Summit Cheeseburger

As mentioned in a previous post, no vacation trip to the big island of Hawaii would be complete without a visit to the top of Mauna Kea.  However, in addition to Mauna Kea, another must see on the big island is a visit to the summit caldera of the Kilauea Volcano. With such a trip in mind, Esterlinkage, Splasher and myself decided to make the multi hour trek by car. Having last visited Kilauea in 1971 as a 5 year old, I found myself filled with excitement to share that memorable experience with my wife and daughter. We armed ourselves with delightful local Cheeseburgers from Annies Island Fresh Burgers .

The staff at Annies were very kind and were intrigued by the mission of SummitCheeseburger. Esterlinkage and I made the decision to go with The Ultimate Classic Cheeseburger, which is made with locally raised beef topped with sharp cheddar cheese served on a classic bun. Splasher chose to abstain from our quest and ordered a grilled cheese sandwhich. After collecting our cheeseburgers we loaded up into our Jeep and continued on our noble quest. As we approached the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the aroma of high quality, locally produced Cheeseburgers wafting through our Jeep was becoming truly maddening.  A visit to the the main Visitor Center just inside the park boundaries allowed our group to gain knowledge of the Crater Rim Benchmark and to also learn much of the intriguing history of the volcano. Of great interest to Splasher was the story of Geologist George Ulrich who in 1985 broke through the lava crust into molten lava,while attempting to obtain a sample of molten lava. Luckily he was wearing fire resistant clothing and escaped with just severe burns. Finding out that the Crater Rim Benchmark is just beyond the Thomas A. Jagger Museum, we again climbed back into our Jeep and made our way along the Crater Rim Road. Upon reaching the museum, the bechmark was just a short walk along a well marked path.

Needless to say the locally produced Cheeseburgers were simply heavenly.

Anyone who has spent time in a Laboratory has enjoyed the experience of using a Bunsen Burner.  This common piece of lab equipment was invented by Robert Bunsen.  A lesser known fact about Dr Bunsen was that he was an avid Geologist.  Due to his high standing in the scientific community, especially in regards to his work on Volcanic Geysers, Bunsen Peak was named in his honor. 

On our recent trip to Yellowstone National Park-Esterlinkage, Yo Yo Ma and Splasher had planned to take a horseback ride.  Recognizing the potential to perhaps bag a peak and enjoy a tasty Cheeseburger, I began to scheme about potential peaks.  Knowing that the horseback ride was only supposed to take an hour I realized that my Cheeseburger/Peak Bagging window was very short.  Thinking ahead, I had armed myself with a Cheeseburger from the Mammoth Terrace Grill.  What I had not been able to do was to figure out an appropriate peak.  After dropping off the trio of intrepid Cowgirls and Cowboys

I leaped back into Old Bessie (my truck) and raced towards the Mammoth Springs Visitor Center to gain advice about potential ascents.  After driving a good 100 yards....I was caught up in the infamous Yellowstone summer traffic.  Inching along at a leisurely 5 MPH, it gave me the chance to admire the scenery.  After 15 minutes of bumper to bumper traffice I arrived at the Visitor Center, leaped out of Old Bessie, raced up the steps and......got in line to speak with the Ranger at the Information Booth.  After 5 minutes in line, I was able to gain the information that Bunsen Peak was 4.2 Miles round trip and about 1300 feet in elevation gain.  It sounded perfect!  Racing out of the Visitor Center, I leaped back into Old Bessie and... immediately got caught behind a large RV and series of crammed Minivans.  After another 20 minutes of backtracking my earlier route I ended up at the Trailhead for Bunsen Peak.  The trail meandered through picturesque meadows before beginning a switchbacked ascent to the peak.  Along the way I was treated to encounters with Marmots, Chipmunks and a Turkey Grouse.  The summit of Bunsen Peak is dotted witha shed, telephone poles and wires, plus some sort of Antenna. 

The summit showed much evidence of lightning strikes and also provided phenomenal views of the surrounding park and mountain ranges.

After quickly enjoying my tasty Cheeseburger, I admired the great views before descending back to the Trailhead. 

Gaining the Trailhead, I ran to Old Bessie, leaped in and......got caught in another traffic jam of RVs, MiniVans etc.  After 15 minutes of inching along, I had reached Mammoth Springs Visitor Center where I was able to meet up with the intrepid trio of equestrians.

This was my first attempt at a peak with a cheeseburger, so please be kind with your comments.  I had some inside information that a summit attempt on Leidy Peak had been passed up recently by a couple of members of this organization, so I fugured I would give it a shot.  Since it looked like it wouldn't snow today, I thought I would head on up to check things out on Leidy Peak in northeastern Utah.  I had never been up on top of the Big L and I had no clue where I was going.  Luckily, Mrs. Urge had seen the summit and she shared some beta that worked out well.  I hit the trail around daybreak and was relaxing at the top, munching on a tasty MickyD double queso by 9 AM (no supplemental oxygen was used to achieve the summit I should add). 

Not only was the sky snow-free, but the sun shown for most of the day.  After my snack, I relaxed and took a little siesta on the west side of Leidy.

Following the nap, it was time to head off to the west to Gabbro Pass where I saw a herd of mountain goats.  They appeared to be eating exclusively vegetation with no burgers in sight. 

After a gander over the pass to west, it was time to head east to the Jeep.  Since I only had one CB in the pack, I avoided the additional peak tops in the area until next time.  This was my first cold cheeseburger on the summit of a mountain and let me tell you it kicked ass!  Now if I can just find the website for summitsinglebarrelbourbon.com ....

My recent trip to the north of Spain with a couple of foodie-friends had all the signs of a great summit cheeseburger experience unfold in front of me. Early in the trip we visited a cheese cave. Our trip across the north part of the country took us through gorgeous mountains. And finally... there was the beef: the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. I had been keeping my eyes open for a good summit cheeseburger opportunity, and it was while waiting patiently for the Running of the Bulls to start that I saw on the horizon a hill... and even better, the hill had communication towers on top, which suggested that surely there was a road to the summit!

After watching the bulls dash by, I stopped at the McDonald's next to my hotel, grabbed what actually looked like a really good cheeseburger (I'm telling you ... McD's burgers in Europe are far better than anything in the US), comandeered the rental car and zenned my way towards the hill.

Not having done any research about this mountain, my approach was simple... drive around it and take any road that appears to go up it. If unsuccessful... repeat. After a couple of false trails, I found a gravel road that started following the long ridge up the hill. This definitely looked like a road that utility trucks could use to service the towers at the summit, so I put the rental car to the test. It wasn't long before gravel turned to dirt and the ruts in the dirt had me wondering how to explain to the rental company why the car was stuck on a road that didn't exist on the Sat-Nav. At about the same point in time, the road was starting to vere away from the summit, and finally I had to concede that this was a logging road and did not go to the summit. I was forced to back up along the winding, rutted dirt track for about 400m before getting to a section wide enough to do a 5-point turn. It was there that I saw a foot path heading uphill, so I decided to park and proceed on foot.

The spur trail led to a main footpath which led directly to the summit, where I saw, to my amusement, a paved road right to the top. Doh!

But the real surprise at the summit was the ruins of a fort built 100 years ago. The first sign of the fort was the moat separating me from the high point of the hill.

I walked around the fort for a while, making note of the barbed wire fencing and Zona Militar signs on the other side of the moat. Usually I'm all for jumping a fence to get the photo, but jumping a moat and then a fence only to risk being faced with a Spanish Inquisition wasn't working for me.

There were two philosophies I could choose from when documenting the summit cheeseburger. The first is "never let the truth get in the way of a good story"... so I took a photo showing me clearly at the summit of mountain with Spain's first ever summit cheeseburger:

The second philosophy is "close enough is good enough until someone does better" (aka the truth). So here is me (baking in the Spanish sun) enjoying my cheeseburger as close to the summit of San Cristóbal as one can get without trespassing on military property.

The Wiki page on this fort is good little quick read. Apparently there was a military presence there as recently as 1991.

Cheers,

Krusty Bunz.

No trip to the Big Island of Hawaii would be complete without eating a Cheeseburger on top of Mauna Kea.  At 13,796 feet (or 13,803 feet, depending on who you believe) in elevation, Mauna Kea literally towers over the island of Hawaii. 

With Splasher and Esterlinkage off to ride animals of the equine variety, I chose instead to bag Mauna Kea.  After a dropping off wife and child in Waimea, my plan was to pick up a delicious locally sourced Cheeseburger from Village Burger in Waimea.  Sadly it was 8 in the morning and Village Burger did not open until 10 AM!  Quickly looking around I was eventually able to procure a Sausage Egg and Cheese Sandwhich on an English Muffin from a nearby Starbucks.  With a Cheeseburger in hand, I was off.  It should be strongly noted that getting to the Mauna Kea Summit entails a very long drive through very isolated areas, so be sure and bring extra Cheeseburgers in case you get hungry.  As I drove up the seemingly endless rise from sea level to almost fourteen thousand feet, I kept eying and smelling my Summit Cheeseburger.  It was only through a great force of will (plus a Venti triple shot mocha, some jolly ranchers and multiple handfuls of Hawaiian carmel corn), that I was able to stop myself from prematurely enjoying my Cheeseburger.  Eventually the paved summit access road ends, just above the Onizuka visitors center, at about 9200 feet.  You now have the choice of hiking up the Mauna Kea Trail or continuing on the unpaved road.  Needing to return to Waimea in a reasonable amount of time and in honor of my Trail Sobriquet, I chose to continue driving.  After reaching the cluster of observatories, you must park your car and make the final 1/4 mile push to the summit pyre and benchmark.  As I clambered from my car I was hit with a wave of nausea.  Recognizing that I had gained 13,000+feet of elevation in less than an hour, I quieted the rumble of my stomach by swigging the last mouthful of the triple shot Venti Mocha, quickly followed by a handful of carmel corn.  Properly fortified, I charged bravely forward.  The summit is marked with a Geological Survey Benchmark . 

and a lovely summit pyre

Once on the summmit, it was finally time to honor my hard fought journey with a delightful Cheeseburger!

Yum!

"I don't think anyone's eaten a summit cheeseburger in Idaho."

That was reason enough to organize a family trip to the Sawtooths for some hiking, trail riding, and burger eating. It was early in the season so the larger peaks were off limits for us. We did get in a nice hike to Sawtooth Lake. It was still frozen.

The next day we took the boat across Redfish Lake and wandered back.

We also took a trail ride to the top of One Pine Tree Hill. Someone should have told me where we were going - I would have brought some cheeseburgers!

We had to avoid a complete shutout in Idaho, so the last day of vacation we decided on a quick ascent of the diminutive Knob Hill. It was a beautiful day and the summit provided a great view of the Sawtooth Range.

But we weren't there for sightseeing. The burgers came out and we made the ascent official. The burgers tasted good enough for me to want to return to the Sawtooths next year.

Friday, July 9th, 2010 I walked out of the office at 17:00, was home and had a lightweight gear set-up for both backpacking and splitboarding packed and in the trunk of my Subaru by 18:40.  My destination was the Pine Creek trailhead in the Northwest corner of the Absaroka Mountain Range and I arrived by 19:40.  I knew daylight would leave me sometime between 21:30 and 22:00 so I shouldered my load and high-tailed it onto the five mi. (eight km) Pine Creek Lake trail.

Being an ultralight backpacker it was strange to have the added weight of snowboard, boots, avalanche safety tools, and ice axe.  The moving was a bit slower but it felt good to be moving as day slowly turned to night, temperatures dropped, and I got further and further into the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness.

By 09:30 the next morning I had summited Black Mountain (read Summit Post profile) using methods of walking, skinning, and ski crampons.  I was slightly undernourished having had only one energy bar and one GU but I made decent time and was in great spirits.  I spent a few minutes on the relatively snow-free summit taking some photos and enjoying a Whitecastle cheeseburger followed by a descent to the large snow bowl that I planned to ride.

Full trip report with more photos and text can be found at my blog, Ultralight Backpacking and Wilderness Trekking.

It is July and with less than a month to get ready for our annual Winds death march, I figured it was time to get out and put a few miles on the boots!

It was a fantastic morning for the hike and Sirloinofbeef and I had planned to Mount Raymond as part of a loop from Millcreek Canyon around Raymond and Back Down Porter Fork. For those of you along the Wasatch front, if you have not done this hike, it is a must. Start at the Terraces trail head in Millcreek. Follow the well warn trail UP. It becomes less well worn as you go higher, but not fret you are headed in the right direction. You will pass over two shoulders with terrific views along the way. Ultimately you will reach Baker Pass between Gobblers Knob and Mount Raymond. Along the way you will pass under Gobblers.

From Bakers Pass it is obvious. Turn west and head up the trail along the ridge to the peak of Mount Raymond. PLan to put your hands on the ground and do a little scrabbling. That's just the way it must be done. The views form the top are exceptional and the hike is well worth all the effort.

After enjoying a most tasty Carl's Jr Famous Stars (it had been tooooo long), you return the Pass and follow the trail around the East and then South face of Raymond. The trail along the South face is in need of some attention -- a rangerette with a Pulaski axe could do a lot of good there. Despite the trail's state (I only fell off the trail once) the hike through there is just spectacular -- great view of the ridge between Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons to the South. All of the best peaks are in view -- striking views!

Circling around the West side of Raymond you will find the trail down Porter Fork -- a long, but easy return to Millcreek road and the car. Great, really great hike -- about 12miles.

Splasher, Esterlinkage,YoYoMa and myself (Wimpy) decided that Ensign Peak needed yet another summit assault.  After procuring an assortment of McDonalds breakfast sandwiches (all carefully selected to meet the criteria of 'What is constitutes a Cheeseburger?'), we were driven in style by YoYoMa to the base of Ensign Peak.  After carefully scanning for pieces of wood masquerading as dead animals, we surmised that the coast was clear and we could begin our push for the summit.  The views in all directions were as stunning as usual and we enjoyed a fine meal of breakfast cheeseburgers and tasty beverages (ice water).  Our descent was quick, only taking time to scan the horizon for potentially scary pieces of wood.