California Training

Hi everybody- I'll be hiking the Inca Trail in late November and I wanted to get some altitude training in addition to the general hiking and fitness training that I'm trying to do now (I've heard the Inca Trail isn't that bad but it's giving me an excuse to get into better shape:). I don't have any mountaineering experience and I've heard that Mt. Shasta requires it. Is this true and does anybody have any suggestions for some hikes that might get me better prepared?
Thanks in advance!

-Rachel

I am not sure what area you live in so it is a little difficult to answer your question.Do you live near Seattle?
For California I would recommend several climbs of Mt baldy from the village this gives a 6 miles with a 1000 foot gain per mile.
Then doing San gorgonio,San jacinto and Mt Whitney which are 10,800 over 11,000 and 14495 feet high. Do local trails on weekends between longer hikes. RR

Woops,Now I see the title was California training!If you are from northern california I would look into more local choices.
You could also join us for runs in the santa Monica mountains here is our websitemountaingoats
We will be going on a Grand canyon trip in the middle of October crossing south to north saturday then reverse sunday. RR

Sorry! I live in the Bay Area.

You can hook up with a local running or hiking group. there are plenty of trails in the bay area. One group of trail runners in the bay area
runs on the weekend the groups leader is ken - e-mail runkenrun@aol.com . I have a acquaintance who has a company that does trips to Peru,Patagonia and Ecquidor Devy here is his company
andes adventures RR