When most of us were still struggling to come up with a resolution for the new year just starting, marine biologist and avid local hiker Jim Carretta was already breezing through on the most difficult hike in the San Diego County – the 12 miles round trip on the El Cajon Mountain, all the way up to the summit.
When most of us were still struggling to come up with a resolution for the new year just starting, marine biologist and avid local hiker Jim Carretta was already breezing through on the most difficult hike in the San Diego County – the 12 miles round trip on the El Cajon Mountain, all the way up to the summit.
But wait. Here’s the catch. He did it for the 80th time. Yes, 80 trips back and forward, up and down the hilltops, left and right on the steep switchbacks, you know the drill if you’ve ever braved this trail before. It is a gruesome, but extremely rewarding hike, on one of the most celebrated mountains around here due not only to his majestic presence guarding legendary El Monte Valley, but for his impressive biodiversity.
Jim picked this trail one day in the summer of 2002 after moving here from Long Island, New York. Gone were the days when he would ride his bikes for miles back home, so now Jim was looking for something to give him enough exercise.
Yes, but for 80 times? How did it all start and why this mountain? “ I did it first in 2002 and barely finished it. I said, never again, but I tried it again in 2007. It was like a childbirth memory, you forget how painful it was. I suffered from back pain and I decided this is my treadmill. I run for the most part of the trail.” Hiking helped Jim alleviate the pain from a sciatica and soon enough, he became a regular on the trail.
He started keeping his hiking log on the margins of Jerry Schad’s “Afoot and Ahill” book until he ran out of room and started writing neat little lines in this small pocket notebook he is showing to me. I look at the dates where Jim wrote down when he first saw “boatmen” bugs, the day he saw his first deer, on June 12, 2015 on the hike no. 75. It was warm on June 7 and it was a hard hike on Feb. 6 in 2016. Very frugal notes that make one wonder what more did it actually happen on the trail? “One deer only, lots of tracks of mountain lions and other animals, but I haven’t seen any coyotes, they seem shy around here.”
He was the first human to step on the snow when it happened to fall on El Cap few years back. I looked at his logged time and almost faint, his record is 1h 48 minutes one way. Most of the time, he makes it in around 2 hours.
And here it is, the 80th successful attempt, on Dec. 28, 2016. Everybody I know was still immobile after the Christmas dinner, while 52 years old fit Jim was passing 20 years old hikers on the trail and joking around that he should dye his beard white, to “truly crush their spirit when they would see this older guy coming fast from behind.”
“Although I’ve done that trail 80 times, it still intimidates me, especially in hot weather. Little things can go wrong, like a sprain, which would leave you at the mercy of that mountain for more hours than you’ve prepared for. I have a lot of respect for El Capitan Mountain and I never assume that I will make it to the top. I like to say, “I wonder if the mountain will let me climb to the top today.”
Other days, the mountain seems more playful, especially during cooler weather and sometimes I’m ‘allowed’ to run sections of it and improve my ascent time. The mountain will offer you a little breeze on days like this. But much of the time, the mountain can be grouchy and it doesn’t care if you want to climb it. It’s not going to help you in any way. Those are the days, when I’m hiking it alone, when I’m thankful to have made it back to the car.”
Jim, I asked, what’s your goal though? “To make it to 100,” he said. And after that? “To 101,” he answered. And after that? “To 102.”
