The primary purpose of this trip was to complete Wildland Hydrology‘s River Morphology and Applications (“Rosgen Level II”) training as part of my job. I was, however, able to take some vacation days and packed in a lot of trail and mountain fun in the Saturday through Tuesday following the intensive weeklong river science course, before returning to Michigan on an overnight flight.
Saturday (8/6) was a travel day. I flew out of Detroit in the afternoon and, with a layover in Seattle before connecting to Portland, arrived late. I took the MAX Light Rail to the neighborhood of the guesthouse I was staying at and got settled into my room around midnight. I didn’t venture out that night since I planned to get up early for a run.
I set out into the streets at 6am on Sunday morning because that’s when the Starbucks on the block opened. After finishing a couple of breakfast sandwiches and my morning coffee I was ready to run. I had strategically chosen the Portland International Guesthouse for its cost-efficiency and its proximity to the Hoyt Arboretum and connected network of trails. I headed up a hill into the park and getting into those woods in the angled sunlight had me snapping pictures between spurts of trail running. Here are a few:
I used the TrailRunProject App to navigate and decided to follow the Wildwood Trail north to check out the feature on the map labeled as the “Witch’s Castle”. I had about four hours before I had to check out and get to Union Station to catch my reserved shuttle van ride to Bend. Doing an out-and-back to Witch’s Castle would be about eight miles, so I knew I had time for that and would have the option to add a few miles closer to the guesthouse depending on time. It was a cool morning and it felt good to move quickly so I made good time even with all the photography stops.
I backtracked on the Wildwood Trail (which continues north from Witch’s Castle another 25 miles or so) to the Hoyt Arboretum trail network and ran various trails there. My favorite stretch was through a stand of redwood trees.
I ran some city blocks (and popped into a boba shop for a bubble tea) and then grabbed my luggage from the guesthouse and left my watch running and hauled it through Portland on foot instead of using transportation. That netted me a 17-mile morning.
The shuttle van ride to Bend took about four hours, which I spent chatting with the other passengers, gazing out at the Oregon landscape, and finishing Catra Corbett’s Reborn on the Run. I carried and rolled my luggage (traveling light wasn’t an option since chest waders were one of the items I needed for the river training) through Bend (because it’s free and #timeonfeet) to Riverhouse on the Deschutes, where the Rosgen course was based. I did some grocery shopping at the whole foods co-op and prepped for class.
Rosgen courses are intense. Trainees traveled in from around the country to learn from the guy that literally wrote the book on Applied River Morphology, and Dave (with assistance from regional team leaders from US Forest Service and others) pack the course itineraries to provide a high level of hands on experience in a short timeframe.
For this Level II course in Bend that equated to approximately 11-hour days of classroom lecture on Monday and lecture and team presentations on Wednesday, 16-hour days on Tuesday and Thursday split between field surveys in a river in the mornings and data-entry and analysis with our teams until about midnight after the field data collection, and a half day of team presentations and wrap-up Friday morning, wrapping up around 11am. It’s certainly worth it but it’s also an exhausting and demanding week. Fortunately, the field surveys were in absolutely gorgeous settings!
We had a lightning storm move through on Tuesday morning (photo clipped from video I recorded) and had to shelter on the bus for a few minutes but then the weather cleared up. The weather on Thursday was perfect. It was nice meeting and bonding with other project managers, engineers, hydrologists, and fisheries professionals from around the country. And a lot of “river restoration” is still done wildly wrong despite good intentions, so these courses are worthwhile to gain that deeper understanding and learn lessons from collective mistakes and connect with people and other resources to do better restoration work in the future.
Despite the demanding course schedule I managed to get out and run on Monday evening and Wednesday evening. For the Monday run I picked out the highest point I could see in Bend and decided to check it out. I ran the Deschutes River Trail for a while and then turned east towards the prominent mound. It was a public park, Pilot Butte, with trails that spiraled up to the top. I climbed it right as the sun was setting over the mountains and the views and magic hour lighting were incredible.
I covered about ten miles on Monday night and scurried back to my hotel room just as rain and lightning rolled in.
On Wednesday evening I followed the Deschutes River Trail north this time, and completed an eight-mile loop at dusk. I got to enjoy running down the hill back to the hotel with a view of the full moon rising over Pilot Butte and the city.
When the course wrapped up Friday I walked with a group of my “classmates” to a bustling café for lunch. Then I picked up my rental car and was officially on vacation through Tuesday night. I had planned a long hike for Friday afternoon but I was so exhausted that after driving to Smith Rock State Park near Redmond I curled up in the shade of a gazebo and took a nap before starting a trail run/hike.
I chose the Misery Ridge Trail, which wraps around to the top of the central rock formation and then back down the other side to follow the river valley back to the junction to the trailhead. I hiked up, took a lot of photos, and enjoyed the scenery at a fairly easy pace.
After Smith Rock State Park I drove back to Bend, picked up some groceries, and checked into my hotel room. I set an early morning alarm for Saturday morning. My plan was to climb to the summit of South Sister, a 10,358′ volcano about thirty miles west of Bend.
My South Sister climb was so incredible it gets it own blog post! (click this text)
After sharing a camp dinner on Cultus Lake with my new friend Jenna, I drove to Klamath Falls. Getting there was an old-school test of my navigation skills because I had no cell service for the first two hours of the driving, so I just drove in the general direction and followed the few road signs until I was finally able to pull up my maps app.
I planned to spend my Sunday morning/afternoon at Crater Lake National Park before driving up to Puyallup (near Seattle). But before heading to Crater Lake I headed into downtown Klamath Falls and ate dessert for breakfast at the Waffle Hut & Eatery. Behold!!! The bananas foster waffle:
I drove into Crater Lake via the south entrance and found a parking spot at rim village. It was a short walk to the edge of the rim, where I got my first view of Crater Lake. It was amazing and I was so happy about my luck with the weather. The water looked so deeply blue!
I started a run activity on my Coros watch and began exploring Crater Lake in the counterclockwise direction, which led me to the Garfield Peak Trail. I climbed to the top of Garfield Peak and gawked at the amazing views the whole way up. Views like this:
You’d never know it from the 14:10 min/mile pace for the overall run, but I bombed (recklessly but it was so much fun) the trail back down to the parking lot (7:10 min/mile with max pace of 4:45 on the descent, according to my Coros). Yeah. I was flying. It was amazing. I’m glad (and lucky) that I didn’t crash. And I want to do that again…
I hiked/jogged in the clockwise direction for a mile or two out-and-back to cool off and see the lake and Wizard Island from slightly different angles. I found the perfect ledge to sit on and look down upon trees, soaring birds and the deep blue lake.
I would have liked to hike the Cleetwood Cove Trail down to the water but I had an eight-hour drive to Puyallup so I had to get moving. On the drive out I stopped at the Watchman overlook for one final photo.
The drive on Highway 138 past Diamond Lake and along the North Umpqua River was scenic, and basically one very long coast downhill. Once I hit Interstate 5 it was a fairly straight shot north to Puyallup, where I stayed with my friend Aubree (and her boyfriend Justin and roommate Amanda). All of them are experienced ultra runners and so there was plenty of talk about running and racing. Technically, it was my first time meeting Aubree. We both finished Indiana Trails 100 in 2021 and became friends on Instagram shortly after that. It was so generous of her to open her home to me for a couple of nights (and also to feed me). Thank you so much, Aubree! I’m glad I got to meet you (and run with you) in person, and also to meet Justin and Amanda (and pets)!
My plan for Monday was to spend a full day at Olympic National Park. I thought I might drive out to the coast, or hike Hurricane Ridge, but after such a long drive on Sunday I decided to keep the driving to a minimum. I therefore chose to climb Mt Ellinor, a 5,952′ peak in Olympic National Forest on the southeast side of the Olympic Peninsula. While the trail and summit itself was in the National FOREST rather than the National PARK, I had a view into Olympic National Park, including snow-capped Mount Olympus.
I started climbing Mt Ellinor from the lower trailhead. The first mile or so climbed gradually through the forest. Hiking beneath the towering trees was peaceful and provided shade, and I caught a few glimpses of Mt Rainier and Seattle through the clearings, but the best views were awaiting at the summit.
I passed several other hikers (going both directions) as I climbed higher and into an open field of stones and stairs. The wildflowers were beautiful but they didn’t show up well in the landscape photos. So I had to take some closeups.
After a few more switchbacks I caught my first views of Mt Washington coming around the corner towards the summit.
The view really opened up to the west as I summitted. Parts of Olympic National Park were visible, and to the northeast and east it was clear enough to see Mt Baker, Glacier Peak, Mt Saint Helens, Mt Adams, and Mt Rainier.
I ran down the mountain at a pretty good clip, accidentally missed the trail split returning to the lower trailhead, and wound up at the upper trailhead. Instead of backtracking, I just ran the road to the lower trailhead, which added another mile or so of easy downhill running to the day’s adventure. On the drive out I stopped at the Burger Stand in Hoodsport for a side order of spring rolls and then returned to Aubree’s in time to meet her family and eat pizza. Aubree hadn’t gotten her run in yet and asked if I wanted to join her. So of course I did!
Tuesday was the final day of my Pacific Northwest trip. I had to get the rental car back to the Portland airport by 5pm, which left me with a free morning to check out Mt Rainier National Park. I got up early, hit the road in the dark, and listened to an episode of the Rich Roll Podcast on my way to Paradise.
My plan was to complete the Skyline Trail, a 5.3 mile loop with great up-close views of Mt Rainier. That’s what I began hiking. I snapped a bunch of photos of Mt. Rainier, because it’s such an epic volcano.
When I reached the junction to the trail that leads up to Camp Muir I stopped and considered it. I had plenty of time. The trail looked snow-free for quite a ways. I decided to go for out, at least until I ran into terrain that was beyond my comfort level. Maybe I’d make it all the way to Camp Muir?
So I took a left and began the climb up Mt. Rainier. There were a few snowy patches but they were shallow snow with heavy traffic. Much of the first couple miles was dry rock (scree), which was kind of a pain to climb but nothing outside of my comfort level for the solo adventure. I avoided the snowfield, as there were signs about glacial crevasses and I didn’t want to mess with any of those risks.
I picked my way up over the exposed rocks for a couple miles until I eventually reached the rocky tower called Anvil Rock.
From Anvil Rock it wasn’t much further to Camp Muir, but to get there from Anvil Rock I would have had to cross about 300 meters of snowfield, which would have been fine if it was solid and hard-packed. But I had not way to know that for sure and I didn’t want to fall through into a crevasse. There were no human footprints in the snow to guide my way, so I decided to play it safe and head back down.
I descended about 1,000′ before I noticed a whole train of hikers climbing right up through the heart of the snowfield. So I found a place to cut over and join their trail. At this point I had to hoof it to get to Camp Muir and then back to my rental car in time to drop it off at PDX, so I hustled up the snowy slope. Trekking poles were a godsend. I pushed to Camp Muir and I’m glad I did. It was a neat place, and I felt satisfied going as far up as I safely dared alone. Advancing beyond Camp Muir to the summit would have been unsafe without a buddy and roping up to cross the glaciers.
Beyond Camp Muir I could see people camped out on the edge of the glacier, and some exposed crevasses. It would have been a perfect day to summit Rainier, without a cloud in the sky and calm conditions, but alas I was unprepared and out of time for that. I had to rush back down. And that was a ton of fun. I stayed in the snowfield for a full two miles, running down on the sloppy, slippery snow. It was a combination of running, skiing/sliding down on my shoes, falling and sliding on my booty (which was incredibly fun and getting snow in my clothes didn’t matter because it was so warm). I bombed the slope with abandon, hitting 6:30 min/mile pace at times, leaving the folks climbing up incredulous as I flew by, smiling and waving. The view was pretty incredible.
I eventually ran out of snow, and then rejoined the Skyline Trail. I continued to run down to the parking lot but at a more reasonable pace, mostly because there were a lot of hikers on the trail by that time.
And that was the finale of my Pacific Northwest trip. I stopped for pizza in Elbe on the drive to Portland, and at a gas station to repack my luggage on-the-go before I got to the airport. I had an overnight flight back to Michigan, and then a long drive from Detroit to Gaylord on Wednesday morning. The trip, from the work training to the running and mountain adventures that followed, was a huge success!
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