This is what always happens to me this time of the year: cross country starts, and I have no time to finish updating my hike-a-thon info. I'm super late with this thing this year!
I left off on National S'mores Day, August 13th, a day on which I had no s'mores. Seriously, who would make National S'mores Day in the middle of August? It's not safe to have a campfire, and microwave S'mores just don't cut it. S'mores day should be in June, in order to kick off the good backpacking season. And it should always fall on a Saturday. Okay, off my soapbox...
August 13: I ran the Little Loop route on Antoine Peak. And I was slow. And hurting. I wonder why? It was 3.77 miles.
August 14: I ran the trail 110 to trail 100 to Hay Ridge Loop, and I still felt terrible. It was 7.2 miles. I wrote a trip report for this one: find it here.
August 15: I did a very nice huckleberry hike today. It was about time to slow down and give my legs a rest, plus I wanted some huckleberries. I started near Cook's Cabin and went down to Saddle Junction, then up to the summit of Mt. Kit Carson, then across to the Saddle near Day Mountain, then returned via trail 130 and the new trail 140 reroute. The reroute looks...um...awful. Rather depressing. But the huckleberries helped to cheer me up. 4.6 miles.
August 16: I went to the Dishman Hills and did the same loop that I did on the morning of August 2. 5 miles. After that I met Jeff & we drove to the Twisp area for a weekend backpack trip.
August 17: Today showed how things don't always turn out how you imagine. We camped at the trailhead Friday night and got an early start for the backpack. I was hoping we'd make it to Sunrise Lake...but just a little over 2 miles in, Jeff said he was really feeling terrible. Food poisoning, we determined later. We turned back early. We passed so many dirt bike riders on the way out, followed by so many mountain bike riders, that we decided perhaps we were better off going elsewhere instead (4.5 miles with full pack). Then we looked at the map and picked a campground where Jeff could pitch his tent and take a nap, whereas I could go for an afternoon trailrun in order to pick up some extra miles. We went to South Creek, where I ran 8.5 miles. Then we drove up to the dead-end of the road to a place that was marked as a historical site on the map, but that turned out to be nothing much, as far as we could tell. There were a few tumble-down buildings, and I think it was maybe an old mining site. It was interesting, but I expected an interpretive sign after the way the map looked.
August 18: Jeff was feeling mostly better, so we decided to hike to Louis Lake for 11.4 miles. Read my trip report here. Then we returned home, and Jeff, who knew about it beforehand, told me to wait while he grabbed his newspaper...where this article appeared in the Outdoor section! Rich is a tricky guy...I figured he intended to write about our backpack trip, but I didn't know he would write about me, too! It's also great to go hiking with a professional photographer: check out the online slideshow here.
Okay, I'll have to finish this up another time. It's dinner time for me. I'm feeling a little bummed that on the other side of the state right now, the other Hike-a-Thoners are having the big H-a-T celebration party. :( I still remember explaining to someone one time that no, Spokane is not a suburb of Seattle...hopefully one of these years I can attend the party, though. It would be cool to actually meet some of the other people who do H-a-T! I've never met another H-a-T-er on the trail, and the only other Spokanite I know of who does it is Todd. You hear that Spokanites? It's about time a few more of you come fundraise while you play!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
Past time for an update!
I haven't had a chance to update this thing in awhile! That's just because I've been out hiking. Here's some of the stuff I've been up to since the last post:
8/5: I did my favorite loop run in Riverside State Park. Every time I do this run, I think about back in college when we had to run "Half-pipe hills" on a portion of this route. That was one tough workout. Sometimes I think about going back and doing that again, and then I remember how painful it was...but here's the trip report from my 6 miler.
8/6: Two-a-day time! My first one was a run at Mount Spokane State Park. I went up trail 110 and down trail 140, returning via the Mt. Kit Carson Loop Road in order to complete a 4.8 mile loop. After that I drove up to the Nordic trail system to hunt huckleberries. I intended to go out to Shadow Mountain, but thought I'd check out the berries on Eagle Crest on my way out. I found so many berries that I didn't make it beyond Eagle Crest! I also saw an assortment of wildlife today: a vole on trail 140, a black bear just before junction 2 in the Nordic area (it ran away with its mouth open! poor scared bear), a lopsided moose on Eagle Crest (one side of its antlers was nearly twice the size of the other side!), plus a deer. The hike was 3.41 miles + about a gallon of huckleberries. I did a trip report for the running part.
8/7: Today I did the Iller Creek Loop. I went up the creek-side trail and down the ridge, and then I was too tired to run or hike anymore! 4.85 miles.
8/8: I ran from the Antoine Peak west-side trail head to the summit and back. Blaze came along to help me out. 4.54 miles. Then I left town to drive to the Glacier Peak Wilderness for the weekend! :)
8/9-8/12: Glacier Peak time! Read my trip report here.
That's all I have time to update for now...lots more to follow!
8/5: I did my favorite loop run in Riverside State Park. Every time I do this run, I think about back in college when we had to run "Half-pipe hills" on a portion of this route. That was one tough workout. Sometimes I think about going back and doing that again, and then I remember how painful it was...but here's the trip report from my 6 miler.
8/6: Two-a-day time! My first one was a run at Mount Spokane State Park. I went up trail 110 and down trail 140, returning via the Mt. Kit Carson Loop Road in order to complete a 4.8 mile loop. After that I drove up to the Nordic trail system to hunt huckleberries. I intended to go out to Shadow Mountain, but thought I'd check out the berries on Eagle Crest on my way out. I found so many berries that I didn't make it beyond Eagle Crest! I also saw an assortment of wildlife today: a vole on trail 140, a black bear just before junction 2 in the Nordic area (it ran away with its mouth open! poor scared bear), a lopsided moose on Eagle Crest (one side of its antlers was nearly twice the size of the other side!), plus a deer. The hike was 3.41 miles + about a gallon of huckleberries. I did a trip report for the running part.
8/7: Today I did the Iller Creek Loop. I went up the creek-side trail and down the ridge, and then I was too tired to run or hike anymore! 4.85 miles.
8/8: I ran from the Antoine Peak west-side trail head to the summit and back. Blaze came along to help me out. 4.54 miles. Then I left town to drive to the Glacier Peak Wilderness for the weekend! :)
8/9-8/12: Glacier Peak time! Read my trip report here.
That's all I have time to update for now...lots more to follow!
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
The first few days of Hike-a-Thon 2013!
I started this thing off right with some WTA trailwork! For Thursday, August 1st I camped at Mount Spokane, walked to our meeting location, and built a bridge! Okay, okay, helped to build a bridge. Mainly hauled a lot of rock, but still! Read about it here. Day one, 5.5 miles.
On Friday I went running. First in the Dishman Hills, for which I had to estimate my mileage at five (this spring there was a major overhaul of the trail system, and the new maps don't include mileage). Then I ran some errands in town and afterwards headed to Slavin Ranch Conservation Area for another run, this time in the rain. The map for this one said my route was 5.56 miles. I think that's a lie, because it took me an hour! Oh, well. I'll go by the map for a total of 10.56 miles in two runs for the day. Read the Slavin Ranch trip report here.
For Saturday, I had to start with some mileage that doesn't count for Hike-a-Thon, but does count for braggin' rights. I ran the Toaster Splash 5k. It's a trail race, but it's not on public trails. I did the world's shortest warm-up and cool down, finished in 5th place in 23:17 (that's actually a decent time for this course, which includes two stream crossings), and won my age group (my assistant coach called it the "old peoples' age group"). Then I headed north and did an afternoon trailrun on the Mill Butte (read my trip report here). That nearly killed me. It's only 4.5 miles, but it was hot out at that point and I was t-i-r-e-d. Then I drove up to my favorite free forest service campground in the whole wide world: Jungle Hill. Only a mile off the pavement and entirely free, and only two other groups camped there on a Saturday night. I guess I shouldn't write that on a public blog, but it's probably just three other people reading this, right? (hi mom, dad, and little bro!) After dinner I did a short little wander along Sherman Pass Trail #82, mostly just to stretch my stiff legs before I went to bed. It started raining, so I had a good excuse to turn in early. Total (countable for hike-a-thon) mileage for the day = 5.5 miles (but in my training log I had 10.5).
On Sunday, I got up super early and drove to the Wapaloosie Trailhead. The first section of this hike is not my favorite--no views at first, and just lodgepole forest that's mainly falling down and creating some scary-looking ladder fuels for future fires? Once the trail exits the lodgepole, however, it's awesome! Wildflowers, sagebrush, views...awesome. Read my trip report here. My total mileage was 9.3 countable, but my training log will state 12.3 including my road walking.
That's all I have time to update for now; more to follow. Right now it's time to put some ice on my achy knees! Oh, yeah, and pack for my next backpack trip!
On Friday I went running. First in the Dishman Hills, for which I had to estimate my mileage at five (this spring there was a major overhaul of the trail system, and the new maps don't include mileage). Then I ran some errands in town and afterwards headed to Slavin Ranch Conservation Area for another run, this time in the rain. The map for this one said my route was 5.56 miles. I think that's a lie, because it took me an hour! Oh, well. I'll go by the map for a total of 10.56 miles in two runs for the day. Read the Slavin Ranch trip report here.
For Saturday, I had to start with some mileage that doesn't count for Hike-a-Thon, but does count for braggin' rights. I ran the Toaster Splash 5k. It's a trail race, but it's not on public trails. I did the world's shortest warm-up and cool down, finished in 5th place in 23:17 (that's actually a decent time for this course, which includes two stream crossings), and won my age group (my assistant coach called it the "old peoples' age group"). Then I headed north and did an afternoon trailrun on the Mill Butte (read my trip report here). That nearly killed me. It's only 4.5 miles, but it was hot out at that point and I was t-i-r-e-d. Then I drove up to my favorite free forest service campground in the whole wide world: Jungle Hill. Only a mile off the pavement and entirely free, and only two other groups camped there on a Saturday night. I guess I shouldn't write that on a public blog, but it's probably just three other people reading this, right? (hi mom, dad, and little bro!) After dinner I did a short little wander along Sherman Pass Trail #82, mostly just to stretch my stiff legs before I went to bed. It started raining, so I had a good excuse to turn in early. Total (countable for hike-a-thon) mileage for the day = 5.5 miles (but in my training log I had 10.5).
On Sunday, I got up super early and drove to the Wapaloosie Trailhead. The first section of this hike is not my favorite--no views at first, and just lodgepole forest that's mainly falling down and creating some scary-looking ladder fuels for future fires? Once the trail exits the lodgepole, however, it's awesome! Wildflowers, sagebrush, views...awesome. Read my trip report here. My total mileage was 9.3 countable, but my training log will state 12.3 including my road walking.
That's all I have time to update for now; more to follow. Right now it's time to put some ice on my achy knees! Oh, yeah, and pack for my next backpack trip!
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Obligatory "I've forgotten about my blog for a really long time but I intend to fix that now" post
Um...yeah. Last year's Hike-a-Thon clearly wore me out. I never even finished that post for the last week of August last year, and then I completely forgot about posting anything after H-a-T, too. I have two really good excuses: first, cross country started; then, I started grad school!
Well, now it's July of 2013, and I'm signed up for Hike-a-Thon again, and I've been training a lot so I'm ready. The highlights so far: a solo winter backpack trip to Columbia Mountain, 20-30 pounds of morel mushrooms while on spring hikes, a group trip to the Hells Canyon, a solo trip to the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness, and a group trip to the Pasayten Wilderness.
And here are some of the things I have in mind for Hike-a-Thon 2013: 1) raise lots of $$$ (please help! follow my link & give WTA some cash!), 2) hit that goal of 325 miles this year! (last year I finished up at 275 miles), 3) go to the Glacier Peak Wilderness for a backpack trip of 50+ miles, 4) do the Cake Walk (all 43 miles of the Kettle Crest in one day!), 5) get a buch of huckleberries while hiking, 6) a buch of other hikes I haven't figured out just yet...anybody want to go hiking in August? :)
Well, now it's July of 2013, and I'm signed up for Hike-a-Thon again, and I've been training a lot so I'm ready. The highlights so far: a solo winter backpack trip to Columbia Mountain, 20-30 pounds of morel mushrooms while on spring hikes, a group trip to the Hells Canyon, a solo trip to the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness, and a group trip to the Pasayten Wilderness.
And here are some of the things I have in mind for Hike-a-Thon 2013: 1) raise lots of $$$ (please help! follow my link & give WTA some cash!), 2) hit that goal of 325 miles this year! (last year I finished up at 275 miles), 3) go to the Glacier Peak Wilderness for a backpack trip of 50+ miles, 4) do the Cake Walk (all 43 miles of the Kettle Crest in one day!), 5) get a buch of huckleberries while hiking, 6) a buch of other hikes I haven't figured out just yet...anybody want to go hiking in August? :)
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