Stairs; 10,000 feet; 4 Volcano Day; and a Walk by the River

To celebrate the two-weeks-till-Rainier milestone I apparently decided to thoroughly abuse my body and get it ready for it's upcoming climb. What a fantastic way to spend a weekend!

Friday evening after work I did some stair work with weight. This is actually a very boring activity, as you will soon see. Fill backpack with whatever you find at home to equal 50 pounds (water, cat litter, climbing gear, cans of beans, etc). Walk up 148 stairs. Walk down 148 stairs. Repeat for an hour. Pull hair out.

I-Pod Nano, you're my only hope . . . good tunes help so much. So, not the most exciting thing to do on a Friday night. However, stairs are a good way to get ready for this:

Ralph and Wendy on Mt. Hood

Climbing to 10,000 feet on Mt. Hood on Saturday! Previously my highest elevation hike brought me to 8,500 feet, so it was great to see how it feels higher up.

View from 10,000 feet

What a spectacular, fantastic, stunning, beautiful, fabulous, freakin' awesome day it was on the mountain (adjectives, I need more adjectives!). Clear skies, views for miles, fun climbing friends, great workout.

Such a warm day that the snow was soft underfoot, but that didn't slow us down much. Not an easy climb, but what a feeling to stand up so close to the summit and look down at the valley floor and across to Mt. Jefferson and the Sisters. Maybe it was the altitude getting to me, but it was somewhat euphoric. Good training for Rainier (mentally and physically), and also piqued my interest in a Hood summit sometime soon!
Ok, one more photo of that day, I just can't help myself.

Sigh, good times. Good times.

On Bald Butte looking toward Mt Hood

Before recovering from the altitude giddiness a couple of us decided to wake up bright and early Sunday and hike some more! Headed out past Hood River to Bald Butte trail. Beautiful views of Hood for much of the hike, and a few glimpses of Adams, Rainier, and St. Helens as well (making it a 4 volcano sighting day). Lots of beautiful wildflowers spotted along the trail. Hike was somewhat more challenging than planned, but we all made it and had a great time.

Clackamas River

Today, since it's the holiday and all, we took it a little easier and stuck with a decently flat 7 mile hike along the Clackamas River to Pup Creek Falls. We were blessed with yet another beautiful day and I greatly enjoyed strolling along beside the river.







 I continually am awed by how beautiful this area of the world is. How fantastic that all of these great places (and more!) are within a 2 hour drive. Loving it.

What to do after such a weekend of pushing my body to the limits? Although I feel surprisingly great after it all, it's taper time for sure. Plan to take it somewhat easy until the climb July 15-16. Coming up fast! It's kind of surreal that I will (weather and other factors willing) be soon standing on the top of Washington State! I've been dreaming of this since I was 5 or 6 years old, finally on my way to the top. Stay tuned for summit stories and photos soon!


Check it out! In my training I've done the equivalent of a Rainier Summit over 4 times! Must be time to head up and do it for real.

The Tally: 

Mt Rainier                          21.5 mi      9,000 ft elevation gain
Training Hikes So Far      100 mi        38,800 ft elevation gain