What’s on your bucket list this winter? I’m hoping to to learn a little more about sailing and to brush up on my map and compass skills. Maybe some more runs, climbs, and snow-shoe trips too.

And I will be doing a lot of planning for fun adventures in the next year with climbs, treks and runs in Tanzania, Nepal, and South America. Interested in climbing Kilimanjaro or trekking to Everest Base Camp? Let me know!

When I got back to Seattle after the transcon run, I found myself going a little stir crazy sitting at my desk staring at a computer all day. It was hard to slow down! Fortunately,  I was able to spend the rest of the summer and fall doing some incredible trail runs and hikes on the weekends. Much thanks to Nichole who led the way on many of these adventures and brightened each considerably. There is no common theme across these sojourns,  other than a simple desire to ‘get out’ into the back country.

Six days after swimming in Boston, I ran White River, a tough 50 miler in the Cascades near Crystal Mountain. The vertical ascent/descents left me wrecked and unable to really walk for about 5 days. Nichole kicked butt, finished ~1.5hrs ahead of me, took 3rd place female, and ambulated just fine the next day. [more pics]

Mt. Rainier from the White River 50 course
By far the best trip of the summer was to Stehekin, WA in early August. We did an amazing ~40m loop hike with two nights of camping and one in the lodge. This is the heart of the North Cascades National Park. We kept thinking the views would end, but they never did. Thanks to Brian Carl for the recommendation and inspiration. [more pics]
The views never stopped in Stehekin and Lake Chelan.

During the ~7 years that I lived in Oregon, I was a couch potato. It was nice to return and do a speed hike up South Sister. We ran around the rim of the crater and then back across the snow field inside the crater.  [more pics]

Middle and North Sister beckon.

In late August we hiked Mount Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula.  With five miles of gradual up on switchbacks, we found stunning views, a perfect campsite, and even a little kite flying. This was one of the few trips that was relatively gentle on the body but it was still 5 miles of down down down. Thanks to Stephanie for the recommendation and Mary and Merlin for the maps and good times. [more pics]

The Sound of Music on Mt. Townsend

Another weekend, we finally made it to Cascade Pass and almost all the way to the top of Sahale Mountain where we were surrounded by too many peaks to count.We got back to our camp just as it got dark. [more pics]

In late September we ran the Volcanic 50k (31m), an inaugural run around Mt. Saint Helens. It was a super tough course. It felt more like a 50 miler.
October included another run, the Mt. Spokane 50k. Two loops including a crazy scree slide down a ski hill. Nichole finally got her dues and took first place female. Well done! Thanks to James Varner – Rainshadow Running for another ass kicking.

Later in the month we trekked north to Canada. Thanks to cousin Eli for hosting us in Vancouver and the recommendations that led us to run on crazy trails, in between the clouds, and deep…deep inside the clouds.. [more pics]

Garibaldi Provincial Park, Diamond Peak, British Columbia.
I think that is it! There were definitely some fun smaller adventures in between but these were the highlights. Thanks for reading.  Let me know if you have ideas for adventures!
This weekend we ran into winter while trail running

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