Trail Runner Photo Contest

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One of our photos made it into the Trail Runner Magazine monthly photo contest! Now just click like, so we can win. :)

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Hiking the Dolomites - Alta Via 1

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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. 





Staying…
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Three Sisters Loop

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11 years ago my first multi-day backpacking trip was the 50+ mile loop around the Three Sisters in Central Oregon. Since then I have done multi-day hikes all over the world and in the Pacific Northwest, but the Three Sisters trip still remains one of my favorites and most beautiful. I have been back to the Three Sisters Wilderness several times in the last 11 years for overnight trips and even to climb South Sister, but never to do the full loop. Once Susan and I started talking about doing the loop around Mt. Hood, I knew if we completed that we could do the Three Sisters. 

Mt. Hood is shorter distance wise (~40 miles), but it has almost double the elevation (10,000 feet), and it has the Eliot Creek washout. We almost completed the full Mt Hood loop in 2013 and we would of completed it if it wasn't for getting lost and running out of day light. Even though we didn't complete the loop we still ran about the same distance and were confident that we could do the Three Sisters lo…
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Mt. St. Helens Circumnavigation

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We completed the Loowit trail, 34 miles circumnavigating the volcanic lands and forests surrounding the squat, smoldering Mt St. Helens. It was amazing, but I cannot rightly recommend this route to others.



Not because it's not beautiful, mostly fun, diverse in ecosystems, and full of fascinating wildlife. It is all of those things. But it is also full of washouts and utterly terrifying descents, ascents, and traverses on huge dunes of kitty-litter-esque scree.



Granted, I have a particular fear of scree washouts after our Mt Hood circ attempt. But some of these washouts were incredibly precarious. Each foot placement had to be strategized and the few rocks to hold on to often came away in the sandy scree, sending an avalanche of gravel  and dust down the side of the slope, the sound of which reminds one what will happen if you should misstep.



We started at June Lake trailhead, from which you run about 2 miles up to join Loowit trail. From there we had heard there would be lots of walk…
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Bullshit Mountain Traverse

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Our first day off to run in 2018 (Wednesday, 4 April), and I was thrilled. While on a family hike a month or two ago, I noticed a trail sign with some good distances on it. I looked them up when I got home, and discovered the Tarbell Trail-- a 24.75 mile loop in southwest Washington in the Silver Star Mountain and Grouse Mountain area. After lots of research, I was excited to have planned our first adventure since it's usually Ann who does the work.

Well now we know why that's the case. After a bunch of rescheduling, we finally settled on Wednesday, 4 April for our run. On Tuesday, Ann called the ranger station and was told that part of the trail was closed for logging and that there was also snow. Last-minute back-up plan: the Wilson River trail. It's a 22 mile point-to-point trail that's safe from snow, we've only run it twice, and it's been three years since we did the whole thing.

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Circumnavigating Mt Hood

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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…
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