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Rainier: White River CG to Borroughs and back

September 24, 2018 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50-60s, beautiful!

Comments:
After yesterday's big run we briefly contemplated not running, but when we awoke, it was immediately so goddamn nice that we had to go. Callie was nervous about her knee, so we decided on this route that went from our CG, gently upriver, then the possibility of a huge climb up the ridge to a couple butte-like mountains called "The Boroughs", which we ran below the day before. It was a 10-ish mile loop and looked doable.

Starting out, I felt sluggish. Ankles SUCKED. They hurt so bad, espeically on that light (but otherwise buttery) uphill that it frequently forced me to talk. But like yesterday, I came around (today, even more quickly) and felt alright.

The views going upriver, to the base on Rainier, were amazing, but intermittent. The trail was great, crossing myriad little streams and waterfalls, before hitting the junction to climb straight up to the Boroughs. Thankfully CA's knees were OK so we did it.

That climb was sort of a mixture of Devil's Thumb (or Deadwood Canyon in either direction) -- super-steep with dozens of short-switchbacks -- and once we broke the treeline, sort of like some of the climbs on Red Star Ridge. In other words, both tough but great.

Above the tree line was especially amazing because Rainier and its associates were in full view. We took our time and mostly hiked, til we got to the top of the Boroughs, these curious, nearly 100% vegetation-free flat-top mountains just NE of Rainier. Once up there, the trail kept us on that flat plateau for over a mile as we wound our way east, and back toward Sunrise.

It was a unique trail for sure. Other than, say, the WS trail, I've never been on a ridgeline trail like that with such full views in all directions. It was "marvelous"!

The initial descent toward Sunrise was pretty easy, dipping us into the woods, then back onto the Wonderland Trail. The final 2.5 miles were more like Hardesty: wooded and rolling, but relentlessly (and with 1930s trail-cutting precision) downhill.

Finished back at the campground.

GREAT RUN. SO COOL.

Rest of the day:

* lunch-ish in the parking lot
* drove to PDX for a "city night" -- less fun than hoped. It was basically unavoidable to eat some dairy at the places we went two, and dairy (at best) makes me really fatigued. OK night, but honestly, I would've preferred one more camp night!