Squak Mountian - March 29, 2012

After a few weeks of not running in the Issaquah Alps, I was excited to get back out there.  I felt pretty recovered from my first 50k and already motivated to get back into the mountains and work those hills.  This morning was especially exciting because we had a nice big group (5 of us), including special guest star and old friend Steve Dekoker.  Because Peter and I were still coming back a bit from Chuckanut, we decided to keep it pretty easy and do Squak Mountain today.

DeKoker, Daniel, Mikey, Peter and I started out from Peter's place in Issaquah and headed west toward Issaquah's closest mountain.  This was our first "peak a week" starting out in pouring down rain.  But no one seemed to mind and we even looked a little forward to getting a little muddy.  After running a mile or so on some back streets we arrived at the north side of Squak Mountain State Park and entered the trails via Sunrise Place onto Squak Mountain Access Trail (appropriately named).  Despite the rain, the trails weren't as muddy as I anticipated.

We soon started climbing the east side of the mountain on the tough switchbacks of the East Ridge Trail.  Unlike last time (see January 12th blog post) we ran this trail, there was no cool views through the trees because we were completely socked in with low clouds.  Once again, taking a left up the steep Summit Trail was very challenging, especially today with all the slipping and sliding in the muddy sections, which this trail had a good deal of.  When we hit the access road to the top, we took the right that takes you to the top of the mountain, elevation 2,024 feet.  We stopped for a minute or so to regroup and take in some quick carbs.  If clear, there's a slight view north toward Lake Samammish over the top of the trees, but none today in the rain.

Bullitt Fireplace. Photo by Dwayne Wright

We came down the mountain on the west side, passing the cool Bullitt fireplace and continuing up the West Peak Trail (forgetting this uphill from last time..."What's this doing here!!") to the Chybinski Loop Trail.  Instead of coming out of the trails onto the Renton-Issaquah Road like last time.  We curved north and finished our decent off the mountain on the Coal Mine Trail to the Mountainside Drive trailhead.  We then followed Peter on the roads through some Issaquah neighborhoods and back into downtown at a good pace...especially considering we were getting a bit cold and hungry.

All in all it was a nice easy run on Squak Mountain and we all seemed to enjoy each others company immensely, talking, joking and laughing most of the time during the run.  Looking back at my intentions for starting these runs, it's pretty cool to realize that a double digit run up with a little over 2,000 feet elevation gain is now an easy run.  So far, my goals for these runs (getting stronger up hill, taking advantage of all the beautiful trails east of Seattle, enjoying the camaraderie that comes from trail running; to name a few) have been accomplished and I've enjoyed every step.  

Of course, the best part of the morning was the post-run coffee, biscuits and gravy at the Issaquah Cafe with our friendly waitress Joni.  There's nothing like a big greasy breakfast after a hard "peak a week!"


Run Stats:  Total Distance: 11 miles   Time: 1:33    Elevation Gain: ~ 2,150 ft.    Pace: 8:28