Below is a collection of posts and images I created for an online discussion forum. As time allows, I will edit this document and make it a more coherent post.
Whenever I plan a hike, I always look at stats, trail profiles, etc to try to get an idea of how it compares to past trips.
A couple of months ago, I thought it would be neat to take my GPS tracks and create a graph comparing trail profiles to get a visual representation of my hikes. I thought about what my most difficult hikes were between August 2012 and October 2013, and ranked them by perceived difficulty.
Here is my first iteration of the graph:
(click above for fullsize image)
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I have been trying to convince my father-in-law to hike Mt. Whitney with me. Thus far, he hasn’t been affected by altitude, but is still a bit intimidated by the hike. I thought the graph would add some perspective for him. He has hiked C2C & Mt. Washington with me, as well as routes up Baldy and San G that aren’t shown on the graph. I thought that a more direct comparison of the elevation gain would be useful for him, especially since he hasn’t been affected by altitude (knock on wood):
(click above for fullsize image)
While I created them for my personal use, I thought others might find the graphs interesting. Please keep in mind that the graphs aren’t exact representations of the trails. In the creation process there were lots of variables affecting the end result – my GPS unit, the conversion of the GPX files to other formats, creating a graphical representation of the conversions, etc. Despite this, I do find the graphs interesting and useful.
Here is a version showing the graphs side by side, as well as an explanation of how I ranked these hikes:
Here is a graph comparing the most popular routes up Mt. Baldy:
Lee Tintary
Have you hiked Mt. Baldy from the Wrightwood side? This would produce a very interesting graph.
TheHikingGeek
I have not hiked it from that side. I will see if I can find a GPX file for that hike. Do you know where the trailhead is?
Chan
Awesome post. I think the most direct way would be the Acorn trail up and tagging Pine and Dawson along the way.
Keith Winston
I love this page, the charts, and the concept of comparing extreme hikes is one I always do in my head, but the charts help visualize the objective parts.
Here are some other thoughts on trying to compare different hikes, some more subjective.
1. Altitude/AMS – you have altitude charted, but for me, there is a very big difference above 13000′. I can feel the lack of oxygen as low as 9000′, but I start to get uncomfortable at 13000′. Some people don’t seem to notice, but out of my party of 6 that day hiked Whitney, 5 of us had some symptoms of AMS. I had a mild headache that went away at 12000′ on the way down. One of our party stopped at Trail Crest, and one that made it to the summit became lethargic and needed to be led down by hand. She didn’t recover even below 12000′ and it cost our party about 4 hours. I saw people puking on the side of the trail, teens crying as their parents drove them on toward the summit, lots of people dropping out.
2. Route finding/bushwhacking/glaciers – I don’t know anything about Mt. Washington, but the other mountains all have pretty well defined trails. Many mountains in the desert have poor or no trails. Others require trudging/chopping through thick brush or navigating a glacier.
3. Class 3+ rock climbing. A lot of big Sierra mountains, and some of the desert peaks require technical rock climbing and/or ropes and vertical sections. On the low end, I am thinking of The Thimble in Anza-Borrego, and on the high end, Thunderbolt Peak.
Anyway, great site, and a cool topic of discussion. Sorry for the long ramble.
TheHikingGeek
Thanks!
I agree with all 3 of your thoughts. When I take the tram up San Jacinto, I always get a mild headache before I reach the peak. The two times I’ve done C2C though, I have not gotten a headache.
Another thing that I noticed when travelling from dry SoCal to NH was the humidity and how much it affected me. The records from the MWOBS that day show that the relative humidity was 100% when we started our hike. The air was very heavy and made the tough climb even more difficult.
Keith Winston
I don’t think I’ve dealt with 100% humidity so far, but it sounds uncomfortable.
You inspired a page on my hiking site based on the elevation profiles of my toughest hikes so far:
http://ironhiker.blogspot.com/p/black-pin-hikes.html
TheHikingGeek
Very cool! I am glad you liked the idea.
TheHikingGeek
I am having a hard time commenting on your blog using my wordpress account. Anyway, how did you get multiple trips onto one graph? Did you add all of the files to single kml/kmz file then up that to GPS visualizer?
Keith Winston
On GPS Visualizer, Profiles tool, under Track/line options, set Cumulative distance: No, and Track dividers: No, then Colorize by: Track. Then you upload all your GPX files you want on the graph.