Beacon Rock State Park
near the top of Phlox Point We took last Friday off to have a long over due running adventure. We knew we didn't want to run in Forest Park, we do that ever weekend, and we didn't want to run on the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge. With the snow levels still pretty low that only left a few other options. We had our mind set on the Oregon Coast trail around Manzanita. But as it got closer to Friday the weather forecast for the coast was 100% chance of rain. We debated a few other options and landed on Beacon Rock State Park. racing Cedar at the Saddle I decided to combine two classic routes in the park Hamilton Mountain and Hardy Ridge to Phlox Point . We started at the equestrian trailhead, which is the starting area for Hardy Ridge. We decided to run up to Hamilton Mountain first knowing it's a more popular route and thought we could avoid some of the crowds. No matter how many times I run up Hamilton Mountain I get fooled by a few almost false summits. Susan actually