This morning while out on a trail run in the Santa Monica Mountains, I noticed some changes in the weather; cooler temps, and some high clouds and thought “I think the sunset will be awesome tonight” being that it’s Sunday, and I have nothing planned, I should go on a sunset hike tonight to attempt to grab an awesome sunset picture. |
Let's put this plan to work on two parts: "Where" and "How"
Part 1: Where. Once I have this sorted out, I’ll have a bunch of other questions answered for me. knowing things like how far and hard this hike will be, will tell me what I need to bring, and what I can leave behind.
Part 2: How. (the T1D stuff) Type one hikers typically have this layer of necessities that other hikers don’t have to concern themselves with, i.e. blood sugar concerns, mostly.
The objective: I want to get to a good high spot with an unobstructed Westerly view for the sunset, also, this time of year, the sun sets early, about 5pm so I’ll need enough pre-hike time to drive to the trail head, and finish the ascent, all before 5pm. So I’ll back time my trip once I figure out my hike destination.
Destination:
Rocky Peak in the Santa Susana ranges.
Quick Plan:
Sunset time: This time of year the sun sets at about 5pm
Hike time: About 1 hour
Trailhead by: 4pm
Drive time to trailhead: 25 minutes.
Leave home by: 3:30pm
Prepare pack & provisions: 3pm
Pack: Emergency glucose, water, headlamp, camera, first aid kit.
Hike Fuel Needed: About 40gms carb
A couple energy gels should do it…
I’ll also keep an extra energy gel, a granola bar and an apple in my pack… just in case, 😉
Upon approach to the summit, the light was fading and the sky was changing…
My CGM informed me that those energy gels had reached the limits of their effectiveness.
After all, I had already walked uphill a fair distance, and, I had not set my pump to a temp basal for this hike. I’m not surprised that over time the remaining glucose is bound to wear off.
I was expecting this, and as you can see, I still have a lot of glucose on board, and a good padding to finish my descent.
At last, we get to see what we slogged up here for: