Brianne and I took a trip to Mt St Helens, so we started the day at 3am and drove to the Coldwater Lake boat launch, which is roughly a 3 hour drive. Quickly ate some food and headed out on our run as soon as we could so we would be back to the car before the heat really built up.
Since it was going to be a burning hot day we had to carry a lot of weight in food and water.
I was feeling a bit fatigued from the start from the previous 9 days running load, the extra weight of water added to that fun feeling. This run rounded off a 10 day block where I ran 130 miles and was a really good high intensity block leading up to my next race. For me running is fun and I run for enjoyment not just to log miles for training.
We started at the boat launch, ran round the side of the lake for 4.5 miles and then headed up hill for 6 miles to get to the summit of Coldwater Peak.
First views of Mt St Helens after climbing from the lake side. The flattened tree corpses still left where they were snapped off in 1980 from the eruption blast are just visible.
Coldwater Peak where we were heading for.
We were up above the snow line but it was mostly melted out. I noticed quite a bit of change in the snow level since being here a week before this picture.
Action shot of Brianne part way up.
Mt St Helens behind Brianne. This was about 50 feet below the Coldwater Peak summit.
Its such a beautiful place and views like this make the early start and long drive there and back worth the effort.
At the summit of Coldwater Peak. Mt Rainier is behind us. The wind was quite strong but the heat from the sun was still very evident.
Brianne enjoying the view. This is on the way down about 2 miles from the summit.
Beside the rock with the hole in it.
The trail heads though this hole in the rock.
This is an interesting rock feature. Its apparently a massive land slide which exposed the harder rock. The picture doesn't give the scale but it was quite a few hundred feet high.
The mountain in the background adds a little perspective.
After we eventually finished the run (I was feeling the effects of my high mileage 10 days block) we cooled off in the lake after eating. Then it was time for the long drive home.
See my previous blog entry for the stats of the route. I don't need to repeat them here again.
This is quite an interesting bridge on the Spirit Lake Highway, the bridge is about 400 feet high. The little dot on the road in the distance was a fairly large pickup truck for scale.
Some details about the bridge.
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