The trail started with an extended series of switchbacks - snooze. Also, wheeze. The first five miles (all switchbacks) gained about 4500' in elevation. I ran about 40% of this section. After the switchbacks the trail opened up a little bit. I was still in the trees, crossing back and forth over the top of the ridge. Above about 3000' the rhododendrons were still blooming:
I finally cleared the trees and got a great view to the southwest. 
There were all sorts of wildflowers out once the trees thinned. 
I also got to the top of a ridge and saw this great rock formation. It's hard to tell from this angle, but if you were to get closer to the edge you could look straight down several thousand feet - the area I was standing on was an overhang. Needless to say, I stayed well back. 
I crossed around to the north side again and got a great view of three other Cascade peaks. They don't show well in the photo, but L-R it's St. Helens, Rainier, and Adams. 
At this point I knew that I must be getting pretty close to Mt. Hood and would have an amazing view. But the trail was basically pointing right at the summit, so as long as I was climbing and crossing the ridge I wouldn't get a view. Ho hum. I kept running, dropping down a bit along the north side. Finally I could see a break in the trees up ahead:
Hello there! Let's go in the for the close-up.
Ahhh. Pay dirt. I kept going another couple of miles, until it was time to turn around. Didn't make it to the loop, so I made it an out-and-back, taking a few more pictures of wildflowers on the way.
I had about five and a half hours to spend trail running. The switchbacks had eaten up a lot of time heading up, but I hoped to make it up going back down. I started running at 9:15, turned around at noon, and made it back to the car at 2:03. So what took me 2:45 to climb up, took 2:03 to climb down (and that included two potty breaks - I was well-hydrated this time). I could've continued running for another few miles and still made it back by 3. Good to know - next time I'll have a better understanding of how much faster the downhills can be. Oh, and just because trail running is easier on the body doesn't mean that 5 miles of downhill switchbacks are "easy". My quads were cooperative but unhappy. Good practice, though, since Timberline loses 3000' of elevation along the course.
There were all sorts of wildflowers out once the trees thinned. I also got to the top of a ridge and saw this great rock formation. It's hard to tell from this angle, but if you were to get closer to the edge you could look straight down several thousand feet - the area I was standing on was an overhang. Needless to say, I stayed well back. I crossed around to the north side again and got a great view of three other Cascade peaks. They don't show well in the photo, but L-R it's St. Helens, Rainier, and Adams. At this point I knew that I must be getting pretty close to Mt. Hood and would have an amazing view. But the trail was basically pointing right at the summit, so as long as I was climbing and crossing the ridge I wouldn't get a view. Ho hum. I kept running, dropping down a bit along the north side. Finally I could see a break in the trees up ahead:
Hello there! Let's go in the for the close-up.Ahhh. Pay dirt. I kept going another couple of miles, until it was time to turn around. Didn't make it to the loop, so I made it an out-and-back, taking a few more pictures of wildflowers on the way.
I had about five and a half hours to spend trail running. The switchbacks had eaten up a lot of time heading up, but I hoped to make it up going back down. I started running at 9:15, turned around at noon, and made it back to the car at 2:03. So what took me 2:45 to climb up, took 2:03 to climb down (and that included two potty breaks - I was well-hydrated this time). I could've continued running for another few miles and still made it back by 3. Good to know - next time I'll have a better understanding of how much faster the downhills can be. Oh, and just because trail running is easier on the body doesn't mean that 5 miles of downhill switchbacks are "easy". My quads were cooperative but unhappy. Good practice, though, since Timberline loses 3000' of elevation along the course. Of course, the requisite dirty foot shot:
Rockin'.
Rockin'.*
Despite last weekend's near-tragedy, I've been having a lot of fun with this training. It's really nice to look forward to a long run itself - not "getting it done" or putting in the distance, but the actual experience of running. And since trail running forces you to use all sorts of different muscles and take breaks for downed trees, bad footing, steep bits, etc., I haven't been nearly as sore. I've kind of fallen back in love with running, after being totally sick of it near the end of training for Newport. Hurrah!
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