Status of the Trail.

As of today, according to the Mount Rainier Website, the Wonderland Trail is pretty much still snowed under.  The most telling comment is under the Summary:  "Heavy snow this year will result in a late melt-out.".  This has also pushed back the opening of the Sunrise Visitor's Center until July 8th.  (Seattle-Times)

This year, there was 907 inches of snow, 200 inches below the record of 1,122 in 1971-2, but much greater than the average of 630 inches per year.  It would also help if we actually had a bit of sun. 

My daughter just arrived from Europe and will be leaving town on July 19th.  She would love to hike the whole trail with me, but the weather and the timing won't allow that.  We'll keep looking for trail status to see if there is a way we can get at least one segment in before she heads out of town. 

Pray for sun! 

Fitness Review - 6/18

The weekend wasn't particularly sunny or warm, but it was dry.  Rain early in the week, then the sun came out for Thursday and Friday, followed by Rain on the weekend. 

However, I did get my Leaf of Saturday, so that capped off a good week. 

Day	Exercise	Distance (Miles)	Time (Min)
Sun	Yard work	0.0	120+ min
Mon	Wii, Walk (w/ Pack)	1.5	60 min
Tue	Wii, Walk (w/ Pack)	1.5	60 min
Wed	Wii, Golf	5.0	270 min
Thu	Wii, Walk	0.0	60 min
Fri	Wii, Walk (w/ Pack)	1.5	60 min
Sat		0.0	0 min

Ending Weight: 206.2 lbs. down 0.4 lbs.

Fitness Review - 6/11

Started the week with sunny warm weather and it quickly degraded during the week.  At least the weekends were nice. 

Day	Exercise	Distance (Miles)	Time (Min)
Sun	Yard work	0.0	120+ min
Mon	Wii, Walk (w/ Pack)	1.5	45 min
Tue	Wii	0.0	30 min
Wed	Wii	0.0	30 min
Thu	Wii, Golf	5.0	210 min
Fri	Wii, Walk (w/ Pack)	1.5	60 min
Sat		0.0	0 min

Ending Weight: 206.6 lbs. down 0.9 lbs.

Trout Lake - Part 2.

After arriving a Trout Lake, we ran into a trio of UW Chemistry Grad Students.  We spent the next half hour resting and talking to them about their studies.  Gail tried to understand what they were studying, but I just let it all go over my head.  The lake was clear, cold and amazingly dry.  This time of year, we usually have pretty muddy trails, but this trail was surprisingly dry.  Only a few snow patches left in the hollows. 

The students told us that the trail was clear all the way up to the falls, so I dropped off my pack and we hiked another half mile up the path to a pretty decent cascade.  This took the elevation up another 400 feet, so we called it good and headed back to the lake.  After picking up the pack, we headed back down. 

When we got back to the river crossing, I finally realized how Gail has ruined me.  I crossed the log first, then Gail sent the dog over, then she crossed.  The whole time the dog is coming over, I'm focusing on the dog, hoping that I don't have to swim for her.  Once the dog made it over, we turned and headed along the bank.  The fact that my wife was still halfway across the log wasn't a concern to me at the time!  I blame this misplaced concern directly on my wife. 

We all made it back alive (and a bit scratched up). 

Fitness Review - 6/4

We spent this past weekend outside. Our first taste of sunny, 70 degree weather.  Hiking on Saturday, yard work on Sunday. 

Day	Exercise	Distance (Miles)	Time (Min)
Sun	Wandering around Yakima River Canyon	3.0	? min
Mon		0.0	0 min
Tue	Wii	0.0	30 min
Wed	Wii	0.0	30 min
Thu	Wii, Walk	2.0	70 min
Fri	Wii, Walk	1.0	30 min
Sat	West Fork of the Foss River (with pack for 3 miles)	4.0	300 min

Ending Weight: 207.5 lbs. up a bit from last week.  I guess that's the price you pay when you get frozen custard.

West Fork of the Foss River / Trout Lake

I got a new book a couple of weeks ago, Hiking Washington's Alpine Lakes Wilderness by Jeff Smoot.  Given that this week was absolutely gorgeous (mid-70's, not a cloud in the sky), we decided to go for a bit of a hike, and we picked the West Fork of the Foss River / Trout Lake hike.  It's low enough in elevation that it was snow free, but it had a bit of elevation change (400 ft) to make it a good day.  I decided to strap on my pack and make it a training hike as well. 

Life was good for the first half mile, the trail was in good condition and the terrain wasn't too bad.  When we go to the river crossing, we were detoured due to the foot bridge being washed away, so we made our river crossing on a log.  Then things got dicey. 

The second part of the hike involved quite a few downed trees, climbing over them, squeezing under them or detouring around them.  It seemed that all the trees we climbed over were full of sap, going under consisted of crawling in the mud (with a 30 lb pack), and detours around them took us through strands of devil's club and blackberries.  Having just worn shorts, I've still got the wounds on my legs.

But the trip was worth it.
 

Umtanum Creek Canyon

Eagle's Nest across River

While we were in Yakima over Memorial Day weekend, we spent Sunday traveling up the Yakima River Canyon between Yakima and Ellensburg.  It was a lovely day, with a little bit of haze, but generally sunny and warm enough that we were comfortable in t-shirts.   We drove up the canyon in part because there was a geocache every mile or so.  We saw a Bald Eagle nest, Swallows in their cliff dwellings and other birds.

Foot Bridge at Umtanum
Creek Canyon

Near the end of the day, we made it to Umtanum Creek Canyon.  This is a popular hike near Ellensburg, both by the number of cars in the parking lot as well as by the number of geocaches along the trail.  The hike begins with a crossing over the Yakima river on a foot bridge.  Zoe started over the bridge fairly confidently, however, as the bridge began to swing she began to walk more hesitantly, finally slipping through one of the cracks on the bridge.  No harm done, but she stayed close to her master.  

The hike follows the Umtanum Creek through an old homestead while the canyon narrows.  The cliffs and valley walls were covered in scrub brush and prairie grasses, with stands of aspen growing in the wet areas. We ended up walking about a mile up stream (finding four geocaches), before resting our feet in the stream and snacking on trail mix. 

By the end of the day, we added 21 cache finds to our log (a new daily record for us) and walked a few miles. 

Fitness Review - 5/28

We spent the Memorial Day weekend on the other side of the mountains, so the end of the week was a bit light.  

Day	Exercise	Distance (Miles)	Time (Min)
Sun		0.0	0 min
Mon	Wii	0.0	0 min
Tue	Wii, Golf	5.0	240 min
Wed	Wii	0.0	30 min
Thu	Wii, Walk	1.5	60 min
Fri	Wii	0.0	30 min
Sat	Wandering around Yakima	0.0	0 min

Ending Weight: 206.8 lbs.  Managed to loose a little bit while away for the weekend (and having too much ice cream).