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
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