Snowed Out at WRT

Headed out to the Wilson River trail looking to run around 19 miles with a good chunk of elevation gain. Got all geared up and just happen to check tripcheck.com before leaving and from the cameras, noticed that there appeared to be snow on the ground in Gales Creek and at the Tillamook Forestry Center. I debated whether to stick with the plan or go put in the miles on the Gorge Trail #400. I decided to stick with the plan since I wanted some elevation and light snow in the Coastal Mtns would be better than the windy, deluge in the Gorge.

Forgot to take pics at Elk Creek. Damn!

But by the time I got to Gales Creek, the snow was really starting to come down. By the time, I pulled off Hwy to park at the Elk Creek Gate, the mountains were in full on blizzard mode. With snowy slush on the ground, blizzard like conditions, I aborted my plan and headed back to the Newberry end of the Wildwood for an OAB there. Of course, when I got to Newberry, it was snowing like crazy, but at least there was no snow on the ground.

The Newberry End before the snow turned to freezing rain

In the end, I completed 18.4 miles in 2:40. I wanted 19.5, but in my tired, cold state my math skills failed me. I got to the end of the trailhead feeling pretty proud of myself for putting in bigger miles in the cold, snowy, freezing rain, muddy conditions, but just as I unlocked my car. I hear some yelling and Hip Hip Hoorays as a runner comes trudging up to Newberry, apparently completing the whole Wildwood Trail. All of a sudden my accomplishment didn’t seem all that great. Bubble officially burst. Congrats to him, more fuel for the fire for me.

You know you're putting in the miles when your shoes are beginning to fall apart

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The next day, Adam, Andrew and I felt like a little adventure so we decided on hiking the Rock of Ages trail up to the Arch. The trail was nice and steep and a little under maintained, but its supposed to be like that and I enjoyed the adventurous nature of it given the wet conditions. We took a few photos along the way and ended the day with a little pub crawl as we were still looking to fill our second corney keg to round out our dual kegerator. In the end, we settle on Alameda’s Black Bear XX Stout.

UNT

Bryan

Accomplices



The top of Ponytail Falls - "We could definitely cross the log," said Andrew



Turned into pretty decent weather in the end

"How far down is it?"

Intrepid Explorers - Too bad I didnt get a shot of Andrew straddling the Rock of Ages...

For effect