Training Log Archive: Yvonne

Carbon River -> Golden Lakes; 4,450' elevation loss

I did the Spray Park trail alternative which added a bit of mileage and climb from the classic WT route. But sooo worth it - sunny alpine splendor!

Big day w/ lots of climbing and miles. Feet were tender - especially my R arch. This was a little troubling so I favored it, esp. on the downhills. Started my 3,000'+ climb to Spray Park in foggy mist that gave way to clear views of Rainier above a certain elevation - but then it was back to fog on the other side of the divide. I had a detour to Mowich Lake to get my food cache - unfortunately that added an unplanned .5-.75 mi. while I attempted to locate the cache bin. Frustrating! I obviously had WAY too much food so fiddled around w/ recalculating my needs and was forced to throw away the rest. Boo.

Then headed down 2,300' (somehow avoiding the hornets/bees that stung many other hikers) and back up another 2,300'. This was a low point. It was later in the day than I would have liked and the climb seemed like it would never end. Lots of positive self-talk, interspersed w/ occasional negative commentary. Made it to Golden Lakes and was beat. Good thing it was gorgeous! My campsite was right next to the prettiest alpine lake imaginable.

White River -> Carbon River; 5,200' elevation loss.

Headed up a cool, misty 2,000' climb w/ many switchbacks. Up, up, up, through the chilly/foggy subalpine Sunrise and Berkeley Park areas, past tranquil Mystic Lake, then down, down, down - about 5,000'. Tough. Very steep, rocky and difficult w/ some exposure. Although this is a well-established trail, there are still plenty of places where a misstep on shaky legs could result in a plummet to your death. Trekking poles came in handy! This section of trail passed next to the lower tongue of the Carbon Glacier and you could hear constant cracking sounds and rockfall along w/ the roaring of the glacial river. So cool! Then there was a long, wobbly suspension bridge (1 of 2 on the trail) over the river and just beyond was Carbon River camp.

My campsite felt like a little fairy house - 2 small earthen platforms at different levels nestled in between huge tree trunks. Fun! A backcountry ranger was staying at the site below - super nice guy w/ some tips for the next day. He checked my permit (a recurring theme - the NPS runs a tight ship on this trail). It rained that night and I did a crappy job w/ the tent pitch so I had major condensation issues - not uncommon w/ single wall tents. I packed up my sleeping bag to keep it dry then put on every piece of clothing I had. Stayed pretty warm, but not the best night's sleep.

Box Canyon -> White River; 3,930' elevation loss.

Checked in w/ rangers and was on the trail by 8:30AM. Cruised through the first 3,000' climb and enjoyed clear, sunny views of Rainier and Mt. Adams. I had some issues w/ the next 2,000' climb - significant enough to cause a major trailside puke episode which worried me a bit (very remote section of the park)...until about 10 sec. after when I promptly felt like a million bucks! So I immediately adjusted my eating for the duration of the hike and all was well. Exertion/altitude/fitness were prob all contributing factors. I breezed over the high subalpine areas, across the small snowfields, over rocky Panhandle Gap (high point on the WT) and down through huge forests to my 1st camp at White River.

BTW - right before my little stomach issue, I was crawling along at a snail's pace and was passed by a gal who said she was trying to complete the loop in under 30 hrs. Turns out this was Candice Burt and she did it, setting the FKT for an unsupported female on the WT. Just awesome! Not surprised - she looked amazing.

This is total time - didn't track moving time, but for the duration of the hike, only stopped for quick breathers, pics, chit-chat w/ hikers/rangers, bio breaks or to treat water (and quickly rinse gross stuff like previous days' socks). No extended stops during the day.

Wonderland hike Aug 29 - Sept 2! Felt intense guilt leaving my family again but better once I got on the plane. Pack weight w/ 2.5 days of food and 1.5l of water is around 19 pounds - super happy w/ that. Prepared for full-on rain, low temps in the 30s, and some glorious sunshine too. Hiking counterclockwise.

C • Excited for you! 3

Home from GJ super late Thurs. Trainer spin w/ surprisingly good effort. Sat in meetings WAY too much this week.

I went to lovely Grand Junction and all I got was this lousy hotel treadmill shuffle.

Myrtl plus a few pushups in hotel room.

Biz trip to Grand Junction this week. Little advance notice on this one. Not great timing, missing son's annual hockey eval/team tryout plus traveling next week too (for pleasure, but still). Trying to make the best of it.

Full lap of Lost Valley plus 25-ish repeats of the little steep hill up to Hamburg. Surprisingly not too mind-numbing and was happy to get the (short) climbs/descents in. 2 small blisters on my R foot that I chose to ignore, otherwise no physical issues. No bug issues (except for 1 horse fly bite). 20# pack. Got new trekking poles (Z-Packs CF w/ clasp-locks) and they were the bomb - time will tell on durability.

C • That is some serious traini... 2

KM1

Extra long myrtl plus a couple additional hip exercises

Trash/recycle hauling plus some slow shuffling.

myrtl

Laps, laps, and more laps around the yard until kids were up. 25.5# pack. Many repeats of yard "hills" (not very big but better than nothing). Podcasts made the time go by quickly.

Cuivre River S.P. - mapped out a 20-ish mi. loop. Hoped to start at 6AM but didn't quite make that. Very humid w/ lots of moisture "raining" from tree leaves and trails were unpleasantly overgrown. 7 mi. in, I stopped to adjust my shoe, noticed at least several hundred (maybe more?) baby ticks all over my legs and decided to abort mission. Bailed to the road, high-tailed it to the Lincoln Lake beach area, and jumped in - shoes and all - to de-tick. Rest of miles were on less-lush, more-traveled lakeside trail w/ many campground staircase repeats. Then another delightful swim at the end. Ended up w/ zero tick bites! Liberal use of picaridin may have also helped. Greenrock or Chubb would have been a better choice...

22# pack. Mafates were new and worked extremely well. Hokas, purple Superfeet and a double layer of swiftwick Aspires seems to be the magic foot formula for me.

C • Ugh 7

Mailed my Wonderland food cache today. Decided on just one at the halfway point. Could have had a second one later in the hike, but the food for that leg was less than one pound and I couldn't justify the $58 (!) shipping cost.

I've been practicing setting up my tent (Tarptent Protrail - 26 oz including stakes!). There are a few nuances for getting a nice tight pitch, but it's very comfy and fully bugproof. PLUS there's enough room for me and one of the kids in it - a nice bonus for a one-person tent.

C • bikeflights 2

myrtl

Sparring

Stepmill at gym - 150 floors. Good effort.

T-mill on max decline percentage - only 3% so not effective replication of downhill but prob better than nothing.

myrtl

Babler S.P. w/ 20# pack - planned a mix of trails but wasn't getting the climbing I wanted...so used my O' map to find the best horse trail hill I could and headed for that. Did 8-10 repeats then my time was up. Heat and humidity galore - totally drenched.

KM open

Greenrock trail out and back w/ 22# pack. Started at Rockwoods Reservation in order to get in the toughest parts of this trail. Green and pretty - and no shortage of rocks, that's for sure. Feet were getting a little tender by the end, but overall felt quite good.

Sparring

Trails at Broemmelsiek. Digging the Niner big time - I swapped the rigid fork for suspension plus a new front wheel and disc. Fast Traks replaced the narrow Triggers. Fits me better than my full suspension and is close to 10# lighter (seriously). Thanks silkychrome bike shop! :)

C • happy 1

Trainer spin