2022 Adventures

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 This year we want to focus on more adventure runs and fewer races.

Races

Adventure ideas & plans 

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Three days in Wonderland

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Mt Rainier, glaciers, alpine forests, and a trail through the heart of it all 16-18 Aug 2015 No run has reshaped the borders of my soul like circumnavigating Mt Rainier. No run has infiltrated my dreams like spending three days just running and not much else, in the middle of the longest summer in the Pacific Northwest's recent memory. No run has made me fall so deeply in love with the magical combination of mountains, wilderness, and summertime. Like all of our great long runs, Ann researched and planned this one. She discovered that most people run the 93-mile Wonderland Trail clockwise, and that we could split the route into three days with a cushy hotel stay each night. We, however, would run the route counterclockwise to start with the longest day of running first. We had a beer with our friend Heather McGrath, who had run around Rainier the previous year, to hear more about her trip, get tips, and make sure that our plan wasn't too crazy.
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Mt. St. Helens Circumnavigation

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Triple D

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The "Triple D" is the crazy challenge of hiking Devil's Rest, Mt Defiance, and Dog Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge, all in one day. Apparently it started as a Mazama thing but is also documented on Portland Hikers . Somehow, one of us brought this up and we decided to do it as our November day-off-work run. Ann swears it was me, but how can that be true when I had only heard of it from her? Construction at Wahkeena trailhead Ann picked me up with bagels and coffee, and we got an early-ish start. We got to the Wahkeena Falls trailhead to run Devil's Rest, and were at first concerned that the trail was closed. Fortunately, this was the trail going the other way. Phew! At the start of our Triple D Wahkeena Falls Devil's Rest was a great start. At 7 1/2 miles and  2550 feet of elevation gain, it was surprisingly runnable and a great warm-up. Now is when I admit that as we got near the top, I stopped for lots of really cool mushrooms-- a PURPLE ON
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