Who are the Mazamas, you may ask? And what’s BCEP, you may enquire? Well, let me fill you in dear reader. When I first moved to Oregon, I pretty quickly heard about a mountaineering group in town called The Mazamas.
Similar to the AMC back in Boston, they teach classes and do conservation outreach projects. Over the years, I’d interacted with them tangentially – attending a few classes, volunteering with a few groups, but I’d never been able to actually take a course officially. I’d applied to their Advanced Rock climbing class, but wasn’t accepted for one reason or another.
Now, nearly seven years after first moving to Oregon, I was trying again. This time beginning at the bottom – while you may notice that I’m not quite a beginner when it comes to the outdoors, I was tired. These last few years haven’t been easy, and I was just tired of fighting… the chance to just sit back and meet new people while enjoying a few group hikes was more than worth the price of admission.
Saturday, 19-Mar-2022
Hiking!
Lots and lots of hiking!
Foggy hiking, with a tiny bit of snow at the summit!
Not so many picture taking, though… One downside of hiking with a group is that we hike a bit more quickly than I normally do when solo. I mean, it makes perfect sense – it’s a huge group, and the goal of the hike is training! So consistent movement, group breaks, and a general focus on the hiking part is pretty expected.
I’ll be candid here; it’s a bit more tiring than I’d expected. And the lack of photos afterward does definitely make blog posts a bit more challenging.
So instead, I’ll just mention that this was an excellent hike, and move on. The listed milage was way off, at least according to my fitbit, but… we’ve already proven that my fitbit can’t quite be trusted when it comes to distance while hiking. I think it’s great for step-counting, but since my steps are a lot shorter when going up (or down) hill… well, it kind of limits the effectiveness.
Anyways. It was a great hike! We walked, we chatted, we summitted, and then we did some rappel practice. It was really fun, actually, since the leaders set it up that we’d rappel down a hillside, then ascend up on a fixed line… not prusking up, mind you, but mostly just walking with a safety slip-knot tied in for safety.
Good times, all around.
