Monday, August 6:
Today I needed to make up for lost gardening time, so I spent my morning getting caught up. In the afternoon, I had a meeting to attend. I wanted to find something close to the meeting location (near Cheney), so I settled on Turnbull Wildlife Refuge. As it turns out, there isn't a lot of hiking at Turnbull. The longest trail was closed for repairs, but we hiked Headwaters Pond Trail (and saw a family of swans!), then the Blackhorse Lake trail, then part of the 30 Acre Lake/Beaver Pond trail. Then it was time to go to the meeting...so tonight was only 3 miles total.
Tuesday, August 7:
Today I did a 6 mile trail run at Mount Spokane on trails 100 and 130, followed by a hike on Upper 140 and around the CCC cabin.
Wednesday, August 8:
Iller Creek run! I ran to the top while the girls did their run elsewhere, and then I met them on the trail (where I had to do an extra out-and-back to catch one of the girls who ran the wrong way) before returning to the trailhead (plus another out-and-back when I dropped my pepper spray and didn't realize it for 1/4 mile!). 6 miles/running.
Thursday,
August 9:
Today was a busy day--I did four different routes!
I started with a mile route along trail 130 and the heritage area--I was putting up signs to remind people that the heritage area is a walk-only zone. Unfortunately, lots of people have been ignoring the bike-ban in the heritage area; lately, some people have been using the CCC-era rock landscaping as jump routes. Frustrating. We'll see how effective the signs are; if this keeps up, mountain bikes are apt to be banned from the west side of the park.
After that I needed to hike down to the trash pile on the backside of the mountain to check my GPS coordinates. This one is an illegal winter camp--people have cut lots of trees and left piles of garbage. Awesome. 'Cause until you're caught in the act, it's okay to totally disregard all park rules, several laws, and throw reason to the wind, right? At any rate, I added a 1/2 mile on the hike in & out on Northwest Passage (it was longer down to the trash, but I only counted the trail). Later that afternoon I did the trip again, this time with a group. I hauled out a pack of trash both times; it was perhaps fifty pounds total for me, and around 300 pounds total for the group (and I've been down once before with another person and we probably hauled out close to 100 pounds that time). We're not even done with it yet; there is a lot of trash down there. And that's why I'm sometimes a misanthrope.
In between my trash-hauling hikes, I did a nice trail run in the Nordic area for a total of seven miles. The huckleberries were ripe, so I was forced to take a few snack breaks. My total mileage for the day was nine miles.
Friday,
August 10:
I left today for my backpack trip--we planned to meet at Gypsy Meadows in the afternoon to carcamp, and then start early Saturday morning. Of course, I needed to get some mileage in today, too! I fully intended to go to Pend O'reille county park for a trailrun, but I missed the turn-off. It's a long way north before there's a way to turn around and go back, so I decided to continue north and try the Bead Lake trail instead. I've only ever done this trail in the winter, so I was really interested in seeing what it is like in the summer. I'm not sure if I would have done the whole thing if I'd known the mileage beforehand; the trailhead sign doesn't mention mileage. I also don't know if I would have done the whole thing if my watch wasn't broken--I had no idea how long it took me until I was back in the car at the end and saw my car's clock (about two hours had passed!). Only once I got home did I find a website that established the mileage from where I parked to the end of the spur trail and back as 13.24 miles. Just a little more than a half-marathon! I actually felt pretty good until the last for or five miles, and even then it was mainly that I was super thirsty and it had gotten hot outside (I rarely run with a water bottle). The only bad part was that a bee/wasp flew into my face at about the two mile mark, and it stung me on my lip! It might have been okay if it had stung me in the middle of my lip, but it stung on the side--so I ended up with a funny fat lip that I could actually see out of the corner of my eye if I looked down. I must have looked really funny to the mountain bikers and hikers I passed! Most of the swelling went down by the time I finished the run, and fortunately, I never suffer adverse effects from bee stings--fat lip aside.
I was really tired after the run, but I wasn't done yet. I continued my drive north, and I did the side trip up to Crawford State Park and Gardner Cave. I haven't done this trip since I was a little kid; the cave was great, and I did the side hike up to the Canadian border swath, too.
And I still wasn't done! I'm determined to get to a waterfall hike or two, but they are hard to find in Eastern Washington. For my last hike of the day, I did Elk Creek Falls. I even managed to get some really good pictures of it! Of course, they are still on my camera; I'll try to post one later if I have time.
Trip totals: 13.24 at Bead Lake + 1.5 at Crawford State Park + 2.1 at Elk Creek Falls = 16.84 mile for the day!
Saturday, August 11:
Backpack trip! We started at Gypsy Meadows and hiked up the Thunder Creek Trail to intersect the Shedroof Divide. We did the side trip up the spur trail to the site of the old Thunder Creek Lookout for our lunch break, and then continued out the divide to intersect the Salmo Divide Trail. We took that down to the parking lot for the Salmo Loop, and then dropped down into the basin to camp at the nice site just before the river crossing. There we so many cars in the Salmo Loop parking lot! However, we only saw two day-hikers for the entire day. Daily mileage = 21.3.
Sunday, August 12:
Today we completed the Salmo Loop, headed back up the giant climb by Shedroof Mountain (maybe I was just really, really tired, but that thing was tough) and then exited the Shedroof Divide via the Shedroof Cutoff Trail. That part was 19.3 miles, but then I added a mile more by stopping at Sweet Creek Falls to hike the interpretive trails on my way home. The waterfall is awesome, even in August (I really need to go see what it looks like in the spring!), and the trail signs are hilarious--they make it seem like it must be the most rugged, dangerous mostly paved trail around!
Hike-a-Thon Mileage through week 2: 144.5 miles
Running: 31 miles
Hiking: 50.2 miles
Total mileage for the week: 81.2 miles
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
July 30 - August 5: Hike-a-Thon begins!
I took Monday and Tuesday in order to recuperate after the weekend--my knees and my left ankle were swollen on Monday. I did borrow a bike at Monday's xc practice and I rode a few miles with the team, but otherwise I laid low.
Wednesday, August 1: I started this thing off right with a morning trailrun from Iller Creek trailhead up the creek-side trail, over to Rocks of Sharon, and then down the ridge trail. This is the first time I've been to the top of the creek-side trail since the WTA finished the re-route at the top--it's fantastic! This used to be a hard trail to follow in the upper portion, but now it's easy to follow and the grade is better besides! Distance = 5 miles. My watch is broken, so I don't know the elapsed time! In the afternoon I went up to the chalet and hiked from there up trail 131 and 130 to meet the Mountaineers for the Wednesday night hike. The group started at Bald Knob and hiked out 130 past the CCC cabin and out to Day Mountain. It was an out-and-back hike, and I made it longer by starting and finishing at the chalet instead of the campground. Distance = 7.4 miles. Wednesday total = 13.4 miles; ??? elevation gain (note to self: look up Iller Creek!).
Thursday, August 2: Part of the reason why I spent the night at the chalet was because I was doing WTA trailwork on the mountain on Thursday, and I didn't want to bother with the drive home in the evening when I knew I'd be returning early in the morning. Since I was already on the mountain, I was able to arrive at the trailhead for the trailwork early and get in a morning run first. I ran the loop from the KC Loop Road TH up and across 100 and back on the KC Loop Road, and then I did an out-and-back on trail 103 to check out the trail condition. It was only 2.3 miles. Then we did trailwork--the beginnings of the re-route of 130 off Day Mountain where it meets the KC Loop Road. We worked all day, but I don't think I hiked more than a mile for the whole thing--mainly as I went farther down 130 to find a "pink tree." After the trailwork I added to my mileage by walking back up from the worksite--in time to witness some mountain bikers jumping off the rockwork in the CCC cabin Heritage Area. I confronted one of them, not that it did much good. I then channeled my anger into an afternoon trailrun: back to the lower KC Loop Road TH for a run on the big 100 loop out to Smith Gap for 3.5 miles more. I still wasn't done, either--it was the church bbq night, and I was scheduled to help with rootbeer floats at the Community Center at 5:30 pm! This day was exhausting! Thursday total = 8.9 miles; 1,349' elevation gain.
Friday, August 3: Today I lost my momentum. It's supposed to be Cake Walk weekend, but two weeks ago a massive windstorm hit Ferry County. It was devastating--100 mile-per-hour winds knocked down trees all over the county. Homes lost power, Sherman Pass closed due to trees (and powerlines) falling across the road, and of course, the trails took a beating. I wanted to try the Thirteen Mile hike from the Bear Pot TH, but I soon found my path completely blocked. I couldn't even tell which way the trail went! I think I made it about 3/4-mile before I was forced to turn back. It was unfortunate, considering the dusty forest service road I had to drive to get to the trailhead; I managed to console myself with the massive wild strawberry patch I found at the trailhead. This was only 1.5 miles for the day.
I was supposed to meet Deb and Jeff at the White Mountain TH south of Sherman Pass, but I decided to stop at the Pass en-route to check trail conditions there. I didn't get any useful information from the trailhead register, but I did discover that trails 93 and 86 east from the Pass were still blocked by downfall. It wasn't looking good for Cake Walk. I made it another mile round-trip, for a total of 2.5 for the day.
Then came the final nail in the Cake Walk coffin: I started for the White Mountain TH, and discovered that the access road was blocked. The sign said that the bridge was washed out. No Cake Walk for this year--I drove to the Jungle Hill Campground instead.
Saturday, August 4: It wasn't Cake Walk (there goes the mega-mileage!) but we still managed to pull off a good day on the Kettle Crest. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast (not that 4am start time we'd originally planned!) and then headed for Sherman Pass. We hiked to the summit of Columbia Mountain (including the round-the-mountain trail) and just hung out at the top for nearly an hour. Deb headed back to the Pass after that, but Jeff and I continued north on the Kettle Crest to the intersection with the Jungle Hill Trail. We snacked and I filtered there, and then we decided to walk out as far as the Wapaloosie Trail intersection before returning via the Jungle Hill Trail. Deb gave me a ride back to the Pass to pick up my car. The daily total was 18.2, and I was so tired afterwards that I was rather glad that we hadn't been able to tackle the 43-miler!
Sunday, August 5: I got an early start to do the Sherman Peak Loop as a trailrun before breakfast. It was rather miserable; I felt terrible while running for some reason. However, the wildflowers were spectacular on loop--I've never seen lupine bloom so profusely before. It's not exactly a strongly-scented flower, but in places along this route the air was heavily perfumed. The run was 5.9 miles.
After that I returned to Jungle Hill to pack up and make breakfast. We planned a trip to Emerald Lake before returning home from the weekend, and it was a good day for a swim! The hike in was so hot! I still wasn't brave enough to dive right in, but after I got used to the water I started swimming for the far end of the lake. The water level was still very high, and the water clarity was unbelievable! I was treading water where it was probably 20-30' deep, and I could still make out the rocks on the bottom. No seaweed in this lake! Hiking mileage = 6.4 miles.
Hike-a-Thon Mileage for week 1: 63.3 miles
Running: 17.7
Hiking: 45.6
Total mileage for the week: 63.3
Wednesday, August 1: I started this thing off right with a morning trailrun from Iller Creek trailhead up the creek-side trail, over to Rocks of Sharon, and then down the ridge trail. This is the first time I've been to the top of the creek-side trail since the WTA finished the re-route at the top--it's fantastic! This used to be a hard trail to follow in the upper portion, but now it's easy to follow and the grade is better besides! Distance = 5 miles. My watch is broken, so I don't know the elapsed time! In the afternoon I went up to the chalet and hiked from there up trail 131 and 130 to meet the Mountaineers for the Wednesday night hike. The group started at Bald Knob and hiked out 130 past the CCC cabin and out to Day Mountain. It was an out-and-back hike, and I made it longer by starting and finishing at the chalet instead of the campground. Distance = 7.4 miles. Wednesday total = 13.4 miles; ??? elevation gain (note to self: look up Iller Creek!).
Thursday, August 2: Part of the reason why I spent the night at the chalet was because I was doing WTA trailwork on the mountain on Thursday, and I didn't want to bother with the drive home in the evening when I knew I'd be returning early in the morning. Since I was already on the mountain, I was able to arrive at the trailhead for the trailwork early and get in a morning run first. I ran the loop from the KC Loop Road TH up and across 100 and back on the KC Loop Road, and then I did an out-and-back on trail 103 to check out the trail condition. It was only 2.3 miles. Then we did trailwork--the beginnings of the re-route of 130 off Day Mountain where it meets the KC Loop Road. We worked all day, but I don't think I hiked more than a mile for the whole thing--mainly as I went farther down 130 to find a "pink tree." After the trailwork I added to my mileage by walking back up from the worksite--in time to witness some mountain bikers jumping off the rockwork in the CCC cabin Heritage Area. I confronted one of them, not that it did much good. I then channeled my anger into an afternoon trailrun: back to the lower KC Loop Road TH for a run on the big 100 loop out to Smith Gap for 3.5 miles more. I still wasn't done, either--it was the church bbq night, and I was scheduled to help with rootbeer floats at the Community Center at 5:30 pm! This day was exhausting! Thursday total = 8.9 miles; 1,349' elevation gain.
Friday, August 3: Today I lost my momentum. It's supposed to be Cake Walk weekend, but two weeks ago a massive windstorm hit Ferry County. It was devastating--100 mile-per-hour winds knocked down trees all over the county. Homes lost power, Sherman Pass closed due to trees (and powerlines) falling across the road, and of course, the trails took a beating. I wanted to try the Thirteen Mile hike from the Bear Pot TH, but I soon found my path completely blocked. I couldn't even tell which way the trail went! I think I made it about 3/4-mile before I was forced to turn back. It was unfortunate, considering the dusty forest service road I had to drive to get to the trailhead; I managed to console myself with the massive wild strawberry patch I found at the trailhead. This was only 1.5 miles for the day.
I was supposed to meet Deb and Jeff at the White Mountain TH south of Sherman Pass, but I decided to stop at the Pass en-route to check trail conditions there. I didn't get any useful information from the trailhead register, but I did discover that trails 93 and 86 east from the Pass were still blocked by downfall. It wasn't looking good for Cake Walk. I made it another mile round-trip, for a total of 2.5 for the day.
Then came the final nail in the Cake Walk coffin: I started for the White Mountain TH, and discovered that the access road was blocked. The sign said that the bridge was washed out. No Cake Walk for this year--I drove to the Jungle Hill Campground instead.
Saturday, August 4: It wasn't Cake Walk (there goes the mega-mileage!) but we still managed to pull off a good day on the Kettle Crest. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast (not that 4am start time we'd originally planned!) and then headed for Sherman Pass. We hiked to the summit of Columbia Mountain (including the round-the-mountain trail) and just hung out at the top for nearly an hour. Deb headed back to the Pass after that, but Jeff and I continued north on the Kettle Crest to the intersection with the Jungle Hill Trail. We snacked and I filtered there, and then we decided to walk out as far as the Wapaloosie Trail intersection before returning via the Jungle Hill Trail. Deb gave me a ride back to the Pass to pick up my car. The daily total was 18.2, and I was so tired afterwards that I was rather glad that we hadn't been able to tackle the 43-miler!
Sunday, August 5: I got an early start to do the Sherman Peak Loop as a trailrun before breakfast. It was rather miserable; I felt terrible while running for some reason. However, the wildflowers were spectacular on loop--I've never seen lupine bloom so profusely before. It's not exactly a strongly-scented flower, but in places along this route the air was heavily perfumed. The run was 5.9 miles.
After that I returned to Jungle Hill to pack up and make breakfast. We planned a trip to Emerald Lake before returning home from the weekend, and it was a good day for a swim! The hike in was so hot! I still wasn't brave enough to dive right in, but after I got used to the water I started swimming for the far end of the lake. The water level was still very high, and the water clarity was unbelievable! I was treading water where it was probably 20-30' deep, and I could still make out the rocks on the bottom. No seaweed in this lake! Hiking mileage = 6.4 miles.
Hike-a-Thon Mileage for week 1: 63.3 miles
Running: 17.7
Hiking: 45.6
Total mileage for the week: 63.3
July 23 - July 29, 2012
I was a little sore and tired after the 28th, so I took Monday off. By Tuesday I was back to running (Mount Spokane, 4.5 miles), but I was still sore and very, very slow. Wednesday was back to normal--Iller Creek to Big Rock and back on the creek-side trail (6 miles in 54:57) and it felt great! This was the first time Ashley & Elizabeth made it to the top without walking, and they were so excited about it! I took Thursday off in preparation for the weekend backpack trip: Enchantments!
I had the early-morning carpool to Leavenworth--our task was to claim some good car-camping for Friday night (those Leavenworth campgrounds always fill so early!), pick up our permits, and find a nice little dayhike to do in the afternoon. We settled on the Icicle River Loop Trail, a distance of only 4 miles and a very nice, easy hike.
Saturday and Sunday were the main events: we met at the Snow Lake trailhead at 7am to begin our hike, hiked in to Snow Lake to set up camp, and then three of us continued up to the Enchantments to Prusik Pass (the other three went as far as the top of the Snow Lake trail and the Lower Enchantments. I determined it was about a 13.9 mile day, although we later had reason to believe that the mileage listed for Snow Lake was incorrect. On Sunday four of us woke up at 4am to return to the Enchantment Zone, this time to hike to the top of Aasgard Pass. We took our time and took tons of pictures, and then we returned (down that dreaded Snow Lake Trail!) to camp to pack up and head for home. It was at this point that we were convinced that the distance indicated on the map was wrong--it says 6.5 miles, but it took us over 4 hours to come down from the lakes. We actually ran the last portion of the trail, too. There's no way 6.5 miles should take so long.
Weekly mileage: 10.5 running & 33.4 hiking
I had the early-morning carpool to Leavenworth--our task was to claim some good car-camping for Friday night (those Leavenworth campgrounds always fill so early!), pick up our permits, and find a nice little dayhike to do in the afternoon. We settled on the Icicle River Loop Trail, a distance of only 4 miles and a very nice, easy hike.
Saturday and Sunday were the main events: we met at the Snow Lake trailhead at 7am to begin our hike, hiked in to Snow Lake to set up camp, and then three of us continued up to the Enchantments to Prusik Pass (the other three went as far as the top of the Snow Lake trail and the Lower Enchantments. I determined it was about a 13.9 mile day, although we later had reason to believe that the mileage listed for Snow Lake was incorrect. On Sunday four of us woke up at 4am to return to the Enchantment Zone, this time to hike to the top of Aasgard Pass. We took our time and took tons of pictures, and then we returned (down that dreaded Snow Lake Trail!) to camp to pack up and head for home. It was at this point that we were convinced that the distance indicated on the map was wrong--it says 6.5 miles, but it took us over 4 hours to come down from the lakes. We actually ran the last portion of the trail, too. There's no way 6.5 miles should take so long.
Weekly mileage: 10.5 running & 33.4 hiking
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
July 16 - July 22
This week was more like it! This was a good running week and a good hiking week--more like what I'll need to do during Hike-a-Thon next month (although I'll still need higher mileage than this)!
I started the week with a run from the high school up Mohawk. I always thought this was longer, but I drove it after and it's only 4.5 miles.
On Tuesday I worked at the park and went for a run on my lunch break--up trail 110, across the Lower Kit Carson Loop Road and down lower 140 back to the park entrance (6 miles). After that I met Lynn for trailwork on trail 160--about a 3 mile hike from the Cook's Cabin trailhead.
On Wednesday I was at Iller Creek. We didn't go to the top this time, but instead took the side trail on the right side from the parking lot. It was about 4 miles. In the afternoon I returned to the mountain for the Wednesday night hike to Horse & Quartz Mountains, adding 6 miles of hiking to my day.
Thursday was my short day with only a 2 mile hike on Mount Spokane, but on Friday I was back in the Dishman Hills for a 5.5 miler.
For the weekend I joined a WTA workparty in the Salmo Priest Wilderness. There were so many cars at the trailhead--this place is getting popular! We only hiked about 4 miles on Saturday, but on Sunday Derrick and I completed the loop following trailwork, so it was a 20 mile day! I was so tired--we worked from 7:30-2:45, and then hiked from 2:45-8:05. I think we only stopped and sat down three times during the entire hike--just long enough to filter water and eat something.
Run = 20 miles & hike = 35 miles
I started the week with a run from the high school up Mohawk. I always thought this was longer, but I drove it after and it's only 4.5 miles.
On Tuesday I worked at the park and went for a run on my lunch break--up trail 110, across the Lower Kit Carson Loop Road and down lower 140 back to the park entrance (6 miles). After that I met Lynn for trailwork on trail 160--about a 3 mile hike from the Cook's Cabin trailhead.
On Wednesday I was at Iller Creek. We didn't go to the top this time, but instead took the side trail on the right side from the parking lot. It was about 4 miles. In the afternoon I returned to the mountain for the Wednesday night hike to Horse & Quartz Mountains, adding 6 miles of hiking to my day.
Thursday was my short day with only a 2 mile hike on Mount Spokane, but on Friday I was back in the Dishman Hills for a 5.5 miler.
For the weekend I joined a WTA workparty in the Salmo Priest Wilderness. There were so many cars at the trailhead--this place is getting popular! We only hiked about 4 miles on Saturday, but on Sunday Derrick and I completed the loop following trailwork, so it was a 20 mile day! I was so tired--we worked from 7:30-2:45, and then hiked from 2:45-8:05. I think we only stopped and sat down three times during the entire hike--just long enough to filter water and eat something.
Run = 20 miles & hike = 35 miles
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
