Sheep go to heaven, goats go to h*ll.

Lake Ingalls was the hike Sugarmama Shannon chose we should do...well, at least after she performed all her saturday chores on a Friday morning.  We got to the trailhead late (2:30) which as hard as I tried I couldn't make Sugarmama accept fault for this.  It's obvious she's been married for a while with her mad skills of deflecting blame thru argument.  I have a lot to learn from her...but I digress.

Above is our trailhead which leads to several different hiking options - this is part of an old mining trail and from what I read also a trailhead that many climbers use to do their crazy ascents up some crazy peaks.  Unfortunately we didn't run into any hot climbers on the trail but we did run into a very nice boy scout group.  Beggers can't be choosers.

This beautiful creek led the way for the first quarter mile - once we found our trail it was lazy switchback city with sparse trees and open sky.  It's stinking hot on this side of the mountains and feels like true summer (a little backhand slam to the westside).

The higher we got the better the views became.  I believe this is Esmeralda Peak...oh wait...shoot.  I didn't fit Esmeralda into this picture but just know that she is the mama peak in the peaks you're looking at.  Not to be confused with Sugarmama Shannon's back.

The colors were few but bold.  I just loved how the green and white trees contrast with the blue sky and beige stonecrop.  Sugarmama Shannon started to look out for vultures.  See any?

We slowly gained elevation and every once in a while continued to guess where the heck this lake is.  Everything was so dry that it was hard to imagine that there was any kind of lake anywhere.  Our goal for the day, this HOT day was to find a good lake to swim in and drink our heinekens by.

This lonely patch of snow gave us some much needed relief from the heat and lack of shade.  Above is Sugarmama Shannon taking it all in.

Me assessing the situation and scoping out a good spot to execute a good hotdog roll.  I did it.  And found out that my idea was better in theory than reality. (Picture omitted).

And up.

And vegetation returns!  We figured this would be a good spot for the 8th of May. (If you don't know what this is then ask me and I will sing you the song...)

As we got higher some old friends Rainer (on the right) and Adams (on the left) were peaking their heads up to give us a holler. Oh - and THAT is Esmeralda Peak.  She was our little guide the whole way up to Ingalls Pass.

Once we reached Ingalls Pass we wondered "Ok.  So....now where?"  Some dude was setting up camp on the ridge and this girl was completely envious.  What a perfect way to spend a Friday night.

Reaching the other side of the Pass we were able to find our trail...a very much snow covered trail.  But as long as there was still tracks we were still game.  The sun was out and we had energy to spare.

So ALL my years living in EBurg I was NEVER this close to Mt. Stuart - what kind of ridiculousness is that?  I love Mt. Stuart - I'll give you an unobstructed view of his dominion and beauty.

Ah yes, now that's a thing of beauty.  In my dreams and in a perfect world I have the experience and know-how to conquer this mountain.  Can you imagine taming this beast and taking in the panoramic views it has to offer?  But I digress...

Wait - what the heck is the difference between a mountain and a peak?

I believe this is Ingalls Peak and as we looked for our final destination the question remained "So where is this stinking lake?"

Very faintly you can see our trail (in the snow and rocks) to the left.  We became confident that our lake was just over that lower snow ridge - we were nearly there!

As we made our way over this was our view UP...

And our view down.

And this was the reality of what we thought would be where our lake was at.  We were wrong but couldn't find the trail.  Oh cairn, my dear cairns, where are you to lead the way?

Sugarmama Shannon took a break on top of this waterfall to soak her heiniken in the cool water.  I have to say that this is one of the top ten bada$$ pictures I've ever taken.  On a stressful day at work I'm just going to look at this picture and it will all be put into perspective.

As Sugarmama Shannon relished in her mountain moment I looked once more at our false lake and tried to find the trail. 

And in the distance I spotted it.  Sugarmama Shannon advised the time was 5:55pm.  Should we go for it? Umm...yes!  We had 3 headlamps between the two of us and that was good enough for me. Curosity is a powerful force.

Thank goodness for cairns for helping us navitage our way thru the snow and rocks.  It was so beautiful - the red rocks reminded me of Colorado! 

We ran into some backpacking runners along the way.  It was odd because they were wearing running shorts and running shoes.  I said something to one fella about his Brooks and he informed me he'd been getting sh*t all day for it.  I wonder if it was from his frozen toes.  Anyway - we followed them and climbed these rocks to find the lake just over this ridge.  This time we were SURE it was just over this ridge.

Once we made our way up we instantly saw a family of goats!  There were 7 or 9 of them.  I remember on the way up some little boys told us about the goats and how aggressive they were.  After that Sugarmama Shannon got excited to see goat hair and kept on calling out for goats.  They really did hear her call...

So this is Ingalls Lake and this is as close as Sugarmama Shannon got to swimming in it.  Too iced over to jump in and too cold to drink our beers.  But the views were fantastic and I later read about a narly loop hike you could crank out in a day from here.  I'm soooo down for that - so who is with me?

Let me introduce you to Lake Ingalls!  By the way, the name is Ingalls Peak.  Typical.

Here's one of the goats and the 3 little kiddie goats.  They were swirling all around Sugarmama Shannon and I - it was really awesome to see them in their element!

Cute goats in action!

As this goat was staring down Sugarmama Shannon I got a flashback of Kirby the Goat (rest in peace) who bucked me years ago when I didn't give him his food fast enough.  He knocked me back into the fence.  Then I had to wonder if mountain goats ever attacked to protect their young or to get food?  We still needed to make our way down a steep rock scramble...

As I started to let my inner-scaredy cat out of my system and whine to Sugarmama Shannon about the ferocious goats we noticed this marmot peaking his head up wondering what all the commotion was about. 

So even though I was nervous about the goats I still made a dumb mistake:  As we started to make our way down the initial steep descent I felt dizzy so opened up a energy bar.  And then.  I noticed a big goat following me.  This freaked me out.  Memories of Kirby's hard buck would push me off that mountain if my new goat-shadow followed suit.  I got down so fast, going OUT of the way scrambling over boulders to get away from these godforsaken goats from hell.  Of course Sugarmama Shannon was calm and just kept saying "Just don't look at them" as she calmly walked among and around these goats on these steep overhangs. 

And.  When I thought I was safe Sugarmama Shannon said "he's following you."  That dang energy-bar-obsessive of a mountain goat was right behind me and I started to run.  Stupid goats. 

As we quickly made our way out Sugarmama Shannon slipped and sliced & diced her thumb (pictured above) and later I cut my calf on a rock that turned out worse the next day than at the time. 

 We made it back to the trailhead just before 9:30pm and never had to bust out the headlamps.  It was an awesome hike and adventure.  I hate mountain goats but love my pictures of mountain goats.  Thanks for not killing me.  Baahh.

Reunions and New Peaks

Washington has been having great weather lately and a hike could not be resisted! This weekend we made our way over to the Olympics (I've neglected her for years) and did Mt. Townsend with Sugarmama Shannon and CortO.

This is a beautiful and awesome hike but there are no bathrooms at the trailhead. After finding a good spot to pop a squat I started off in good form by getting a long scratch on my naked booty and breaking off my zipper. Awesome. But I suppose every girl needs easy access hiking shorts.

The climbing started right away but very do-able switchbacks. There were lots of rhodies in bloom - total blissful way to start a hike!

We took turns "drafting"...assuming that exists in hiking like it does in running. Above is my draft.

A tunnel of rhodies.

Bite my draft.

Oh wait - see this cool idea Sugarmama Shannon has? She puts a bandana on her wrist to help wipe away the sweat because real women sweat when they hike. I'm going to steal that idea but still give her the credit.

Since the sun was out there were a lot of pretty butterflies in the sky! (And they can go twice as high...)

Getting out of the treeline the flowers started showing up and it was beautiful!

This waterfall greeted us on the way up and CortO decided to go naked hiking here. I'll give you picture proof for $$. It's PG-13 but worth every penny.

If you look above this ridge, above the clouds, you'll see a familiar friend by the name of Rainier. She was totally watching our back as we made our way up the switchbacks thru the alpine tundra.

I mean really. Really. This is amazing. I wanted to yodel. I was heavily considering frolicking and twirling since the hills were alive with the Sound of Music but figured I'd trip.

Naked CortO and Sugarmama Shannon almost to the Summit! I just realized I forgot my summit beer dangit!

Isn't this an amazing spot? The clouds were coming in but straight ahead (not pictured), on a clear day, you can see the San Juans. In typical summit form we started to talk about the burger and beer we were going to reward ourselves with.

"We look better if we squint" fka Naked CortO said.

So the place where we rewarded ourselves for a great hike was the Olympic Timber House Restaurant. Holy Moly that place was amazing - I can't wait to go back! From the outside it wasn't clear that it was a restaurant (looked like a ranger station) but on the inside it was nothing but romantic, timber beauty. The food was incredible, the wine list awesome, they had Mac & Jac's Hef on tap (a rarity for me to find) and the atmosphere was incredible. Not to mention they give away HUGE suckers if you sign the guest log (I grabbed a pina colada). Oh, and a tray of the day's desserts (about 6 or 7) are on display when you first walk in. I really think I'm going to choose the rest of my hikes based on eating at this restaurant more. Love it!

My friend Jessica and her hubby Farooq - she randomly let Big D and I know that she was in town for a few days before moving with her family to Japan. We had a great reunion with her family (twin boys included), a bonfire, hotdogs and smores. Dumb Krista didn't bring her camera but that made me wish the evening would never end. The next night we said goodbye after sushi and sake.

I love you Jessica so much - I'm so proud of you and all you've accomplished! Mount Fuji here we come!

Adapting is a beautiful thing.

Ah summer is finally here. I also refer to summer as accelerated hiking and running season. The season of hiking long days, high elevations, faraway places and running fun races with friends. This was, of course, until I experienced an injury. But I will prevail!

Currently I'm in Physical Therapy (aka Personal Training) and they are working me. Hard. I am trying to apply everything they are putting me through. Most recently I decided to do back-to-back hikes.

Mount Zion in the Olympics is short, only 4 miles round trip, but has a very steady climb that makes you earn your summit beer. Although it was too cold to partake that day. It was a hike that was full of mist and rhododendrons (a nod to our state flower here).

I love how lush and green the Olympics are.



So this was our amazing view. It took me a half-second to take it all in.

My Zion hiking companion!

For a longer climb Big D and I did Elbow Peak in the Teanaway area. Ah yes, it was like coming home. When I went to school in Central Washington (go wildcats!) I would spend many days, getting lost in the hills and exploring various trails. The trails are usually seldom used by hikers but more so by horses and bikes. We all live as one in Central Washington. Above is some wild roses! Not me, them.

We had a very steady climb up and up with NO switchbacks so it was really good to try to readjust how I hike with my injury. On the way up Big D and I saw an old friend that we haven't seen in a while - Rainier, you are beautiful.

This hike had plenty of blue sky, lupine, and something that I mistook as indian paintbrush but Big D corrected me. So I dunno what it is but I'm sure it is cousins with the paintbrush.

A classic summit shot. I just like this "from the back" shots. Anyway - we were about to our summit but completely running out of fuel and starting to look forward to our burger and beers at The Brick in Roslyn.

Actually. Let me interject here - The Brick is totally different then when I lived over there. I'm used to grabbing a table with locals who are just as dirty and stinky as me. But when we walked in everyone was...Young. Beautiful. Clean. We owned our filth though.

I asked the young, beautiful & clean bartender the reason for the change and he cited Suncadia. Argh! I remember when it was being built how bitter I was - it was like I could speak to my future self and find out it's subsequent demise that it would cause The Brick! As I adjusted and adapted to this new Brick to myself my bitter thoughts were interrupted. The bartender. The young, beautiful & clean bartender just changed shirts. And he struggled with putting the fresh one on. And I took it all in. It was a beautiful thing. So, here's to change: Cheers!

So moving on - when choosing our summit beer both of us looked at Budweiser with Clamato and decided to try it. We knew many people who seemed to like it (including Mike you nasty bastard) and...it was like taking a big slurp of salty tomato. My reaction above.

Big D in agreement.

Ah but it's still a sweet feeling to crank out 10 miles and take in a beautiful, sunny view in complete solitude. And take note of my bada$$ cut up shirt. Big D and I were driving to the trailhead and the sunny, hot day just begged for the knife to cut up my first race shirt. Perfection.

This Book. Has been. Amazing. For me during my forced time of restraint while trying to recover from my injury. It was suggested to me quite fortuituosly at a summit Big D were enjoying with our Dude beer back in May. As I was sipping on my brew I noticed a thing of beauty - a man running towards us, up the trail, sans shirt. He stopped to talk to us and revealed that he'll be doing a 50k that next weekend and climbing Rainier the weekend after that. My heart skipped a beat.

He then said: "You have to read Born to Run."

Me: "I've never heard of it, what's it about?"

Dream man: "Just read it - you'll like it - it will change your perspective."

And just like that he was off to run 6 miles to his vehicle. I turned to Big D "I want to run 6 miles right now. Especially with him." Thanks for the inspiration man.

Just like him I won't go into detail to what's it about because I truly think it will mean different things to different people. For me it has emphasized that running is to be shared, enjoyed, done on the trail and that we are capable of FAR more than what we think. Oh yes, and the most important part: That injuries can be overcome and I will adapt. That part I was very happy to hear.

It also means that I am a big fan of chia seeds. Every day in my smoothie. No joke.

So after my serious stage of pouting and mourning the possibilities of half-marathons of 2010 down the drain, improving my speed down the drain and improving hill running down the drain I realized that adapting is just an opportunity seized. When life doesn't give us what we want (for me miles and miles of running on concrete) we have to adapt and find the niche that will keep us happy.

But....I haven't really found that niche yet but I am on my way. I am still able to hike (albiet with careful focus) and am now trail running on a very limited basis. I wasn't born to run fast but I'm determined to believe I was born to run...in some form.