Tiger 3, 2, 1, Unmaintained - March 8, 2012

On this beautiful, sunny Thursday morning, we did our first repeat run since we started "peak a weekin'" back in October.  You may remember, Daniel, Michael and I did South Tiger 3, 2, 1 on February 16, but ended up getting lost trying to get back to Poo Poo Point Trail.  If you didn't read about our lost adventure where we somehow ended up right below Poo Poo Point, check out that blog called "Tiger 3,2, 1, Lost Poo Poo!"

This morning, we were determined to come back down the mountain via the Poo Poo Point Trail without getting lost.  You may be able to determine by the title of this post whether or not we succeeded, but either way it was a great morning run on Tiger Mountain...as it always is.  As usual, we started chez Peter but entered the mountain via the High School Trail behind Issaquah H.S.  Once we hit Section Line Trail, it was are usual way up to #3: Section Line, Talus Rocks, and West Tiger 3 Trails.

This morning, for some reason, we all felt tired and commented on how hard the final mile of West Tiger 3 Trail felt; especially as we slipped on the compacted snow and ice near the top of the peak.  At least today, unlike the last time we did 3, 2, 1, the sun was shinning bright and releasing some of it's heat onto us.   After a minute or so of rest on top of #3, we quickly headed down and up towards South Tiger #2, arriving there 5 minutes later.  This morning, we didn't stop at the summit of #2 but ran by on our way towards #1.

Running up the very steep incline that leads up to the Hiker's Hut and amazing views on # 1 was tough as usual, but somehow very enjoyable (I love the challenge!) as I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the crusty snow under our feet the the bright, somewhat warm sun over our head.  It's difficult to run to the top of South Tiger #1 and not enjoy the views for a few minutes.  This is by the far the best views we have found on Tiger Mountain:  south to Rainier, west over Puget Sound and the valley below, north towards Seattle and Lake Washington.  It's fun to stand on top of the bench up there and try to find landmarks throughout the Puget Sound area. 

View south from West Tiger #1.  Mt. Rainier in background.

Now it was time to get our route right coming down the mountain.  Just like last time, we headed down #1 the way we came up, took a left at the bottom of the hill on old Main Tiger Mountain Road, then a right onto Poo Top Trail.  This time, when we got to Larry's Crossing, we took a right on One View Trail (this is where I messed up last time, leading us straight onto Hidden Forest Trail), then a fairly quick right onto Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT!).  Then....we got lost and somehow ended up between West Tiger #3 and #2.  It seems as though we took TMT too far and should have taken a left onto Seattle View Trail, but we missed that trail and I still haven't ran on it yet.

Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun the way we came down.  From West Tiger #3, we took the Cableline Trail about 50 meters, then saw a trail to the left heading straight down the mountain called "Unmaintained Trail."  Well, it didn't look unmaintained, and it turned out it wasn't.  This "Unmaintained Trail" was in quiet good shape and very, very steep coming down.  We haven't done it yet, but if you need a really good, challenging, high grade trail to do, run up this one.  It isn't labeled on the map, but it's there, coming off of "Section Line Trail" where that trail intersects with "Talus Rocks Trail."  We had fun running down the mountain in such a quick fashion, working hard on those breaking muscles on the lower legs, trying to keep our feet under us.

If you see this sign near West Tiger #3, take it!  It's a great trail.

Another South Tiger 3, 2, 1, another great run.  This is obviously one of our favorites and I highly recommend it, no matter what way you come down the mountain.

Run Stats:  Total Distance: 14.7 miles   Time: 2:10    Elevation Gain: ~ 2,600 ft.    Pace: 8:50

Chuckanut Mountain - March 1, 2012

For our first Peak a Week outside of King County, we decided to head up to Chuckanut Mountain in Whatcom County this Thursday morning, March 1.  With the Chuckanut 50k coming up on March 17, Micahel, Peter and I wanted to review the course and show Michael around the mountain, since he'd never ran up there before.  Peter and I, on the other hand, have spent miles and miles on the trails all over Chuckanut, being XC and T&F runners for WWU in Bellingham.

Running in Bellingham is amazing, for those of you who have spent any time there know well.  There's many choices of amazing trails: Lake Padden, Galbraith Mt., Whatcom Falls, Interurban, Blanchard Mt, Stimpson, Sehome Hill, etc.  However, the crown jewel, in my opinion, is Chuckanut Mountain.  It's hard to beat for it's variety and beauty: steep ridges, cliffs, great views, epic lookouts (of cascades, Mt. Baker, Bellingham, west Skagit Valley, San Juan Islands), serene mountain lakes, singletrack, doubletrack, old railroad grades and logging roads, lots of loops and best of all, it's runnable from town.  In college, I took full advantage, running the myriad of trails there: Pine and Cedar Lakes, Raptor Ridge, Fragrance Lake, Lost Lake, the Ridge and Chinscraper.  What's great about the 50k is that it utilizes most of these trails (sans Pine and Cedar Lakes and Raptor Ridge), while adding Arroyo Park, 2-Dollar Bill and Cleater Road.

This morning, we decided to run the "middle 19" of the 50k (see map).  This is essentially the hilly part of the race, taking out the beginning and end of the race that starts and finishes on the Interurban Trail from Fairhaven.   We parked at the Clayton Beach parking lot, happy that it wasn't raining on this cool, overcast day.  Starting on the 'urb, we ran north to Fragrance Lake trailhead and headed up the mountain, enjoying the easy and gentle switchbacks that took us up to the lake.  Once we got there, we circled the lake counter clockwise and took a right onto 2-Dollar Bill Trail.  This is where we got our first views of Teddy Bear Cove and the San Juan Islands through the tall trees to our left/west.  After a mile or so on this fun singletrack, we switchbacked our way down to Cleater Road.  Here, we ascended the road for 3 miles (a real grind) until we were near the top of the Mountain (elevation ~2,000 ft.).

Beginning of Fragrance Lake Trail

According to the Chuckanut 50k website, "Here is where the fun begins."  Right before the top of the road, we took a left onto the Ridge Trail.  This is the trail where I first fell in love with trail running in Bellingham, running it for the first time in 2001 while following my Western teammate and underground trail legend Patrick Murphy.  This epic trail runs north and south along the crest of the mountain and is very technical compared to the rest of the course.  The views can be spectacular and the footing difficult...not the best combo.  We let Michael get the full ridge experience and lead this section for nearly three miles.  This morning, the trail was covered in a splendid white powder, actually helping our footing on the slippery granite slabs and sudden dips and climbs. 

Great Photo of Ridge Trail by DJan.  It looked like this on our run, with a little white stuff mixed in.

At the far north end of the Ridge Trail, we took in the B-ham view from the cliffs while refueling before we took Dan's Traverse down to Lost Lake Road.  At this intersection, we went right towards the lake, surprised at how difficult this "not so hard" seeming uphill felt after the technical part of our run.  After the first half mile or so on the old dirt road, the trail narrows and flattens out, which gave our legs a nice little break before we got into the mud pits that are synonymous with Lost Lake.  As you get closer to the lake, the trail gets more and more muddy, until you are literally running through a small stream.  Right before the lake, we took the junction that turns right and takes you above and past Lost Lake.  Being proud that I had kept my feet fairly dry through the wettest part of the run, I of course submerged my right foot into a fresh mudhole trying to sissy-foot it through a muddy section.

The trail rises again here, the 3rd out of 4 main climbs (Fragrance, Cleater Rd, Lost Lake, Chinscraper) on the course, but also the easiest of the four.  For me, this is mentally the hardest part of the run.  After this climb, you know the top of chincraper is just above you to the right, just within reach.  But to get there, you have run a long downhill, knowing that each step downhill equals a very difficult step uphill a little later.  Once the trail levels off a bit and right before we got to Fragrance Lake Road, we took a right onto the infamous Chinscraper Trail (or Little Chinscraper as some call it).  This is by far the steepest climb of the course and the last major ascent to the top of Chuckanut Mountain.  One thing that's nice about it however, is that there are little (very little, but still) breaks between three main climbs here, always allowing me to get my breath back and regroup before the next uphill.  The final one is a beast, actually requiring you to use your hands in some places so as not to fall or slip backwards.  I usually even use my arms going past some of the trees near the end, grabbing a branch or trunk and pulling myself up as I run.  This morning, it felt great getting to the top, enjoying the fresh snow on the ground as hydration as we waited for one another to finish the climb. 

About 70 yards before the mountain crest, we turned left on a little trail and ran down to the top of the Cleator Road parking area. From the parking area, we continued down Cleator Road for about a mile, all of us feeling pretty good that the hard part of the run was over.  At least that's what I was thinking.  Turns out I was wrong; that part was just ahead.  After the road levels off for just a bit, we passed a gate and turned sharply left (hairpin) onto a wide trail marked "Fragrance Lake".  We then continued downhill on this trail until it become Fragrance Lake Road.  This was the most painful part of the run.  This road is a 3 mile quad-buster and just as Peter had told us it would be, this portion of the run killed the legs.  Fortunately on this run, once we hit the bottom of the road and Clayton Beach parking lot, we were back at our cars and done for the day. 

Cool view of Chuckanut Mt. from east.  We ran red to purple to green to yellow.

I had to walk around a bit in the parking lot afterwards to try to get the downhill pain out of my legs (as if that's possible).  Lucky for us, we had a short 10 minute drive into Bellingham and a Bob's Burgers for some mean eating recovery food.  I had the Breakfast Burger (w/ bacon and eggs), fries and a delicious hefeweizen to wash it down.  Thanks for driving back to Seattle Mikey, I don't think I could have done it after all that. 

For more info and directions: http://www.co.whatcom.wa.us/parks/trails/chuckanut.jsp

Run Stats:  Total Distance: 20 miles   Time: 2:56:34    Elevation Gain: ~ 4,500 ft.    Pace: 8:49

East Tiger Mountain & West #1 - Feb. 23, 2012

A few weeks back, while looking up the the elevations of all the peaks in the Issaquah Alps, I realized that West Tiger Peak # 1 (2,948 feet (899 m)) was NOT the highest summit on Tiger Mountain.  That title went to East Tiger Mountain, elevation 3,004 feet (916 m).  Therefore, Michael and I decided we'd gone too long on Tiger without actually peakin' the highest point.  This Thursday, February 23, would be the morning to do it...and, for good measure, we decided to throw in the second highest point on the mountain as well.

As is happens, we were both training for the Chuckanut 50k in March and knew it would be great training to do both peaks in one run; so two it was!  We started our morning run at Tiger Summit Trailhead parking lot, right next to Highway 18.  We took the scenic route to Main Tiger Mountain Road, via the bathrooms and Iverson Railroad Trail.  Once we got on the gravel road and took a left, it was a steady 3 mile climb until the road split and we took a right on Crossover Road.  Here, East Tiger is directly to your left, with some nice views of Middle and South Tiger Mountain to the right.  We followed this road for about .5 miles to the next gravel road that continues straight.  Don't take this road!  Instead, continue left, around the curve, and keep heading up.  Here, snow under our feet made the running more difficult, but we kept trudging ahead and up, hoping the top of the summit would come soon.  Sure enough, it did.  After about 8 minutes of somewhat difficult snow running, we were on top of East Tiger Mountain, enjoying the great views from the TOP of Tiger Mountain.  BOO-YA!

Top of East Tiger Mountain from Main Tiger Mountain Road below.  Take right at next Y.

After a few minutes of walking around and checking out the summit a bit (it's a rather large area with a bunch of towers), we continued back down the mountain to Main Tiger Mountain Road, passing a rather angry looking man in a service truck.  Once back on Main, we continued our run toward West Tiger #1.  As we did a few weeks back (see post "Tiger Summit to West Tiger 1 - Feb. 9, 2012"), we enjoyed Fiftteenmile Creek valley, between East and West Tiger.  We ran down into the valley, passed 15 Mile Railroad Grade rest area, then back up toward West Tiger #1.  We turned right on the road that heads up (a nice little sign on a tree points you the right direction), this time knowing the difficulty of the next mile to come.  This time, it felt easier for both of us, despite the few inches of snow covering the road.  It was nice to come back and run where we had a few weeks earlier and feel much stronger, knowing all the peakin' we'd done was paying off. 

From the east side of #1, we took the little Bypass Trail (sweet little trail!) that bypasses the summit (because it's gated off) and comes out right behind the Hiker's Hut.  Taking in the views from the top only briefly, we continued down the steep hill to Main Tiger Mountain Road.  Taking a left at the road, we ran until we hit Poo Top Trail, took a right onto the singletrack, then took a left onto Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT!) when we hit Larry's Crossing.  TMT is by far my favorite trail on Tiger Mountain; have I mentioned that yet?  This section here is a nice alternative to Main Tiger Mountain Road because the trail parallels the road from Larry's Crossing all the way to 15 Mile Railroad Grade Trail.  Here, TMT turns sharply to the south towards Paul's Cove, so we took a left on 15 Mile RR which took us back to the Road at the 15 Mile RR Grade rest area.

We passed Lone Rock on TMT right before 15 Mile Railroad Grade.

Once we got back onto Main Tiger Mountain Road, it was a direct 5 mile shot, up and back down, to our cars waiting for us at Tiger Summit Trailhead.  Overall, this was a great run; one I'd highly recommend for anyone training for an serious trail run/race.  You get two great peaks (both with great views) in on one Mountain, and it's a good training run for any ultra with more than one hard climb.  Michael and I both felt like this run, both physically and mentally, prepared us well for the Chuckanut 50k course. 

For more info on East Tiger Mountain and directions, check out:  http://www.summitpost.org/east-tiger-mountain/408366

Run Stats:  Total Distance: ~17.5 miles   Time: 2:29:41    Elevation Gain: ~ 2,700 ft.    Pace: 8:33