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!