Because of my Knee Surgery : Photo Albums : SummitPost

Because of my Knee Surgery

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Images (18)

Comments (8)

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Avalanche Peak

Albums

Because of my Knee Surgery

Page Type: Album

Image Type(s): Hiking

Page By: BobSmith

Created/Edited: Jun 23, 2011 / Jun 23, 2011

Object ID: 723917

Hits: 471

Page Score: 88.45% - 17 Votes

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My Hike of Avalanche Peak

As I sit here recovering from knee surgery (conducted on June 21, 2011), I present this photo album of my hike last year to the summit of Avalanche Peak in Yellowstone National Park. This was the very first mountain I have climbed that was more than 10,000 feet in elevation. I chose it because the hike seemed straightforward, was devoid of any technical climbing, and was relatively short in both mileage and duration. Also, it would be the best opportunity for a hike after a couple of days of acclimatizing to high elevation, after having spent a couple of nights sleeping at, or above, 8,000 feet above sea level.

I'd never been to country so high, and I didn't know whether or not I'd

When My Knee was Healthy
suffer from anything like altitude sickness. So to be safe I figured a few days of easy day hikes around the park were in order before I hiked what, to me, was a big peak.

My son was going to hike the mountain with me, but the day before he got a pretty bad cut on his foot and so he decided to wait for me at the car while I made the hike. Just as we got to the parking area, we spotted a grizzly bear in a field near the road. I was able to get a number of shots of the bear. This was one of my major goals on this trip--to see a griz. The bear did not like us and he took off a moderate pace, apparently wanting nothing more than to keep a lot of space between himself and us. I got some shots of him with the regular lens, but by the time I got the telephoto lens on the camera he was pretty far away and I only got three quick photos of him before he descended into a small gully and vanished for good.

It was thinking of the grizzly bear that I began the hike alone.

Now I'm waiting for the knee to begin healing and dreaming of past hikes and future summits.

External Links

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Images

The Griz I Saw

Hoyt Peak from the Saddle

View from the Summit

Wonder

Hoyt from Avalanche Peak Trail

To the Left

Through the Dead Pines

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Comments

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Viewing: 1-8 of 8

chugach mtn boy

Nice collection

Voted 10/10

Avalanche was my first 10,000-footer too, July 4, 1976. You should link the album to the Avalanche Peak mountain page!

Posted Jun 23, 2011 8:17 pm


	BobSmith	Re: Nice collection
	Hasn't voted	Will do!
		Posted Jun 23, 2011 9:25 pm

MarkDidier

Here's to...

Voted 10/10

...a speedy recovery! What happened with the knee? Hopefully you'll be all healed and ready for some nice hiking sooner than later.

Take care!
Mark

Posted Jun 23, 2011 9:22 pm


	BobSmith	Re: Here's to...
	Hasn't voted	Thanks! Wear and tear and finally a serious injury (meniscus tear) from my work as a letter carrier. My surgeon tells me I should be able to start some modest hikes in about a month or two.
		Posted Jun 23, 2011 9:27 pm

Sarah Simon

All the best

Hasn't voted

Also wishing you a speedy recovery. I popped my LCL (not badly...) right before my summit attempt of Mt. Whitney. I'm like: "Damn the knee, I've got a permit, airfare and rental car reserved!!! Agh! If this thing doesn't heal, I'll go insane!"

I hope you're back up and at 'em in no time!

Sarah

Posted Jun 24, 2011 4:25 pm


	BobSmith	Re: All the best
	Hasn't voted	Thanks! I'm already hobbling about, so I'm hoping I'll be hiking again in just a few weeks, as my surgeon suggested.
		Posted Jun 24, 2011 7:14 pm

rebelgrizz

Good luck

Voted 10/10

...with the recovery, Bob.

Posted Jun 25, 2011 12:30 am


	BobSmith	Re: Good luck
	Hasn't voted	Thanks! So far, so good. I'm already hobbling around!
		Posted Jun 25, 2011 1:29 am

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