Surprise Creek Trail Work Party with WTA

For whatever reason, I had a tough week of recovery from Knee Knackering. Very tight achilles, still tender ankle. Looking at the calendar, I realized I needed to get my trail work* done for Cascade Crest 100 in late August, and this Saturday was the best window. 

In case you're reading this and don't know, many 100 milers require a day of trail work as prerequisite for starting. It's a good thing. I've been putting in a day of trail work every year for the last few years, and it's ALWAYS rewarding.

The Washington Trail Association (WTA), one of my favorite charities, had a work party scheduled at Surprise Creek. I try to do my trail work with them, because they are just so cool. I was excited to check out Surprise Creek, as I hiked this trail over 20 years ago--a couple times--and I thought it would be fun to go back and see what was familiar. Back in the '80s, I used to hike Highway 2 and I-90 quite a bit. As it turned out, I did not remember much, in terms of landmarks. I do recall I liked the hike more than most on Highway 2, that there was a lake and a pass, and there were bugs up high. Also, a day trip to the pass was reasonably tough.

The drive up was terrific. I've been sitting on Bruce Springsteen's The Promise for some time now, and this was the drive to finally check it out. The album is an unreleased album from the '70s, with rave reviews. I was soaking it up on the drive to the trailhead, listening to Bruce and the E Street Band, just like the old days when I did this hike before. I used to listen to the Boss a lot on my way to all sorts of places--Yellowstone and the Tetons come to mind. On cassettes, held in wood racks. Clarence Clemons recently passed away--another reason for the renewed listen. Rest in peace, Big Man.

The trailhead for Surprise Creek is about 8 miles east of Skykomish, near Stevens Pass, at a bit of an odd turnoff.  We had a small but able crew of Forrest, our WTA trail crew expert, along with Nathan, Craig, Lauren and myself.  We hiked in about a mile on a really pleasant trail, with many boardwalks, to our worksite, which was just across Surprise Creek. I carried a culvert all the way in--awkward though light.

We spent the whole day working on a fallen Silver Fir. Most of the morning was spent just trying to cut one section of log and move it about 100 yards. Since we were in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, all our tools were old school--an eight foot crosscut saw, the helpful PV, the pulaskis, loppers, grubhoe, et al.  We managed to drop this 750 lb. log in a hole, and then figured out how to skid it out of it. Towards the end of the day, we made real progress with the rest of the tree, cutting it up, skinning it, and moving the logs.

We saw a few hikers go by during the day. They all came back, turned around by the snow. I don't think any of them made it to Surprise Lake, the first of two lakes. There's just a whole lot of snow still up there. I suspect this might impact White River and even Cascade. It's not like it's sunny this weekend.

Rock & Roll Seattle Marathon

I’m so conflicted about the Rock and Roll Seattle Marathon. I love Rock and Roll. Joan Jett said that. I like running with music. I don’t like spending a bunch on a marathon, or running on pavement, generally. I don’t like shuttles or mandatory expos. I don’t really like crowds, but the Rock and Roll Marathon crowd is always a kick.

Despite any reservations I may have, at the end of the day, I always have a good time at the Rock & Roll events. I’ve now done a couple R&R marathons in Seattle, and a couple in San Diego, including the first one. The organization has come a long way since that first one, where they ran out of water at every aid station.

The music:  I heard two different bands play “Do you come from a land down under…” One had a violin. They were blasting Boston’s Don’t Look Back at the I-90 bridge turnaround, which I will forever now associate with George Clooney and Men Who Stare At Goats. Everclear was at the finish, I heard, but I sort of missed that. There was this one band in sailor suits with a female lead covering Led Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll. A lot of other great bands, set up about every two miles. The most music is in the first half of the race.

I ran with my friend Keri--running her third R&R Seattle, and I think she got a PR for the marathon, running a great race. I ran sort of easy, but the pounding on pavement beat up my feet by the end of the day. I had a good time taking pictures, high-fiving people, and just chattering. The people watching is terrific.

We had a debate as to which course is better, the Rock and Roll Seattle course, or the Seattle Marathon course. Last time I did the R&R Seattle, I thought it was better, as the mountain was out, and it was a beautiful day. Not so much today, and so now I'm leaning in the direction Keri took, favoring the Seattle Marathon course. I think I go that way because Seattle doesn't require a shuttle bus, which adds a lot of time to the event on both the front and back end. I had to get up at 3:45 to make the race. Too early.

Before the race, I was also unhappy about the "No Exceptions" requirement that persons attend the Expo in person to obtain their number on Thursday or Friday.  No family or friends pickups allowed. The Expo closes at 7 PM, which is really tough to get to for someone working on Thursday or Friday (imagine that) in a distant town like Bellingham, especially when they also have to fight game day traffic for baseball in the evening. They made a race day accommodation for me, so props to them for that. I had very real conflicts this particular week for both evenings. But still--a little frustrating.

Weather was overcast for most of the day, with one break in the sun on the bridge. I saw a number of people I know, either running or cheering—congrats and thanks to all. The course itself is not a quick one--there are particularly long uphill stretches on Aurora Avenue around Mile 16 through 20.

R&R was a fine way to get in miles as I train for longer distances for later this year. The event has a really great vibe once out on the course—bands, cheerleaders, Teams in Training, people in their yards with their boom boxes, doing their best Lloyd Doblers for the runners. I’ve always enjoyed the race part of the event. Everything else is a bit of a hassle, but obviously I seem to keep doing it, so I guess these points are tolerable. R&R is also a different animal amongst Northwest races, with so many more participants than other races (20,000+?), and so much on course support. "Cytomax, cytomax." The aid stations are over a 100 yards long sometimes.

Next up is Knee Knacker in North Vancouver. Excited--it is supposed to be a classic, and it has been on my list for a while. I guess it is back to the trails, Canada style.

Deception Pass

The forecast wasn’t particularly good for Saturday, and so I tried to dream up some place new and interesting but snowfree for a long run. I came up with Deception Pass State Park, on Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands.

I’ve driven over the famous Deception Pass bridge many many times, but I’ve never truly explored the park. The State’s website says it gets 2 million visitors per year, and my neighbors and other friends have told me of camping trips there. It’s only a half hour away from home, and so it's kind of been on my list of to dos.

Turns out Deception Pass is a really good trail running location. And just an amazing place. There are a whole lot more trails than I realized, with trails circling little peninsulas on the sea, ridge runs on high bluffs, sand dunes and beach runs, old growth. Lots of ecological variety—a good example of “succession,” as one sign said.

I found green tiger slugs, a big garter snake, a bald eagle, a lot of mushrooms. Tidepools. Running on a cliff above the sea, the Whidbey Island wind spirit stole my Udo's Oil hat. One second it was there, the next it was over the cliff and into the ocean. Goodbye Udo's Oil hat!

Part of the reason I chose to go to Deception Pass was that I heard the North Cascades Institute is leading a mushroom class there in a couple weeks. This made me curious. I wanted to compare a seaside zone to the high country we were in last weekend.  There weren't as many as in deep in the old growth of the Fischer Creek Valley, but still quite the variety.

I enjoyed reading some of the naturalist signs--lots of great quotes from Emerson, Thoreau, Chief Seattle, and others. One by Gary Snyder struck a chord:  "Nature is not a place to visit. It is home."

Years ago, I read a terrific book on Whidbey Island's environmental history--it's slow and science oriented, sort of, but I recommend it:  "Land Use, Environment, and Social Change: The Shaping of Island County, Washington." Author Richard White, a University of Washington professor, later was awarded the MacArthur Award (aka genius grant), presumably for his work in developing the field of environmental history studies.

Despite all my stops, I got a good run in. About four hours on the trail, with plenty of running time. Not the most disciplined of workouts, but sufficient to leave me tired by the time I got back to the rig. There is plenty of up and down in the Park, and so if you want it, you can get some. All the promontories, and up to the bridge, and back down to the beaches a few times--it all adds up. Also, the footing is not all that safe sometimes--you are literally hiking and running along cliffs and steep ridges.

Saturday ended up being a long day. In the evening, I checked out the band Deer Tick with Erik, Steve, and other friends. I don’t really like their name—in general I’m not a fan of deer ticks, because they have lyme disease--but it was good times with friends, and they were a really fun live act. Sort of an alt-country band, with a Jayhawks/Son Volt/The Band type sound. They kind of look like Stillwater from Almost Famous, with the lead singer looking like that blond stoner dude in Dazed and Confused.

August Fun

Summer Office Party:

Sailing Bellingham Bay on the Gato Verde

http://www.gatoverde.com/

Baker above Bellingham

Sunset

Hidden Lake Peak in the North Cascades

Northwest Washington Fair

Front Row for Clint Black

Arts

I probably need to go run right now, get in my weekend miles, since I've been lame so far this weekend, but it is so hot out. The Pacific Northwest set heat records earlier this week, with Bellingham getting up to 96 degrees, and Seattle hitting 103, both all time records. I cannot believe that in all of history Bellingham's highest temperature was 94 degrees, until now. Those records suck. But temperature is weird--96 degrees around these parts seems a lot hotter than elsewhere. Around here, everything effectively slows down when it gets this hot. I know I don't feel normal in the head or the body. I'm not into heat.
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So.... in this much anticipated installment of "Before the Deluge"---which, btw, is a title I chose quickly for this blog, obliquely referencing running, environment, music, water, and the end of the world, or maybe this weekend---
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Saturday morning--volunteered at the Anacortes Art Dash. I volunteered at a friend's behest, and then said friend told City that I knew everything about running a race, that I am a lawyer, and so everything would be very organized. I run races, but I don't really run races, at least yet. Maybe someday. I quickly called another friend who does, and so responsibilty properly shifted. I got up at 6 AM, helped set things up, and then ran the timers. Good volunteer work, and nice to be out in such a beautiful town early Saturday. I followed that up with a visit to the Anacortes Farm Market. The Skagit is going bonkers right now with berries and greens--the Farmer's markets are full, as is my fridge, and friends are giving stuff out like crazy. I'm cooking all sorts of quick stir frys, and probably should learn how to freeze/store things, but I am so busy.
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After Anacortes, I headed down to Seattle and caught the Kenny Chesney Sun Carnival Tour with Dan, my cousin's husband, and only other person in the fam who admits to listening to country. The show was at Qwest, tickets were anywheres from $75 to $500, and it was a nuts lineup as far as popular country radio goes. Sort of like one of those old Monsters of Rock shows at the Kingdome. The show was a 7 hour marathon, probably 40k in attendance. Our seats were ok, but we were far out. The crowd-watching was good, but I didn't see a a lot of ultrarunners.
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I liked it. All the acts were hitting, but the show really picked up steam as the evening set in, with Sugarland and Kenneth Cheseny cleaning up. Everyone covered popular rock songs, along with their hits. Lady Antebellum: Hurt So Good. Miranda Lambert: I Love Rock and Roll--and she should cut this as a single--really pulled it off, with her pink guitar. Montgomery Gentry: a Kiss rock song. Sugarland: Pearl Jam's Betterman, Madonna's Holiday. Jennifer Nettles is amazing---real stage presence. Chesney was terrific, taking a chairlift from midfield to get to the stage at the start, sort of like Motley Crue. From there he was non-stop for two hours, running all over the place, knocking out his hits. His encore was all covers, with some guests: Take It Easy, The Joker, a Marley song, Blister in the Sun, and finishing with U2's With or Without You.

Death Cab For Cutie

I lucked into a couple tickets to Death Cab for Cutie's show in Bellingham on Thursday. Tenth row seats, in the grand old Mount Baker Theater! This is just a terrific location, and DCFC doesn't play these smaller places anymore. I went with my college roommate Steve, hanging out beforehand, and catching up on things at the Bayou on the Bay. Crawfish and alligator dip before a show! I don't think I've ever had gator before. We caught the second night show, which was "students only"--very lively---the crowd never sat.

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I really didn't know that much about the Death Cab, except that they are from Bellingham and WWU originally, and lots of people like them a lot. This was their homecoming show--"We are Death Cab for Cutie....and we are from Bellingham!" (Crowd roar.) They all were Western students, I think, maybe Huxley even, my college. I liked the lead singer Ben Hibbard's comment about their visit--"Some things haven't changed a bit; some things have totally changed." I tried to think back to B'ham 10 years ago and now--amazing differences, and yet you still can get a disc and a bagel on Railroad. Steve said it felt like three lifetimes ago.

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I'll save the Lester Bangs professional review for someone else (and Annie L. would not be a fan of these grainy pics)--but no exaggeration--it was a "rock star" performance, with great sound, pyrotechnics, driving bass lines, drumlines at times that reminded me of early U2 or maybe Journey, and a charismatic lead singer. I'm going to get some more of their music, pronto.

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Friday night I went to OneAmerica's annual dinner in Seattle. This was a bigger deal than I expected, with over 600 attendees at the Washington Trade and Convention Center, and some very notable speakers (e.g. Ron Simms, Jim McDermott). OneAmerica is a terrific advocacy group, pushing for improved civil, immigrant and human rights in Washington. Originally started as the "HateFreeZone" in the aftermath of 9/11, to combat violence that was occurring to immigrants locally, their mission has now expanded and they are doing all sorts of good things, like fighting for the better detention standards in Tacoma and helping families in need, who've been separated from loved ones. People just don't realize some of the stuff that goes on.

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http://www.hatefreezone.org/

In running news, I saw two owls sitting on a branch while running down the Fragrance trail this week. Here's a picture of one. I also ran around Blanchard one night, with a noticably improved time for a familiar loop, which is encouraging. I wasn't into driving to Olympia for the Capitol runs this weekend, after being out late the last two nights, and so I'm doing something local this weekend, though nothing near as taxing as a 50 miler. I want to get away from running the calendar. I may hit the Sunflower next weekend in Winthrop, since the North Cascades Pass opened last night.

Birds and Other Matters

I ran and hiked around Chuckanut this morning, for about three hours. I took the drive to the trailhead at Larrabee Park slow, stopping a couple times on Chuckanut Drive to check out the swans, snow geese, and storks, seen above. I have no idea whether these birds are all the same, or technically different, but they are big, they are white, they are loud, and they have long necks. They are also all over the Skagit this time of year. Later, they head up to Alaska, I think. Eagles are supposed to be here too right now—this is the Bald Eagle Festival weekend—but they avoided me this morning. I might go find them tomorrow.
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So, for my “run”---(I’m taking some license in calling it that)---for my run, I left from Larrabee Park and went up by Fragrance Lake, then up Chinscraper, and then ran the full C-nut Ridge to Dan’s Traverse. Turned it around from there, did some backtracking to Cleator Road, and then ran down and around Fragrance again. I have not been doing hills since the cold spell, and I really felt it going up—I was absolutely awful early on, mostly hiking and huffing. It was cold, really cold, 25 degrees cold. That’s my excuse. It was cold and my blood needed to warm up. Plus I had a chonga bagel beforehand.
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Once on top, I did sort of better though, and it’s all because I plugged into music. I’ve gotten away from music in my running—big mistake. The first song was Abba’s SOS. Abba is the BEST palindrome group of all time, and this is the greatest palindrome double down ever. (Sorry Aha--it's just true.) The second song then was Pearl Jam’s Not For You, and I like the guitar on it. The third song was Kenny Chesney’s Don’t Blink, which is a pop country song about not blinking or your life will go by before you know it. Lots of wisdom in country songs. Admittedly, minds may differ on the quality of these songs, but the minds that differ are wrong—these are good songs. So, clear skies, long views, and good tunes. I needed that. My new training strategy is to listen to more music when I run.
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Parking lot at the top of Chinscraper/Cleator

Partially frozen Fragrance Lake

Clear skies, looking out towards Orcas and Lummi Islands

Mount Baker, Pacific Rim of Fire

Rock and Roll Means Well

Friday night, 9:45 PM. Prefunk at the Hooverville, knocking down caffienated beverages with my not so innocent mates--Steve, Randy, Vaughn. Good times---we were talking and realized we were nigh on 20 years as accomplices. Exit soon after, suitably orientated, across the street to the Showbox SoDo for...the....[dramatic blog pause]...the Drive By Truckers. I've wanted to see them for about five years now--they're southern goth rock, more or less, and they officially rocked!! I think I liked them more than my friends, although they were into them for sure. I noticed some people were just kind of watching with the old hand on the chin, hmmm look. Whatever. Some were totally getting into it, and I was part of thatsome. For the encore, a gorilla came on the stage, and then the opening band, The Hold Steady, and then they went on for about 45 minutes, at least, with Let There Be Rock (their version) and a VH cover, Ain't Talking Bout Love. Perfect. My favorite song though was from their new album--That Man I Shot, all about a soldier in Iraq killing someone in self-defense. DBT are liberal, anti-war, and this song just blisters the ears and psyche in all the right ways.

Nothing notable running wise this weekend. I ran a hard 2.5 hours Saturday, and then wandered around the Nookachamps on Sunday. I have been doing some cool headlamp runs. I was recently charged by a deer, rolled my ankle coming off a tower, and got ridiculously wet on some other Friday night, puddle stomping on the ridge. Life is good.

Bumbershoot

Lucinda Williams

Neko Case

Skater

Unearth

Band of Horses

Beck

Randy and KT