Summit Cheeseburger

If you care about the big picture, you can read about part one and part two first.

The trek from Benbrack to Knockbrack was fairly simple... relatively firm bog and rocky bits, and didn't take very long either. In fact the whole trek over the 3 peaks was only 4 hours according to the tracking app on my phone, and more than an hour and half of that was resting time. But who could blame us? Our excuse (at least KB's excuse) back on the first summit was lack of sleep, but once we were on the summits and ridges, the views were brilliant. And the weather was excellent too!

At the summit of Knockbrack, Lenny (aka LooneyTunes) had his second summit cheeseburger of the day while I plotted approaches to the neighbouring peaks for future hikes.

Since there was no trail on these hills, the trek back down to the car was simply a matter of dodging the bog. We had a couple of good rests on the way, taking in the last of the views from altitude, like this one of Kylemore Abbey at the base of Doughruagh (don't ask me how to pronounce that!)... a summit that will most likely be conquered over the June bank-holiday weekend.

Sheep and their lambs scattered. KB fell on a not-very-steep bit, went into a dramatic roll in slow motion, got up, and continued down the hill. Somewhere along the route is LooneyTunes' phone, so if you happen to be in the area, keep your eye out for it. And that was how I introduced Lenny to Summit Cheeseburgers. I hope he's hooked!

-Krusty Bunz

A beautiful day was on tap, so Holly and I got out for a short hike on the east side of Lake George.  Shelving Rock Mountain is only a 1.7-mile hike from Shelving Rock Road, and has great views of Lake George for a minimum of effort.  Neither of us had been here before, and new territory is getting harder to find, so this was a very interesting day out.

Many of the trails off of Shelving Rock Road, west of the Hogtown Trailhead, follow old carriage roads built long ago by the Knapp Estate (can't find a good link).  The trail to Shelving Rock Mountain is no exception, with gentle grades and many switchbacks.

At the summit was a great view of southern Lake George.  It almost didn't look real.

To the east, we could see the cliffs of Sleeping Beauty Mountain.

After downing the celebratory White Castle, it was time to move on.

Below the summit, we found a herd path to the top of some cliffs with panoramic views of the lake, from its south end to Montcalm Point, the southern tip of the Tongue Mountain Range.  We had lunch here and lingered for a while.

On the descent, we noticed some of the only wildflowers of the day, many columbine growing on the sunniest hillsides.

When we got back to the car, we replenished our water, and then walked a short distance down the road to another gated carriage road, this one leading to the top of Shelving Rock Falls.  This was a very nice waterfall with a steep gorge below.  But since waterfalls are best viewed from the bottom, we found our way down for some wonderful views.

Returning to the car, we had covered a grand total of 3.7 miles and taken in some wonderful scenery close to home on a beautiful day.  The obligatory ice cream stop finished it off as we headed for home.

This story began here, on Benbaun.

From Benbaun, we followed the boggy ridge towards the next summit on our agenda for this sunny Irish Cinco de Mayo Saturday: Benbrack.

Another of the 12 Bens in Connemara, the walk to Benbrack was dead easy now that we were fueled up with our first cheeseburger... that and it was nowhere near as steep!

The boggy descent to the saddle was followed with a rocky ascent up to the summit which was marked with a pile of stones. 

As we each had only two cheeseburgers for a three summit hike, and having both eaten our first one on the first summit, we decided to divide and conquer... I had my second cheeseburger here on Benbrack, and Lenny saved his for the final summit.

With my cheeseburger in hand from my perch on the summit, I surveyed the neighbouring hills to plan a route for a future sojurn into Connemara National Park.

Another leisurely break completed, we turned west north-west towards our third peak of the day, Knockbrack. 

(Hopefully Lenny will get himself registered here soon so that his story of the day's final cheeseburger can be told.)

Friday night: Lenny says "what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Going for a bike ride", I respond.

"Want to go for a hike instead?"

"Okay."

It was that easy. Rough plans were made over the course of many drinks that were consumed at the various venues attended that evening. The plan was basically to wake up, get cheeseburgers, and go for a hike. 

By the time morning rolled around, I'd had about three hours of sleep, and I don't think Lenny had much more than that. But we were up, and a sunny day in Ireland can't be ignored, so we headed to Supermac's for supplies and the drove to Connemara National Park.

The national park has several summits, but only one has a trail on it. We didn't go there. We parked on the road near Kylemore Abbey and set out across the bogs that this part of Ireland are famous for, passing a structure marked on the map as a Megalithic Tomb (not really interesting enough to me to photograph), a Holy Well (which didn't appear particularly holy), and many sheep and lambs as we quickly gained elevation. not having a trail to follow, we read the map, looked at the hill in front of us, and veered left to try to avoid the steepest sides of the hill. Apparently we didn't veer very far left, looking at the route that my phone's app plotted, but I think at that point we were realizing how little energy 3 hours of sleep gives a person and decided that pushing up would be the best way to get this climbing stuff out of the way and be able to refuel with the cheeseburgers that were in Lenny's pack.

It took an hour and five minutes to get to the first summit, of which only 40 minutes was considered "moving time" by the GPS tracking map. That's probably fairly accurate, considering our lack of strength coupled with the excellent views back over Kylemore Lough, Kylemore Abbey, and the surrounding hills. It was easy to justify taking a break to enjoy the scenary. 

But eventually we did reach the summit of Benbaun, one of the "12 Bens" in Connemara, and the first to have the consumption of a cheeseburger documented. Both me and Lenny commented on how quickly the strength was restored to our bodies by the superfood known as a cheeseburger... and perhaps Supermac's cheeseburgers are even more super...???

Cheeseburgers consumed and strength returning, we set off along the boggy ridge toward the second summit on our plan...

The story continues here.

In the fifth century, St. Patrick reputedly fasted for fourty days on the summit of what is now known as Croagh Patrick and built a church there. He then, reputedly (pretty good reputation to have survived so long), threw a silver bell down the side of the mountain, knocking the she-demon Corra from the sky and banishing all the snakes from Ireland. (It's true, really, Wikipedia says so!)

If only someone had brought poor ol' Paddy a cheeseburger while he was up there, there might still be cute little snakes in Ireland.

On "Reek Sunday" the last Sunday in July every year, over 15,000 pilgrims climb Croagh Patrick. But on the last Sunday in April it wasn't quite so crowded. The weather was lovely, for Ireland... which is to say it was dry. I won't mention the cold temperatures or the wind that was so strong it almost blew us off the mountain... actually, I will mention the wind... while there were some steep parts of the hill to contend with, the wind was actually the biggest problem, both on the way up and descending. We had plenty of rest on the way up because as the already strong wind gusted even stronger, it picked up sand and lashed us with it so badly that we had to stop and protect our exposed skin from it. Frequently. I'm still picking sand out of various places on my body two days later! On the way down, it took my Tilley hat right off my head, despite the straps that have never failed me in wind before. That hat has been around the world with me in the last 10 years, and I would have chased it right off the side of the mountain, but fortunately someone further down the trail saw it blow past them and was able to catch it and place it under a rock for me to recover. But enough about the wind and my hat, there's a cheeseburger to talk about...

Four of us set off from the carpark at the trailhead to follow the path that thousands have taken before. We took a leisurely pace, stopping frequently on the first part of the trail to enjoy the views of the water and islands behind us (and later on trail to avoid the wind). 

About halfway up there were a couple of ambulance medics stationed on the hill. I chatted with them and learned while they were the only team on the hill on this day, on Reek Sunday there would be 12 teams of medics on the lower half of the hill and Mountain Rescue on the top half, with a helicopter on stand-by. The most common injuries expected were foot injuries, not only the sprained ankles you'd expect from a bunch of inexperienced hikers wearing inappropriate footwear, but also cuts and lacerations on the feet because many of the piligrims climb the hill barefooted.

At the top of the hill is a chapel that was built in 1905, along with a statue, toilet blocks, and several collection boxes for money. And on a clear day like we had, some great views of the sea and mountains.

The night before the hike I picked up a couple of cheeseburgers from Supermac's, a chain of fast-food restaurants that is very popular with the post-drinking crowds. The burgers had been chilled in the fridge overnight, then crushed gently in my pack while it was in the car, but the mayo-based sauce provided enough moisture to the now cardboard-like meat patty that it was actually reasonably easy to consume. Eleanor, who initiated the call to The Reek, got to "enjoy" the second cheeseburger with me, and will hopefully become a regular Irish contributor to the summit cheeseburger mission.

And that was how the first summit cheeseburger in Ireland was consumed!

After Black Mountian Summit we made out way BACK to the Rock Benchmark and ate another cheeseburger. It was quite a scramble and we were hungry again.  :-D

We set out on a perfect spring day from the Perry's Hollow Trailhead and planned on bagging two peaks:  Black Mountain being our primary goal but to also hit Rock Benchmark since it was on the way.  Sierra, Kamadhenu, Beej and the two dogs Viziraptor and Luna(tic) took off at a brisk pace whist I brought up the rear.  No worries though. I had 12 Garam Masala sliders with ketchup on sourdough in my pack. 

The foothills around Salt Lake City are especially beautiful this time of year.  The grasses are green and the wildfloweres are just starting to bloom.  The trail is well marked but steep.  No switchbacks to speak of.  Black Mountain hasnt been Cheeseburgered since 2007 and now we know why.  Its a bit of a challenge for a summit that is barely over 8000 feet!

We reached the Rock Benchmark in about 2.5 hours but decided to push on to the summit of Black Mountian.  It didnt look that far away.  We heard there was some scrambling.  What we found out is that limestone is really sharp   The scramble was worth it.  One the peak we took in 360 degree views of The Great Salt Lake, the Wasatch Front, and  the Oquirrh's.  We had a good hike,  great view, good friends and cheeseburgers.   Life is good.

Wednesday night hiking season has begun, and tonight's scheduled hike was a jaunt up to Mount Van Cott, a relatively short hike up behind the University of Utah. It was disappointing to see our normally blue skies go gray and the clouds start rolling in during the late afternoon. But being the hardy, and perhaps crazy hikers we are, we decided hit the trail anyways. Luckily, Sierra works near by and had done reconnaissance so she knew which one of the network of trails headed up to Mt Van Cott. We headed up the hill in the misty drizzle, the trail relatively short, but steep, about 1300 ft in elevation gain. It got much colder and wetter and was even sleeting a bit as we approached the top.  We found the rock pile marking the summit and took a quick cheeseburger break. At his point the peak was  shrouded in fog, and I think we all silently realized we should head down quickly before visibility further slipped away, as we didn't not want to find ourselves meandering down a wrong trail. The downhill trek was rather cold and wet and slippery, and it was nice to get below the fog zone where we could again see the university below and be assured we were heading in the right direction. Despite being soaked to bone by the time we reached the car, it was great little hike. We may have to do it again some day when we can actually see the valley from the top.

With Sierra, Kamadheno and Viziraptor

Heading up the hill

The "view" from the top... the Salt Lake Valley IS out there... somewhere

Vis on the summit, she had a great time! On the way back down, just a tiny bit drenched

100 yards south is the South Peak and more cheeseburgers!

Since I missed the Twin Peaks Cheeseburger Excursion In January with Sierra and Bolimasa I was keen to bag these two peaks.  I was joined by Hollylicious and her hubbie Kerry and Aditee (no trailhandle yet) who is new to Salt Lake but will soon register so she can join our noble cause.

We hit the trail just after 6:00pm and the smell of Garam masala sliders kept wafting out of my pack. It was chillier than expected and steeper too.  We made it to the North peak, chowed on burgers then ran to the South Peak and ate again.  

Summit Cheeseburgers;  Its how dinner gets done.  mmmm