The Timberline Trail

This weekend we went backpacking around Mt. Hood.  The first day, Mom and Jacob went counterclockwise around most of the mountain, and Dad and I went clockwise and met them part way around.

Earlier in the week Mom had suggested that we try to go around Mt. Hood on the Timberline Trail since we'd never done it before.  Unfortunately on Thursday I crashed while mountain biking and really banged up my right quad.  I figured there was no way I was going to make it around the mountain in 2 days so we needed to change the plan.  So Mom and Jacob took light packs and did most of the loop the first day, while Dad and I carried a bit more weight (mainly the tent, pads, cooking gear...) and met them part way around.  This was the first time we've ever split up like that on a trip so Dad and I were happy to see Mom and Jacob coming around the mountain Saturday evening.

The first day was mostly cloudy so we didn't get too many views of the mountain, but the cool weather was certainly a nice reprieve from all the heat we've been getting this summer.  The second day was still fairly cool, but with clear skies.  The trip was a lot of and was a great way to explore a new place.  As for my quad, I started out really gimping, but by the end of the trip its was hardly an issue.  Here's some pictures from the trip:

Just above Timberline Lodge

Mt. Hood

The clouds starting to roll in

Looking down the Zig Zag Creek drainage

Zig Zag Creek

Huckleberries

Dad at Zig Zag Creek

Clouds to the west

Paintbrush

More huckleberries

Looking up toward Mt. Hood

Possible the Sandy River or at least a stream that feed into it

The Sandy River drainage

Dropping down to the Sandy River

Dad at the Sandy River

The Sandy River doesn't look like much here, but there was a little bit of a creek to cross

Ramona Falls

Dad and I at Muddy Creek

Muddy Creek

Muddy Creek

Looking down the Muddy Creek drainage

This was an awesome ridge

Early Sunday morning with Dad and Jacob

Mt. Hood

I've never seen a tree separate quite like this before

Ramona Falls

Back at the Sandy River

Mt. Hood

We could see St. Helens on the horizon, but its probably indistinguishable in this picture

We could see St. Helens and Rainier here, just take my word for it

Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Jefferson with the Three Sisters to the left of it, you can't see them at all in the picture

July 15 - July 21

This week started with a run and a couple of bike rides.  My legs were feeling a little beat up so I decided to do some bike riding to give them a rest from the pounding of running.  That worked pretty good until Thursday when I crashed and pulled my hamstring.  Initially I though maybe I could ride it off, but it only took a few minutes for me to come to my senses and cruise down the mountain back to the car.

Friday both hamstrings hurt a little bit, although the right one was decidedly worse.  Neither one was too awful bad which was good as Dad, Jacob, and I drove to Gold Lake, near Willamette Pass, for the Waldo Trailwork Saturday morning.  As always there was a great group of guys at the Waldo Trailwork which made for an enjoyable day!  As an added bonus, there were very few mosquitoes which made the day all that much better.

The Three Sister from Mt. Fuji

Diamond Peak

Mt. Thielson

Mt. Thielson

Dad and Jacob on Mt. Fuji

July 9 - July 15

 I got in a bit of running this last week and felt pretty good.  My calf seem to be fully recovered which is good.  I've got a few minor aches and pains from starting to do some real running again, but nothing I'm concerned about.  Its just that when you start doing something different (in my case running again) the human body takes a little bit to respond.

Anyhow, running this weeks was very enjoyable.  I feel like a kid again.  My goal is to just get out, have fun, and do it again tomorrow.  For years that was my philosophy and it worked great.  The last couple years I tried to actually "train" for races by having a very structured routine throughout the week.  That didn't work so well.  And I think why it didn't work was that it was no fun.  Looking back on the last couple years I see that I did a pretty good job of sucking all the fun out of running.  In some ways, its almost kind of humorous.

Running has really been good lately and I know its because I've finally got the right perspective again.  If you have fun and do the best you can, that's all you can ask for.  If you want anything outside of that, you're probably losing perspective on what is all about.

But enough of that mumbo jumbo, here's some great picture from our trip around Three Fingered Jack.  Mom, Jacob, and I circumnavigated Three Fingered Jack on Saturday and it was a cooker.  I think it was 88 when we got back to the car, but you're pretty much in the open (okay in the dead trees) the whole time so you really feel the sun.  I think the pictures stop when we are about halfway done because after that we were just running through the burn and it was hot.

Mt. Washington with the Three Sisters behind

Mom and Jacob climbing through the rocks

Black Butte

It looks like Jacob was too fast for the photographer

Not much snow left now

Three Fingered Jack

Truffula trees

Goats - we saw 5 goats on the slopes of Three Fingered Jack
There's at least 2 in this picture and the third blurry white spot might be one too

Mt, Jefferson

Indian Paintbrush

Mom and Jacob with Three Fingered Jack in the background

Three Fingered Jack

Live trees, with dead trees behind them.  It looked way cooler than the picture does

Another angle of Three Fingered Jack

Heading up to Canyon Creek meadows

Jacob with Canyon Creek meadows below up

The Fingered Jack

Lots of burned trees to run through today

Left to Right: Broken Top, Bachelor, North Sister, Middle Sister, South Sister, Mt. Washington, The Husband (just poking out right of Mt. Washington)

Mom with Three Fingered Jack behind