Girls Gone Wildwood

Finished-- still dry and warm This year we (Ann) wised up and decided to do our lit-up, costumed, Santa-hat-shaped holiday run on Friday morning, one week before Christmas. That way we weren't tired from previous Forest Park miles like last year , and we didn't have weekend afternoon crowds to contend with. 

REI defines  type 2 fun as miserable while it’s happening, but fun in retrospect. It usually begins with the best intentions, and then things get carried away. While type 1 fun is enjoyable while it is happening. To be fair I think our run in the Gorge was probably type 1.5 fun. But most people would categorize a run in the cold with pouring rain and snow on muddy trails with down trees as type 2 fun. Neither one of us had been hiking or running in the Gorge since the start of Covid. For several months all the trails were closed and once they opened they were super crowded, so we avoided the area. But now that it's snowing we are limited on where we can run. I figured with the crappy weather there would be less people in the Gorge, so we decided to start our day off run at Angel's Rest.  The weather wasn't awful when we started, so we made sure to get picture of the Gorge when we reached the top on Angel's Rest. But shortly after we crested the rain started. We really d...

Girls Gone Goat Rocks! For years, we've had Goat Rocks listed in our page of trail to-do's . Our plans finally aligned such that we made a detour on the drive home from our two separate weekends in the greater Seattle area to run a shorter, 12 mile loop in Goat Rocks Wilderness. Running through the lupine We parked at the Berry Patch trailhead and made our way on Goat Ridge Trail (95) up, up, up, through the dry forest. Sadly, the huckleberries weren't ripe yet, but we were soon distracted with views of Rainier through the trees. Rainier on the left and glad we don't have to climb that steep hill to the right Then we emerged from the trees into a wide open alpine valley, ringed by peaks and ridges, cascading with a rainbow of wildflowers. It was absolutely stunning. And I understood why we drove an extra three hours out of our way to run here. Mt St Helens in the distance We wound our way up and up, passing plenty of backpackers for a Monday. Everyone seemed thrilled to...

Yay, Diamond Peak Susan and I had originally planned on running Mt. Rainier's Northern Loop trail but according to recent trail reports there were still several miles of snow to cross. Which normally wouldn't scare me away but considering the distance ~37 miles and the new to us trails, I thought we should wait a few weeks before attempting it. But since we already had the day off of work I came up with several plan b options for us. One of them was a popular loop from Odell Lake to the east side of Diamond Peak . But after looking at my Diamond Peak map I noticed you could stitch several trails together and actually circumnavigate Diamond Peak Crescent Lake Knowing how much we love circumnavigations, I knew we had a plan b winner. I started Googling "Circumnavigating Diamond Peak" and I couldn't much. Then I started looking for information on Diamond Peak Trail #3699, which is the trail that runs along the west side of the mountain. But I could find very little...

Lupines-eye-view of Mt St Helens Mt St Helens is beautiful, distinctive, and convenient from Portland. But its circumnavigating trail, Loowit, is... well, too much. Despite being shorter, the one time we did it, it took about the same time to run as Timberline around Mt Hood. The rocky lava fields to start, the lack of water, the relentless exposure, and the numerous washouts at the end of our clockwise route made me not want to do it again anytime soon. 

Susan and I have been running 25+ miles each Saturday since covid-19 and have been recycling through a lot of the same routes. I feel like we have gotten a bit lazy about creating new routes, so I decided to create a new route for this weekend. Some of my favorite routes are made up of a lot of small segments, it give more variety than 10+ miles on Wildwood. This route had enough ups and downs, but not too much. It was a perfect 24 mile route for a Sunday morning.  fl 1- ww .25 ww- maple 1.56 maple - leif 3.55 leif - hardesty 2.58 hardesty - fl7 .55 fl 7 (gasline) - ww .85 ww - saltzman 3.95 saltzman - leif .50 leif - cleator .73 cleator - ww .24 ww - koeing 1.24 koeing - maple .27 maple - ww 1.2 ww - nature 1.42 nature - fl1 .65 fl1 - leif .53 leif - alder 1.54 alder - ww .84 ww- morak .126 morak - fl1 .10 fl1 - car .08 total 23.99

"Ooh child things are gonna get easier Ooh child things'll get brighter Ooh child things are gonna get easier Ooh child things'll get brighter Someday we'll get it together and we'll get it undone Someday when the world is much brighter Someday we'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun Someday when the world is much lighter" I have listened to the song O-o-h Child a lot this weekend. It has been a very hard week for this country especially for people of color. I have been at a loss for words and searching for what I can do to make things better. I have donated money to Black Lives Matter, I have posted things on social media, I have talked to friends and family, but there has to be more I / we can do.   I know every morning, afternoon and evening that I go running without worry, that I am privileged. Only a few times in the 10 years I have been running in Forest Park have I felt unsafe.  I know living on a street with 4 trailheads into park with 80 miles o...