Missing my running, but keeping busy with our berries!

I'm really missing my days of running. Biking and walking just don't give me the endorphins of a good long run. My leg is getting better slowly, I wear this awesome sleeve on my calf when I bike and walk, it does seem to help.
Meanwhile I've been keeping myself busy with the berries in our garden.


We have so many berries this year. They've
been picked over several times and still producing!

my Jam - I don't strain out the seeds as you can see,
but oh so delicious!

I guess I really don't have much time to run these days, as I'm spending all of my spare time picking berries, making jam (42 pints) and freezing the rest.
Which reminds me, what am I doing on the computer - I hear my berries calling me!

Checking out the snow at Mt. Baker/Artist Point

Decided to drive up and check it out for ourselves, since we've been hearing so much about the snow pack at Artist point and the fact that they decided not to plow to the parking lot this year. The parking lot at the ski area is open and snow free. The road that continues up is barricaded. We heard a volunteer forest service person say that the next parking lot up should be plowed out possibly next weekend and probably will be open by two weeks. That is the parking lot that the old "slush cup" event used to empty into. That was fun to watch, anything and everything was skied into a little pond in the early summer. Here's a quote from the History of Mt. Baker website.

"On July 4, 1948, the Koma Kulshan ski club organized a giant slalom race and promoted the event as the only ski tournament in the country during the month of July. This was the unofficial beginning of a long tradition of spontaneous and merry July 4th "Slush Cup" events that lasted into the 1980"s until the U.S. Forest Service alleged damage to the alpine environment and shut down the Slush Cup."

We walked past the barricade up the road to see how far the plow was.
(Remember just click on the pictures to enlarge them!)

                                                               Not very far -

Table mtn. in the distance with a cute little snow hat on top.
This photo was taken at the first parking lot looking towards
Bagley lake.

This photo was taken on Canyon creek road
(which is closed to vehicles because of road damage)
Wonderful example of "goats beard" on the trees.

Just a side note update on my calf injury -  Regular walking is fine and this last week I was able to do a "very" short hike and a 13 mile bike ride without any twinges. Yay, no running yet, but at least "some things" are possible!

Our first North Cascades highway crossing of the year

North Cascades highway is Washington states farthest north mountain pass.

It's usually the last one to open because of the snow depth and avalanche danger. We thought there would be more snow at the top than there was. Turns out there wasn't so much.

Liberty Bell as seen from
the Washington Pass Overlook rest area

There is a tradition on opening day each year by a woman named "Tootsie" to greet the people that line up at the gate for it's official opening with cinnamon rolls. She gets up at 1 A.M. and makes them herself. She is 90 years old this year. She has been doing this for at least 20 years.
 Click here for the "Thanks for the Tradition" WSDOT article .


Lexis in "her" element, one happy dog!

Here's a record of the opening and closing dates of the highway since it opened in 1972.

SR 20 - North Cascades Highway - Opening and Closing History

Year	Opened	Closed
2011	05-25
2010	04-16	11-29 (temp. closure-4 p.m.) 12-1 (closed 8 a.m.)
2009	04-24	11-07 to 11-10 (temp. closure) 11-13 (temp. closure-3:30 p.m.) 11-17 (closed - 8 a.m.)
2008	05-01	12-11(temp. closure) 12-15 (closed for season)
2007	04-26	12-04
2006	05-01	11-13
2005	03-10	03-26 to 04-04 (temp. closure) 11-04 (temp. closure) 11-07 (closed)
2004	04-08	12-08-04 (temp. closure); 12-13-04 (closed) - Rockslides
2003	04-14	10-17-03 - Flooding, Mudslides
2002	05-07	12-14-02 (temp. closure) 12-16-02 (closed)
2001	03-22	11-14-01 (temp. closure) 11-19-01 (closed)
2000	03-30	11-26-00 (temp. closure) 11-27-00 (closed)
1999	05-05	12-06-99
1998	04-02	11-20-98 (temp. closure) 11-24-98 (closed)
1997	05-07	12-16-97 (temp closure) 12-22-97 (closed)
1996	04-24	11-19-96
1995	04-28	11-06-95
1994	04-07	10-31-94 (temp. closure) 11-08-94 (closed)
1993	03-24	12-08-93 (temp. closure) 12-10-93 (closed)
1992	04-09	12-08-92 (temp. closure) 12-11-92 (closed)
1991	05-02	11-18-91 (temp. closure) 11-25-91 (closed)
1990	04-18	11-09-90 (temp. closure) 11-28-90 (closed)
1989	04-21	01-03-90 (temp. closure) 1-09-90 (closed)
1988	04-20	11-20-88 (temp. closure) 11-23-88 (closed)
1987	04-15	12-09-87 (closed)
1986	04-11	11-18-86 (temp closure) 11-26-86 (closed)
1985	04-12	11-15-85 (closed)
1984	04-04	11-02-84 (temp. closure) 11-19-84 (closed)
1983	04-20	11-24-83 (temp. closure) 12-5-83 (closed)
1982	05-06	12-02-82 (temp closure) 12-15-82 (closed)
1981	04-24	11-30-81 (temp. closure) 12-6-81 (closed)
1980	04-18	11-27-80 (temp. closure) 12-2-80 (closed)
1979	04-10	12-15-79
1978	04-21	11-11-78 (temp. closure) 12-15-78 (closed)
1977	not closed	11-23-77
1976	05-21	not closed
1975	05-16	11-22-75
1974	06-14	11-21-74
1973	04-27	11-21-73
1972	09-02	11-21-72





 

Frustrations galore...calf still sore

In my quest to be patient, I've been looking on-line for fun facts to help me. Here's a link with one of the many articles out there.
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/legpainandinjuries//a/calf-strain.htm?p=1

It has 3 grades of strain and their estimated recovery times. I am now past the Grade 1. Bummer, looks like I'll have to be a little more pro-active in my rehab approaches.

Grade 1 Calf Strain: The muscle is stretched causing some small micro tears in the muscle fibers. Full recovery takes approximately two weeks.

Grade 2 Calf Strain : There is partial tearing of muscle fibers. Full recovery takes approximately 5-8 weeks.

Grade 3 Calf Strain: This is the most severe calf strain with a complete tearing or rupture of muscle fibers in the lower leg. Full recovery can take 3-4 months and, in some instances, surgery may be needed.

Patience, Patience....

Argh, tweaked my calf

I was sick the week before the last hike I went on a week ago Thursday, thought I was well enough a couple days before the hike to be able to go. I felt unusually tired during the hike that day. I didn't get sick again but the next day I did a light running workout and felt a slight twinge in my left calf. I immediately started walking and walk/jogged the rest of my workout. In the days following everytime I tried to run I felt the same twinge. So now I guess it's time to really focus on re-habing, ice and heat will be my friend. Over the weekend I just walk/jogged and when I jogged it was VERY slow. No twinges, but extremely tight. So now it's no hiking for me till I'm completely sure my leg is healed. Bummer, I was really enjoying the hikes and getting to know the "Trailblazers".  Running is my exercise of choice. I really enjoy running the 1/2 marathon distance, so hiking will have to take second place for awhile. When I do feel my leg is ready to hike with my running workouts I guess I'll have to re-evaluate how hard to workout on the days before and after the hike. What is that saying? - Patience is a virtue. It's been  11 days - at this point I'm not very virtuous.

Will our malamute really stay in the boat?!?

All suited up and ready for her first trip in the raft. 

We decided to take our dog with us fishing at Lake Padden. She's 8 1/2 and never been in a boat. We had the booties and the vest and thought why not, so we took her with us today.

Wondering if she'll stay in......

- such a happy dog! Yes she really stayed in and laid down most of the day.

What a great day to be on the lake!

She thinks we should do that again!

I caught the only fish of the day - yay for me!!!

My dad the Marathon man - The North Olympic Discovery Marathon

Charles Milliman (78 years of age): June 5, 2011 NODM - 5:51:40, 1st place 75 and up



Click to enlarge
with his "Hurricane coffee" Latte in hand at the start and then at the finish!

This was his 5th running of this event. My dad has now run 61 marathons in his life!

It was a great day, temps were in the low 70's, after our cool spring it was a quick and warm transition for the marathon runners.

I put together some collages of the day - enjoy!

Click to enlarge
The start at Carrie Blake park -  Sequim, Washington

Click to enlarge
Bridges and creeks on the course

Click to enlarge
Running the course Start to Finish

Click to enlarge
The finish: Port Angeles, Washington

Fragrance Lake/Burnout Hike

my gear

Today's trailblazers hike was to be an out and back in the Fragrance lake area. There were 14 of us setting out from the Clayton beach parking lot. The weather was cloudy and cool as we headed out to the interurban trail to where it has a junction with the Fragrance lake trail. We were all enjoying the hiking and the camaraderie. We decided to stop and look at Fragrance lake before heading up to a logging area (Burnout) and to check out the view from there.

We quickly realized that three of our group were no longer with us. As we pondered what to do, Alan (our fearless leader) shared with us his concern that he didn't think they knew where we were heading.  There are many trails in the Chuckanut mountain area that link to each other, so there was a number of directions they could have gone. We pressed on to where we had planned hoping that they knew where to go. The clouds were low but there was still a fairly good view.

More pondering...........

Farther down the trail we decided that part of our group would head down to the parking lot to wait and see if anyone showed up. Cell phone numbers were confirmed and we split up hoping one of our groups would find our missing men. As it was getting on in the morning the group I was with (the search party) decided to stop at the Fragrance lake - view point for lunch.

Another great view -

After lunch we decided we would head back up to Fragrance lake and see if there was any sign of them, hoping we wouldn't have to go all the way to Lost lake to search. As I was preparing myself mentally to possibly do quite a bit more hiking than was planned, our trio of  wanderers came ambling down the trail! Hurray!! After much sharing of stories we happily hiked "together" back to the parking lot.

All in all another wonderful day of hiking (9 miles) and I'm very thankful for the happy safe ending for us all.

Djan's version of the fun:
http://djanstewart.blogspot.com/2011/06/alls-well-that-ends-well.html

This years Rhubarb harvest!

The first thing in our vegetable garden to be harvested this year - rhubarb!

I'm half - way done cutting and bagging it for the freezer and thought I'd have my rhubarb "pose"! I have a wonderful rhubarb jam recipe that I make throughout the year. I have a teaspoon of it nearly every morning in my steel cut oats/brown rice/quinoa/kale/raisin/flax seed and almond milk breakfast combo. I make a big batch of this every couple weeks and freeze it in individual serving containers.

Mmmmmmmmm, delicious!

Fun in the sun (finally), Sulphide creek & Baker river hike (almost 9 miles)

 After our incredibly long wet and dark spring we finally got a wonderful sunny and warm day for our hike. We had a long carpool ride from Bellingham to Baker lake for the start of our hike.

We had planned on hiking to Noisy creek today, but there was some question about where we should go since part of the area we wanted to hike had a questionable approach. As you can see there are a couple of trees resting on the bridge cables.



We decided to go to Sulphide creek, where we had a short break. Some of us couldn't decide if it was a lunch break or a snack break. I decided to take advantage of the break and ate half of my lunch, since it was still a bit early for lunch and I would undoubtedly be hungry a little later.

Creek crossing.

Baker river

Sulphide creek and our lunch - snack break location.

After a discussion we decided to go ahead and cross the bridge and go out the trail to Noisy creek after all but to turn around at 1:30 and see how far we would get.

 The Hidden creek bridge made for a scenic area to take pictures and eat the rest of my lunch.

 For Djan's post on the hike: http://djanstewart.blogspot.com/2011/05/baker-river-walk.html



Blanchard Mtn. trails

Great 11.5 mile run on Blanchard mtn. with my husband "Dick" today.
For more info. on the Blanchard mtn. trail area, go to: http://www.blanchardmountain.org/where_is_bm.html

I loved running on those trails.
We ran up to the rock outcropping above Lily lake and had lunch.
Temps. were great for running.

checking out the map to see where we want to
go next

The view from the rock outcropping

Blanchard mtn. has beautiful forest trails. The last couple miles we ran down an old logging road to the car. It's been a while since we've gone for a good distance running on the trails. Good for us!

Madrona Crest with Raptor ridge add on: 10.4 miles

The scheduled hike to Madrona Crest for Thursday (had to wait for Google to finish maintenance to post this) was given a difficulty rating of a moderate 7 mile hike. The weather co-operated this time. It was perfect hiking weather. The hike up to Madrona Crest was such a nice hike we decided to take the connector trail from lost lake trail to Raptor ridge. This presumably would add a couple more miles to our day. The connector trail is in the process of being completed, there was a lot of fresh tree cutting debris around, we got to crawl over a few downed trees and scramble around some rocks. After we got up to Raptor ridge I decided the hike had taken a turn from moderate in difficulty to moderately difficult.

At Madrona Crest conferring with Alan about if we wanted to add Raptor ridge to our hike.

View from Madrona Crest this overlooks the Stewart mtn./Olson creek area that we hiked last week.
It looks pretty cloudy, but there were some very nice sunny breaks throughout the day.

Me - on Raptor ridge, we stopped and had lunch on the outcropping. I'm glad we decided to add this section on to our hike. It was worth the effort!

Another conference on the way down, and it was decided to add a little more to our mileage and go back on a softer trail rather than the hard logging road surface. When we got back to our cars at Arroyo park we again had a conference about the distance we had hiked. Several people carry GPS units with them, and surprisingly they didn't agree on our distance. The shortest was (Al's) 9.5 and the farthest was (Fred's) 10.4, since my body told me I had hiked long and hard, I'm settling on the 10.4 miles. Another fine day with the Trailblazers. Good day and good company.

I had already taken off my gaiters, yes there was a little mud on them.
 (I didn't feel like putting them back on just for my sign off photo.)