Visiting with dad. The chaos Part 2.

After missing Starcrossed, a teammate suggested I head to Steilacoom Sunday for the Rad Racing GP. Great idea! My dad was on board with it, so the plan was to get up at 6am, head to Steilacoom, then do some hiking after.

Now here comes Sunday's chaos. I managed to set my alarm for 6pm rather than 6am, so I rolled over at 7, looked curiously at the clock, then unleashed some expletives. No way I wanted to do the "frantic running late trying to get to a race knowing I won't get a warmup" dance, so I went back to bed. My dad then came out at 8am surprised about the time and I told him I guess we were hiking instead!

After some discussion, we decided to hike Snow Lake, which is a relatively flatish hike. I used to be a hiking fiend, but the IT band injury made it tough for me to go downhill, so I really haven't hiked much in the past three years. I told dad I wanted to keep steepness in moderation. No need to push the IT band too hard yet.

We stopped in Issaquah for a great breakfast at Julia's, then proceeded up to Alpental where it was dumping rain. Neither of us or the dog were too excited to deal with rain, so we just kept driving. I figured there was a good chance it might be sunny east of the pass, and sure enough, a few miles over we had sunshine! Thank goodness for the iPhone and google! Weather forecast? Check. Hike suggestion? Check. I typed in 'Ellensburg hike' and got a Seattle PI review of the Westberg Trail complete with directions, so that's where we went.

This very impromptu hike was fabulous and we enjoyed blue skies and sunshine the whole day! Way better than rain right now if you ask me. Jake loved it too! I had some concerns though as we started the hike and sections turned upwards at an alarmingly steep rate. I worried I'd blow my IT band coming back down, but decided to just go for it and see what happened.

Once up top, we were rewarded with amazing views, lots of wind, and some beautiful memorials. We hung out up top for a while, ate some snacks, and let Jake run around and play fetch for a while. I realized that since I haven't been hiking due to my injury, Jake hasn't either, and he did great for his first real hike!

We started down and I descended one steep section near the top with no trouble. Before long I hit the halfway mark still going strong. I thought I wouldn't make it all the way without some type of IT band issue, but can you believe it? I made it the whole way, even through some really steep sections. Woo! I can't even tell you how excited I was!! Maybe I can start putting hiking back on my list of activities.

This trail did have one awesome little thing I've never seen before: loaner hiking poles! They were just sitting out there at the start with a sign that said "Courtesy of the local Eagle Scouts." I didn't even think to pack one and wouldn't have grabbed one unless my dad urged me to. It really helped on the way down, so thank you Eagle Scouts! What a great idea!

More hike pictures on Facebook.