Tourist run: Nob Hill, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge

I had the opportunity to do some early morning exploration of San Francisco as I was in town for the December face to face Eclipse board meeting. We were staying and meeting at the Hotel Monaco. Beautiful city.

Up and over the Nob Hill going past the Grace Cathedral church. I have to tell you that running both ways I found the constant noise from the cable cars "track" in the roads quite annoying. Possibly just because I had not had any caffeine yet :-)

I ran down to Fort Mason and then along the waterfront to as close to the Golden Gate bridge as my time allowed. I figure I was about half a mile out. I was disappointed I did not make the bridge but I was unwilling to get up any earlier and I am running slow with some unexplained soreness in my upper, inside quad muscles. The view was still inspiring.

Alcatraz was visible from the shore for most of the run along the water. It really does not look that far off shore. As well, there were several hardy (crazy?) individuals doing open water swims with no wet suits. Maybe those guys who tried to escape really did make it?


On the way back in the hills I even had a second opportunity to Find Waldo this year :-)

Time to heal and prepare for Christmas Camp!

Waterfalls towards Waldo

I set out one of my toughest stretch of workouts for my final build week before Where's Waldo 100km.

With the kids away visiting Grandma I in Canada, Trisha and I have a little more freedom and flexibility :-)

We started the string of workouts on Thursday night with a hard flat 8 mile run on the Fanno Creek Trail. Trisha was on the bike and I was hoping for a heat workout but alas our relatively cool Portland summer continues.

Friday morning I went out early and pounded out a 10 mile tempo run.

For Saturday I had originally thought of heading out with Stacey for a real workout but then realized there would be no way to get in the 4-5 hrs of running and still make Dave S Flowerdale Farm Blueberry Harvest Party. And there was no way I was missing all that great food!
So I headed out on the Wildwood Trail for 13.1 miles out and then back. Why 13.1? Seemed like a good goal to run a marathon that morning :-)
I ate, drank, power walked etc. like I plan for Waldo. This trail has way less vertical (I figure about 2800 ft of climbing) but I was happy with the results in terms of time (4:10) and generally feeling of the body.

After eating my fill on Saturday, I had the privilege to run with Trisha on the Eagle Creek Trail Sunday afternoon. After hitting the early service at church, we were on the trail by about 12:30 pm. The parking lot was busy but not full and we really did not have too much trouble passing all the hikers.
You climb pretty quick up to Punch Bowl falls at about 2 miles. After this there is something interesting every mile or so: either a waterfall or a bridge over the creek.

There are some pretty hairy ledges you traverse. One section is called the Vertigo Mile. Find Trisha in the picture to the left.

We did see a lady collapse and sit down on the trail as her brain could just not cope with the drop-off going around the Pothole section. Trisha appreciated the wire rope to hold onto :-) We are not sure if we will attempt this with the kids any time soon.

The Tunnel falls are the largest on the trail and the experience is heightened as you pass through the tunnel carved behind the falls by the trail designers in about 1910.

We turned around just past the Crossover falls...great place to stop and eat!

In the scree / old lava sections watch out for the little lizards...did not know we had any around here? I believe it was a Northern Alligator lizard. Which, apparently even live in Canada...cool!

Finished with a dip in the creek to wash off the sweat and salt accumulated over the 14 miles...poor salmon.

This trail is truly amazing with the quality of the scenery, the close location to Portland and how much fun it is to run. Mostly uphill on the way out and nice downhill running on the way back.

Pictures do not do it justice.
Get out there and try it.

OK...100 km is a long, long way

The day after the PCT 50km, Trisha and I ran the last section of the top of the PCT 50 miler.

With the kids up playing with Grandma in Canada, we elected to stay up a second night. Nice little forest service Clackamas Lake campground in #4. We think that #30 is likely the best in the site.

This is a 5.9 mile out and back from Barlow Pass up to Timberline Lodge.
Climb most of the way up, great cruising on the way down.
Working through the sand for the last 3/4 mile or so has really made me not likely to consider doing the 50 miler any time soon :-)

The run was amazing and Trisha really made me work in the last few miles but what kept going through my head is that in 3 weeks

I plan to run 100 km (62 miles) in under 16 hours at Waldo.

Doing 31 miles one day and the 11 miles the next day seemed tough enough.

Little bit scared...

Running Boston

I like running in Boston.

Maybe it is because in 2005 I set my marathon PR here. Maybe it is the history buff in my loving all the old stuff. Today I had a very nice run around the Charles River for another reason to like Boston.


I am in Boston for the June "face to face" meeting of the Eclipse Foundation Board. After spending more time than I wanted to in Chicago due to weather cancellations I arrived in Boston this morning. After a full day of meetings, I had a 2hr window to read email and get out for a run. I got in about 15 minutes of email and then headed out the door.

I am staying at the Omni Parker House hotel which is only a short distance from the Charles River and its trails. From what I have read there is a 17.1 mile loop available.

Today I got in the loop starting from the Longfellow Bridge (the signature Boston bridge in my opinion) to the Anderson footbridge...about 7.2 miles. It is a scenic loop often you forget you are so close to a major US city. There are lots of views of the Boston marathon course...including every runners friend...the Citco sign (about 1 mile from the finish of the race).

There is even lots of other Canadians here...I like this town :-)
Tomorrow I head to Sacramento to pace Ronda at WS 100...even more fun!

Failed Loowit Update

I sent an email to the Gifford Pinchot National forest service reporting about the condition of the Loowit trail and I am really impressed with their response. Bill Uyesugi, Recreation, Fire & Facilities Manager for the Mount St Helens National Volcano Monument even sent me some pictures that I had missed when being too grumpy and cold. Thanks!

This is the sign I was talking about in the section of Road 8123 that is just plain gone. Someone has taken the initiative to clean the sign off and prop it up all official...looks even more out of place!

Here's looking forward to the trail getting fixed and more running around in circles :-)

A little too Extreme: Loowit Trail

I like doing things that are hard and challenging. Saturday's adventure was a little more than I had bargained for :-)

We had planned to run around Mt St Helens. I figured I had gone up it this year so I should make sure to go around it as well! I had done the loop once before in 2003 and the trail is one of my favorites with all the different types of ecosystems that you get to run through. And it is just plain cool to run around an active volcano!

Dave S, Steve P, Mike B and I all started at 7 am the Climber's Bivouac. I got us a little lost with a faulty memory of where the Loowit branched off the summit trail. As well having the sign broken and lying in a pile at the side of the trail did not help at all.

We did a lava field and got the sleepiness out of the systen Then some snow but was well marked with flagging ribbon. This actually turned out to be the best marked section of the trail. Once we hit the junction with the June Lake trail (which we did not use as apparently the road is washed out..not surprising from what we saw later in the day) it was slow going through the snow but we knew things would pick up....and the bear grass was blooming!

We enjoyed the Plains of Abraham, up and over Windy Pass, which was not the windiest...that would be at the ridge before Toutle. Watching herds of elk, views of Spirit Lake, bear grass and the purple carpets of the tiny lupines made everything enjoyable as we got a chance to stretch out the legs.
Then we lost the trail...a couple of times. Most of the trail posts and cairns are broken/down through the Pumice Plain. The elk clearly thought we were slightly loopy but we did not do too many extra miles before finding the trail :-) . Pretty soon the running joke was any two rocks piled together must be a cairn. Most of the washouts through the blast zone were just a fun challenge. But I believe all of us where wondering what it would be like at Toutle. We did not get a glimpse of the crater with the clouds but the waterfalls coming out of the crater were quite beautiful.

The wind and the rain started to pick up and we kept running to stay warm. We made the ridge of the Toutle valley and started the switchbacks down to the river. I like this part the first time and it was still fun this time but the wind was pretty intense. I was glad it was blowing us into the hill and not off!
We got to the bottom and we all just stopped. The trail was just plain gone. It appears that the river channel is about 20 ft lower than what Steve remembers from last year.

Bushwhacker finally found a way to get down off the cliffs without too much risk. I am not sure I would do it again. Scrambling up the other side was made easier with the alder trees that have fallen into the canyon. Look close...see Bushwhacker in the top right of the picture on the right. I am unsure how long these will be there. From what we saw, I really do not think it would be possible to pass the canyon going in the other direction.

Once we regrouped on the other side (and put on more layers of clothes) we started then climb up out of the Toutle valley and into the amazing old growth that exists on this side of the canyon. There are many blow-downs in this section with some rather large trees but all were pretty easy to pass. We knew how to scramble after the creek crossings!

We had a talk at the Sheep Canyon trail intersection and took a vote to keep going but knew that if things did not progress well we would return to the Sheep Canyon trail and head down to the roads...always good to have a backup plan.
We continued on and hit the section of the Loowit that has been diverted for numerous years due to a washout. We headed downhill following the flagging of the washout and came out to where the switchbacks used to be. Again they have been completely erased. Nothing. Sheer cliffs of sediment down to the creek. 20-30 foot drops. We ran downstream for about 10 minutes seeing nothing that looked passable.
Decision time: we had not made great time with the snow and the canyons and the wind and rain. None of us wanted to still be on the mountain when it got dark. We all agreed it was time to head back to the Sheep Canyon trail and get on the roads. You can follow the roads in the dark. We would easily lose the trail even in twilight. It was uneventful heading back and down the Sheep Canyon trail. It is really a nice 2 mile trail down through the forest. It even still has bridges going over the stream. Seeing the parking lot lifted all of our spirits as we knew we still had lots of miles to go but no chance of getting lost in the dark.

Now it was just lots of miles of running / fast hiking on roads in the rain. The roads are closed due to some very impressive washouts / blast-outs from creeks. There is one section that had a sign to beware of flooding...the whole road is GONE for about 1/2 a mile. I was a little too cold and grumpy to fish out my camera at this sign...I regret it now :-) I have to figure out how to have the camera totally accessible yet protected.

I also had the privilege to see a black bear on this section. Running up the road I start noticing conifer trees that look healthy and happy except for almost all the bark is stripped of the trunk. Hit by lightning? Then I see one of the trees is shaking and there is a little black bear stripping off the bark to eat the sweet cambium underneath. I slowed a little to look but then continued on to not interrupt his/her feast. Possibly I was hallucinating as no one else saw the bear?? Time for more sugar!
We finished up running down the 8123 road and hit the 8100 road. I was not mentally prepared for the sign saying it was 6 more miles to the Climber's Bivouac. Argh...just want to be done. But I trudged on, snarfed down 2 chocolate chip cookies and a bag of black cherry Clif shot bloks (man I like those things!) and started to get a great second wind (I also heartily recommend the new blueberry crisp Clif bar flavor...thanks Dave!) I ran some more in the rain and caught up with Dave and we ran to the 830 road. Then the happiest moment in recent history: a car :-)
We flagged them down just as Bushwhacker pulled up with the truck. Wahoooo...we are out of the rain and skipping the last 2 miles of uphill.

So the trail is still amazing and Mt St Helens is breathtaking with its testament to the beauty of God's creation. I think it will take some time before the two valleys will erode into something that I will want to tackle. But who knows...it is wild out there and things are changing very quickly. I hope it changes fast.