Before the half marathon I got in 3 hikes in June (2 with significant elevation gain and more distance requiring a jaunt of over 2 hours.
The last weekend I was at my parent's before coming home (June 4th), dad and I did some scenic tourist hiking to the marvelous waterfalls outside of Portland. It was a good practice adventure for gearing me up to rejoin my friends in the cancer survivor hiking group weekly. Many of the trails were short and some paved, but they had steep inclines and narrowing of the trail which were great for challenging my brain to coordinate with my balance and vision.
The first Saturday back, my trainer Merrie and I hit the trail together for the first time since our Kilimanjaro trek in October. There are not spectacular views on the Squak Mt hike we traversed but the NW woods is so lovely and pretty! Further, for most of the trail the terrain is wide and pretty easy which made it a good hike for me to start on post-surgery when I was still combating with abnormal vision.
The Wednesday following, I went out to an easy (but quite a workout with over 2000 ft elevation gain) on the neighboring Tiger mountain. For not hiking for a month and running 16.5 miles over the previous 5 days, I did amazingly well and was not tired out or out of shape. YES!:D
With the half marathon approaching on the 25th of June and my legs then insanely sore from doing a week of marine core rampage (21 miles ran and 2 hikes of 9-11 miles combined with over 3000 feet of elevation gain), I felt it best to cool my jets for 2 weeks from running or hiking - 1 week to rest up for the event and 1 week of recovery afterward. So NOW it is time to get back to it! ;-)
Summer has finally really hit here with sunny days and temps in the 70s and 80s. Fortunately those days Harley had off! :) So we hit the other trails on Tiger Mountain which is the closest mountains to hike locally (saving time). Sunday we ventured on the back side of the mountain (Dwight's Way) which he had never been on before. Unless someone shows you, you would not really know the trail is there. I learned of it from my hike group and I missed the hike with them this season as I was down in Oregon recovering.
Yesterday we went to another shorter hike on the front side of the mountain that I also missed during my time away. The day was brilliant with barely a cloud in the sky and an awesome view of Rainier in full detail. The trail meanders up to the point where Harley, my sister, and I paraglided off the mountain to celebrate my 15 years of cancer remission a few years ago. With such a fantastic day, there were LOTS of gliders floating in the air! I counted up to 19 before we entered the dark woods to begin our ascent.
Tomorrow I will be doing the first strenous and long hike this season with the hiking group to Annette Lake deeper and further east into the Cascades. There are lots of talus rock fields to cross so it will take a great deal of concentration for me throughout the hike. Gotta get off the computer so that I can get my stuff ready and to bed as I need to wake early.
Happy July and summer! :)
2 comments:
That is all very nice hiking thing to do.It is good to breathe fresh air and cheer up and also encourage other cancer patients to be fighters.
Is Merrie holding a bag of dog poop?
Post a Comment