Girls Gone Wildwood

Angel's Rest Susan and I took off another day from work to run 26 miles in the Gorge. We had decided to run 26 miles of the Gorge Trail 400, leaving one car at Angel's Rest and having John drop us off 26 miles down the trail. As I started to seriously look at my map, I noticed that trail 400 isn't a continuous trail. Parts of the trail piggyback on other trails, and between Ainsworth and John Yeon State Park it didn't look like the trail existed. Once I realized this wasn't going to be as straight forward as I thought, I called the Ranger Station. It was 6pm on Friday night, they were closed and not open again until Monday morning, which is when we were running. From all the backpacking trip planning I have done, I know to call the Ranger Station early in route planning, this was big miss on my part. Luckily, John and I were going hiking in the Gorge on Saturday and could stop by the Hood River Ranger Station, which is open on Saturday, and check out the "m...

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 ...

It was Susan's week to come up with the running route, but she had a hot vegan date with Amber Friday night so I offered to come up with the route. She naively took me up on my offer. Since Susan "bonked" a few days ago on a hill on our epic Gorge Traill 400 run, I thought I would make this shorter 15 mile run hilly. One of her least favorite hills is Wildwood from Upper Macleay to the Pittock Mansion. Being the good friend I am, I had the run start on the other side of the Pittock, so we started and ended the run by running up to the Pittock Mansion. Well techincally the run ended by running downhill from the Pittock, but no one seemed to remember this. The route also included running up Aspen to Wildwood and up from the Stone House to Upper Macleay. After tackling these hills, Dana and Susan were threatening to trip me, I told them we only had 1 more 1/2 mile hill to get up to the Pittock. Well somehow I forgot about another hill before the hill I was talking about, luc...

7 July 2012 Ann, Dana and I started extra-early for a 13 mile loop for Dana, and a 24 mile loop for Ann and me. Once we dropped down onto Leif from Springville, I was so enjoying the downhill and our conversation that when I noticed a mile marker, expecting to see a 5, I saw 4-- we had gone too far! The miles really do fly by with good company. Early morning sunlight slanting through the trees Luckily I had been up late studying the mileage charts, and my first attempt at making the correct-distance loops for us had yielded some substitutions. We did a quick talk through adjustments to our route, and it worked beautifully. As Dana's loop ended, Ann and I dropped down on Hardesty from Wildwood to Leif, where we took our food break and started on the second loop of our figure eight. Massive trail-fixing machinery and a bonus portapotty mid-trail Springville Rd to Leif (m9.37)-- .71mi Leif (m9.37) to Leif (m4)-- 5.37mi (6.08 total) (Oops!) Leif (m4) to Koenig (L4.5...

21 July 2012 An impromptu decision to spend the weekend at the coast (Susan) meant that we were scrambling for running ideas. We had planned to run a Bald Mountain/ Ramona Falls route that Ann had scoped out, so I started to look for something that was halfway between the coast and Portland. I would've driven back to the city if I had to-- there was no way I would get 20 miles in by myself at the coast. View from the top, at Bell Camp Road I found a description of the Gales Creek route ( PDF map here ) in an old email newsletter from Portland Running Company. They started including a trail feature in each issue, so I've been saving them for just such an occasion. Then I mapped it, and it turned out to be an hour and twenty minutes drive from where I was staying-- nearly as long as driving home to Portland! Dana, Ann & Susan-- we crested the hard part! Still, a new trail was alluring, so we went with it. Ann and I met at the trailhead, which was a little confusi...

My sister got married this weekend, and of course my dad was in town. The wedding was in the afternoon which gave me a few hours to take him on a 10 miler in Forest Park. I didn't want to do anything too hilly, since 100 feet is a good hill around his house. We did one of our standard Thurman / Leif / Wildwood loops. He absolutely loved it and totally understood why Susan and I raved about Forest Park all the time. I wish he was staying in town longer so I could of taken him to the other end of the park, which is our favorite. But I have to save something for his next visit! Susan showing Dad the new Forest Park maps Just in case you forget End of the run

Susan sent this to me today: Wild Woman Marathon If weren't already planning on running 26 a few days before this, I would be really tempted to run it. Maybe next year!