A few months ago John and I hiked Bald Mountain and I kept commenting to him what a great running trail it was. I have been secretly trying to teach him to recognize good running trails for me since he hikes a lot. Susan and I finally got a chance to run it, and I have to say I think I impressed her.
The first 1.4 miles of the trail is a fairly gradual sometimes sandy climb, around mile 1.2 you cross over the Sandy River on a seasonal bridge. Head north on the PCT, before you start the 2.2 mile climb up to Bald Mountain you have to scramble over two fallen trees to cross the river. The climb can be steep at times, but I kept telling myself and Susan it is only 2.2 miles and then the rest is a lovely gradual down hill.
Once you reach Bald Mountain the forest opens up into fabulous alpine meadows, glacial streams and an unbelievable view of Mt. Hood. You can also see several stunning waterfalls coming down the slopes of Mt. Hood. The trail continues down to the Muddy Fork of the Sandy River, which you have to cross not once but twice without a bridge, so be prepared. The water wasn't raging when we crossed it, but it wasn't a little stream crossing either. The first crossing we found a stick that helped us cross over the slippery rocks, but our shoes were completely soaked. The second crossing was much easier, there were rocks that we were able to "hop" across.
The trail continues down past the Yocum Ridge junction, to Ramona Falls. If you haven't seen Ramona Falls before, you are in for a treat. Then you follow the trail back to your car, crossing the Sandy River one more time (on a bridge).
The route from William L. Sullivan's "100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington"
Susan cross the "tree bridge"
wild blueberries
Susan taking a picture on Mt. Hood from Bald Mountain
Our family hiking trip this year was to the Dolomites, more specifically Alta Via 1. John and I have done several hut to hut hiking trips in the Alps and planned them all ourselves, we never had any problems. As I started to plan our trip to the Dolomites, it became clear to me that it might be easier if we used a local company to help us book our accommodations and transportation. That way when questions came up from family members there was someone we could ask. Also letting the ultrarunner of the group plan the daily hiking itinerary probably isn't the best idea.
I ended up contacting Dolomite Mountains, I sent them my itinerary, the places I had already booked and a few other specifications and Monica created an agenda pretty similar to the one I already had in mind. As much as I like to plan things myself, it was nice to have someone local and not feel responsible for 5 other people's vacation. Plus if they thought the hike was too hard they couldn't blame me.
My husband John, Cedar and I recently spent a week in Boulder working, running, and snowboarding/skiing. We decided to drive our Sprinter from Portland to Boulder to see what all the hype was about. Since we were working while we were in Boulder we had to limit our exploring time to before and after work and the weekends on the drive to and from Boulder. So our days were broken down into 3 areas: working, activities and eating & drinking.
Working: The company I work for has an office in Boulder with free food. John and I would work from the Airbnb in the morning and head over to the office around lunch for free food and to work the rest of the afternoon. We did find a place called The Rayback Collective that had a great indoor area for co-working, it also had an amazing beer garden with several food carts. We especially liked the Indian food cart, I wished I remembered the name, they had so many tasty bite size items for $1-$2.
Eating & Drinking: We went to several different bre…
I took the whole week off for spring break, which I spent in Austin, TX, with my family. But just before we left I realized that we'd be back Thursday evening, which left Friday free for a long run!
Ann checked on the Wilson River Trail, which we tried (and failed) to run last month due to the amount of snow blocking the trailhead and covering the hilly trail itself. All clear!
The Peterson Ridge Rumble is a classic laid back community trail race that takes place in Sisters, Oregon. Almost every trail runner we know has run it at least once, most people at least few times. The trails are at a low enough elevation that snow normally isn't an issue and you get amazing views of the central Cascades. It's a race that people hangout for hours after they cross the finish line cheering people on and catching up with friends. It is a great way to kick of the season.
Susan and I have ran the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40 mile race twice, but now that we a four legged trail runner as part of our pack we decided to include him. The 40 mile race does not allow dogs but the 20 mile does. I was so excited when I signed Cedar up for the race, I was equally as excited to run the shorter distance.
I had a work trip to San Francisco the week before the Rumble, but luckily there is a direct flight from SFO to Redmond/Bend. My husband and Cedar drove down in the van and pick…
Ann's story (the planning)
Ever since I did my first multi-day
backpacking trip 10 years ago, I have wanted to circumnavigate Mt. Hood. We
actually planned a backpacking trip to do in 2007, but after doing some
research realized part of the trail had been washed out and was closed. So the Mt.
Hood circumnavigation was put on the back burner until I started running long
distances.
I mentioned to Susan last summer that we should do it, but it wasn’t
until early this year when we were trying to find a race during the summer that
was 40 – 50 miles and fit both of our schedules that I mentioned we should just do Mt. Hood. It worked out great, since we could do it during
the week when there is less traffic on the trail and we wouldn’t have to give up a
weekend day with our families.
I really love planning hiking, backpacking, and running routes / trips. I loved being able to pull out all my maps and books, and comb through them for training runs and the circumnavigation, but single
mo…
Yes, and I'm still impressed!
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