaps!”). There were a number of obstacles we faced on Saturday in our hunt for a cure. Our first obstacle was parking. “There’s plenty of parking at the top!” said our fearless leader. He was mistaken, although the joke was on us. We parked adjacent to a mountain side that could theoretically come tumbling down at any moment. Phil had to climb out the window (Dukes of Hazzard style) because he couldn’t open the door. We “hiked” to the trailhead, where we began our 9.5 mile journey, climbing over 2000 feet to Zion Peak. As we trekked alongside a creek, we were enamored with its beauty. That was until we came across Chester Copperpot’s remains (not really, but it was an effigy - a dummy-like representation of a person) near one of the old cabins (like the old, abandoned restaurant that matched the coordinates on One-Eyed Willie’s map). As we continued on maze filled with traps and skeletons (er, effigies), we had to find ways to entertain ourselves, as the uphill climb is always daunting. This week we kept our mind off of the climb by asking “If you could be punctuation, what would you be?” (sounds bad, but at least we weren’t trying to outrun the Fratelli’s).

At one point along our journey, we nearly got caught up on some trip wire booby traps (that could have only been set by One-eyed Willie himself). And just a few moments after avoiding the first set of trip wires (there were a few), we suddenly felt like someone was playing the organ, but missing notes, because it seemed the earth was falling from right under us. Damn, Andy, get the notes right! And when we weren’t almost falling down a cliff, we were dodging swinging machetes (ok, so they were speeding mountain bikers, but they felt like machetes and they could have just as easily ended my life!). The final booby trap was the snakes. None of us encountered a snake this time, but the fear of snakes was alive and well on Saturday. Just when we thought we could take no more, we came around a corner only to see a sight as majestic as One-Eyed Willie’s pirate ship itself…the parking lot! So, the end was near. A skeleton-filled maze, trip wires, machetes, the Earth falling from under us, and the snakes. All this and we keep going week after week! We keep going because we know that out there, it’s our time. It’s our time out there! Goonies were on a quest to save their town; we are on a quest to save lives of cancer patients! And we do it week after week in hopes that our efforts will make a difference. This is our dream, our wish! Maybe Rosalita will find a handful of gems in Mikey’s marble bag (that’s donations in our team’s accounts), so we can all enjoy Yosemite together!

Holy @#!%ing Jim

It's no coincidence that the trail sign looked like a crucifix!

Looking up at the towers signifying the peak!

Hiding from the bugs under our shirts by the towers at the top!

"Get these #@$% bugs off of me!"
(Click to enlarge)

And we do it all with a smile!

Resting at the end of the hike!



"Nature was profaned here by the swear words flooding from the mouth of "Cussin' Jim" Smith or "Holy Jim" as he was renamed by tightlaced government surveyors who mapped the canyon in the early 1900s.""

The holy Jim Trail takes you to the top of the highest peak in Orange County: Santiago Peak. It's the higher of the two peaks as you look at Orange County's most prominent landscape feature: Saddleback Mountain. When The Holy Jim Trail was named, it was a sarcastic play on words about a guy named "Cussin' Jim" who founded the trail. After hiking his trail, I completely understand his use of foul language! After spending an entire Saturday on his trail, climbing 4000' to the top of Santiago Peak (the highest peak in Orange County) and back down through a total of 16 miles of switchback trail, everyone from the most capable of hikers to the most innocent of hikers was using an expletive or three in the middle of Holy Jim's name to the point where there should be a parental advisory warning label on the trail head sign. I tell you this because the purpose of this week's blog is to demonstrate the raw reality of what it is like on our weekly training hikes. The reality is, no we do not or did not cuss as much as Jim probably did, or as much as I exaggerated us to have done. The remainder of this week's edition of our blog is no exaggeration though, so sit back and have a good read on us, Team Lost Dogs!

Imagine that every Saturday morning instead of sleeping in, you have to wake up earlier than you do on your average work day. You wake up and have to commute to a destination where, when you get there, you will have to exert yourself to the point of exhaustion numerous times throughout the day. Your best friends are water, a wide-brimmed hat, and bug repellent. Your wardrobe isn't something you would necessarily want your friends to see you wearing, but it is functional for being outdoors, and prevents chaffing, so you abandon all humility. You wear a heavy backpack for an entire day filled with 6 liters (imagine 3 soda bottles) of water (which you will easily go through) as you spend many hours hiking for miles on end uphill through uneven, rocky terrain in the heat of the day as you try not to tangle with the lush overgrowth of poison oak. All the way up the mountain, you're dodging speeding mountain bikers coming straight toward you, and an occasional rattle snake (of which one member of our team saw 2 and almost stepped on one). You get to the top of a mountain somewhere where your payoff for making it to the top is a killer 360 degree view of the cities below and surrounding peaks while you share your lunch with swarming bugs, and the ground usually isn't much better. You hide from the bugs under a spare shirt or bandanna to keep out the bugs as you eat your lunch. Your main course is a cliff or power bar and your side dishes consist of almonds, string cheese and salami, half a PB&J sammy, and a fruit leather for dessert. You want to stay and take a nap (at this point you're immune to the bugs), but you must move on. You're covered in dust now, which is stuck to your sweat, and you make the journey back down the mountain, which is even more unforgiving on your knees than it was on the way up. You are so delirious at this point that you completely can't remember being on certain sections of trail even though you hiked them going in the opposite direction just a few hours prior. Your hike is now over and you see the most comforting thing you have seen all day, a porta-potty, and some large roots of a tree that look like they grew in the perfect shape of a chair made specifically for your butt. As you rest on this chair by the porta-potties waiting for the rest of the team to arrive, all you can think of is the REAL food that you have deprived yourself of all day, such as steak and nachos. You finally get back into your high clearance vehicle so that you can drive the 4 miles (that takes 45 minutes to drive) of bladder battering, rocky road (dubbed "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride") to get back to your own car and commute back home.

You finally get home and bring in all your gear and the couch is calling your name. Actually, the couch and the shower are having an argument over which one gets to have you first. It's complete chaos as these two are arguing, and now the bed has interjected that it has been waiting for you all day. The dog is now having a side argument with the bed because he too has been waiting to see you all day, so he abruptly jumps on the bed, violently pinning it down, and things start to get really confusing for you as the chaos continues to get worse. The TV has now decided that it is in your best interest for you to watch the Dodger game, only now the entire UFC has joined in the commotion and all hell is breaking loose right there in your living room! You realize there is about to be a bench clearing brawl between the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the UFC right in front of you, and you don't know what to do about it! It only gets more annoying as the manipulative couch starts siding with the TV, and now there are actually alliances forming to try and take control over you. As you try and mediate among everyone and help them all compromise, the nosey neighbor has stuck his nose where it doesn't belong and is trying to get you to ditch everyone and come to the spa. You try and walk away from all of it, only now the computer is saying "Psssst, hey kid! Yeah you, come here I got sumpin' to show ya"! You figure that since your wife has now taken control of some of the chaos by getting in the shower first, that you might as well listen to the computer as you upload all of the pictures you have taken throughout the day and see them on a big screen. The computer is smart and waits for the right moment to get your attention, but all along it was the only one who actually did have your best interest in mind. It wants you to see what you have accomplished over the course of your day and give you a sense of pride for your efforts and remind you why you just put yourself through hell today.

The pictures remind you that you get up and repeat this same scenario every Saturday because you care about something greater than yourself. You did all of this with a smile on your face because you are trying to save lives.

Now imagine that someday in the future, a cure has been found for blood cancers and your hiking and fundraising have all paid off. Lives are being saved and you know that, in some small way, you had something to do with that. "It's easy to imagine if you try." -John Lennon

If you would like to make this dream a reality and help us raise money to find a cure for leukemia and lymphoma, please donate here: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ocie/Yosemit110/TeamLostDogs

Oh, and if you would like to imagine what the @#!%ing in Holy @#!%ing Jim stands for, just imagine that it stands for the word hiking!

Back In The Saddle Again at Icehouse

Maybe it was because the weight of fundraising is finally off of our shoulders (whew, finally), maybe it was because I had a great first week at my new job, maybe it was because the landscape on the hike was so scenic, maybe it was the lower oxygen level, maybe it was because Stacy and I hiked together for the first time in weeks, maybe it was because we got to try out some new equipment, maybe it was because I won a pair of TNT shades for recruiting a triathlete, maybe we finally bought bars with the right balance of carbs and proteins to give us energy or maybe we're just getting in shape (run-on, I know). Whatever the reason, the Icehouse Saddle hike had a light hearted, positive vibe that Stacy and I, as well as our team, has much been needing. We hiked this same area a year ago when I was training for my backpacking trip, and at that time it was so intense that at one point one of us (I won't say who ;) sat down in the middle of the trail out of exhaustion. From how I remember it, that person was very well justified in taking a break because of how steep and endless the miles of switchbacks were.

This time around, time seemed to fly as we hiked up the miles of switchbacks to the snowline just below the saddle, and it was an all around good time. We had such a good time with each other and some of our teammates that at one point the ladies posed for a Charlie's Angels shot without hesitation, even though they were standing precariously close to the ledge of the steep slope of the mountain on it's narrow and slippery gravel trail. I even posed for a "Need a little Captain in ya" shot myself. At lunch we found a nice log to straddle ;) as we ate our trail food and cracked jokes.

It was a good feeling being able to "just hike" and have fun doing it! We all have our stresses in life, but sometimes it is important to let go of all of that stuff and just have a good time with what you're doing and who you're with! When you think about it, we are fundraising to save lives for people to let go and just live, so it is also important for our team to let go and "just hike" too so that our experiences and positive attitudes can be an example of the experiences and positive attitudes that we all want leukemia and lymphoma patients to be able to have!

This blog is dedicated to our team and all of the hard work every member of the Yosemite Hike Team is doing with their fundraising and with their training. I am glad to know so many people who are willing to put their lives on hold for a few months, or even dedicate their lives to the cause, to help save the lives of others.

GO TEAM!!!





As always, if you would like to donate to our cause and help find a cure for blood cancers and help people to "just live", click the title of this week's blog above!