Nasen Ridge Trail Run

Nasen Ridge - Heat, Mosquitos, Dust, Snow

Now that the bug bites have finally gone away, it's time to share a bit of last weekend's trail run that Luke and I did on Nasen Ridge.  We got to Nasen Ridge via the Merritt Lake trail, about 10 miles east of Stevens Pass.  The trails we travelled were on the Green Trails Maps Stevens Pass Map 176S.  A couple miles up a dry, dusty dirt road brought us to a dry, dusty trailhead (yes, there is a theme forming):

After climbing to Merritt Lake, we headed west on the Nansen Ridge trail to Crescent Lake, scrambled up some steep climbs, turned around and headed back east, beyond the Merritt Lake trail up to the Alpine Lookout, before turning back around and returning to the trailhead.

Long, dry day.  Good hydration training, with plenty of climbing.  Most of the trail was in the 5,000 to 6,000 foot range.

Some of the Sights

The first signs of snow on the trail.

Luke identifying the weak points in the snowfield.

Crescent Lake

Above Crescent Lake

Did I mention the mosquitoes?

Approaching Alpine Lookout

At the Lookout (6200')

The Route

Balboa Park / Florida Canyon Trails

Running the Trails in Downtown San Diego

Two of my favorite pastimes are running and travelling. Whenever possible, I like to make the two intersect.  This typically results in urban exploration run, which I find is a great way to orient yourself and get to know a new city.  In San Diego, I decided to try and get a decent trail run in, without leaving the core of the city.  I'd read a bit about the trails in Balboa Park, so I figured this would be my destination.  I was encouraged by the park's claim of "65 miles of trails", but prepared for mostly sidewalks and other paved routes.  I was pleasantly surprised!

Florida Canyon

I spent the majority of my time running around Florida Canyon, which is easily accessible from the Rose Garden in the main strip of Balboa Park (near the zoo).  It was a dusty run through a desert canyon - not what I was expecting to run when I set out that morning.

There is a long paved road along the bottom of the canyon, with a pretty complex network of singletrack and doubletrack trails spider-webbing along either side.  Especially, with a few side trips out of Florida canyon to other parts of Balboa Park, it's easy to get a moderately long (mostly) trail run in without getting bored.

Provided Routes

Probably my only complaint about this run is the "provided" routes offered by Balboa Park.  There are a large number of marked routes all over the park.  I decided to start following one, once I got to the park, but had to give up pretty quickly.  The route signs sometime point towards areas with no trails (or too many trails without offering clear direction), send you running on the narrow shoulder of roads into oncoming traffic (around blind corners!), are sitting in fields with nothing around them, or simply seem to disappear.  I found I was having a better time once I gave up on the "routes" and simply ran on the trails that looked fun.

The Strava

Yakima Skyline Rim 50K - 2014 Edition

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more... -Henry V, Act III, Scene I

Back to Yakima

Last year was my first time attempting Rainshadow Running's Yakima Skyline Rim 50K.  It was also the first time the thought that I might not finish a race entered into my head.  I finished the brutal trail run, but it was definitely a death march the last 6 miles in to the line.  I told myself: "never again."  So, of course, a year later I found myself back at the Umtanum Recreation Area, ready to start the race.

"Once more unto the breach."  That's all that kept going through my head.  Why was I doing this again?  Too late for that, though.  The plan?  Repeat nothing I did last year.  The result would have to be better!

The Day

It was a beautiful day.  It can be chilly in this part of Washington in April, but it was actually comfortable at 7 AM.  This actually had me a little nervous, as it might get pretty hot later in the day.  No sense worrying about that, though... can't do anything about it but drink more water.

The (Terrifying) Course

It's just four climbs!  Four "get your hands on the ground", never-ending climbs.  People tell you that start climbing right away, and after about a quarter mile you hit some pretty decent ascents.  It feels "tough, but not horrible"... and then you start the real climbs.  If you can keep a good sense of humor, it's actually funny to hear the reactions of the people around.  As you approach the top of the climb, you realize... it's not the top of the climb - there's a hidden summit requiring a little more pain.  This course is cruel in so many ways.

One this course consistently does, though, is reward you for your hard work.  The ridge run at the top of the first climb is as fun as it gets.  Eventually the decent gets pretty steep.  It's possible to bomb down it (I did last year), but most mortals will pay for that later (as I did last year), so I took it easy and enjoyed the ride.  During the decent, you see a massive hill in the distance ahead of you.  The thought that everyone seems to have is: "I'm glad we're not climbing THAT."  Then, we climbed THAT.

Climb two is another tough one, but not the same caliber of the first climb.  By now, the day was starting to warm up and people were getting pretty spread out.  I was holding myself back to a very slow pace and kept feeling the urge to pick it up, but didn't want to burn out early.  I waited till near the top of the second climb to really start moving, which was the right decision.  There's another great, runnable stretch here.  This was the first photo op I had with Glenn Tachiyama, so I was grateful that I wasn't suffering, yet.  The decent to the turnaround point is EXTREMELY rocky and tough to run.  I probably ran it faster than I should've, but downhills are my strength, so I couldn't pass up the chance to make up time (I ended up passing quite a few people here).

Great volunteers at all the aid stations, and the mid-point was no exception.  There is a very brief dirt road at the bottom of the trail, which was a nice respite for my beat-up feet.  Refueling done, I headed back up, up, up.  These hills were no shorter the other direction.

For the most part, taking the first half of the race easier paid off: I felt strong and steady on the return trip.  The final climb back up the "first" hill seems never-ending, and was the one part of the race where I cracked.  It was likely some hydration issues: The temperatures are higher, the air is dryer, and the sun is brighter on the east side of the Cascades.  This rain-soaked Seattlite wasn't quite adapted for that.  Not that I can use geography as an issue: My fellow west-sider Dave cruised past me on the last climb like he had just started the race.  Good for him... *grumble, grumble, grumble*

The race finishes with a very steep decent for 2 miles back to the finish.  There are some tricky, rocky segments near the bottom.  More importantly, there is delicious pizza and beer AT the bottom.

The Party

Like every Rainshadow race, there was a great party at the bottom.  Lots of food and beverages (healthy and otherwise, but all delicious).  It was great to share experiences and catch up with my trail running buddies that I haven't seen in a while.  I told James Varner (the RD) that there was no way I'd run the race again, which I immediately followed up with telling him that I'm already looking forward to running it next year.

Results

This is a SLOW race.  I managed to trim 11 minutes off of my 2013 time, but this race was still about 1 hour, 40 minutes slower than my fastest 50K.  Don't go looking for a PR, but come ready to find out how hard a 50K can be.

Little Si / Si / Teneriffe

Spring time.  For the Seattle mountain runner, it means we can start venturing further and further up I-90 to "the good stuff."  Don't get me wrong: It's amazing to have access to the Issaquah Alps all winter, but the melting snow provides access to some amazing trails.

I'd recently been doing some exploring around Mt Si and, as is often the case, got lost a couple of times... and ended up finding some great, unexpected trails.  The first was the "Old Big Si" trail connecting the Little Si trailhead to "Big" Si (or... just plain old Mt Si).  The next was an unnamed, unmarked trail connecting the Talus Loop trail on Si over to the Teneriffe Road.  

One of the reasons I've avoided Si is feeling that I couldn't run far enough without running repeats - and I don't think many non-pros feel like running Si repeats.  It was time to take these connector trails and see what kind of long trail run can be strung together in good ol' North Bend, Washington.

The Route

Grab yourself the Green Trails Maps #206S.  Also, wear your big boy shoes, cause we're climbing today.  We started at the Little Si trailhead, climbing and descending Little Si, Climbing and descending Mount Si, then climbing and descending Mount Teneriffe.  In bullet points (elevation):

• Little Si trailhead (500 ft)
• Kept on the Little Si Trail to the summit (1576 ft)
• Descended on the Little Si Trail until the Boulder Garden Loop Trail, where we turned left
• Followed that trail until a left onto the unmaintained Old Big Si trail... got our hands on the ground, as this one goes straight up to Mount Si (3900 ft)
• After the summit, flew down the Mount Si Trail a couple of miles to a left on the Talus Loop Trail
• After about three quarter miles there is an unmarked, but clear trail that continues on to the left... it's almost straight (I didn't even notice leaving the main trail the first time I left it)... it crosses a small creek before arriving at Mount Teneriffe Road
• Mount Teneriffe Road Trail goes up, up, up (summit 4788 ft).  We turned around at about 3500 ft.  Took the road down about another quarter mile past where we started up Mount Teneriffe Road Trail to another unmarked trail on the right side of the road. That took us back to the bottom half of the Talus Loop Trail
• Headed back to the bottom of the Mount Si Trail.  From the trailhead, we ran on the shoulder of the Mt Si Rd (flat!) back to the Little Si trailhead.

The Experience

I was lucky enough to have a buddy (Dave) willing to try the new route with me.  I think neither of us were disappointed.  Weather was less than ideal, but better than it could have been.  The Little Si had the best visibility, which wasn't saying much.

The climb up to Old Bi Si is nothing short of ridiculous.  No switchback - just straight up.  This has to be good training for... something?  After what felt like days, we got to the top.  There were some cool looking, but brutal, stretches of trail.

Nothing to see at this summit - but the view can be great on the right day.

The descent off of Si is probably my favorite run in the area.  There are stretches where you can jump and feel like you float 20 feet forward before you hit the ground.  Nothing compares!  I always enjoy it.

The unmarked trail should really be on the maps.  It's short - but beautiful.  Flat, fast, soft, green.

Teneriffe is a tough climb, but most is probably runnable (if barely).  We turned around at about 3500 ft, as the snow was a bit thick to effectively keep moving.  It was still great to run in some snow, as we didn't get much at the low elevations this year.

I got to give my new Pearl Izumi M2s a good test on the way down (they passed):

The Strava