Grand Canyon!

Enjoy some of our pictures, all 300 plus of them. We haven't had time to edit and delete...a few are out of order. Beautiful place!!

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Hike 9 - Holy Jim

So we are a week behind on our post, sorry about that. This past weekend, we hiked Holy Jim, a landmark here in Orange County. I think both Brent and I agreed that we were a bit disappointed with this hike. Not only did we have to park over 30 minutes away from the start of the hike, but the drive was off-roading...so needless to say, I (Erin) wasn't feeling great at the start. The hike its self was pretty. We hiked to a waterfall and Brent and I both pictured a beautiful waterfall, we were camera ready and all we found a stream dribbling down a rock. (See pictures below). Regardless, we did over 8 miles and I am getting stronger every week - Brent has no trouble at all!

We decided on the hike we are going to be doing for the Grand Canyon. It's called the Hermit Trail and we will be going to both Dripping and Santa Maria Springs. We are looking forward to it and are about the end of our fundraising. I am done with all of my fund raising, thank you again for all your support. However, Brent is about half way there and could really use some help (his link is on the side bar of this page). Please help spread the word!!

Hike 8 - San Mateo Canyon

We hiked 10 MILES this week! Insane! We never thought we would be able to do that in such a short time frame. The views were specular, yet again. We climbed to the very top of a mountain - which required a lot of tree grabbing on the way up and butt sliding on the way down. Completely worth it.
Enjoy....

Hike 7 - Silverado Canyon

We missed the last few hikes, Erin was traveling with work and Brent had a lot of things going on....so we are finally back. This morning marked the 7th hike of the group. Next week we have to have picked our Grand Canyon hike. They gave us about 9 hikes to choose from ranging from really easy to very difficult. Right now we are thinking about going somewhere in the middle.

Here are some pictures from today....

We met out in Orange. The hike was 8.4 miles long and took us about 4 hours to do. Erin had some trouble on the inclines, but good thing we stayed back in the middle group, because we were able to take a lot of breaks. The first 3.5 miles was all uphill and we aren't exaggerating about that whatsoever. I am hoping the pictures do the hike justice - not only the spectacular views, but also the tough climbs. We have also lost about ten member of the group. Most of them dropped out because of the lack of support in their fundraising. Fortunately we are getting some great support from all our friends and families and we thank you for that.

Here is the group we were hiking with most of today.....

Hike # 4 - Santa Ana Mountains

Sorry we were a little behind with this post; Brent and I were trying to spend some quality time together, especially because I am traveling so much lately. We had a great hike this week, we did just shy of 7 miles. We met down Ortega Highway, the Cleveland National Park. It was a bit further away then we thought, took about an hour for us to get there...but I would have to say, the trip was worth it! The views were priceless and this was the first true hike we have done(although we thought last week was tough - might be a trend??). There were some tough climbs and it was definitely a hike where fuel and hydration was necessary.

The hike was a little tough for me, because we are at a pretty high altitude - so about half way through the hike, the headaches came. I am not sure why altitude has such an affect on me?? Brent had no problems, he was running around taking photos, videos and just being himself. I did my best to drink a lot of water, but ran out because I actually went through my entire 2 liters of water!

Brent took a lot of photos again this week. We tried to make sure there were a lot more people in the shots this time, especially considering they are helping to make this experience great.



Thank you for the continued support. We are building our funds every day! I won't be around for the next few hikes, so it will be up to Brent to keep you all up to date!!

Hike #3 - Laguna Coast Wilderness Park

Saturday was our first real hike, so we were pretty excited to see how we would do. To give you an idea of what we were up against, nothing was paved. There was elevation, bugs and Erin even had a tick on her. Thankfully I found it in time!!There were some ups and downs along the trail with a good amount of rain erosion in some spots. We were handed the map prior to setting off on the hike and as we looked at the marked route, it was hard not to notice that length of our hike was just a drop in the bucket when compared to the length of some of the other trails in the park.

The weather was nice...cool, but the sun and moving around kept you warm(if not sweating!). The group did well. We all got a chance to try out some hiking poles to see how they feel. Both Erin and I thought that the poles would be beneficial when things get steep, but it's hard to really know with these smaller ones. She and I both got to put some new equipment to use; new hiking boots and hydration bladders. The boots felt great and we both only drank half of our 2 Liter bladders, which is something we need to improve on. Erin received some nice compliments on her new Camelbak from some of the other women in the group. I think that she was extra happy with her purchase after that.

So, I took like a million pictures during the hike. Actually, just 171. You can see Erin's frustration in one of them! Taking the pictures was fun. Uploading them and deleting the bad ones however, is not. Well, not so fun for Erin because she was kind enough to take on the task. I was told that if I wanted to be so camera happy, uploading them would be mine too. So here are the pics that made the cut.



On the fundraising front, we are making progress. Thank you very much for the continued support. Erin is just over $1400 and I am up to $275. We need roughly 200 people donating $28 each to reach our goal. It's not so difficult when you think about it that way. Erin and I made up some business cards with the blog address on it and hope that by getting those out there, more people can find out about what we are doing and especially, what Team In Training is all about.

The next hike is.....I don't know yet. Let us get back to you on that one.

Hike #2

Saturday was Valentine's Day and hike # 2. Brent and I were up and out by 6:45 am to meet up with our hiking group. This was my first hike, with the group, so I was pretty excited and wasn't sure what to expect. We met the group in the Saddleback Church parking lot. At about 8 am, we started the hike. It had rained most of week, again, so all the hiking trails were closed. So this was going to be another "fitness" walk. You could just feel the positive energy from the group and throughout the walk we all shared stories about why we are doing TNT. The walk ended up being about 6 and a half miles!

Here are some photos of the hike, I added some captions.....


In terms of our fundraising goals:
Brent is at : $50 (only $3550 to go)
I am at: $1360 (only $2240 to go)

We are so thankful for all the support. Please feel free to pass this blog along to anyone who wants to support us in our Hike as well as anyone wanting to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Hike #1 - Quail Hill and Equestrian Trail

Hike #1 - Quail Hill and Equestrian Trail

Our first hike was pretty close to home...Irvine. Erin and I ventured out at 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon to Quail Hill Loop, the back-up hike to one the group was going to do in Laguna, but canceled due to rain. We didn't have too much time before sunset, so we decided to move(walk) as fast as we could. The loop wasn't bad, 1.8 miles, one slight hill and a clear, flat path. A trail continues across the street, adjacent to a development and on up through the higher hills. Erin and I walked it for a mile, hit the top and back to the car. Now, that hill can get your heart rate up if you keep a quick pace. The two pics with the houses are from the top.

We were able to do it an hour and a half with just a little daylight left to spare. Our next hike is supposed to be somewhere near Lake Forest(Whiting Ranch) but with the rain today, it seems we are going to do the back-up hike on the paved bike trail. Let's hope it isn't raining tomorrow morning.....