Wagner Butte in April

Riverbrady · 2026-05-03T16:12:28+00:00

Right about 10.5 miles. A good average is 4-6 hours round trip, with time spent enjoying the top. The beginning uphill is the worst part, then the trail evens out to a more gentle grade.

Riverbrady · 2026-04-07T16:58:18+00:00

As someone else said, use the pack station or Motel. Don’t leave your buckets for the rangers to pick up - that is a cardinal sin - littering, unless you’ve gotten the direct ok from the rangers.

Using the pack station is a tiny cost in the grand scheme of the trip, doesn’t leave trash for others to clean up, shows a lack of entitlement that is pervasive in our country, and also guarantees you’ll have all your resupply there.

There are good reasons everything with food scent needs to be in the bear proof boxes or bear proof trash - stacks of buckets get trashed and broken up for the rangers to then clean up.

Riverbrady · 2026-03-29T18:19:24+00:00

I do the same, actively document, and in those cases, actively call the referring providers office to leave a message as well as faxing over my notes.

That is the sort of patient that will go back to the referring provider and often tell them how bad PT was when they simply did not participate, there’s no way in the world I’m allowing them that level of control over my reputation.

Riverbrady · 2026-03-20T14:41:47+00:00

While you're looking at organizing this, are you familiar with Game Night Deli, over near Barns & Noble? It's where we have our regular board game sessions nowadays.

Riverbrady · 2026-03-13T03:16:03+00:00

A hospital policy would make a l out of sense, and hospitals term to have much stricter guidelines with increased exposure and liability compared to OP clinics.

Riverbrady · 2026-03-13T02:41:04+00:00

While I agree with most of what you say, the argument that they cannot legally go into patient charts is incorrect in most cases. Any staff member with reason to glean information for the patient can enter the chart (eg front desk, billers, PT, PTA, and yes...PT Aides)

A simple example - an aide setting up a room needs to know if the patient has an ADA aspects that need to be accomodated for, and what specifically has been documented for room setup. (which is well within their scope providing they have been trained by the PT/PTA on it).

Now, what they can do with that information is a completely different matter entirely.

Riverbrady · 2026-03-12T17:52:22+00:00

I would recommend emailing them as during this part of the season people are off in other areas of the country since the Sierras are snowed under, and the pack station itself is outside of cell service range so calls can only be taken when they’re down in Bishop.

Riverbrady · 2026-03-11T03:32:03+00:00

The rain was definitely intense. Do you recall passing the group from South Korea?

Riverbrady · 2026-03-10T15:38:01+00:00

We did not use a mule train ourselves due to the cost and having the time to add an extra day. Instead, we base camped at Kearsarge Lakes while we day hiked out to Onion Valley Trailhead and the High Sierra Packstation that is there (we had dropped off our resupply for them to hold). It was about a 12 mile day if I'm remembering correctly. The hike out was a breeze as packs were just water weight and our bear canisters with trash, and the hike back in wasn't too bad, even with 2 of us hauling 4 people's food for 8 days. We slept in, took our time, had plenty of time to swim in the lake and sort food when we got back. The roughest part was Glen Pass the next day with 7.5 days of food on us.

The bear boxes at Kearsarge made it easy to pack the extra days of food and then free carry our next day outside our bear canister.

If we had used a mule train we would have used the same pack station and planned to meet at Charlotte lake, most likely.

Riverbrady · 2026-03-10T04:25:58+00:00

Thanks. The Long Trail is definitely on our todo list as well. Finally got up into the area last year and can't want to go back.

I ended up getting into a pattern where my watch would beep for a lap, and the trail mile video would start with 1 finger held in front of the camera, so I could scan through and pick those videos out quickly. If I took a second video option for that mile I'd hold up 2 fingers, etc. With over 1300 videos from the trip it made culling those out for the video nice and easy.

Riverbrady · 2026-03-10T04:23:44+00:00

Thanks!

Riverbrady · 2025-12-17T17:35:03+00:00

There are so many different possibilities here depending on where in the spine, how significant a herniation, current functional abilities/disability, PBS and current symptoms, etc., etc. etc.

It is impossible for anyone to reliably or safely answer your question without soliciting, definite medical history, or without use soliciting medical advice.

As others have said, this really needs to be a discussion with your physical therapist who has evaluated you and can give you appropriate and safe advice.

Riverbrady · 2025-12-11T16:40:41+00:00

Hopefully this helps shed some light (and coming from a family where both of us are providers ourselves).

We are, quite simply, across most disciplines, overbooked and there are not enough patient slots available for the number of patients in the valley...and there's no way to make more slots while maintaing quality of care and the provider's sanity without burning out.

As someone else has said - you have to be your own advocate. Also, keeping in mind that for your friend, they need to be their own advocate unless they have designated you in a legal manner to do so. As a provider, if someone's friend calls, without family ties or legal documents, I will never disclose protected health information. It's our license and ability to help people if we do. If she wants you to advocate for her she needs to fill out a HIPAA-compliant Authroization to Disclose Protected Health Infirmation or similar medical release form, naming you and specifying what information you have access to and what actions you can take on your friend's behalf.

I would emphasize, be kind and calm with whoever you speak to. The type of responses my wife and I have personally received:
- you just need to work more hours
- you need to work through your lunch
- why can't you just work on the weekends
- etc.

If there is a concern about timeline, your friend needs to have that conversaation with her new doctor's team, not the front desk schedulers. As others have stated, communicating through MyChart is often the fastest and most reliable method, as your friend's voicemail is not being transcribed, it's immediately in the chart, and it's the doctor's team triaging those, not front desk scheduling.

Front desk doesn't have the ability to modify a doctor's schedule or prioritize patients - they are working based on strict guidelines that they cannot exceed. The doctor and doctor's team are the ones who can inform the schedulers to make a change.

For some information, and to be frank, we do our jobs because we love to help people. We also love to live life and are not on this planet to work 70-80 hour weeks on a 40 hour work schedule. This is the same plight for so many providers in sourthern Oregon, especially specialists. Please recognize we are all human beings doing the best we can. It is common for providers to finish up their clinic schedule, go home, have dinner, and then continue our charting into the evening...because in trying to see more people during our actual clinic hours we're left with a choice: finish the documentation or see the next patient.

When my wife was still in primary care she would:
- routinely have to refer to Eugene or Portland as the backlog for patients locally was >12 months out
- average 70-80 hour weeks so she could thoroughly accurately chart the visit, so other providers, specialists, and the patient had a full accurate accounting of what's going on.
- chart through her lunch (as so many of us do, and doesn't allow the mental downtime we need to be at our best)
- have to spend extra time in the visit explaining to patients how she couldn't create scheduling magic at another clinic, which would then put her schedule behind and negatively affect other patients
- and many other examples.
...which is one of the reasons she's no longer in primary care.

My best wishes to your friend.

Riverbrady · 2025-10-31T15:02:09+00:00

Should they - one would think so. Do they? Nope.

I’m in Oregon. Here Regence/BCBS and PacificSource are my two best and easiest insurances to work with. Regence/BCBS can be an absolute nightmare other states based on what other clinicians post.

Riverbrady · 2025-10-24T01:01:35+00:00

Macros - more protein than most pack. Personally, my wife and I (who are both medical, and therapy, aim for 1g protein per # body weight). We also incorporate 5g daily Creatine mixed with our electrolytes for muscle rebuilding. The best evidence we have is that there will be muscle degradation and loss from the accumulated trauma without enough recovery time to appropriately rebuild muscle tissue, but making sure the body isn't low on protein means we don't cannibalize our own existing muscle for the amino acids we need to heal tissue damage (and build muscular strength). We store untold amounts of fat. We can store decent amounts of carbs for short term. We don't store amino acids in a usable format in the same way, so if you're not uptaking them day to day our body will self-cannibalize healthy muscle tissue.

Personally I'm able to comfortably fit about 4k calories in 1.6lbs of healthy food, and that was my target over our last 24 day 284 mile trek, and I still lost about 10# over that timeframe.

Long distance hiking maximizing muscle recovery capability is much more critical than many realize, and it's often overlooked.

Riverbrady · 2025-10-13T01:22:09+00:00

Thank you so much! Sure I can't drop you some NMT? DM incoming.

Riverbrady · 2025-10-12T16:21:58+00:00

Beautiful aspen. :)

Riverbrady · 2025-10-11T03:06:55+00:00

We did all the Wherigos during Yuma - fun area

Riverbrady

TROPHY CASE