Author Archives: drpopp

Will board the plane in about an hour. Just having a little wine and calamari at Prado at the airport. Today, well the whole week was hard to concentrate on anything but this journey. It’s more intense to pack and plan for this, than some of my other trips.

After work and after packing the rest of my things I went to watch the Padres. Too bad that they lost. Spent a few minutes with my daughter, her boyfriend and my friend Becky.

My dog, Paisley and George’s dog knew something was up. All my chores got done at the house. I think all the animals are set and hopefully no invaders will come in. Like the 5 raccoons on my last trip!

Looking at these great photos all day!

Excited, nervous, worried, giddy. So many feelings.

I fly 5.5 hours tonight to JFK, then 5 ish hour layover. Then fly to Doha, Qatar short 3 hour layover and then Kathmandu! Should arrive on October 4, my brother’s Birthday, around 6pm.

I had to check my bag. Kinda makes me nervous. But I can buy everything I need in Kathmandu.

Here’s my last pile of stuff to get in my back pack.

So excited! Time to fly and sleep! Thanks for reading!

I leave the evening of Oct 2. I am pretty much finished packing. I can get just about anything in Kathmandu. Natalie will stop by today to see if I am missing anything. Now it’s just getting my office and house ready to leave for a couple weeks. Arrangements for my sweet dog Paisley have been made. I haven’t see Lloyd the cat in a while. The turtles will hibernate soon and the fish can fend for themselves if needed.

Photos from Hans

Today friends will come over to watch the Green Bay Packers. I will do a little light training this week. I walked 8.5 miles yesterday. I am ready!

Sierras hike was 12.6 grade incline and the whole EBC trail is average 4% grade incline for you nerds like my son!

So many people have asked how I am training for this epic hike to EBC….

I made this decision on March 2nd on a boat with a friend. I suggested that we do this hike. We were both so excited but it wasn’t going to work out with her schedule. I am experienced in Solo Travel, so why not go Solo. My daughter’s boyfriend had a connection of a woman named Nimmi. I contacted her and we decided on dates and itinerary and gear etc. We communicate through WhatsApp. She will be my guide and I will have a porter for my gear. Both are called Sherpa’s but more about that later.

I have been working out with a trainer once or twice a week for years but now I had a different goal. My workouts had been just to keep injuries at bay, now I needed strength and endurance. I work out at Coronado Fitness Club, with Carter, Jake or Chris, and Kevin. They are all very encouraging and excited for me.

So first thing, I needed to grow my hair out. Sorry guys, you don’t understand some things. I wanted to be able to braid my hair during the hike. It’s the longest I have ever had right now. I knew that finger and toe nails have to be short and no polish , so as of today, I will have no more gels or color.

I started walking and biking more in Coronado and hiking our tallest peak in San Diego, Cowles. In June I hiked with my daughter, Natalie at Banff, Alberta Canada. Height 4500 feet. A couple weeks ago I hiked in the Sierras with my son, George. We started at 8000 feet and hiked to 10,000 feet, spent the night and hiked down. This was a total of 6 miles but it was the toughest and most beautiful hike that I have ever experienced. This hike should be about the same as day 2 at EBC.

In Washington DC last week I walked 6-7 miles five days in a row. Shin splints were an issue.

Diet wise, I eat pretty clean at home, not so much out to dinner or at friends houses. I am mostly gluten and sugar free. Now concentrating on proteins like, salmon, chicken, pork and eggs. Veggies always. Adding bone broth, avocado and more simple fruit , like berries

Will start adding carbs in two weeks, like pasta! And decreasing alcohol! Ugg! I like wine.

I have discussed this hike with my GP, Integrative MD and Cardiologist. All are supportive. Cardiologist wanted to come with me!

I just started adding electrolytes and salt. Next week I will be pushing water. I don’t drink very much water but I have been told by Richard Bailey, my daughters Boyfriend, that I will need to drink two liters each morning before I hike, two liters during the hike and two liters after hiking each day. That’s a lot, so I need to get used to that. I prefer wine!

I started doing more breathwork too. I am following the principles of Dr Belisa Vranich. Look her up on YouTube. She makes a lot of sense.

I’ll be hiking more in September in California and Arizona. Finalizing my gear and getting excited

Still left to do….find out why my visa is not ready, find dog/cat/house sitter.

Someone asked about costs:

Guided hike, tea houses, porter and transportation about $2500, flight $1600, visa $80

Still hoping to meet up with my friend from Australia. We will be within 800 meters of each other during the hike. Another friend from Coronado might be doing EBC too.

Thanks for reading. Remember I am not responsible for incorrect sentence structure, grammar or misspellings!

“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.” 

—René Daumal (author of Mount Analogue: A Tale of Non-Euclidean and Symbolically Authentic Mountaineering)

I found this quote today. So appropriate!

This weekend I will hike in the Sierras with my son and our dogs. That’s all I know. He is planning it.

Exciting that I might see a dear friend that I met in Australia in 2020, just before the pandemic, during my trek. He is doing Three Passes going clockwise and I am doing EBC which is counterclockwise.

It would be incredible to pass on the trail.

Ok time to get serious. I just spent a wonderful week with some of my favorite people on A Girls Wisconsin Road trip. I showed them sights unbelievable to California girls! Taverns, corn fields, lakes, rivers, wild animals and more. Will post photos when I get more storage.

Today I asked Chat GOT for a training schedule. It is intense but I will try to follow it. I work out with a trainer now but I need to work harder. I did do a burpee challenge recently. Day 1 was one burpee then I added one each day ending on 30 burpee’s! Wow that was fun! But I did it. I haven’t done one since!

I will also go back to cleaner eating, which is my typical diet. I had more deep fried food this past week than I have ever had in my life! So good, so good as the song goes…

Also need to drink more water. Richard Bailey says.A liter before each day of hiking and several liters during the day. At this point I prefer wine!

WTF? Yes. Why? Why not? I need a big physical and mental goal! My daughter thinks I can do it, so why not?

I have started training with intention, more gym time, more hikes, soon more elevation.

My flights are booked and I have secured a guide. Several friends have declined but I am OK with Solo Travel!

Why do I wake up so early? Six am every morning! More time to read I suppose. I went to the beach and sat by the pool. I had a zoom call which was fun to do in this setting. Time to try out Zippers, a close by surfer restaurant on the beach. I could walk. Fish and chips sounded good.

More reading and then to the Art Show in the Historic area of San Jose. It was busy and festive. The night air was a perfect temperature. I stopped in a few shops and then looked at the beautiful art. Some was incredible, some good and some wtf. It’s Art! Stopped by to see my new friend Sergio that I met on Tuesday. Had a nice Spicy skinny Mezcal margarita. Almost bought a piece of art

Last stop, a restaurant that fry’s with Beef Tallow. The new healthy fat. It just lard! Healthy again. Out with seed oils!

Time to go back home!

I try to go to a Michelin star restaurant when I can. There are several in Cabo. I decided on Lumbre. It looked beautiful, I could get reservations and the reviews were great. I don’t like to eat late so I made a reservation for one at 6 pm. Several locals said that this was a great restaurant experience. They only do their tasting menus on the weekend so I would have to order ala carte. Today was Wednesday.

I arrived on time, dressed appropriately. They knew me by name., very cool A sweet hostess offered me a table or the bar. I chose the bar. So many servers waiting for the night to begin. The bartender made me a perfect Manhattan and I ordered some apps.

This was cool. Bone marrow butter with wasabi, salt and hot sauce with fire grilled bread. It was different and tasty. The bread reminded me of ice fishing with my Dad when he toasted the hamburger buns with a torch.

Next item sweet breads on a fluffy roll

Sweetbread is a culinary name for the thymus or pancreas, typically from calf or lamb. Sweetbreads have a rich, slightly gamey flavor and a tender, succulent texture. They are often served as an appetizer or a main course and can be accompanied by a variety of sauces and side dishes. 

These were too filling so I just ate the sweet breads which were food topped with radish, cilantro and a nice sauce. They were warmish.

Then the FAMILY of 5 showed up, right behind me. Three kids ages 2-5! And loud. This was a just after I accepted the Jazz music that was plying. Not a big fan because it has no rhyme or reason. Jazz music makes me nervous!

Next items all came at once.

All luke warm, now I was pissed. They knew it and came to see what the problem was. I never raise my voice, ok kids, once in a great while, but I pushed the food away and waited. So three out of three things were not right.

Long story short I left, they didn’t charge me for the food. I gave the bartender a good tip and left. So disappointed!!

Walked around checking out the shops. Stopped by Tropicana, a well known place and ordered an uber.

As my Father told me once, you can’t recreate a great moment. Hopefully tomorrow will not disappoint.