Loowit Trail, Mt Saint Helens

On Friday evening July 7 I ran/walked around Mt Saint Helens on the Loowit trail. The trail is ~32 miles long with 9700 ft of elevation gain. It took me a little under 14 hours to complete this route.

Thursday evening I had all my gear ready for my adventure of cernavagating Mt Saint Helens on the Loowit trail. This is one of the Ultra Pedrestration Wilderness Challenges I am working my way through this list. Friday was slow at work and I thought, maybe I can leave early and start tonight. Well, Friday afternoon, my boss asked me if I wanted to leave early to take off on my trip. It was slow at work, sure I said if these few jobs can wait till Monday. So off I went heading south to June lake trailhead.

3:45pm and I am off on my adventure. June Lake trailhead is the closest point to the Loowit trail.

Once I hit the Loowit trail I turned left for a clockwise route around the mountain. I ran Bigfoot 200 last  year and that route covered some the the trails I would be traveling on. I also wanted to follow the sun for most daylight for moving. 

Trail conditions were a combination of snow in the trees and gullies I would cross many of. The PNW had a large snowfall this winter. The snow is holding on longer than usual this year. I had an ice axe and crampons on my pack that never left. There were many trees down on the trail that I easily worked around, over or under. There were a few patches of overgrown trail to work through. 

I had a wrist gps unit on that really came in handy to help keep me on the trail. With patches of snow here and there playing hide and seek with the trail. Traveling at night, being able to look down at my wrist to make sure I was where I wanted to be is is very reassuring. 

The first part of the trail is a combination of trail and rock hopping for a few miles. I meet many people headed back to their car from a day hike, coming down from the summit and others hiking around the Loowit trail. Living here in the PNW popular outdoor environment is seldom a solitary experience.  Once it got closer to night fall I would be alone till first light of morning. 

Things are going well as I travel along the trail. The drop down Crescent ridge was impressive as I lost a lot of elevation. I would cross the Toutle river (wet feet) next and head into the sand hill switchbacks as I call them. This section is a set of switchbacks that goes up a side hill of firm sand. I am guessing animal tracks set the trail each spring. I would see evidence of animal tracks the entire length of this trail. 

The sun had set now and it was getting dark as I got to the got to the top of this hill. The full moon is rising to light the way for me. A cloud is also rolling through that would settle in the valley. For now this cloud is getting my glasses wet making me clean them too often so I can see. There is a cool breeze rolling through with this cloud. It was time to add a lot more clothes as I was on a the blast zone plain. After a while the cloud would settle below me and the wind will calm down allowing me to peal off a few layers. My first headlamp had dead batteries (dumb move Jeff), second one was good. I had an extra set of batteries in my pack just in case. 

I enjoyed crossing the blast zone in the dark. The full moon lit up the area in a dull light allowing me to see everything. I still needed my headlamp to see detail for my foot placements. This was a magical experance to travel around part of this mountain in this dull light. I loved the reflection of the moonlight off the creeks and rivers I crossed. I wished I could have captured this on my smartphone camera. 

At the end of the blast zone is windy pass. Before climbing up windy pass I saw reflected something in front of me. I took a couple seconds to realize this was reflective strips off someone's tent, sorry for the lightbeam. Up and over Windy pass I go and down the other side. Coming down the other side the trail is not quite as good as the up. I saw more reflective stips off someone's tent and reacted quicker this time. 

I was on quite nice trail now and could get some running miles in till I got to the turn at Pumice Butte. I was wonder why this was so good till I caught some mountain bike tire marks in the dirt and snow. 

Five miles till the turn to Jane Lake, this section is a combination of good trail, rock hopping and many gullies to drop into and climb out of. It is a lot like the first part of the trail I was on. One amazing thing happened on this part. I heard the howl of coyotes in the distance. Then closer by I heard a reply. I am glad Coyotes are timid animals and avoid humans. The full moon and sky just starting to get light it was a magical moment. 

Bye the time I reached June lake trail head it was light. On my way back to the trailhead I came upon a group of trail runner starting what I just finished. They were equipped lighter than I was and were very interested in what trail conditions were like. Back at the trailhead around 5:40 there were three more people getting started for a trip around the Loowit. 

Thanks for reading. 

Ultra Pedristration WIlderness Challenge Washington Coast.

On June 24 and 25 I ran/walked the Wa coast from Shi Shi Beach south to Oil City. This is one of the routes in UPWC. I have two friends John Brew and Roger Johnson that I though might enjoy doing this with me. We started our planning in the spring of this year for this adventure. Roger's wife Linda was going to crew for us. Our first date did not work out due to weather. We set two possible dates in June to do the run. I liked the 24/25 dates due to the tides.

John ran the Issy Alps 50k and crewed for Roger as he ran the Issy Alps 100 miler early in June. This adventure led them to me running this solo. John crewed for me and Roger did some running with me on the Sunday. John's effort made this route a lot easier for all. For me he got up very early to drive me to the trailheads and be a roving aid station. I can not thank him enough for all he did to make this a fun weekend for everyone. Now the adventure.

John drove over on Thur to get us a campsite at Mora campground. The rest of us drove over Fri getting there in time for dinner. We formed a plan for Sat that evening. John had done a trip over a few weeks back to scout the area out for this weekend. This was very helpful.

Sat morning 3 am John and I are off driving to Shi Shi beach. The drive along the straights was beautiful as the sky was getting light.

Start of the adventure  4:40 am, thanks John for the ride. You saved me from a long bike ride. 

This is a amazing place to visit. 

This is a easy route to follow. Just keep the water on your right side and you will be going south. When I was traveling along the beach I encountered five different types of surface to travel on. I will list in least favorite to awesome. 

5. Slippery medium size rocks. These one foot dia and smaller rocks have no solid footing. Every step results in sliding around.

4. Large rocks. You have to climb around on these. Travel is slow requires hands and feet to work your way through. 

3. Smaller dry rocks. Not great footing as they move sometimes and you walk around. 

2. Pea gravel, Every step is a sink in as you move forward. It takes a bit more energy to hold balance. I really liked using my poles in this terrain. 

1. Hard wet sand. This is great stuff to run on. You can look around as you run. There is nothing to trip on or trail to stay on. It was very enjoyable to gase at all the natural beauty around me. 

Every so often a rock formation would just out into the ocean and I would have to climb up and over using a trail with sometimes ropes to help. The ropes were due to all the erosion from all the rain that falls here.  

This place has a lot of wildlife. I did not take the time to stop to photograph very much of it. I was a little worried about making the tides through the headlands. 

John, Roger and Linda did the Ozette triangle meeting me with a banana and cookie. It was a treat to have a roving aid station.  At one point I got to a head land I could not go around. This one did not have an established trail over it. I has a choice of waiting for the tide to go out. This would be about four hours, or up and over. Up and over I went. There were game trails to follow and I am guessing other people have done the same. I had to do this same thing again for one more headland before the home stretch to Mora campground. 

I make it back to Mora campground around 7pm. Roger and Linda's camper has a outside shower. This was a real treat to get cleaned up after the first leg of my adventure. John and Roger went to get pizza for dinner. This was a real treat for me. 

Second day's adventure allowed John and I to sleep in till a 5am departure from camp. We had to wait till the tides were at the right point before I could get through the first headland. The section at the start has lots of small very slippery rocks. The second part would end up being lots of trails with too

 much mud and very nice beaches to run on. 

I meet the gang for roving aid station number 2. Roger joined me after this for the finish of the beach section and the road run back to camp to put the two section together. We put this route together as a group fun time. This is why I did it this way so everyone could have an enjoyable time. It worked out great for everyone with this plan. 

Finish time back to camp was around 1:40 pm. I good time was had by everyone. 

I want to thank the FB crew for all the information I read from them. My crew of John, Roger, Linda, Vicky and Laurie for helping me play in the wilds of Wa state. This is a great trip better done as a four day backpack to spend the time really being out there. 

Thanks for reading. 

Issy Alps 100 miler

What is the Issy Alps 100 miler? It is a 100 mile run from Mailbox peak on the north side of I-90 going over peaks eastbound by trail and a few road section to the trails of Cougar mt. It then turns around and goes west to the parking lot of Tiger mountain trails. Web site and map here.

https://bonegamespnw.wordpress.com/

http://caltopo.com/m/MFTN

Thanks for George to creating this route for us to enjoy.

Why would I take on something like this? I have been running these trails for years as training runs for events I have planned. I have a event planned this fall called Moab 200. I figured this would be a good opportunity for a training run to start my training off for this event.

Here is my experance of running 51 hours and 45 min over the 100 miles of trails along the I-90 corridor. These trails will take me through 33,189 ft of elevation gain. I carried all my own gear/food needed for this adventure. I ran solo all of it except for the first ~13 mile with my friend Brian who helped shuttle me to the start while my car was left at the High point trailhead.

It is around 5am on Sat morning  and Brian and I are leaving his car for the trip up the old trail on Mailbox peak. It is nice to have someone to chat with as we work our way to the summit. The trails are in good shape and we make good time on the accent.

Here I am on the summit of Mailbox peak. 

Mt Rainier from the summit of Mailbox. It was a very clear day with amazing views.

                                      

 The photo shows Mt Si where I am headed. 

Heading down the new trail we make good time and complete this section in three hours. Now we head off to the Granite lake trail for a few miles. At the junction to the lake and going down to the road I head down and Brian heads to the lake. At the Sitka spruce trail the creek crossing are easy and dry feet for me. With the nice weather we have been having the trails are drying out and the mud is a minimum. I filtered water at one of the creek I pass by. At the CCC road it is a mostly down hill run to trailhead of Tenerife. I am gathering water at the creeks in my handheld water bottle as I need it. The old trail up Tenerife is in good shape.

Photos of Kamikaze falls. 

I encountered snow for the last 1/4 mile or so as I got to the summit.

The summit of these mountains are not solitary experiences. I will encounter this for remainder of this trip. I do not mind as I like to see people out exercising in all the beauty we live in here. That is rattlesnake lake and ridge leading right in the background.

Running down Tenerife I am in snow for a few miles. The snow is easy travel, but burning energy staying upright and getting my feet drenched. About halfway to the upper Si turn off the snow finally ends. Make ok time to the lower crossover to the Mt Si system. Once I am at the new trail to Si I make ok time up Si.

People gathering around the Mt Si area enjoying the views.

Down the old Si trail I go onward toward Little Si. Right turn and up to the summit of little Si. As I am on the Little Si trail I ask myself, why can't I be like those people that are good with this as their day's exercise of walking up this peak.

View into the valley from Little Si

There is a creek that is one half mile from the Little Si trailhead I use to filter water, have a snack and reload food for my next step over to Rattlesnake ridge. I am 14 hours in at this point for the 50k distance. The bike trail is slightly uphill to rattlesnake lake. I try to run, but common sense tells me to walk. Along the way I pass by a guy enjoying the scenery from the side of the trail.  

Nice light as the sun is working its way down the horizon. 

This is want I was waiting for. 

I work my way around the lake and onto the trail that goes up over the ridge. It is starting to get dark so I pull my headlamp out. I find it funny that people are hiking down from the ledge with their cellphones as lights to see the trail. I guess that is one good use for all the technology. 

When I get 2/3 of the way through this section I encounter a logging operation detour of the trail. It is marked ok so I get through with no problems. There are only a few trees I have to work through at the end of the detour before it is smooth sailing. I have run this section in the past a few years back and thought I had it all memorized. I thought I had my gps track on. Well things change. I turned at the first logging road to work my way over to the bike trails. With the new logging going on I needed to turn at the third logging road to get to the bike trails. I spent some time figuring this out as I searched around in the dark on different roads and trails to backtrack to my starting point. This was the only navigation error I made during the trip. 

I am at the bike trails now working my way down the hill to the power lines and road that will lead me to the Raging river. I have run this section three times and each time I seams to exit a different place and still end up at the transfer station where all the power lines meet. I get to the Raging river at 4am. It is still dark, I know I can cross here ok in the dark, but I need a little light to to find the correct path through the next creek. It is a small creek with steep sides to it. Finding the correct path will make this part a lot easier. I take a short break and wait till I have a little light to help me out. 

This light make all the difference and I have no problem working my way forward and up to the logging road that is part of the Tiger trail system. My shoes are drenched. I change socks at the road, eat and repack some food. Dry socks are so nice to put on. It makes life so much better. Off I go on my way up to East Tiger summit. 

Rattlesnake ridge where I came from.

At East Tiger summit there is a picnic table, I say to myself, five min break then leave. Well a min latter Gabe walks around the corner and I end up taking a 20 min break talking. Oh well, it is not a race and I enjoy the time chatting with him. At least I had a good snack. 

Me at East Tiger summit.

Down, down down I go through the trails of Tiger mt to the high point way parking lot. My time at the parking lot is 30 hours for the 100k distance. I see my car here and say goodbye to it for a little while longer. 

I now go up Tiger three. As you can imagine I am getting a little tired. It some point I thinking what is the best thing to do here? My answer is a nap. Well I have never seen anyone take a nap on the side of the Tiger trail, but I did for 15 min. It was great, I was refreshed and ready to go. 

Next comes Tiger two summit

Nothing exciting going on here, but me passing through. 

Onward to Tiger one summit. 

I am finally done with the Tiger summits. My next destination is the High school trailhead. This will allow me to get some running in and make a little time. As I pass by the trailhead there is a game going on. It is interesting to have this wilderness experance so close to civilization. Up and over Squawk  I go. The east side of Squawk has the most climbing on it to get up and over. On the climb up Squawk I am tired again. Ok time for another nap. I lay down and I sleep for 45 mins this time. When I was settling in on the trail to nap two hiker passed by me. They asked if I was ok, yea I answered, just tired. I make it to the Cougar trail head as it was getting dark. Time for the headlamp again. 

I traveled through the Cougar section in the dark taking one more final nap for two hours. My gps was great to have to make sure I was going the correct direction with all the twists and turns  in this trail network. I enjoy running these trails a lot more in the light. Navigating with gps and looking at the spot of light in front of me is not very exciting. I got done what I needed to do to complete this section. At the Squawk trailhead again my headlight gets stored away and I am working my way up the trail for the last time. I like running eastbound as there is more downhill  in the trail toward Tiger. I am not moving fast, but can enjoy a easy jog on the flats and downhill. 

Nice piece of trail on Squawk in the morning light. 

Now at the Tiger highschool trailhead I have a couple miles and I am done. I choose to walk the Brink trail due to all the roots and turns. It is not a smooth trail like many of the other trails around here. I get to the parking lot thinking I would love a breakfast burrito right now. My reality is other people getting ready for there hike for the day. They see me think I am finishing my hike on Tiger, I guess. This is the world of self supported trail running. You finish with the satisfaction of knowing you are done with this adventure. The only person it mattered to was you. I had a great time playing in the foothills of the cascades. We live in such an amazing place. 

Thanks for reading. 

Finish time was 51 hours and 45 min. 

Issy Alps 50k attempt .

Issy Alps 50k attempt

John, Roger and I had plans this weekend to do the UPWC Coastal route. John had a family thing today so decided a attempt on the Issy Alps 50k would be a good substitute. We were at Mailbox trailhead by 6 working our way up Mailbox after having done the car scuttle. Things progress well hitting snow about 1 mile from the summit.

Summit photo of the three of us. 

Down Mailbox we went passing lots of other people going for their morning workout up the peak. Worked our way over to and on trail that takes us to the base of Tenerife, 

Roger getting ready to cross the first stream. There used to be a bridge here. 

Roger walking on water. 

We got to the turn off for Tenerife fall and John said he was not feeling it today and was going to head back to car. He took the low route back to Mt Si trailhead and walk back to car along road to the car at the Little Si trailhead. Roger and I continued up to Tenerife falls and on to summit. Note here that there is a lot of snow on the summit of Tenerife. Roger and I used microspikes for the last 1000 to 1500 ft of the climb. There was a good boot path to follow. Who put the boot path in did a good job as it followed my GPS track of the trail almost dead on. Once at the summit Roger was feeling a bit tired and said he did not want to continue with the 50k route. He encourage me to continue on, I would decide once we hit the turn for the Mt Si trail system. When we were chatting of options up there a young gal came up and asked about direction. She decided it was best to join us for her trip down to her car. Again there is a lot of snow up there. On the way down the boot path is dead on for the ridge traverse. Once you turn left a little going down in the tree switch back area the boot path is to the right of the GPS track of the trail. The boot path and GPS track of the trail meet at the road. There is snow a few miles down the road, maybe about half way down. The high route traverse to Mt Si is snow covered from what I can imagine from what I saw. We got back to the Mt Si trailhead around 7. I decided that I did not want to spend 3 more hours out there with half of that time in the dark. I know Roger and John would have waited for me. My goals of spending time with friends, showing them new trails to explore and spending time playing in my backyard were accomplished. It was a great day.