I got an early 6:30 AM start from the trail head at Buck Creek off Hwy 410 near Crystal Mountain Ski Resort. It's been a year since I have run the trail so I brought along a photocopy of the Trail Running Guide to Western Washington for the Camp Sheppard-Forrest Shelter Loop. I'm really glad I brought those instructions because while I made a couple of wrong turns I was able to quickly recover without wandering too far from the desired trail.
This course climbs over 3000 feet in elevation combined with the Corral Pass out and back from the shelter. Climb is the word of the day! Good thing all my Mt. training has my Mt. goat climbing honed so I don't get too tired on these steady drudges up the hills.
Check out the staircase in the slide show below. Up up and away!
Had to deal with a number of blow downs across the trail. Ended up not being able to make it all the way to Corral Pass due to heavy snow on the trail at the upper sections. I probably could have made it but being solo I didn't want to risk a slip or post-hole and hurt myself. I did some exploring on the trails on the upper section above the shelter and got a few extra miles in.
The final section of trail from the shelter down is about 5 miles of down hill switchback and traverse. It's a great section to strengthen up your quads.
I felt great at the finish of the run and even considered starting the climb for the second half of the race. Instead I headed down to the river for a brief soak of the legs and headed to the small town of Greenwater for a burger and fries.
I hope all of you had a great weekend! Tomorrow I'll be riding my Mt. Bike and supporting Michelle at the Rattlesnake Lake Marathon.
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14 comments:
I swear I saw Bigfoot on your video - way in the back...
Glad you made it home safe.
I could look at those pictures for hours. They are just beautiful.
Wow. Beautiful video and pics! Is that the jawbone of the last ultra trail-runner who went into the deep dark woods alone? ; ) : ) Glad you made it home safely.
Thanks for the trail report. going up there tomorrow.I Hate those stairs!
A freakin' jawbone??? Please tell me your camera was on a serious zoom, it looked huge! And, speaking of the camera, do you have to get SO close to the edge? I almost got altitude sickness thinking of you taking a nice little nose dive there!
Anyways, nice pics! I was fully expecting Shrek to come out of your home away from home. You're brave dude. ;-)
We ended up running the Sun Top loop instead, still some snow but no Jawbones!
OMG - looks fab... but you wanted to do more... YOU ARE MAD... sorry I mean the MAN..... See you still like your freezing water leg soaks -shudder!
Michelle - yeah see I wasn't alone out there after all!
Darrell - gotta love the PNW!
Sarah / Wendy - I think that was the jawbone of a deer. I had the camera in my outstreached arm when I took a look over the edge in the video. I didn't want to end up a bleached pile of bones like mr. deer.
Herb - I heard you guys took the Sun Top route. I was told that had I continued past the ridge with all the snow on it that I would have crossed over to the sunny side of the ridge and been able to make it to Corral Pass. You should make it no problem next weekend.
Karen - I used the word brief because I'll admit being a total cold water wimp for some reason that day. I don't think I lasted more than 1 minute. The legs feel good though!
Fun! And a slight bit spooky. Probably wise that you turned around lest you get yourself in an uncorrectable mess.
Oh, and yes! I want to be a mad monkey runner! We monkey around over here all the time in these parts! :)
Meghan
Oh man! I am jealous! What more can I say?
Meghan - OK, you're in! You are officially a Mad Monkey Runner!
Rob - Be jealous, very jealous.
We have a local trail here with stairs that i avoid at ALL cost.
BTW - your comments on my son leaving for the Marines was more than kind. Thank you!
Wow Great Views...love the video & pics...thanks.
Looks like you have tapering coming up soon for the Canadian Death Race, enjoy it !
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