Saturday, July 21, 2012

Running with the Goats

I'm sure we have all been asked the question "if you could be an animal, what animal would you be?"
For me the answer to that question would probably be a Mountain Goat. They are extremely rugged and muscular, like me :),  have beautiful white coats, can climb ridiculesly steep mountains with ease, and they live in the most spectacles high alpine areas. Just think of waking up and going to bed every day with the most amazing views in the world surrounding you. So why do I start this post off talking about what animal I would want to be? Because for one morning I got to run with the Mt. Goats.

This weeks adventure started in the midst of us moving to a new house so thing were a little crazy and I hadn't had a decent run in a week. That and for the last few weeks every day I seemed to find myself looking to the southeast of Sandpoint towards the Clark Fork delta, there looming in the distance stands Scotchman's peak. That peak has been calling to me, teasing me, as it towers as the highest peak in Bonner county at 7009'. With the need for an adventure I woke up early and drove to the trail that climbs the backside of the peak. The Trail is only 3.5-4 mile long (one way) but it climbs 3800' in that distance with the steepest section being the first mile or so. I hiked 75% of that first mile but after that I found myself being able to run over 70% of the remaining trail. About half way up I came to a stop as I heard a snort, hoping that I might get a chance to see the animal that made it. I was expecting a mule deer but my eyes soon rested on the white fur of a mountain goat. In fact I had literally ran into a herd of five or so goats and was surrounded by them the closest being only 15 yards away. This encounter surprised me some because I was still well below tree line and you always picture mountain goats above that line. Well I made some noise as I tried to get my camera out which spooked an older male goat that had no idea I was there until that point and the goats were gone before I could snap a picture. I felt shorted by the quick glimpse of the goats but felt excited of the possibility that there could be more goats as I climbed higher. 

From there the Trail crossed over grassy mountain sides and through alpine timber and finally it spit you out at the rocky peak. It was when I came to the first snow patch on the summit that I saw two more mountain goats taking a nap on the snow. This time I was much more careful with my movements and sounds and was able to snap a couple of photos before they even knew I was there. Once they realized my presence they stood up but did not run. After a while you could tell that they become curious of me and headed in my direction. within minutes the two goats were less then five yards of me and I started taking a video of them. About that time I heard something coming up behind me and as I looked over my shoulder a third goat came up the trail that I was on to within two or three feet of my position. I continued to video the encounter as four more goats made their way to my location including this years kid and its mother. There was also the 250-300lb alpha male of the group who had rubbed the hair off this shoulders to where his black skin was exposed as all the goats were losing there winter coats. He was a little more standoffish then all the others had been but he to seemed to accept me after a few minutes. It was an incredible encounter as the goats seemed to accept my presence like I belonged at the tops of the mountains with them. After spending a half an hour with the goats I made the short final push to the very top of the peak. There I ran into two more goats, a big nanny and what was probably her kid from two years ago. These two had a keen interest in me and flowed me just about everywhere I went as I explored the summit. The views from up top were spectacular and humbling and beyond my capacity to describe and the picture I took don't or could not capture the majesty of my surroundings. I eventually had to come down which I did in a brisk 35-40 minutes (it took about 1:20-30 up). I miss being up there and long to go back but haven't really had another opportunity to since, which is ok for now because I can sill remember the day I ran with the goats.   





















Sunday, July 15, 2012

Hot weather and Moving


This week started off great with a fast time of 42 min on Syringa on Monday. I really want to break the 40 min mark on the loop (5.1 miles with 700' vert) and I think its possible I just need to really devote the effort to do it. I have yet to run it "all out" but I think I will attempt it in the next few weeks.

Tuesday was another good day but it was HOT. I went up Mickinnick around 1pm at it was in the mid 90's. Once I was at the top a decided to do a little exploring. I ended up running another 1.2 miles on a small trail and by going cross country which had me doing a little rock climbing as well. It was a lot of fun but I ran out of water half way on the way back down, since I had only really taken enough to reach the top and back.  

The rest of the week sucked (I didn't make it out again) as far as running went mainly do to the fact that we are in the process of moving right now. So the rest of my energies went towards that. I can't wait to get out this next week especially since the weather has finally warmed up.  


Grouse on Mickinnick

Exploring the top of Mickinnick

Schweitzer mt






Monday, July 9, 2012

Strong Creek

The Mountains are finally opening up and "I am so excited that I just can't hide it"!

For my first adventure in the highlands (well high for north Idaho) I went up the Strong Creek Trail then scrambled to the top of Round Top Peak. This was an amazing run, the trail is an old mining road that has been closed to vehicles over a 50" wheel base. The Trail itself isn't very technical but it does climb about 3500' in 7 miles then its another 1/4 mile and 200' scramble to the top of Round Top Peak. The trail starts in a Ceder forest and crosses several creeks. About half way up you start to have views of lake Pend Oreille as the trees change from Ceders to high alpine shrub trees. Around the 6.5 mile mark I hit some patches of snow and lots of water running down the trail from the snow melt. The Strong Creek trail ends into the Bee Top, Round Top #120 trail which I took the northern route till I couldn't find the trail any more (it was under snow) then I scrambled to the Top of Round Top Peak elevation 6165'. The views from there were phenomenal with 360 degree views of Lake Pend Oreille, The Cabinet mountain range and the Selkirk mountain range. On the top of the Peak there were the remains and footings of an old lookout tower. I spent probably 20 min just soaking in all the views. After a quick meal (a pro bar) I set back down the trail. On the way down I ran in to a couple of mule deer one of which would not get off the trail and I almost ran it over before it finally eased over the bank. It was a great run and one I look forward to doing again, there are so many place to explore up there its going to be great!

Strong Creek


Lake Pend Oreille

Strong Creek Trail #444 

Looking Northwest towards Chimney Rock 

Top of the Strong Creek Trail #444



Scotchman's Peak 

Standing on one of the footings of the old lookout tower on Round Top Peak

Lake Pend Oreille from Rond Top Peak elevation 6165'


Cabinet mountain range

A Mule Deer that didn'y want to leave the trail 





Sunday, July 8, 2012

Weekly Recap: 6/25-6/30/12


I'm about a week behind on the blog, so this will be a quick recap of 6/25-6/30/12.

I didn't get a ton of miles in this week probably around 30 or so but I managed a 10 miler with Vern the "ninja warrior"(see picture below) on Mickinnick which was great and then did some speed work out at Syringa. At Syringa I did the 5.1 mile loop 4 time this week with times ranging between 43-45 min. The cool thing about that is after talking to a couple of local mountain bikers I found out that I can run the loop faster then most people can bike it. Also this week I did some trail running with the kids out at the Mineral Point trail. Matthias just goes and goes and would often get way ahead of Kaiya and Tytus and I would have to run him down to get him to stop and wait for the rest of us. Katie hiked behind us with Kalea, it was a great outing, I love going out with the family and I'm glad Katie and the kids love being in the woods too.     

Ninja warrior Vern

Lake Pend Oreille looking towards Hope
Kids enjoying a break from running to look at the lake

Matthias  "the stoic one"

Tytus

Kaiya

Katie and Kalea