body - Jeff Hester

Posted on June 18, 2025August 12, 2025 by Jeff Hester — Leave a comment

Training for Mount Kilimanjaro

In January 2026, I’ll be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I’m organizing a group of intrepid adventurers from the Social Hikers community for to climb this mountain via the Machame or “Whiskey” Route. And as of June 18th, we have room for additional group members. Join me!

At 19,341 feet above sea level, Kilimanjaro is the highest peak on the continent of Africa, making it one of the Seven Summits. It’s also 4,836 feet higher than the tallest peak I’ve hiked to date, Mount Whitney.

There are a number of factors that make this challenging. The weather can be wet, cold, snowy and windy. I don’t mind cold — I’ve experienced that on Mount Rainier — but I’d be very pleased if it didn’t rain on us.

The elevation is the big wildcard. I’ll be talking to my physician about a prescription for Diamox to help prevent altitude sickness, and I’ll be summiting at least four 14ers this year to see how my body responds at higher elevations. It’s been seven years since I last summited a 14er.

Then there is the hiking itself. I’ve estimated the daily milage and the gross elevation gain (and loss) each day, and the actual mileage is not bad. The gross elevation gain is non-trivial, but nothing I haven’t done before. Just not at 19,000 feet.

The table below shows the approximate mileage each day as well as the gross elevation gain. As you see, our mileage each day never goes over 10 miles, and our elevation gain does not exceed 4000 feet.

Day	Itinerary	Mileage	Elev. Gain (ft)	Energy Miles
1	Base to Machame Camp	7	3951	14.9
2	Machame to Shira Camp	3	2849	8.7
3	Shira to Barranco Camp	6	2687	11.4
4	Barranco to Karanga Camp	3	1404	5.8
5	Karanga to Barafu Camp	2	2096	6.2
6	Barafu to Summit to Mweka Camp	9.75	3993/(9200)	17.7
7	Mweka to Base	5	(4718)	5
TOTALS		35.75	16,980	69.7

What are Energy Miles?

What you might not be familiar with is the last column, labeled Energy Miles. In 1976 Paul Petzoldt the founder of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) created a formula for hikers to calculate their energy needs. The formula estimates “energy mile” units. One “Energy Mile” is the energy required to walk one mile on flat terrain. The formula adds two more “energy miles” for every 1000 feet of elevation gain.

Using this formula, the energy miles approximates the effort of walking a level route. So the first day’s 7 miles and 3951 vertical gain would roughly equate to hiking 14.9 miles on a flat trail.

This does not account for the increased difficulty (or more accurately, the diminished efficiency) of hiking at higher elevations where there is less oxygen available. But it does provide a way of normalizing the daily mileage numbers into something a little more realistic.

My Kilimanjaro Training Plan

In my experience, the best training for hiking is… hiking. The reality is that it’s not always practical to devote 6-8 hours hiking several times a week. And so, my training incorporates three key components:

Hiking and Backpacking – I’m aiming to do at least one long hike each weekend, as well as back-to-back day hikes and backpacking.
Cardiovascular Fitness – My go-to for this is a 45 to 60 minute ride on my Peloton 3-4 times each week.
Strength Training – Legs, core, back and shoulders 2-3 times each week.

My workouts are logged on Strava, so feel free to follow along.

Because my climb is in January, most of the higher mountains here in Central Oregon will be covered in snow from November onward, so it will require some creativity to get those long hikes with vertical gain in, and probably more snow hikes up Black Butte.

Have you climbed Kilimanjaro? Any tips to share for training? Is Kili on your bucket list? Leave a comment and let me know.

Posted on August 4, 2021 by Jeff Hester — Leave a comment

The Teton Crest Trail: Will the Second Time Be a Charm?

Five years ago in October of 2016, I flew from Seoul, South Korea (where I lived for a year) to Salt Lake City. From there I rented a car and drove to Jackson, Wyoming where I was speaking at a conference. I got there a few days early, planning to meetup with another thru-hiker traveling from Germany. Our goal? To hike the Teton Crest Trail in three days.

That attempt was thwarted by an early snow storm that meant winter mountaineering. We weren’t equipped for that, and because it was shoulder season, the gear wasn’t available to rent or purchase. We hiked up Granite Canyon to an elevation of about 9,000 feet when it because obvious we needed a new plan.

So we camped on the snow for the night, and in the morning made our way back down to the valley trail which skirts the eastern flank of the range. It was still a pretty spectacular trip.

This year, I’m finally getting another crack at the Teton Crest Trail, and it’s coming up soon.

Countdown to the Teton Crest Trail

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I’ll be posting details of the planning and the full trip report over at SoCalHiker.net if you’d like to follow along.

Posted on August 2, 2021August 2, 2021 by Jeff Hester — 1 Comment

Preparing to Bikepack The Big Lonely

Many people know that I’ve done a bit of hiking and backpacking through the years. I’ve thru-hiked the John Muir Trail not once but twice. I’ve bagged peaks across the western US (and even a few in South Korea). I founded the Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge series.

You might not know that I’ve done some mountain biking. In fact, mountain biking led me (indirectly) to starting up SoCalHiker.net and planning that second thru-hike on the JMT. I living in south Orange County and mountain biking 2-3 times a week. One one shuttle ride down the San Juan Trail off Ortega Highway, I misread a simple drop and went over the bars, fracturing my left wrist in two places. I couldn’t ride for 3-4 months, so I focused on hiking.

Fast forward another ten years. My friend Ben and I were talking about bikepacking the Deschutes Tier of the Oregon Timber Trail, a bikepacking route that wanders from the California border all the way through Oregon to the Washington border. We just wanted to do one of the tiers, and yet, on the first day out I went over the bars again, this time creating a “non-displaced fracture” to one of my ribs.

Let’s just say my mountain biking and bikepacking experience hasn’t been as successful as my hiking and backpacking adventures.

I believe in the power of setting big gnarly goals. They help stretch you and give you something to grow for. One such goal for me is to complete The Big Lonely — a 350+ mile, self-supported bikepacking race in Central Oregon that helps raise funds for the Adventure Access Fund.

Last year’s race there were 12 entrants, and only half of them completed the route. In my mind, a “win” will mean completing the route without breaking a bone or my bike.

My goal is to complete it over five days, not a pace to win a spot on any podium, but maybe within the realm of possibility.

I’m still primarily a hiker and backpacker, so this endeavor is reminding me what it’s like to be a total noob. It’s humbling.

If you have any words of wisdom, I’ll all ears.

Countdown to The Big Lonely

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Posted on May 1, 2018 by Jeff Hester — Leave a comment

Running Half Marathons (for People Who Hate Running)

I ran my first half marathon as a teenager back in Indiana. It was sponsored by the local McDonalds, who fed us something they claimed were pancakes. Apparently in the 1970s, we didn’t get that carb-loading 30 minutes before race time wasn’t very effective. I don’t remember my time, but it took me a couple of decades before I ran my next half.

Since then, I’ve run two marathons and a number of half marathons. And yet, I’m not what most people would consider a runner. I don’t run regularly. If I don’t run for days, weeks, or even months, I don’t get an itchy desire to lace up my Hoka One Ones and head out. I’d much prefer to amble along a dirt trail, noticing the wind through the trees, the wildflowers reaching for the sun, and the wild turkeys pecking their way uphill.

And yet, at least once a year for the past four years, my buddy Jason and I have travelled to another National Park to run another half marathon. This year, it’s the Grand Teton Half Marathon in Jackson, Wyoming. And this year, instead of logging 5-9 miles a run four times a week to train, I’m not running at all.

I'll be running the Grand Teton Half Marathon — The view at the Grand Teton Half Marathon is going to ROCK!

My Non-Runner’s Training Routine

Three times a week, I take an indoor cycling class. Specifically a Pursuit class, where your metrics are projected onto a screen at the front of the classroom. The accountability and competition inspires a higher level of performance that makes every other cycling class seem boring by comparison. It only takes an hour, and since the Equinox gym I belong to is two floors down, I have zero excuses. Best of all, it’s fun. Unlike running, I actually do feel an “itch” to go to a Pursuit class when I’ve missed one due to travel or other commitments.

And then I hike, usually twice a week. Hiking, by necessity, takes longer. I have to travel to-and-from the trailhead, and traveling at even a brisk hiking pace, most hikes consume half a day or more.

In between, I fill in the gaps with strength training and yoga. I’ve been learning Iyengar yoga, which focuses on proper form and has been super helpful for flexibility and recovery.

How well will this non-running training program work?

I tested this last month in the Oakland Half Marathon. I signed up on a whim, just a couple weeks before the event. I planned to use the Jeff Galloway method, running four minutes and walking one, repeating until finished. I ended up running straight through mile nine, then adding in some walking stretches. I finished with my best half marathon time since 2012. My time wasn’t my fastest ever, but it felt like validation that a non-running training regimen could work.

We will find out in…

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Posted on April 10, 2018March 16, 2020 by Jeff Hester — 2 Comments

Countdown to Mount Shasta

I like to set big goals. That’s partly the reason I originally created the Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge. Creating a goal, and developing a plan to achieve that goal helps keep me focused on the things that matter to me.

This year, one of my big goals is to climb Mount Shasta. At 14,179 feet above sea level it’s a considerable peak–the fifth highest in California and the second highest in the Cascades. Shasta is the 11th most prominent peak in the US. John Muir climbed it, and it’s home to seven named glaciers.

Most of the peaks I’ve summited were hike-ups, with the exception of Banner Peak. Hike-ups are mountains that have a trail nearly all the way to the summit. They don’t require any technical gear or skill, just the fitness and gear to survive the weather.

Mount Shasta in contrast, requires crampons, ice axe, helmet and self-arrest skills. The route we are taking goes up the rather ominously named Avalanche Gulch; the same route John Muir took over a century ago, and generally considered one of the easiest routes.

Overview of the southwest climbing routes up Mt Shasta

Avalanche Gulch may be easier, but it’s not easy. This route (there is no trail) climbs 7,000 vertical feet. If we’re lucky, we’ll have nice frozen snowpack to walk on top of. Which is why we’re hiking it over two days.

Day One, we climb to Helen Lake at 10,400 feet. It’s the typical “base camp” for climbers taking two or even three days to summit on this route.

On Day Two, we wake up at 2 or 3 am and climb by headlamp while the snow is frozen and firm–better conditions for avoiding rock and ice fall that can occur when the sun warms things up. If we can make good progress, we might even catch the sunrise. Then, we descend all the way back to the trailhead. It’s a descent of 7,000 feet, and a sure-fire bet that our legs will be toast by the end.

Our crew consists of outdoor friends I originally met online: Chris Sunnen (The Last Adventurer); Josh McNair and his wife Amy (California Through My Lens); Paulina Dao and her beau (Little Grunts); and John Soltys (Moosefish) – a great crew!

Training for Shasta

I’ve been hiking some longer hikes on the weekends, such as the NorCal Six-Pack of Peaks, and will continue to do so up until our Shasta trek. During workdays, I’m hitting Equinox with a focus on lower body, core strength and cardio. I love the Pursuit cycling classes at Equinox. They incorporate game play that exploits my competitive nature for better results. Two weeks ago I ran the Oakland Half Marathon with nearly zero running before hand; just cycling and hiking, and turned in my best time since 2012.

I’m running the Grand Teton Half Marathon at the beginning of June, and climbing Mount Baldy for the Climb for Heroes the day after that. These should either break me or harden my body, and it will definitely help prepare me for higher elevations. From that weekend, I have just two weeks until Shasta, so I’ll begin to taper off.

I’m feeling the stoke.

And I’m climbing Mount Shasta in…

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Postscript

The trek up Mount Shasta was a success! Read all about it and see the photos.

Photo credit: Ruben Garcia

Posted on March 20, 2013March 20, 2013 by Jeff Hester — 2 Comments

Why I Ran the LA Marathon

On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, 2013, I completed the LA Marathon–my second marathon, and the first in over five years. Though my official time was a modest 5:28:44, my previous time was just over 6 hours. Running a marathon requires a huge commitment of time and energy — two resources that are finite and precious. The training can be tedious and painful, and the race itself strained my 50-year-old body.

So why did I run the LA Marathon? Let me begin with a little background.

I started running back in 1976. I was in ninth grade, and I joined the cross-country team at Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Indiana. When the cross-country season ended in November, we’d start the “Roadrunners Club” to keep up our endurance for the spring track season. We’d tally our miles accumulated through the winter, and the coach awarded us with a red t-shirt with the cartoon Roadrunner on the front, and our mileage ironed-on the back. We didn’t call it gamification back then, but that was the general idea.

I continued running when my family moved to Irvine. I didn’t break any records, except occasionally my own. I wasn’t the fastest, and not the slowest. But I showed up, and I ran, even though I never really considered myself a runner. I’ve heard it said that “a jogger runs, but a runner jogs.” Clearly, I was a jogger.

I’ve run on-and-off through the years, though not consistently. But in 2007, I decided to run my first marathon. I trained with Team in Training, raising over $2000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A month before the marathon, I came home from a one week vacation with a bug that turned into walking pneumonia. I was in bed for one solid week, and missed my longest training run. But the training still paid off, and I completed the San Diego Rock-and-Roll Marathon. As in high school, I wasn’t the fastest (not by a long shot) but I wasn’t the slowest, either.

After that first marathon, I turned my interest to other physical activities, first mountain biking, and then (after breaking my wrist on the San Juan trail) hiking. I set my sights on a new goal: through-hiking the John Muir Trail, 30 years from when I first hiked it at 18. This epic backpacking trip required months of planning, training and preparation. And in the process, SoCal Hiker was born. I focused all available time and energy on training for hiking long miles on the trail at high elevations, carrying everything I need on my back. There is a time for everything, and this was not the time for running.

Last year I decided it was the time for running once again, and I began training for the La Jolla Half Marathon. This is a beautiful course, running along the coast from Del Mar to La Jolla Cove. I followed the Jeff Galloway run-walk method, and finished with a time that I was happy with (2:20, and my personal best). I thought about maybe running a marathon again, someday. But not until October 2012 did I commit to running this year’s LA Marathon. I blame my friend Jeff Turner for lighting the fire under me.

Just completed a 2.83 mi run – With this run, I am publicly declaring my I tent to run the LA Marath … http://t.co/GHKQbWGR #RunKeeper

— Jeff Turner (@jeffturner) October 27, 2012

This time, I followed Jeff Gaudette’s beginner marathon training plan through RunKeeper… mostly. I started training in November, and logged 369.7 miles and over 80 hours of running. A few snafus kept me from completing all the runs I had scheduled, including travel with 18 days in Mumbai and a brief bout with the flu. But I kept plugging away, and on March 17th, I was proudly among the 25,000 runners wreaking havoc with LA street traffic. I finished in 5 hours, 28 minutes — improving my 2007 marathon time by more than 30 minutes.

Why I Ran the LA Marathon

As you see, it’s been a long journey to get there, with a lot of sweat, blood and probably a few proverbial tears as well. Was it worth it? Why did I subject my fifty-year-old body to such a demanding task? What’s the ROI?

I ran this marathon for LA. My wife and I moved to Los Angeles last year, and are loving it. This marathon was my tribute to a wonderful city, and the route itself takes you on a grand tour of that city– from Dodger Stadium to Chinatown, through the soaring skyscrapers of downtown LA and the gleaming Walt Disney Concert Hall, through the heart of Hollywood, past the Chinese Theater, the Walk of Stars; down the Sunset Strip, Rodeo Drive, and stretching out to the beautiful bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica. It’s a terrific route, and the crowds lining the streets, cheering, passing out orange slices or water, and sharing high-fives made it even better.

I ran this marathon for me. Because I still can. Because I have the persistence to stick to the training, and the determination to reach the finish line. Because it makes me stronger.

Most of all, I ran this marathon for the ones I love. I ran for my wife, who inspires me to do more, and cheers me on. I ran for my children and my grand-children, to inspire them as well. To demonstrate that my “old man powers” (thanks, Dan) can do pretty amazing things. And to show them that if I can do it, they can do amazing things, too!

There are life lessons in training for and running a marathon. Like so many things in life that we aspire to, it requires planning, hard work and preparation. Obstacles will arise, and you may have to adjust and adapt. Set big, bold goals. Do the hard work, and cross that finish line. That lesson is worth retelling– to myself, my family and my friends. And that is why I ran the LA Marathon.

What is your marathon? Are you ready?

Posted on February 28, 2011March 1, 2011 by Jeff Hester — 9 Comments

Fit Challenge: Week 3 Update

1/4 pound of butter — A pound of butter is FOUR of these sticks.

I’ve completed the first three weeks of my Fit Challenge. This week I lost one pound, bringing my three week total to 9 lbs. I was disappointed in the apparent drop, but Gina at Outdoor Fitness Adventure Club reminded me what one pound of butter looks and feels like.

The photo to the right shows 1/4 lb of butter. So yeah, I lost four of those this week. Nothing to sneeze at.

I’m also at least 50% of the way toward my Fit Challenge weight loss goal. I say “at least” because I haven’t accounted for any increase in muscle mass.

I do have some observations about Tim Ferriss’ slow-carb diet. As I enter the fourth week I’ve had my first strong cravings for food that’s not on my plan. Yes, there’s a free day, and that’s made sticking to the plan the other six days much easier. My free day is Saturday, and here on Monday I’m already wishing for something besides meat, veggies and legumes. Not necessarily something sweet, just something different. Thankfully my brilliant girlfriend suggested chewing gum. It was one of those “why-didn’t-I-think-of-that” moments. Chewing gum has been a real help.

The other challenge this week was the flu. I’ve been sick for the past 3.5 days, and for whatever reason, my resolve wasn’t sharp. I have kept to the plan, but just didn’t feel like it. Might also have something to do with being unable to workout (thanks for nothing, fever).

What am I eating?

Tim Ferriss describes the slow-carb diet in his book The Four-Hour Body. Basically, there’s no dairy, no fruit and no bread. There is protein, nutrition-dense vegetables and legumes (for calories) with every meal. And one day a week you go “wild” and eat whatever you want.

Most of my shopping I do at Trader Joes, supplemented by trips to Costco for huge packages of Foster Farms skinless, boneless chicken breast.

Breakfast consists of Trader Joe’s cage-free egg whites and one organic brown egg, spinach (usually) or sometimes other veggies leftover from last night’s dinner, and either lentils or black beans.

It’s a little “weird” to me to eat veggies at breakfast (besides spinach, which I love and can eat in an omelet anytime). As Ferriss concedes, breakfast becomes a little more like lunch on this diet, but it’s still good. Sometimes I miss my oatmeal, and I probably will add that into the mix once I reach a maintenance weight.

Lunch is usually heated up from a previous dinner. I grill all my meat, and usually will grill three or four chicken breasts at once, refrigerate them, then either eat them cold or nuke them for a few minutes in the microwave. So on days where I have time to assemble my own lunch, it may consist of veggies, lentils or beans, and a chicken breast. Sometimes I swap that for lentils, tuna and fresh spinach with a little Trader Joe’s fat-free basalmic dressing.

But often I don’t have time to pull it together, or just want a little change of pace. So I hit Chipotle and get a salad with black beans, steak, salsa, corn salsa and guacamole. Note that I didn’t use the dressing that you see in this photo. The salsa does the trick.

Dinner is much the same. Either chicken breast, salmon or lean steak (grilled, thank you) with lentils or black beans and some sort of veggies. I like the packages of brocolli at Trader Joe’s because you can just pop them in the microwave for a couple minutes and they come out great. If I’m feeling more ambitious, I might toss some asparagus with a little onion, garlic and red chili flakes and a bit of extra virgin olive oil to dress it all up.

That’s it. It’s pretty simple, although I can get creative with the preparation when the meals start feeling boring. There is no calorie counting. Eat as much as you want of these ingredients. I feel pretty full most of the time.