Tuesday, July 29, 2014, 8:28 pm
4.4 mi, 237 ft gain, 39:10. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1. With dogs. Altra Superior 1.5

Felt pretty good. Pushed the pace a bit.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014, 8:32 pm
6.0 mi, 731 ft gain, 58:51. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1. Solo. Altra Superior 1.5


Ran up one of the steeper roads in one of the clear cuts. Watched the sunset and three common nighthawks flying and diving through the air. They were flying pretty close, squawking at me.

Thursday, July 31, 2014, 3:56 pm
6.0 mi, 2750 ft gain, 1:41:31. Heybrook Lookout Triple. Solo. Altra Superior 1.5


My legs craved some climbing, so I headed out to the Heybrook Lookout. It’s about 1 mi and 900 ft elevation gain to the top. Two cars in the parking area when I pulled up. Saw one person coming down on my second trip up. Both cars gone when I got back down. My legs, calves especially, are usually a little tight during the first climb of most runs. This time was no exception. The second ascent was kind of rough. I’m still not sure why. The third ascent felt great though. I had a few huckleberries and salal berries at the top. Finished one 20 oz water bottle each round trip. Swapped out for a full bottle at the car between trips. The ankle held up great on the technical sections.

Thursday, July 31, 2014, 8:08 pm
4.6 mi, 190 ft gain, 46:27. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #2. With dogs. Altra Superior 1.5


Went out for an easy shakeout run with the dogs. They needed to get out and I like to move rather than sit around and let my legs get stiff.

Saturday, August 1, 2014, 5:36 pm
7.7 mi, 2418 ft gain, 2:38:59. Barclay Lake, Eagle Lake, Townsend Mtn. Solo. Altra Superior 1.5

I wanted to run to Surprise and Glacier Lakes. I waited for intermittent thunderstorms to pass over, but when I got closer to the trail head I saw lightning over the area. So I turned around and went back for another shot at the Barclay Lake to Eagle Lake trail, which I didn’t finish a while back.

The trail to Barclay is a pretty easy 2 miles. It gets steep right away after that. I still managed to run the first half or so of the climb. Then there is a boulder field that requires a bit of scrambling and route finding. I followed a couple wrong cairns going more or less straight up, when I should have followed the ones going off to the right. It then continues upward. Then there’s a small stretch of boot path through some brush before another smaller section of boulder scrambling. After that, it’s still steep, but I kept running instead of hiking. The climb from Barclay until you reach tiny Stone Lake is about 0.8 mi and 1400 ft gain. After Stone Lake, there is another little climb up and over the saddle until you reach Paradise Meadow. It was a lot of fun running through the meadow. It’s not too much farther to Eagle Lake.

I had planned to go up Townsend Mountain from Eagle Lake, but it was getting late and I wanted to get back to my car before dark. I decided to go up Townsend a little way to scout for next time. The path up is pretty easy to follow, but not really at all runnable. The rocks are smaller than those coming up from Barclay, but still big enough to require intentional foot placement, 1-3 ft instead of 3-10+ ft. I got up to just below the rock face where descriptions say to go around. I turned back and stopped a few times on the way down to take in the view.

I made it back to my car just before sunset. My legs felt better than I expected after such steep climbing. Maybe it was partially the easy 2 mi back from Barclay.

Sunday, August 2, 2014, 5:07 pm

~14 mi, 4275 ft gain, 3:52:31. Surprise Lake, Glacier Lake, Pieper Pass. Solo. Altra Superior 1.5


The weather was nice, so I made it out to the Surprise Creek trail head. It starts climbing right away. I found pretty much the whole trail to be runnable. A few steps were a bit high and required some extra help grabbing onto rocks or trees. I passed a couple pairs of hikers and a backpacking family on their way down before reaching Surprise Lake. GPS lost satellite reception a couple times, lots of trees and tall mountains.

There are a few flat sections every so often, but it’s mostly uphill until the short descent to Surprise Lake. I stopped there for a couple minutes. There was a group of friends hanging out by the lake. I chatted briefly with them. They said they were just up for the day. Then I continued on, intending to go to Glacier Lake.

There’s another climb up and short descent to Glacier Lake. The trail links up with the PCT. It’s fairly flat for a while by Glacier Lake. I ended up skipping the lake and heading on up the valley.

I wanted to go up to Surprise Gap, but the trail was abandoned and I couldn’t follow it. I didn’t spend a lot of time looking, though, and decided to go to Pieper Pass instead. The small meadow at the head of the valley is pretty amazing, surrounded on three sides by Thunder Mountain, Surprise Mountain and an unnamed peak across Surprise gap. The trail up to Pieper is pretty rocky until it gets back into some trees and brush up higher. Lots of switchbacks. There’s a small tarn of snow melt about 0.5 mi from the top. The views to the north from the top are amazing. The views to the south are mostly obscured by trees on the south side of the mountain. Pieper Pass is about 5900 ft elevation. I hung out for a couple minutes and headed back down.

I stopped for a couple minutes at Glacier Lake on the way back down. I didn’t beat the sunset back to the car this time. I pulled out my headlamp for about the last mile. The tree cover was too thick to let in enough of the remaining light of dusk to see all the rocks and roots. I tripped a couple times, but managed to stay upright the whole time. I didn’t see any other people after leaving Surprise Lake until the last couple hundred yards when I came across the same group of guys that I saw at the lake.

I ran out of water just before I got out my headlamp. I was thirsty when I got back to the car, but it wasn’t too bad. On the drive home, I started to feel a little nauseated. I haven’t felt like that after a run in several years. I took a couple salt caps during the run, but should have maybe taken a little more salt. Maybe I should have eaten a little more as well. I had 5 medjool dates and 2 small 2in diameter apples for the whole run. I had a little more water and felt better by the time I arrived home.

These trails lived up to the descriptions I’ve read online. I’m glad I continued up to Pieper pass as well. Throughout the day, I stopped for photos and just to admire the scenery quite a few times. I certainly could have run it faster, but I don’t think it would have been nearly as enjoyable.

Weekly totals: 42.7 mi, 8h0m, 10601 ft gain

Ankle is still a little tender, but is holding up great. I’m paying more attention to the trail so I don’t misstep. I’m also running less often in my Altra Lone Peaks. I just feel a lot more stable in the Superiors with the lower stack height. I wish the Superiors had a little more aggressive tread, but they’ve been great so far. I decided to put the removable rock plates back in. Without them, my feet were starting to feel the cumulative effects of the rocky terrain I run. The rock plates add just enough protection without taking away too much proprioception and ground feel.