This is a progress report for September 21st, 2009:

It has been a tough ride since the last progress report (August 27th). The tragic Station Fire packed a one-two punch with the fires destroying some of my favorite trails  and the smoke keeping me from doing other hikes in the area. The graph below compares the number of hikes I should have completed so far (the blue line) with the number of hikes I have completed (the red line). You can see how my progress suddenly halted due to the fire. By September 11th, I was six hikes behind schedule, the biggest gap of this project to date.

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However, a planned expedition to the Southwest saved me. Along with visiting three states (Nevada, Utah, and Arizona), rolling over 2,000 miles on my car’s odometer, and exploring many of this country’s finest public lands, I also hiked.

I hiked a lot.

During the nine-day trip, I hiked over 50 miles in Bryce Canyon National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Arches National Park, Zion National Park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. Whew!

Of the eleven hikes I went on, nine were “official” 100hike.com hikes but an additional two fell shy of the requirements (mainly due to being just shy of 2 miles in length). The week of travel not only renewed my spirit, but also brought me back on schedule to finish 100 hikes before the end of the year, something I had been worried about during the fires.

Here’s something fun for those of you who like numbers:

  • Number of hikes completed: 57
  • Number of days into project: 140
  • Number of miles hiked: 262.3 miles
  • Longest hike: 15.9 miles (Hike #48 – San Gorgonio Mountain)
  • Hardest hike: Hike #21 (Telescope Peak, Death Valley)
  • Furthest hike from home: Hike #38 (Terrebonne, Oregon – 851 miles from home)

If you hike with me, you become a prestigious respected member of the newly-formed “100 Hikes Club.”

  • Number of members: 44 (and three dogs)
  • Top 5 ranking members:
    • Dad (9 hikes: #30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 & 38)
    • Mom (7 hikes: #30, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37 & 38)
    • Melanie (5 hikes: #5, 13, 26, 29 & 40)
    • Chris (4 hikes: #6, 21, 42 & 44)
    • Samantha (4 hikes: #18, 21, 39 & 42)

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It has been a tough month for me having to cope with the losses in the Angeles National Forest, but your support during this time has kept me going.  Thank you.