Camp Muir Hike - 08.13.2010

Distance : 9 miles round-trip

Time : The last time I hiked to Camp Muir, our group was inexperienced and unprepared. We ran out of water on the way up, but yet packed WAY too much for a day hike. It took us 6 hours to get up, and 4 hours to get down. This time, being better prepared, it only took 4 hours to go up and 1.5 hours to get down. I should note though, that last time we were hiking in early July and most of the hike was still covered in snow. This time, we hiked for about an hour before we got into the snow.

Elevation Gain : According to my GPS unit, we started at 5,400 feet at Paradise and climbed to 10,100 at Camp Muir. Not quite a vertical mile but close.

If I could offer any tips about this hike; start slow. The first section of paved trails is steep! I started off fast (our group set a quick pace) and didn't think I would make it 30 minutes. But we settled into a groove and made really good time on the way up. It levels out (relatively) for a little bit before you hit the Muir Snowfield. My knees started hurting for the last mile. But it's still better than last time when my knees hurt the entire way (I was carrying at least 50 pounds of snowboard gear last time). And just remember that going to Rainier is always unpredictable. Last time we were hiking for 10 hours. This time just over half that. And wear sunscreen!

Things To Do in Seattle - Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park

Apparently, Issaquah is suddenly a mountain biking destination. Thanks mostly to Duthie Hill Park just about a mile from Klahanie in Issaquah.

There are trails for beginners and a lot more trails for advanced riders. Everyone I've met there has always been friendly and I don't feel bad about bringing my hard-tail Trek that's probably worth a fraction of the other bikes I see there.

Best of all, it's always a great workout.

The last time I was there, I tried going off a small jump with only about a 2 foot drop. But my right foot slipped off the pedal and my shin landed on the pedal. Instant bruise and bleeding. You may want to bring protection if you plan on doing anything freestyle. For me, I'll stick to the trails and stay out of the air.

Marymere Falls Hike - 07.31.2010

Distance : 1.5 miles round-trip.

Time : 1 hour total, even after stopping for 10 minutes for pictures at the top.

It's located on the Olympic Coast and starts at Lake Crescent. It's a really short hike compared to the ones I'm used to, but usually there isn't a waterfall at the end of my hikes so I enjoyed this one a lot.

It's relatively flat until you get to the river, and from there it's straight up to the viewpoint where this picture was taken.

This hike is NOT pet-friendly however, as someone in the parking lot told me that the rangers were ticketing people who tried to sneak dogs onto the trail. And you can't get close to the waterfall which is another downside.

But we did this hike before noon, came back and had lunch by the lake and still had plenty of time for other destinations before making it back to our camp site.

Things To Do in Seattle - Car Camping

Ever since taking over the Lodge, I felt like I would be cheating on Mount Rainier if I went camping or hiking anywhere else. But it turns out, Washington State has a lot of variety to offer.

Last weekend, I went to the Olympic coast and went car camping for the first time in probably 5 years. It brought back a lot of fond memories, since the last time I was on the coast was with my dad.

We stayed at a camp site in Sequim Bay State Park, which turned out to be a nice location because it was close to Port Angeles, Dungeness Spit, Marymere Falls, Lake Crescent, and even Port Townsend. Everything was about 20 to 45 minutes away.

The Dungeness Spit was fun, although it's definitely cold there even in the middle of summer. It was easily 10 degrees cooler on the spit than it was in the parking area. I was surprised though, that none of the places we visited were pet-friendly except for Port Townsend.

Car camping itself is unpredictable. Sometimes you just get a fire going and hang out at the camp site all day. This time, we decided to site-see and check out as many places as we could. I didn't get to relax as much as I would on a normal camping trip, but I did get to catch up with some good friends.

Things To Do in Seattle - Float a River

Last weekend, we decided to take advantage of our warm weather and get out on the river.

The Seattle area has many rivers you can float down. The ones that come to mind are the Snoqualmie River, Cedar River and Green River.

It's an affordable way to enjoy water sports (with the other option involving getting a boat). All you need is a $5 to $15 floating tube and waterproof sunscreen. The tube doesn't need to be one of those heavy duty ones since you won't ever be going more than a couple miles per hour. One guy even had an air mattress.

We ended up in Fall City along the Snoqualmie River. The float took about 4 hours to go just a couple miles. We left a car near the bridge in town (the one right by Small Frys and Valero Gas Station), and drove up for about 5 minutes. A lot of fun, especially with a large group like ours.

Even if you're a terrible swimmer like me, it's worth trying and I never felt like anyone was in danger at any point.

Things To Do in Seattle - Red Hook Moonlight Cinemas

In Woodinville, there's the Red Hook Brewery. Each summer, they play movies out on the big lawn and offer drink and food specials.

Last night was the first showing for this season. They showed Step Brothers and apparently over 1,800 people showed up! It was packed, and you couldn't walk anywhere without accidentally bumping into someone else.

The weather was perfect, clear skies and a little bit chilly by the time the movie started. We got there around 7 PM and it was already getting pretty busy. The movie started a little past 9 PM, so we had plenty of time to catch up with friends.

www.redhookmoonlightcinema.com

Definitely something worth checking out this summer. In 2 weeks, they're playing The Hangover. Should be a great time.

Furry 5K - June 20th, 2010

To sum up this race... Great cause. Lousy execution.


Registration
Where to start... our group of friends have been wanting to participate in this event for months. The problem was, they couldn't register. The website for registration (active.com) was just terrible. It would freeze, forget your login information, and would force you to fill out the same pages over and over again.

As a result, only 4 of us ended up pre-registering. We easily could have had at least 15. The rest of us 'planned' on registering the day of the event. With the weather as poor as it was, only 4 of us showed up. The problem is, even if all we wanted to do was donate to the event, we weren't able to because of the website.

Parking
Yeah, Seward Park never had great parking. But I didn't think I'd be parking 3/4s of a mile away. Even though I thought I was arriving early, I was pretty much jogging to the starting line.

The Run
Runners were supposed to be given a 10 minute head start ahead of the walkers. Or so I thought. As I was making my way to the starting area (after hearing the announcement), I was passing by quite a few people with the "Furry 5K WALK" bibs. It was difficult to get around them. Especially with their dogs and leashes.

And before I knew it, I had crossed the starting line and the majority of bibs I saw were still the "WALK" bibs. I was still walking at this point since I couldn't get around people easily.

After checking my chip time at Furry5K.com, I had crossed the starting line 3:49 after the initial gun. After speed-walking & jogging around the walkers for the first mile, I finally caught up to the bibs that said "RUN" on them and felt really good during the rest of the run. I actually passed quite a few people (on the uphill portion) and felt like I got into a good rhythm. When I crossed the finish line, the clock was right around 34 minutes.

My final time was 30 minutes and 9 seconds, which is slow. But it put me in 123rd place among males... that must mean not a lot of people participated! Disappointing time because I felt like I ran pretty fast. But then again, most of the 1st mile was spent walking.

The Good
My dog Brian had a blast. A lot of photographers, friendly vendors and everyone was out with their pets having fun. If I do it again next year, I won't preregister and I'll show up at 8 AM the day of the race, instead of 9:30.

This was also my 3rd race of the year. I'm not sure what my next one will be.

Mailbox Peak Hike - 06.14.2010

Distance : 6.0 miles round-trip according to web sources. I'm assuming that includes the distance it takes to get from the parking area to the trail head, about a 10 minute gentle uphill walk.

Time : I hiked up in 2.5 hours. Coming down, I always expect it to be much quicker. But eventually your knees start to get sore and you lose your footing a few times so I end up going slower. Still, luckily, it took just 1.5 hours coming down. The first time I did this hike, it took just as long going up as it did coming down. But there was also a lot of snow on the ground.

Elevation Gain : At the top, my GPS unit said I was at 4,818 feet. At the parking area, I was around 800 feet. The 4,000+ feet elevation gain is on par with what other websites say.

I did this hike 2 days ago and feel like I'm still recovering. My knees, thighs, calves still feel sore every time I get out of my chair. It's great training for even tougher hikes on Mt Rainier, Mt Adams, and other high altitudes. It's hard to imagine that the top of Mailbox Peak is higher than the nearby Summit at Snoqualmie ski areas (except for the top of Alpental). Yet, when you're starting out, you're right next to a river. It's similar in altitude gained from Paradise (5,400 feet) to Camp Muir (at about 10,000) on Mt Rainier. However, this hike is probably steeper and you can't glissade while coming down.

Susan G Komen - 5K - June 6th, 2010

I registered for this race last minute, but it ended up being my 2nd race of the summer. I didn't run as fast as I would have liked, but finished the 5K (3 miles) in 28:30, a pace of 9:30 minutes per mile.

The uphill portions (on 2nd avenue) in downtown Seattle were brutal! Apparently, there are over 15K participants in this event at Seattle Center. I'm not sure where it was held last year, but I'm assuming they moved because they needed a larger venue.

Next up is the Furry 5K at Seward Park! Maybe I should train for that one.

Free Entry into Mt Rainier National Park this weekend

Mount Rainier National Park is waiving its entrance fees this weekend, June 5th and 6th, as well as on August 14th and 15th, and September 25th, and November 11th.

For those of you who have never been, now's a great time to check it out!

I can't seem to find any information about it on the National Park website (nps.gov), but I read about it on King5.com.

Google Places - Cool Honor to Get

Google sent us this package saying we're one of 250,000 "Favorite Places" on their search engine. At first, that sounded like a ton of businesses, which it is, but when you think of how many websites there are in the world, it's a pretty high honor to get.

Anyway, now to find somewhere to put this sticker. And I'm starting to see these barcodes all over the place. They're supposed to be read by your smartphones (Blackberry / iPhones / etc) as some kind of digital business card.

Now, I own a Blackberry but I guess I have to install some reader before it can recognize these. Seems like keeping up with technology is a full time job. Something new is ALWAYS popping up.

In the meantime, thanks Google for the recognition! If it weren't for search engines, our business wouldn't be where it is today.

New wedding website for The Lodge Near Mt Rainier

I receive so many inquiries about hosting weddings at The Lodge, that I decided it was necessary to have a dedicated website.

So here it is, www.rainierlodge.com/weddings


If you're interested in exchanging links, becoming a vendor, or doing business together in any way, let me know! I wish I had more photos of weddings that have taken place here, but unfortunately, I couldn't find a single one. If you happen to have any, please send them my way.

Furry 5K Run - June 20, 2010 - Team Sponsored By Rainier Lodge

Come run the Furry 5K with us and bring your dogs! It benefits the Seattle Animal Shelters. As a business that offers pet-friendly units and a proud owner of a Bichon, I'm happy to support this cause.

Date : June 20, 2010
Location : Seward Park in Seattle
Team Name : Rainier Lodge (although we may change it if we think of something more clever)
Register at www.furry5k.com
Cost : $20 w/out a shirt, $25 with a shirt

Tiger Mountain Hike - 05.23.2010

Distance : Apparently it's 5.0 miles round-trip according to 2 web sources. Although I swear I saw a sign that said 3.0 miles one-way. Unfortunately I didn't have my GPS unit with me since I've done this hike since I was in grade school. I should have brought it just to check the distance and altimeter.

Time : I hiked up and jogged down. It took 1.5 hours going up and 45 minutes coming down. I'm going to need some Gore Tex Trail Runners if I plan on jogging down more trails. My knees were starting to get sore.

Elevation Gain : Again, there is some discrepancy here. One website stated the elevation at the top was 2,200 feet. Another says 2,522. Most agree that the elevation gain is 2,000 feet from start to finish. I'll stick with the sign at the top of the hike, and say the top elevation is 2,522 feet above sea level.

Always a good hike. Although not very scenic at the top and it does get crowded. Other than that, there's a lot of options here so I always enjoy coming. Other options include the lake trail or hiking all the way to Poo Poo Point.

Note : That's Nick and Lynette in the picture. Not just some strangers on the trail.

Rainier Independent Film Festival - June 11-13, 2010

Just a quick post about an event coming up in about 3 weeks in Ashford (and Mineral it looks like).

It's the Rainier Independent Film Festival. Maybe not well known like the Sundance Film Festival or Cannes, but still an intriguing lineup of almost 30 films.

Check out the films and the schedule. Looks like they'll be playing at The Wellspring Yurt, Nisqually Lodge Inn and the Mineral Lake Event Center.

Stop by if you're in Ashford!

Advanced Mountaineering Group

So we've completed our newest website, Advanced Mountaineering Group. Located at www.advancedmountaineering.com.

We realized that we have a huge demand for activities such as mountain biking, daily tours, and guided climbs, so it was necessary to offer these products. For now, it's just being offered on the weekends during the summer. If demand stays strong, we'll operate more days and more months.

So check it out, and as always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

Beat the Bridge 2010

The only other time I've been involved in an organized running event was in 2008 for the Winter Pineapple Classic. It's a short obstacle course, so you get to rest a lot during your 3 mile (5K) run.

This past weekend (May 16, 2010), I ran in the Beat the Bridge 8K race at the University of Washington with a group of friends. I was running at a pace of about 10 to 12 minutes per mile at the gym, so I expected to finish the (roughly 5 mile) race in about an hour.

Strangely enough, when you're running with friends, the scenery is changing constantly, and you're having a good time... you run faster!

So to my surprise, I ran the race in just over 45 minutes, at a pace of 9:12 minutes per mile.

And best of all, the other friends had fun as well, and we're already looking forward to more races this summer.