Bandera Mountain

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Yesterday Gene, Janice, Michael, Steve, Tom and myself took on Bandera Mountain.

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It was the only day all week that we stood a chance of having any decent weather (and by decent I mean “partial clearing”, so we went for it. There’s not much hiking season left and I’m getting what I can in.

After a comedy of errors including late meetups and missed exits, we met Janice & Michael at the trailhead (who were VERY good about the fact that we were WAY late)

It was misting lightly at the trailhead and we started the 3,000 foot ascent.

The first part of the trail is old roadbed, and then quickly moves to a new (and greatly improved) trail that was really amazing in spots. The folks who worked on the new trail should be commended; it’s awesome.

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Of course, I stopped fairly early on because I’ve never met a waterfall or fungus I didn’t want to photograph (ask all my annoyed friends who know how easily I’m distracted by shiny things when I have a camera) and got this shot.

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I climbed down the bank and straddled the log and leaned out to get a less obstructed shot; that’s when I heard giggling behind me and saw Michael and Steve with their cameras out. I’m sure pictures of my backside will be circulating soon.

The fall colors are coming out

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On the 2nd steep uphill, I came to the sad realization that I have not kicked this sinus crud and had a near bonk (*YES, I have a doctors appointment tomorrow, so you all can quit worrying)

Michael and I were in the back talking “business” (an internet project I’ll be doing some work for him on) and after stopping to eat realized that I was not well. After some protesting, I finally got him to leave me be and go on ahead. (although I’m sure he was going to keep me in his sights) He did give me his car keys so that if I got really sick, I cold go back and sit in his car rather than in the rain.

I saw him talking to Tom and Gene up the trail and they were all staring at me.

Tom and Gene (who know me a lot better and like living dangerously) refused to leave me alone and hung back with me, despite the fact that I was actually getting a bit pissy about it.

I took breaks to eat, drink and rest. (I didn’t eat enough the day before because I was running around like a mad woman and haven’t had a full night’s sleep for well over a week, not even after the Mt Rainier trip) and they just stayed with me (even though they got “the look” more than once)

Bandera is STEEP!

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We took a break about halfway up the trail cutoff to Bandera, and after that, it was a pretty steady slog.

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At this point, we were pretty well separated into three groups, some going on to Mason Lake as well.

Here’s a shot of the lake from the trail to Bandera (yes, that would be SNOW you see in the picture)

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Me, I slogged up the trail and was relieved to find some scrambling. Not only do I just LOVE to scramble because it’s fun, but it’s easier (at least to me) than just slogging up a steep trail. (check out the clouds coming in)

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Here’s the “big ridge” which was the final approach to the final approach to the final scramble up to the summit.

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Here are Tom and I at the top. You can’t really tell we’re at the top (other than the tree top to our left) because there’s nothing behind us but snow clouds; it was really cool!

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I felt much better coming down than I did last week, so I don’t think I’m actively sick; (glares at Tom waiting for another snark about rationalizing) I think I’m just not fully recovering.

But it was a GREAT day, and I bagged another peak.

The best part was, I did it with GREAT friends!

The rest of my photos are here http://www.flickr.com/[…]/

The rest of Gene's photos are available here http://www.flickr.com/photos/29184487@N02/


~L