有一个礼拜没好好跑步了，一直在恢复体力。这个周末吃的睡的都不错，运动量适中。所以今天的状态很不错，本来想参加group run，可惜找不到人，很多都刚跑完Hood-To-Coast回来正在恢复。于是就自己去跑了bridle trails。气温70华氏度，树林里很凉爽。周末刚下过雨，trail上很松软，但是不muddy，非常理想。没有计时，没有计划路线，just follow the body。半迈左右就warmup起来进入状态了，一直保持着8:20左右的pace，跑了一个小时，途中经过马场，看到几匹骏马绝尘奔跑，觉得自己的脚步也像他们一样轻盈，周围的树那么绿，天空那么蓝，远方高速公路上的车流声提醒着我还置身都市中。

The past weekend, we planed to climb these two mountains in Southern Oregon. I took off from Redmond at around 3:30 PM and the traffic was terrible. It was 7:30 when I arrived Hillsboro. I jumped on Tian’s car and off we went. I had some take out fast food on the car. 1:20 AM, we arrived at the trail head of Mt Thielsen. We set up tent and slept at the parking lot. We got up at 6 AM the next morning, had some simple breakfast. Just before we took off, there arrived several cars. We started off from the trail head at around 7 AM. The trailhead is across Hwy 138 from Diamond Lake, approaching the mountain from the west side. The trail is very well maintained. We can walk side by side without any problem. The first 4 miles climb moderately. By 8:40 AM, we were at the junction of PCT (elevation 7300 feet), where the trail becomes a steep scramble onto the west ridge.

The timberline is at around 8000 feet. The west ridge is covered with loose scree. By 10:30AM, we are close to the summit rock.

After some more scrambling, we are at the base of the summit rock, where we need to traverse to the south east face. There is a notch here. That’s where the climb begins.

This is a view of the east ridge from the notch.

The south east face looks steep, but actually not very exposed therefore less scary.

We spent some time studying the south face, trying to figure out a route and setting up anchors. Meanwhile, a group of 3 made their way up and climbed without rope. We began our climb at around 11:00 AM. I belayed Tian from the base. After he set up an anchor at the top, I climbed with the protection of a pair of prusik cords. By 12:10 PM, we were both at the summit of Mt Thielsen. The summit area is big enough to accomodate 6-8 people comfortably. There is a summit registration. We even found a school ID left by a student.

We had hoped to see Crater Lake from the summit. However, the rim of the lake is very high. We only had a very small glimpse of the lake.

We took some pictures, chatted with a lady from Portland and descend our way down to the base. By 1:30 PM, we packed our gears and headed down. This is a view of the mountain from the junction of PCT. The slope on the right is the southeast face. The notch can be barely seen from this picture. We hiked the last 4 miles in 70 minutes and were back at the trail head before 5 PM. We both doubt that section is 4 miles coz there is no way we can hike that fast.

After a dinner at Medford (fast food again :(), we drove to the trail head of Mt McLaughlin. It was already dark when we arrived. There were quite a few cars there. There is a nice camp ground in the woods. We picked a flat area and set up the tent. We were both deprived of sleep and went to sleep very quickly. I was waken up by some loud constant noise at 4:30 AM and it took me a while to realize it was rain. We knew there is a 40% chance of rain on Sunday but didn’t know it’d be such a big deal. I worried about the weather and it took me some time to get back to sleep. We both got up at 6 AM and it was still raining. We got out of the tent and took a look at the sky. Hopeless. The cloud is very thick and extensive. We had some breakfast and broke camp. There was a very small time window the rain almost stopped. I had some hope, but soon extinguished by even heavier rain. We eventually decided we would bail. There is no safe way to make to the top since it’d be very wet on the rocks above the timberline. It was 45 degrees at the trail head. It must be snowing on the top, 3700 some feet higher.

We went back to Central Oregon again this past weekend, for Broken Top. We entered the trailhead in the afternoon and camped at Green Lakes (5 miles, 1200 feet elevation gain). We took off at 5:20 the next morning. The trail to the northwest ridge wasn’t very obvious. We wasted about 1 mile. It was about 10am when we arrived the summit block. It was a 5.2 climb. The climb isn’t too hard, but very exposed. One could easily fall 2500 feet all the way down to the Green Lakes. Setting up anchor and belaying took us way too much time, especially so as Yinan has to share my harness. We got back to the camp at 6:15pm. We broke camp and packed and left at 7:15pm. Then we sprinted our way out. The 5 miles only took us 1 hour and 45 minutes :).

On our way back to Bend, we hit a deer. We saw the deer, but it was too late to brake. We got off to look at the deer but it was gone. I don’t think we killed it, but it must have been injured. By the time we got back to Redmond, it was already 7:30 in the morning. This was a very long day. I haven’t made up the deprivation of sleep yet although it’s already Wednesday.

We did this light 2-day hike last weekend. It turned out to be one of the most rewarding trips! The weather couldn’t be more perfect, the views were just amazing. Some people consider that area one of the the best along PCT. They got a point!

 Entrance to the trail is on FS21 near Packwood. The trailhead is Snowflat Trail 96A (4200ft). We camped at around 6400ft, with an excellent view of Mt Adams.

We brought a lot of foods including cucumbers, tomatoes, eggs, sea weeds, corned beef, etc. The dinner was a feast, with the view of the dusk on the glaciers of Mt Adams, and then a cozy camp fire. The next morning, we followed Trail 96 to PCT and head north on PCT. It was before sun rise, the clouds were below where we were. Mt Adams is high above the sea of clouds. Some peaks reach out of the clouds. Mt St Helens is in distance. It doesn’t have much snow left though. After we climbed over a ridge on PCT, all of a sudden, Mt Rainier presents itself right in front of us, with the Goat Rock and Goat Lake in the foreground. The valley under us is fully covered with clouds.

The sun was shining on Ingraham Glacier and little Tahoma. We tried to identify Cowlitz and Nisqually Glaciers, and to locate Camp Muir. Columbia Crest can be clearly seen as well.

 Goat Lake is still partially covered with snow and ice.

After 7200 ft (highest point of PCT in WA), we branched off PCT and scrambled to the top of Old Snowy Mountain (7900 ft). We took off and got back to our camp around 11, cooked some hot food and broke camp and left. The whole trip was about 15 miles, with 3700 ft elevation gain.

That’s why people work so hard to qualify for Boston Marathon? Pretty funny

http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/galleries/04_16_2007_funny?pg=10