Turkey Day Adventures

Tip of Cape Falcon

Last Christmas, my grandma gifted the whole family a weekend at the beach for Thanksgiving. Two thanksgivings ago, she took the whole family to Timberline Lodge. Unfortunately for us, they got barely any snow at Timberline by Thanksgiving on that trip. Can’t say the same this year! As my sister, mother and I headed over to Rockaway Beach on Wednesday afternoon, I couldn’t help wishing that Grandman had reversed the order of these trips because it was dumping on Mt. Hood. Oh well, the show must go on and there are many fun things to do at the beach as well. I had hoped to go trail running on the Wilson River Trail off Hwy 6 on the way over, but as the storms rolled over the coastal mountain, it was clear that trail running would not be an option. So instead I planned on busting out the snowshoes for a little jaunt in the woods. However, on the way over, the snow levels were not high enough to warrant the appropriate usage of snowshoes so we all suited up for snow winter hiking. We did a little OAB on the WRT heading west. After one difficult creek crossing and fading light, we headed back to the car and finished the drive.

Rockaway Beach

The following day part of the family headed to Cape Lookout State Park to go on a hike or trail run. See the previous post for more detail. When we got back from this trip, it was time for the kite flying contest. While everyone else began flying kites, I donned my wet suit and booties and headed out for some November skimboarding. On my previous skimboarding adventure with Adam in July, I had the misfortune of cracking my skimboard pretty bad. My grandpa and I tried to fix it in time for this trip, but in the end, I had to borrow Adam’s nice foam board. His is suited for deeper water, bigger waves with its surfboardish design, while my Victoria Woodie is completely flat and is perfect for Oregon skimming. The skimboarding went alright, and I got some good rides. The beach however was not as ideal as Google Earth made it seem. While it was perfectly flat in most parts, the beach was plagued with small speed eating pebbles so I had to stay in a small pebble free zone, which limited my distance. That night we had a wonderful thanksgiving meal and spend the evening playing games and taking a stroll on the beach.

On Friday, the weather was pretty stormy in the morning, but I got cabin fever and convinced my father, sisters and uncle to head to a secret beach in Falcon Cove. We jumped in the car during a break in the storm and headed north. I directed them to the gravel pullout for this beach and led the way into the forest. It had been a few years since I had been there so when I saw a spur in the trail I decided to take it to see if there was an easier access point as my route required a rope decent. We ended up finding a complete network of roped trails leading down the side of a cliff on the point of the cove. At first it looked to steep to descend in the wet weather, but eventually I summoned the courage to climb down. This was the kind of adventure that I had been looking for. In the end, Lauren, J and I made it all the way down the ropes and came out on rocks below. We took a few pictures then headed home as the Duck game was on soon.

Cape Falcon Descent

The next morning the Mullaney family got up early and headed back to Portland to go to the Oregon vs Duke basketball game. All in all, it was a great weekend. Relaxing at times and exciting at others.

UNT

Bryan

Uncle J and I

Cove Beach

The Descent

Cape Lookout Trail Run

Cape Lookout

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Oregon

Went out with my uncle for a little Turkey Day Trot on the Oregon Coast. Leaving from Rockaway Beach, we drove south to Cape Lookout State Park. I have camped here once before with Adam and have hiked half of the Cape Trail before turning back due to darkness. While the rest of the family hiked, J and I ran out to the point, snapped a few pictures then headed back past the family and all the way down to the campground. Overall, it was a great run. Nice to get on few trails in new terrain, and it was nice to have a running partner besides Ry for once. Love to hit up Mac Forest with you sometime J!

UNT

Bryan 

A Cure for Seasonal Affective Disorder

The doctor prescribed me with a weekly supply of Myo XP to cure my seasonal affective disorder. So far I have to say that it has been working wonderfully. I have been supplementing my prescription with the occasional trainer session which has helped me out quite a bit. However, I find myself being drawn to the mountains and constantly checking the ski reports. La Nina is coming, and I cannot wait. In the meantime, I am forced to debate whether tromping around in the mud, in the dark and in the rain is really worth it to get some trail time, but it’s the only adventurous option that I have. Given the conditions, I think it is pretty much the end of mountain biking season here in the PNW.  The lower elevation trails will remain snow free, but mud conditions will continue to get worse as the rain continues to fall over the next couple of months. 

Where I do work

My adventurous activities for the winter include resort skiing, snowshoeing, winter trail running and winter camping. I’d like to throw in some mountaineering and backcountry skiing, but I really don’t have the training or the gear for that right now. I am also in the process of considering buying some more gear: new pair of skis, MHW Trango 3.1 4-season tent, road bike, or a GoPro Helmet Hero HD camera. As of right now, I am leaning towards the tent because I think it will get the most amount of use in the current season and seasons beyond. I want new skis, but I don’t know much about skis so I’d like to demo a much before making my decision. Plus, I’d like to have a good backcountry setup in the future so I’d like to have skis that function well both in the backcountry and the resort, as well as, in the pow and in icy conditions. I assume my super ski and AT bindings will be expensive so I cant really afford that right now and don’t want to have to buy one set of resort skis and one set of backcountry ski. I’ll just wait and buy one super set. And the road bike wont be usable until late March at best so Ill have time to save up more money by then anyway.

That is what’s going on for me right now. I’m hoping to do some Thanksgiving skimboarding next week but I’ll have to fix my board or buy a new one or maybe adam will let me use his. Keep a lookout for those photos coming up.

UNT 

Bryan

Dark Side of the Lense

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

I've been posting a lot of videos recently so bare with me but I think that these films will impress and inspire the 6 people who actually follow my blog. Hopefully Adam and I will have some of our own footage up here soon so keep a lookout for that.

UNT

Bryan

Danny MacAskill - "Way Back Home" - NEW street trials riding short film

It's That Time of Year Again - Banff Mountain Film Festival

Daylight Saving = Seasonal Affective Disorder

Well it’s official. It is now dark even before I leave the office. To me, it now seems like I spend all day indoors. The remainder of the year will be spent working out in the dark by headlamp or training in doors. The darkness, combined with the wet weather, makes it very had to stay motivated to train. Not that I am training for anything in particular, just maintaining the fitness I do have will be the main goal of the winter season. I am thinking about doing some races in January and February: One 10k trail race with my sister Megan in late Jan., maybe the Orcas Island 25k, definitely the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40M, which is in April I believe, and maybe just maybe White River 50M during the summer. But time will tell.

In order to stay in shape, I am contemplating joining my parent’s gym membership at the Sunset Athletic Club in order to supplement my trail running and stationary bike workouts with swimming and rock climbing. Maybe develop some upper body muscle, I’m sure Kerrie would like that ;). Got to get some more details on that before I decide though. The club is right across the street from Columbia so it would be extremely easy to get too. Plus I can play some hoops as well.

This weekend I am hoping to do the Elk-King Mtn Traverse if the weather holds off. There is a chance of snow so that would make route finding very difficult given the already overgrown trail. The traverse is only 10M but the large elevation gain, weather, remoteness, and overgrown trail makes this a potentially sketchy run so I’m hoping I can enlist Adam as my partner, but he will most likely have to work now that Apple has started its holiday schedule.

UNT

Bryan

Miller Hallow Challenge

Yesterday, I wanted to try out a pair of the shoes that I am wear testing. I went with the lightweight racing flats because they performed very well the previous day on a short trail run on Nature and Hemlock trail in Forest Park. My goal was to run some good hills and try out Forest Height’s residential trail network. I think they call the whole network of trails, Miller Hallow Trail. I have driven by them many times, but never actually been on them. I also wanted to try out some new GPS apps for my iPhone to see which ones work the best. The previous day I went with MapMyFitness App, but yesterday I tried out Everytrail. Here is a profile of the run. The last climb up to the top of Miller Hallow trail was brutal, basically a giant staircase. This will be a good training run close to home where I can get some serious hills.

Miller Hallow challenge

I got free tickets to the ski and snowboard expo tonight so Adam and I will be heading over there tonight. We will do our best to resist the urge to buy new skis, but gotta bring the check book just in case J. Also, heading to Eugene on Saturday for the UO vs UW football game. Go Ducks! Trying to convince my father to come mountain biking with me Sunday morning after the game so we can hit up the end of the McKenzie River Trail. If not, I’ll bring my trail shoes and do a run up Ridge trail on the outskirts of Eugene.

UNT

Bryan

A Little Update

Havent posted anything in the last fews days bc I havent really done anything athletic in the last few days. I need some sort of project that I can do even when the where is bad. I have found a few for when the weather clears up. One goal is the 40 mile trail around the Portland Metropolitan area. It would be a road biking mission, but I would need to increase my road biking fitness a little before attempting that. With the weather bad for the foreseeable future, training for this, on a trainer, does not seem that appealing. My other mission is to find the perfect rain wear attire. I have more jacket than one person will ever need, but somehow I cant find a rain jacket that will keep me dry from the rain, will breath well enough so my perspiration doesnt soak me, and is lightweight enough to actually be comfortable to run in. There has to be something out there, but before buying another coat, I am going to try some of the jackets that I do have and comment on how each one performs in hopes of finding a suitable jacket that I already own. Even looking out into the market place for a potential jacket, I havent been very impressed with the options. Many companies advertise or market their jackets as waterproof, breathable but in my experience, most fall short.

In other news, I have been very pleased with my new wet, muddy weather trail running solutions for the lower half of my body. I recently purchased a pair of Montrail's Mountain Masochist's GTX shoes and paired them with MHW's Seta Trail gaitor. This combination has proved to be extremely waterproof and comfortable. Yes, I get very muddy and wet but my feet stay perfectly dry. I'll try and post a picture of this set up soon. Also, I recently purchased a pair of MHW 3/4 Power Tights for running, mtbing and skiing. I wore them recently on a cold, wet trail run and they kept me nice and dry, without overheating. These will be nice for days when my full tights are too warm, but shorts are too cold. While the tights are not the most flattering addition to my wardrobe, many comments from family and gf questioning my manlyhood, I find them to be quite comfortable so you all can shove it lol.

In other other news, I am wear testing a few pairs of trail runners from Columbia and Montrail, and while I cannot tell you the name or what kind of shoe it is, I will be able to comment on some things that I like and dislike about them. Unfortunately, no photos will be posted, but they look and feel pretty sweet so far.

That's all I got and here is a photo Joel man took while in Sun Valley,

UNT

Bryan