Am I the only one?

[climbrx]

Hey all I was curious how long it takes yall to recover from climbing the c2c trail? It took me a good 3 days to get the sorness out and I didnt even do the last 2 miles to the tram.

[Zé]

So you hiked back down to the museum?

That would explain the soreness. Soreness comes from eccentric muscle contractions, which basically means the muscle is trying to contract but is being stretched out.

So in hiking, when you walk downhill, your quadriceps and gluts are being contracted but stretched, leading to soreness if not used to that level of eccentric work.

The steeper the grade, and more elevation loss, the worse it is. The only hike I've ever been sore from is Iron Mt #1 in the San Gabriels because there is about 7000 ft descent on really steep terrain.

Actually, had you done the whole C2C to the top and back down to the tram, you would have likely been less sore than you are now, because you would have done less downhill!

[climbrx]

We went from museum 5 hours in im guessing 9 miles or so and back to museum. we stopped on a lil peak just before the big climb up to tram on the next hill or two after the 5000ft marker. took a total of 10 hours but we were slow pokes

[FIGHT ON]

So you hiked back down to the museum?

That would explain the soreness. Soreness comes from eccentric muscle contractions, which basically means the muscle is trying to contract but is being stretched out.

So in hiking, when you walk downhill, your quadriceps and gluts are being contracted but stretched, leading to soreness if not used to that level of eccentric work.

The steeper the grade, and more elevation loss, the worse it is. The only hike I've ever been sore from is Iron Mt #1 in the San Gabriels because there is about 7000 ft descent on really steep terrain.

Actually, had you done the whole C2C to the top and back down to the tram, you would have likely been less sore than you are now, because you would have done less downhill!

Hey, something doesn't make sense here. I thought c2c went all the way from the museum past the tram up to the top of sj and back down to the the tram. And skyline went from the museum only up to the tram.
and how can mr c not do the last 2 miles?? what? is he still there?
And if going down hill makes your muscles more sore how would going all the way back to the tram be doing less down hill??

[climbrx]

We didnt go to tram for many reasons. our plan was to hike till a certian time and see what we could see then turn around. We didnt have a second car at the tram even if we could have made it. I dont know how much snow or ice we would have incounteded and neither one of us had any gear / experience for that type of thing so those are the reasons why we didnt go all the way up. Pardon my incorrect use of the name C2C im still new to all the trail /route names.

[FIGHT ON]

We didnt go to tram for many reasons. our plan was to hike till a certian time and see what we could see then turn around. We didnt have a second car at the tram even if we could have made it. I dont know how much snow or ice we would have incounteded and neither one of us had any gear / experience for that type of thing so those are the reasons why we didnt go all the way up. Pardon my incorrect use of the name C2C im still new to all the trail /route names.

Oh ok, It all makes sense now. I just misunderstood what you did. So you hiked up nine miles and then back down the same way.

[KathyW]

Ze hit it right on. The hike you did was tougher than doing the Skyline Trail (from Palm Springs to the Tram) and taking the tram down because you went back downhill. It is the downhill that made you sore. Although the uphill part feels harder when you are out hiking, it's the downhill that makes you sore - the steeper the downhill, the more likely it is you will have sore legs - especially if you move fast when going downhill.

This didn't click with me until I jogged down the S. Kaibab Trail and hiked up the Bright Angel Trail at the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago. My legs were really sore the next day and that isn't a real tough hike. Then next time I did it, I went slower on the downhill and I didn't have much soreness in my legs the next day.

[Cy Kaicener]

My knees hurt coming down just from half way.
When I was young I used to recover in one day, but now it takes four days recovering from Skyline and thats just uphill.

[FIGHT ON]

My knees hurt coming down just from half way.
When I was young I used to recover in one day, but now it takes four days recovering from Skyline and thats just uphill.

So what is the best way to recover? I've heard if you take a walk or a smaller hike the next day it speeds it up a lot. Sitting around just makes it take longer?

[Cy Kaicener]

My knees hurt coming down just from half way.
When I was young I used to recover in one day, but now it takes four days recovering from Skyline and thats just uphill.

So what is the best way to recover? I've heard if you take a walk or a smaller hike the next day it speeds it up a lot. Sitting around just makes it take longer?

Yes - A walk or small hike does it for me. It only hurts for the first twenty minutes, but my legs still feel heavy.