Well, this afternoon, in a matter of three hours, Anna and I conquered the tallest mountain in the world at a staggering height of just over 37,000 feet. Do you know what its name is?? No, it’s not Mt Everest, nor Mt Kilimanjaro. It’s called Mt Lam Lam.
🙂 OK, so only 1,331 feet are above sea level. The rest is underwater and goes down to the Marianas Trench (the deepest known place in the world). However, it’s the highest point in Guam.
It’s a deceptively challenging hike. Many people who try to summit Mt Lam Lam, get diverted the much easier (but only about 50′ lower) Mt Jumullong.
However, we made our way through the jungle and vast morass of spider webs…
When we go up to the top, there were some beautiful vistas of the island that greeted us. Here’s the view of Cocos Island to the south.
Here’s a small tropical shower out over the Pacific.
Here I am (almost) on top of the world!
If only I could go up just a little more…
Of course as is our tradition, while we were up on top, we had to have a little picnic.
Another interesting perspective is to look north from Mt Lam Lam. If you look closely in this picture, you can see both sides of the island. It’s a unique location to get a feeling of just how small (or large) Guam really is. Although there is plenty of space and it certainly doesn’t feel small, it’s easy from this vantage point to get a feel for the layout of the island. For your reference, Guam is 212 square miles (or about three times larger than Washington D.C., or about a third the size of the Hawaiian island Oahu), and at the smallest only 3-4 miles wide (as this picture shows).
On the way down, we found this very nice perspective of Cetti Bay.
So, that concluded our hike up the towering Mt Lam Lam. A fun little hike, but be warned. It’s tougher than it looks! 🙂
Until the next adventure…
–Jim
Month: May 2006
Cocos Crossing
This Memorial Day weekend was the 16th annual Cocos Crossing. This is a chance for a couple hundred slightly masochistic people to get on a ferry way too early in the morning and ride two and a half miles out to Cocos Island off the southern coast of Guam. Then, get in the water and swim back to Guam. Perhaps I am doubly so, because it was the second year I did it. 🙂
Here’s the island and the approximate swim route.
Anna stayed on the big island and hung out waiting for us to return. The winner made the trip in 42 minutes. He was a swimmer from Japan. I, on the other hand, took an hour and eight minutes to make the crossing. That’s a couple minutes faster than last year, so I was pleased. Especially since I hadn’t been in the water since April 1st at the Saipan X-Terra triathlon.
Here I am coming in and getting out of the water.
This year, we even had Miss Guam Tourism on hand to congratulate the finishers. Of course, Anna made me get a picture with the girl in the tiara. 🙂
It was a fun race, and the really only issue was about 400 meters from the finish, I got a little jellyfish sting. Don’t worry, it was no worse than a bee sting and went away relatively quickly. 🙂
Here are a few of the ladies from the base who also did the swim.
It was a good morning, and I didn’t feel bad at all having a large fried breakfast!
Until the next adventure…
–Jim
Guam Sunsets
OK, so it was just 2 posts ago that I did a series of sunset shots for Brian and Constance’s wedding. However … I have a new camera that I’ve enjoyed playing with AND I’ve been home to watch most of the sunsets this week. So, I thought I would share a couple of the pictures with you all.
Here’s one from a couple days ago.
This is a picture of tonight’s sunset. It was particularly pretty with the array of high cirrus clouds. It was like there was a fire in the sky.
In fact, there appears to be a fire in Anna’s hair to. Oh wait, no, that’s just the new color.
OK, you caught me. Her new hair color (we’re calling it a strawberry blonde) and style is the reason for this post. I though you would all like to see how pretty Anna is as a (faux) redhead. 🙂
So, that concludes this short entry. I’m sure Anna would love to hear what you think of her new hairstyle, so please feel free to leave a comment.
–Jim
Guam’s Southern Loop–Bike Race
This weekend, I got back on my road bike for the first time in a couple months. I had done a couple mountain bike races last month, but that is entirely different (of course). So, as you can imagine, it was a little rough and since this was a true road, I had to take my aero bars off. That’s only a big deal because I was riding a majority of the race by myself and it’s MUCH more comfortable with the bars on. Oh well.
Anyway the ride was the “southern loop” of Guam. It was a 52 mile race, and a rather hilly course. At least, that’s my excuse for why it took me just over 3 hours to finish.
Here’s a map of the course.
Here’s the group as we started the race. It was a neutral start, meaning that we rode as a group for the first 10 miles or so.
Here are a couple of the guys in the race. The one closest is our neighbor Fred.
This is a picture of me and Tara (another friend) chillin.
Thanks go to Mark, who brought his camera, so we could get some shots actually on the race course. So, thanks, Mark!
So, until the next adventure…
–Jim
Beach Wedding
This afternoon we had the opportunity to witness our friends Brian and Constance’s wedding on the beach.
Brian and Constance decided to have a traditional wedding on the beach just down from our condo.
Here are a couple pictures of the set up. Our condo is just off to the left of this picture.
The beautiful bride, Constance and her son, Blake, walking down the “aisle.”
The Governor of Guam officiated their vows.
The Beale family and governor.
Here is the wedding chapel next to our building. This one is designed specifically for weddings and was built last year.
I know this is about Brian and Constance, but I couldn’t resist getting one shot of Anna. 🙂
It was a beautiful ceremony and we were honored to be invited. We are very happy for our friends and wish them the best.
–Jim