HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU WILL!

And while it's Christmas, let me share with you the song that's been playing over and over in my head ever since I heard it for the first time two weeks ago. No matter how hard I try, it just won't go away. Merry Christmas!

(be sure to pause the music player at the bottom of the screen before clicking the link)

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/alvin-and-the-chipmunks-ho-ho-ho-undeniable/533718884

Portland Report #2

After the run with Trevor on Sunday, I drove south to Oregon City to meet my parent's at my sister's house so we could all go together to Corvallis to see her stepdaughter sing with the OSU Chamber Choir. On Monday, I bummed around Portland and visited my Buddy Joe and his family that evening and had a couple other friends, Ben and Kay, stop by as well so it was great having everyone together finally! Good to catch up. I miss you all!

On Tuesday, I was back in the Gorge for another long run. This time, starting at Herman Creek TH and running upcanyon

to Casey Creek Trail,

up to Nick Eaton Ridge,



then up to Mt. Defiance,

over to Gorton Creek Trail,

and back down to Herman Creek stopping only to adjust clothing, take photos, and have some mystery stew with the old mountain hermit that lives in this cabin in the woods. (Felt kinda funny afterwards... I wonder what was in the stew...?)



I didn't get to do the "long option" on this route because the "short option" had already taken longer than I thought (another 6 1/2 hour run), but I was totally satisfied with it. Felt great the entire time. I love the extra boost of horsepower at sea level!

Portland Report #1

Friday, December 5th-

2:45pm MST: Left Driggs to begin my drive west to Portland with Buddy riding co-pilot.

Saturday, December 6th-

1:15am PST: Arrived in Portland at my parent's new house after 11 1/2 hours of driving (including a 1/2 nap at a rest area outside of La Grande, OR).

2:30am: Went to bed after chatting with mom and dad.

In the morning, at 8:00am, I woke up, had breakfast and went out for my favorite Portland city run at Mt. Tabor. (*Note: My advice is to not attempt an intense 1 hour long interval stair workout the morning after sitting in a car for half a day then getting 5 1/2 hours of sleep. I felt like a slug and cut the run short. No more stairs!)

That evening, I stopped by to briefly visit my buddy Joe's parents, then headed over to Trevor's place in Hillsboro to have dinner with his fam and stay the night there for an early run in the gorge the following morning. Had a great time hanging out. Already looking forward to seeing you all again next time I'm in town!

By10:30pm I was Snoozin.

Sunday, December 7th-

We woke up at 5:00am and headed out the door. By dawn, we had arrived at Eagle Creek TH and we quickly got our gear together and set off. Task #1: Find the Buck Point trail at the back of the campground at the base of Ruckle Ridge and begin our ascent from elev. 100' to 4,000' in 3 miles. It took 2hrs, 15 min to reach Benson Plateau. Then it took a half hour for me to finally figure out our correct route after bumbling around traipsing through the woods from my inability to remember the way. (The last time I did this route was about ten years ago)

It took us an hour fifteen to cross the plateau, meet up with the PCT and follow it south for 4-5 miles until we reached the shores of majestic Wahtum Lake.








We were completely encased in heavy white misty clouds. As you can see, visibility was minimal.

In another hour fifteen, we arrived at the upper junction with the Eagle Creek Trail. This is where we really began to notice the rain that had begun. Up until this point, things had been damp, but not wet. Now we were getting wet. Really wet. (This stretch is also where we crossed paths with three teenage-looking kids coming up the trail from the other direction. 2 boys, 1 girl, all wearing ponchos. At this point, they were probably 12 miles out from the trailhead at Eagle Creek. None of them had backpacks. If they were heading to Wahtum Lake and back, that'd make for about a 30 mile + day of hiking. We saw no camps set up along our route. I hope they knew what they were doing and made it back ok.)












This was a perfect example of typical Oregon rainforest. As it began to rain harder, my camera got foggier and foggier.

It took another hour fifteen to arrive back at the car after descending Eagle Creek and passing by all the waterfalls along the way. We also encountered about 20-25 hearty Northwesterners and 5-10 dogs out braving the cold, drenching rain on their hike up the trail.



Total time was almost exactly 6 1/2 hours. Mileage? Somewhere between 20-25 miles.












Trevor enjoys dancing jigs in the rain whilst out running trails.

To Portland!

I'm off to Portland tomorrow. Got a few days off work and a Saturn full of gas and I'll be hittin the highway heading west across Idaho round 2pm which should get me into Portland round midnight (Pacific Time). Ugh... more time sitting in a car.

I'll be visiting family and friends and I've also mapped out two routes I'd like to run in the Gorge while I'm there.

Tell me these don't look like a couple o' dang-fun-lookin 'ol routes!


Start at Eagle Creek TH. Up Ruckle Ridge to Benson Plateau. South across Benson Plateau to the PCT and continue south to Wahtum Lake. Around Wahtum Lake and west down to Eagle Creek. Down Eagle Creek back to TH. Mileage: Approx 25 miles


Start at Herman Creek TH. Up Herman Creek Trail to Casey Creek. Up Casey Creek (2900 ft in 2.1 miles) to Nick Eaton Ridge. South on Nick Eaton Ridge to Green Point Ridge. Around the NE edge of the ridge and under to North Lake, then east up to Mt. Defiance (4960 ft). Backtrack SW all the way to Wahtum Lake, then north down Herman Creek. Finish #1 is to go back up Casey Creek to Nick Eaton Ridge, then descend Nick Eaton Ridge to the TH. Finish #2 is to simply run out the Herman Creek Trail. Option #1 is preferred, but it depends on how I'm doing on time and how I feel. Mileage: 35 miles?

Grand Canyon - Rim to Rim to Rim 11-29-08

And so it began, on Thanksgiving Day, that Jen and Mike and I embarked on our southward journey for the weekend. Destination? South Rim of the Grand Canyon. But first, we were stopping for the night at Jen's cousin's house in Salt Lake City. Then, after waking at 6am, and a brief stop at Best Buy to purchase a new battery charger for my camera (which was horrible timing due to the 6:30am consumer-madness on the day after Thanksgiving. That place was infested with a ridiculous amount of impulse buyers. And they'd been open since 5am! WHAT?! But that's a whole other issue...), sigh..., we finally hit the wonderful I-15 and promptly accelerated up to 88.8 mph to begin our travel through the space-time continuum. Unfortunately, our flux capacitor was malfunctioning so we had to settle for the old fashioned method of travel. We need to get that thing fixed.

Upon arriving at the South Rim, we noticed small traces of snow alongside the road, evidence of the recent snowstorm that blew through the region on Thanksgiving Day. Just missed it! We rolled in around 3:30pm to mostly sunny skies and temps around 45 degrees. The forecast was for improving weather. More sun and more warm.

We dropped Mr. Fuzzy Buddy off at the kennel, set up camp while we still had light, drove into Tusayan for the traditional pre-run pizza dinner at We-Cook-Pizza-etc, then finished packing our things for the early start in the morning.

We woke at 5am and left camp on foot at 6:05. The route was to begin from the South Kaibab TH (a 4-5 mile jog from camp), descend to the river, cross over to Phantom Ranch, go up the North Kaibab Trail to the North Rim, turn around and go back to Phantom Ranch, cross over to the South Bright Angel Trail, and ascend that back to the South Rim where we would have a 1.5 mile jaunt back to the car. Jen's plan was the same except without the out-and-back to the North Rim. This way, we'd get to see more of the canyon (especially for Mike and Jen cause they'd never been there before), and this would leave a shorter distance back to the car at the end of the day.

We all left the South Kaibab TH at 7:10. From there, everything went almost perfectly.

Mike and I were down to Phantom in 1:45. Roaring Springs in 3:45.

North Rim in 6:00.

Back to Roaring Springs in 7:30.

Back to Phantom Ranch in 9:30.

And 3.5 hours later, at 8:10pm, we were standing on the South Rim.

Total time: 14 hours.

Trail time: 13 hours.

Total distance: 50-51 miles.

Trail distance: 46 miles.

Nutrition*:

3 Clif Shot Bloks @ 200 cal ea = 600 cal

2 Clif Shot gels @ 100 cal ea = 200 cal

8 PowerBar gels @ 110 cal ea = 880 cal

4 GU gels @ 100 cal ea = 400 cal

1 Hammer gel @ 90 cal

3 LARA BARS @ 200 cal ea = 600 cal

2 Clif Kid Organic Twisted Fruit (Yummy!) @ 70 cal ea = 140 cal

1 bagel @ 200 cal

2 funsize Snickers Bars @ 100 cal ea = 200 cal

Total calories: 3310

12-13 bottles of water @ 20 oz ea = 240-260 oz

*I had planned on running with a multi-hour bottle of Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem as well as two bottles of Sport Quest Carbo-Pro, but I mindlessly left it all at home which explains why my caloric intake was a bit on the light side. 'Way to go smart guy!' So, I guess this was a good test to see how my body held up when using straight water and also to see how my body would react to a rather low fuel supply while out there. I ended up with zero food left and I only had to bum one Power Gel off Mike about an hour under the south Rim before we finished so apparently it wasn't much of a problem.

We had zero problems out there sans for a brief, 5-10 minute stop for Mike to tend to a developing sad blister. Back at the South Rim, we met up with Jen at the Bright Angel Lodge for some much needed food and I devoured a burger and a half, fries, and two cokes in 9 1/2 minutes. And then, as soon as I was done, I began to nod off whilst sitting in the restaurant booth. Time for bed. Unfortunately, the shower schedule had just been modified to winter hours and closed at 6pm so it was a not-so-fresh-and-clean feeling that night. Yuk. But we got up at 7am the next morning, had some food, had a shower, packed up camp, and went off on a quick photo shoot posing in front of the Grand Canyon in our bikinis. Rawr...

Our route across the Bright Angel Fault