LM warmup (10 reps), 14.14 miles in 2:33:23, 10:51/mi, HR 138, w/ 2300+' elevation gain.
Today was an adventure run. No other way to describe it. My initial plan was to run 24 miles in the UW Pack Forest, exploring some of the hiking and horse trails I hadn't explored before. I also intended to scout the perimeter road in search of a back-way into town. So after plotting a tentative route and getting decked out in my finest trail running digs, I was off.
First 2 miles were normal....on the road heading for what the map showed was the eastern perimeter road. Hit that and headed down...it was gravel but had a lot of running water and mud, not too terribly bad. Until I hit a dead-end that wasn't on the map. I could make out the faintest signs of what I'll call a single-track minus trail heading off to the left from the dead end, away from some guy's trailer-home to the front right. Since there were telephone poles with what looked like active wires on them, I figured it was probably a trail and just a tad overgrown. In retrospect, it might've been a deer trail at best. With all the rains to date, it was nothing more than a muddy mess at best and a stream at worst (those might be backwards). This was the start of Mr. Dale's Wild Ride.
I followed the path, choosing the more well-worn path when confronted with a choice, trying to move in the direction that I thought I'd be going originally. At times the path widened to an old 2-lane rut but it'd quickly narrow and at times disappear. I finally came out on the top of a ridge in an old clear-cut and the trail finally vanished. Not wanting to retrace my muddy steps, I picked up another faint track and aimed uphill. Soon I was completely cross-country, crawling over and under logs, on all fours climbing up the steep hillside, and generally just trying to find my way back to a path. By this point, my legs were cut to shreds by the blackberry creepers, my shoes and socks were soaked with mud and water, and I'd gone less than 5 miles. I finally crawled up onto the paved road and jumped onto the railroad track to cross the bridge over into the main pack forest area. A bit of level decent trails and fire roads here for a while, I jumped onto the path that takes you down by the Mashell falls. Here's where I learned to ski in my "trail shoes". Rather, I tried not to kill myself by slipping in the mud headed down the not-so-gentle trail. My ASRs are fine for gravel roads and dry single-track, but mud is another matter entirely. I took a couple of side trips to view the falls but those paths obviously aren't used much this time of year and I was back to crawling on all fours in spots. I did manage some cool pics though... 
After lots more wading through the muck, I finally popped out on the northern perimeter road. Out of morbid curiosity, I headed east to see how far I'd get in search of the northern connector, and I came upon the mighty Little Mashell river, and what looked like the remenants of an old log bridge across.....obviously the map needs some updating. I turned around and headed up the nice gentle gravel road for a while, enjoying the whole run-ability of it, but before too long passed another singletrack trailhead....not marked nor on the map. Ah, what the heck. In short order, I was climbing over trees and pushing aside brush again, found yet another dead-end, backtracked for a while, traversed some more mud bogs, and finally popped out onto the 1000 road, the main gravel road system in the forest. From here it was a short hop onto the Reservoir trail, which was muddy but not nearly as bad as the others. This eventually took me into some old growth forest, which I probably would've enjoyed much more had it not coincided with heading straight uphill.  A mix of running and hiking thru this section finally dumped me out in Kirkland Pass, where I picked up the Trail of the Giants. Somewhere in here I finally passed the 8 mile mark in well over 90 minutes, not exactly screaming fast. This trail was more runnable in spots, but I was already tiring quickly from the previous efforts. Next I hit the Windy Ridge trail, which was uphill (of course) and I'd run before, but here I was reduced to quite a bit of hiking. At the top I took the left road loop back to Kirkland Pass, where I decided I'd had enough fun for the day, bombed back down the 1000 road to the east side of the forest, hopped across on the rail bridge, hit the road, and made it back home in just over 14 miles, feeling like I had run 24. My legs didn't fare too well today. 
But it was definitely an adventure. | 