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Waldo Lake Trail #3590

August 3, 2008 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: start: maybe 40F; finish: 60F

Comments:
Slept just HORRIBLE last night. Pretty sure this is the worst case of jock itch I've ever had in my life. Put on some Lotromin last night and it did nothing for the itch. Woke up every 30-60 minutes, all night. Just terrible.

Woke up for good, got all my shit together, and was on the road by 0600. I hauled ass up 58, wanting to get on the trail early. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Waldo Lake Rd was paved the whole way, which was great. Got all my shit on -- Camelbak, camera, etc -- and hit the trail just after 0730.

The route: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/willamette/recreation/tripplanning/trails/northwaldo/waldolake3590.html

Went counter-clockwise from Shadow Bay (parking just off the road at a TH). This turned out to be a good call because I got the more boring parts out of the way first. The first 5.5 to North Waldo CG was just a nice, relatively flat stretch in the woods. The trail was in great shape and I felt pretty good, but COLD! I had on a long sleeve dri fit + a short sleeve and my skull cap. Could've definitely used gloves. I was rolling pretty good on the trail with a full pack, hitting the CG >5.5 mi away in 41 minutes.

North Waldo is a nice spot, but not really worth driving up there, so I kept rolling. The next trail segment -- going E->W at the north side -- was AMAZING. The Charlton Fire in '96 blew through the area and it's still quite barren. I loved this section because the sun was now above and it finally warmed me up. Took some sweet pics of the lake, which was now in full view. That section blew by.

The only real stop I took the entire run was at NW corner of the lake, at the headwaters of the North Fork Willamette River. Took some pics but otherwise kept it very short, as the skeeters were pretty rough. Actually ate my Clif Bar on the run. A sign at the bridge said it was 10.8 back to Shadow Bay, so I was rolling.

The west side of the lake was my favorite, with some terrific ridgeline trail sections and picturesque views of Waldo. Also, once the trail dived back into the woods, there were tons of fun little bridges, log crossings, and pathways through the woods.

I wish I had carried a map with me, or had known the area a bit better, because I missed a couple cool things, including an area where they drilled through a mountain back in the early 20th Century to provide irrigation, but it was never used. I did see a bunch of sweet campsites, many of which were occupied.

On the trail, it seems I always turn into Wheels, where I'll be running along, thinking I'm completely alone and I'll just shout out a "SHIT!" or "FUCK!", then I'll look up and someone'll be there. This happened again today, with a guy camping along the lakeshore. Ha!

Interestingly, the toughest parts of the run were the SW corners, where we got some (almost) PCT-quality uphills. Beyond that, it was a very manageable trail run, by mountain standards.

Legs never really felt great, but I had good energy, which was quite fortunate, because it was a lonnng run. I made it a bit longer by taking a wrong turn near the end, which caused me to have to run up the road from Shadow Bay, itself, to my car. It felt good to be on the road, though. By then I'd been on the run for >2.5 hours, but I was rolling on the road.

I ran 'til I saw the Celica, and I stopped the watch at 2:47. BIG RUN. Wow. Can't tell you the last time I ran that much, with so little rest. 2003 TCM? I bet my total rest time after the Willamette Headwaters was maybe 5-7 minutes. There are conflicting reports about the length of this trail. I read as "little" as 19.6 and as much as 22. Since I added on via the road, I'm going to call it 21, which would equate to 8:00 pace. I was running pretty darn fast for a trail at 5000' altitude, too, so that's a pretty safe bet for distance.

Got back to the car, changed into fresh clothes and piled in and was on the road, heading back to Eugene by 1100. Had a TERRIFIC drive home in perfect weather.

What a GREAT DAY! I live for days and runs like this, and this is what I was hoping for out of this summer. :)