Twin Lakes 7/6

[RonPaulFan]

Parked at the Silver Lake parking which is the Trail Head that is popular with hikers. The drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon was beautiful. I liked that it's cooler and less smog up there particularly for a hike. The hike was rated difficult for the climb, but it was short. Perhaps the altitude, but that never bothers me. My red blood count and hemoglobin is way higher than most professional endurance athletes. That must be genetic because I sure didn't earn it by hard work like those who have gained that advantage. I went mainly for the group and social aspect with fun people who previously fished Silver Flats and caught the tiny fish and cooked them up with sliced potatoes, onions and peppers. But, this time we didn't catch fish and ate dehydrated meals heated up. The fish there might just be the minnows. We tried. The dam inspectors came and inspected the dam and told us that very few ever fish Twin Lakes. I hear it is stocked once every two years.

Mouse attack: Upon getting back to Sandy and getting some food, I noticed a large puddle of expensive coolant under my car. The coolant fill cap was near the blue plastic windshield washer cap. I noticed that had an odd shape that I didn't notice before. I also saw tiny grains of blue plastic from it under the hood. My first thought was the plastic somehow degraded, but upon close inspection, I saw that it was chewed up by a mouse. It's great that the mouse picked the cheapest part to chew on -- well maybe. Did the mouse also chew on a radiator hose?

Lately, I've been combining fishing with being athletic. If anyone of us want to do that, we've started a group of a few of us who are going to do that regularly and we invite more to join us. Some of the fishing is without a hike, so we have variety.
[signature]

[smittyts]

I just hiked up to Mary's lake last night with my wife. Very close to twin lakes. We saw 2 anglers reporting small brook trout. I cursed myself for not packing my collapsible rod. They also said they fish lake Katherine when it is accessible.
Just an idea for one of your next outings.
[signature]

[riverdog]

Hey Ron,
Polycythemia (elevates hemoglobin/ blood level) is generally a disease state (Polycythemia Vera which is a disorder of the bone marrow or myelodysplasia) or secondary hypoxia (low oxygen saturation) . This is most common in heavy tobacco smokers, other lung disease or those that live at high altitude ( usually above 14,000 feet) aren’t capable of keeping their oxygen up. Utah is too low of an elevation for this to occur just because of unsuitable genetics for the environment. Regardless of the cause if you truly have this you should seek care of a hematologists. Marked elevations of your hemoglobin results in blood clots and strokes at significantly elevated rates. Multiple other organs are also at risk of damage. Even if you don’t eventually stroke out the thick sludge going into cerebral arteries will likely eventually cause dementia.
Mild elevations of hemoglobin are helpful at high elevations and can even make some difference at lowe to moderate elevations like Silver Lake. However the 2 main genetic traits that allow one to adapt and perform well at high elevations are a shift in the 2,3 DPG oxygen hemoglobin dissociation curve and the ability to move larger amount of area for body size. The later is both having large lungs and the brains drive to breath that causes one to increase ventilation further at altitude. The one downside of having large lung volumes is that I chew up air tanks twice as fast as everyone else scuba diving. 97 % of Sherpas have the shift in the oxygen hemoglobin dissociation curve while relatively generally have it. Sherpas that climb Everest aren’t especially fit- and their VO2 maxes are rather ordinary. While this can help some it pales in comparison to their genetic advantage. They also don’t have more than high normal / slight elevated hemoglobin levels. One it would be deadly to have such a trait and live at significant elevation long term and 2 the maintain their oxygen levels well enough not to have this maladaptive process kick in.
Regardless of your ability at altitude or the cause of diseased state with your blood levels the risk of serious disability and death as a result is the same. If you need blood removed to lower your risk disability it shouldn’t have very much effect at moderate elevations anyways. Best of Luck to you.
https://www.medicinenet.com/polycythemia...rticle.htm
[signature]

[RonPaulFan]

Thanks for caring and your time to note the possibilities you presented in your diagnosis based upon a post.

Fortunately, it's not applicable to me.

It reminds me of a three or four decades old article in Bicycling Magazine. The article was written by a doctor who passed out X-rays of a very enlarged heart at a convention of cardiologists that were there to share with each other what they've learned in a sort of show and tell.

Consensus comments among the world's top cardiologists there was that it was "a grossly enlarged heart" that "represented serious disease condition" and often asked was "is the patient still alive?"

The problem doctors have is they mostly only see sick people because that's what they do.

But, no. That was the heart of the legendary world's best ever professional bicycle racer, Eddy Merckx who is strong, active and healthy to this day at the age of 74.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Merckx

It is true that an enlarged heart can be indicative of disease conditions. It is also true that the best of top endurance athletes have healthy enlarged hearts.

It's not uncommon to mistake the two.

Back to me. My doctor has said of my high resolution abdominal ultrasound: "I've seen this before ... it is very rare in younger teenagers, but I have never seen it in older teenagers. (I'm decades past teenager) You have zero arterial plaques. Your arteries from the heart to lungs are huge." My lung volume measures considerably above most endurance athletes.

There are considerable oddities in my blood tests and 23andme reports. My doctor told me I am at very low risk for cardio vascular disease. I'm very much NOT normal in very good ways.

I know of the conditions to which you refer and it is true that it can be indicative of disease conditions for other people. There is a large range of "numbers" from blood tests and they don't mean that much just looking at individual numbers. There is also an odd tendency to try to "correct" numbers to make them more in line with normal as if that makes a person healthy to force the body to have different numbers with new man-made chemicals that have never existed in nature otherwise known as highly advertised and very profitable pharmaceuticals.

The odd thing about pharmaceuticals forcing the bodies of unhealthy people to have the normal numbers associated with healthy is it doesn't make them healthy according to the medical studies.

My blood tests also show after a bicycle race that I have stressed my heart. At first, my doctor was alarmed. Well, sure! It's a bicycle race! It quickly repairs and becomes even stronger. My doctor advises continuing all aspects of my healthy living including the extremes of racing and I have zero prescriptions for drugs for me at all.

Where I've been helped most by doctors has been nutritional advice to optimize athletic performance and health.

Taken out of context, a set of numbers might be guessed to be a disease condition. I've raced at events such as the Hotter 'N Hell 100 in Texas many times which attracted over 11,000 riders from all over our United States for a hundred mile ride. Professional racing teams came from around the world to "win" the "race" though not officially a race and only an "event," but being a cover feature of bicycling magazines and covered by newspapers and television has their sponsors have them compete for the publicity of their products. I've raced the professional racers there seeing the best of them cross the finish line within eyesight and the rest of them behind me.

That race in which I pushed myself the hardest did some temporary harm to me. I pushed myself very hard. Three weeks after the race, I could only reach about twenty miles per hour. My leg muscles felt strong. I couldn't figure it out, so I saw my doctor. He seemed to instantly know the cause and tested my lung volume. Quite puzzled he said that wasn't it because my lung volume was "normal." Then he listened to my breathing with his stethoscope and said my lung volume is greatly displaced by fluid in the lining of my lungs due to the extreme of the race and pushing myself that hard. He said "normally" he would drain that fluid for a normal person to be able to breathe. But, for me he said: "you'll know what it feels like to be normal for the next few weeks while your body reabsorbs the fluid and for your real lung volume to come back." That worked and my sprint soon came back.

I never want to be "normal" again!

There are a lot of anomalies in my "numbers." Some are rather extreme. Testosterone measures in the high of the range for young adult males. My bone density isn't even on the chart for being that high. In karate class I spar with black belts working on techniques of multiple attackers against me. I'm not that good. I get hit a lot. I penetrate their zone of greater reach by getting hit and then the advantages are mine. I have the advantage that I'm very resistant to injury and tend not to bruise even with extreme impacts. When I do bruise, I heal overnight and it's gone. I haven't had a cold or flu for three decades.

But, what do anomalies mean when they aren't normal? Does it necessarily mean disease conditions? Perhaps it means healthier than normal.

Most doctors don't see those people.

Ronald

[TT600]

I went myself and also got skunked. Had one on. Saw zero surface activity. This lake is overrun by shiners. DWR why do you not stock this lake! Lake Mary gets plastered with Brookies every year and none for Twin. Come on biologists. There are a few really fat ones but they sure have a tough time spawning with the fall drawdown.
[signature]

[RonPaulFan]

TT600, Thanks for the report!

Though I thought there were no fish in there and you didn't catch any, I'm still likely to go there again for the friendships of the group, the athletic hike, the beauty and specific to our heat lately, it's cooler and cleaner air up there!

Now that you tell me there are an elusive "few really fat ones," I"m one to pursue a challenge especially if I can cook a fish dinner for my friends.

I suspected, with the heat and fishing flat calm water near noon, that the fish would be in the deeper water, so I fished by the dam. The dam is fenced, but I could cast far to the deep water from the side of the dam. I fished at all depths with different lures.

What strategy should I try next time?
[signature]