Portland Trail Series starts in August 2011

FROM Todd Janssen (Portland, OR)

Trail Factor will be putting on a series of trail races in Forest park, beginning in August 2011.

The Portland Trail Series, will consist of five races held every other Wednesday evening from August 31 through October 26.  Each race will be run on a different 5-8 mile course and will be limited to 100 runners per race.  You can register for one or all races, but only those registered for the series will be included in the overall standings.  And doing well in the series will get you some great stuff from our sponsors.

Another great thing about the series is that it will raise money for the Forest Park Conservancy, which works really hard to maintain the amazing park that we all enjoy.  (Of course you can continue to support the Conservancy on your own through your own donations or by helping with trail work!)

Fit Right NW, which has great selection of trail running gear by the way, is on board and Montrail will be the title sponsor.  We are still working to line up more sponsors and plan to have the final award ceremony at a brewpub . . . we may actually end up there after each race.

Anyway, check out the website at www.portlandtrailseries.com.  Registration will start in a couple weeks, but if you send an email to portlandtrailseries@gmail.com with "notify" in the subject line, we will make sure that you are the first to know when registration will open.

If you have any questions or just want to help out, send an email to portlandtrailseries@gmail.com.

Forest Park All Trails Challenge Registration Open

The popular Forest Park Conservancy All Trails Challenge returns in 2011 as a completely re-imagined event. This year, in addition to all the benefits of hiking, biking, walking and riding 80 miles of trails, we'll be offering ATC2011 participants a new and exciting opportunity to have a direct, positive impact on the health of the forest with every single step.  For more information go to:
http://forestparkconservancy.org/portland-hiking-trails/all-trails-challenge.html

2010 La Sportiva / USATF Oregon Mountain Running Series

New for 2010 you can win cash prizes and free trail running shoes! This mountain running series is designed to promote competition in the Oregon mountain running community. All the races in the series are well established and represent some of the very best mountain races in Oregon. The 2010 series consists of the following four races:

May 8, 2010 – Larison Rock Hillclimb, 6 miles, Oakridge, OR
Race Directors – Alan Abbs (aabbs@tehcoapcd.net) and Catrina Davis (catmaried@gmail.com)
This will be an up/down format race on trails near the town of Oakridge. The Larison Rock Hillclimb is organized by the same crack team that puts on the famed Where’s Waldo 100k just up the road at Willamette Pass Ski Area.

July 25, 2010 - Great NW Mountain Run, 6 miles, Mt. Hood, OR
http://www.xdogevents.com/scheduleandresults.html
Race Director - Kevin Foreman - kevin@xdogevents.com
The inaugural 2008 version of this race featured a head to head battle between Joe Gray (US Mountain Running Team) and Max King (US Olympic Trials – Steeplechase) making it the fastest race in the Oregon Mountain Series. The 7-mile course runs both up and down the slopes of Mt. Hood from historic Timberline Lodge.

August 7, 2010 - Mt. Ashland Hillclimb Run, 13 miles, Ashland, OR
http://www.mtashlandrun.com/
Race Director - Torsten Heycke - info@mtashlandrun.com
Now in its 33RD year, the Mt. Ashland Hillclimb Run is the oldest continuously run mountain race in Oregon. Starting in downtown Ashland, this race climbs 5600’ over 13 miles to finish on the summit of scenic Mt. Ashland. The course record at this race was set in 1986 by Los Angeles Marathon winner Ric Sayre (1:42). Dolores Bergman set the women’s record in 2004 in a time of 2:13.39.

September 4, 2010 - Sunrise to Summit Race, 3 miles, Mt. Bachelor, OR
http://www.mbsef.org/events/sunrise2summit/
Race Director - Molly Kelly - molly@mbsef.org
Organized by the Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation, the Sunrise to Summit may be one of the shortest race in the series but it is the steepest. This uphill only course climbs 2600’ in about 3 miles under ski lifts, thru volcanic rock strewn slopes to finally finish on the barren summit of Mt. Bachelor. The course records are held by Max King (35:32) and Jennifer Sventek (43:45).

SCORING: Runners score points based on their time as a percentage of the winner's overall time, making every second count! For example, a winning time of 41:08 gets 100.00 points; a time of 42:21 is worth 97.13, and 1:20:32 gets 51.08 (the winning time being just about 50 percent of that runner's time. Women's scoring is based on 100.00 points for the first female finisher. A runner's top 3 of 4 races are totaled to determine overall series scoring.

AWARDS: The title and primary sponsor is La Sportiva, with additional support at events from the USATF Oregon Association.

* A total of $1500 in cash prizes will be awarded for overall series participants
* Trail Running shoes will be awarded at each race to the top USATF man and woman and each race.
* The series awards a special technical t-shirt to "Mountain Goats", USATF members who run all six races.

ELIGIBILITY: As a USATF Oregon program, the series scoring is limited to individuals who are USATF members. Though all races are open to all runners, USATF membership is required to score and win awards in the series. Some of the other benefits of membership are:

1. Eligibility to score and win prize money in the USATF Oregon Grand Prix and other selected USATF Oregon races.

2. Eligibility to score in USATF Association and National championships. The 2010 USATF National 50k Trail Championships and 1/2 Marathon Trail Championships are being held in Bend where cash prizes for top open and master runners are for USATF members only.

3. Elite runners who want to make the US Mountain Running Team or the USA 100k Team must first be USATF members.

4. 10% discount in the USATF Online Store, including Nike Dri-FIT gear.

5. Subscription to Fast Forward magazine.

6. Access to enter exclusive members-only contests.

7. Sport accident insurance.

8. Special discounts and offers from over 25 companies.

Click here to become a USATF member. If you have additional questions, feel free to email the series coordinator Richard Bolt at richardabolt at gmail dot com or contact the USATF Oregon office at usatforegon at msn dot com.

Trail Factor - Clackamas River Run 3/29/2009

Were you there?  Do you wish you were?  The Trail Factor crew runs each Sunday in the greater Portland area.  Check out photos of their most recent run this past Sunday on the Clackamas River Trail.  Trail Factor is a "a totally sweet Portland, OR trail running club and resource".  Don't believe it?  Check em out yourself and see if you get "factored".

Trail Factor Run Report - Hamilton Mountain, WA

TRAIL FACTOR Sunday Run Report 2-8-2009

Hamilton Mt/Hardy Creek 7.5 mile loop

Written by Shawn Bostad

Photo by Reed Gillette

Trail Factor drove out to Beacon Rock State park and tackled the Hamilton Mt. 7.5 mile loop.  This is a challenging loop on the WA side of the Columbia River Gorge that climbs 2,100 ft in the first 3.5 miles.  

We had a great crew show up for today’s run.  Not only did we have some Trail Factor return runners like Andrea, Reed, and Jeff, but we also had some new Trail Factor runners that Mallory brought along.  

Kristin and Allie were new to TF, but certainly not new to running.  They both run competitively and were up for the big climb challenge.   

To round out the group Shawn, Jessi and Mallory were also out.  We were 8 runners strong and ready to get our hearts pumping.

Hamilton Mt. trail is located about 41 miles away from Portland, OR just off of Hwy 14.  It takes about 40 minutes to reach the parking lot located on the north side of Hwy 14.  It was very nice to get to the parking lot and see that there were restrooms at the trail head.  Especially after driving for about 40 minutes and having just previously finished some café.  

We all piled out of our cars and were greeted by some very cold and windy condition, but the sun was shining and we knew the views were going to be spectacular.  

We had a quick TF trail brief, handed out some maps and we were off.  

This trail starts climbing right away.   There really is no warm up phase.  Even though this is fairly typical for Gorge trails, I still never get used to it.  I always seem to go anaerobic before settling into a nice running rhythm.  The trail has amazing footing for most of the way, so getting into this rhythm is a bit easier than on technical trail.

We climbed for about 1.6 miles before reaching our first trail juncture and a sign that directs you to the summit of Hamilton Mt.  One arrow points to one trail that they claim is difficult and the other arrow points you to another trail, which they claim is most difficult.  We chose the most difficult route.  

I prefer to run up the steep stuff instead of down the steep stuff.  Not to mention, the most difficult side of the trail has some pretty technical switchbacks, which would not be as much fun on the downhill.  

The most difficult side was certainly hard.  It is pretty relentless for most of the first mile and then offers up some rocky switchbacks.  Once you get through this switchback section, the trail starts to give in slightly.  It eventually dumps you onto an awesome ridge with an amazing south side view of the Gorge.  Since the ridge faces south, the sun was beaming in our eyes and warming up our bodies as the wind pelted our jackets.  We had just climbed to over 2,400 ft in just over 3.5 miles and it was awesome.

The trail then begins to follow a ridgeline, which on this day was covered in snow.  Luckily, there were footprints the whole way marking the trail, and the snowy section only lasted .75 miles. 

We were finished with the snowy section and now running on trail.  At this point, the trail leads you to a sign that directs you down a jeep road toward the picnic area.  The route finally started heading downhill.

The jeep road section was a great time.  The footing was fair to good, with some loose rocks.  It really allowed you to pick up some speed.  This section of jeep road is pretty short and only lasted about .75 miles before intersecting our next trail juncture. 

 

The last on the new trail that we ran on was named Hardy Creek trail and it was great footing, with only one obstacle.  It was a small tree, which each and every TF runner hurdled with ease.  This trail was only about a mile long and eventually dumps you back into Hamilton Mt. Trail, which is the original trail that we started on.  

Everyone picked up the gear that they dropped off at the trail juncture during the ascent and we continued on back to our cars.  It would only take us about 10-12 minutes to descend the last 1.6 miles of trail past all of the beautiful waterfalls.  We were finished running and we all felt great.

Originally when I sent out our route plan and had stated that the loop was 9.4 miles.  I used a resource that is typically accurate to plan the run, but unfortunately it was wrong.  I owe everyone an apology for claiming that it was 9.4, when in reality the loop was 7.5 miles.  Next time I won’t question Andreas Garmin.  

The total ascent time for Jeff and I to summit the 3.5 miles was 36 minutes and we finished the 7.5 mile loop in less than 1:15.  Everyone else finished the loop in less than 1:30.  It was a great day of running and we were happy to be done.  We were all hungry, so we went across the river and ate some breakfast at the Charburger.   

If you are interested in joining us for a future TRAIL FACTOR run, visit our website and subscribe to our e-forum.  

www.trailfactor.com

Shawn Bostad

Trail Factor Run Report - Hagg Lake, OR

TRAIL FACTOR SUNDAY RUN REPORT 1-18-2009

Henry Hagg Lake 14 + mile loop

(Photo by Richard Bolt - 2008 Hagg Lake 50k, men in skirts)

Written by Shawn Bostad

This weekend was one of the first nice days that TRAIL FACTOR has had running in a long time.  The sky was completely blue and the winds were on the low side.  Temperatures were hovering around 38-40 degrees throughout the run and probably a bit cooler in some areas due to the icy nature of the trail.  

We were tackling the Henry Hagg Lake trail, which is a 14+ mile loop out near Forest Grove.  We decided to go out a run the Hagg Lake loop as a prep run to the Hagg Lake Trail Run.  This is one of the local trail races that kick off the beginning of the Oregon Ultramarathon Trail Series.  They have a 25K and a 50K race available for all to enjoy.  Most of us ran the course today and tentatively made the decision that we would most likely be entering the 25K.  Most of us have dipped our feet into ultra races many times, but this year some of us are considering focusing on shorter races.

We had six runners on the Trail Factor run.  Those who attended today included Jessi, Rick, Ruben, Shawn, Susan, and Aubree.  Susan and Aubree were both new-comers to Trail Factor and once again excellent additions to the run.  Susan has a track background and is new to trail running.  She is an RN and has an amazing personality filled with spunky energy.  Aubree is definitely a veteran runner with a background in track and cross country.  She is an accomplished marathoner and has also competed in several trail races.  She spends a good portion of her time at the North East Portland Therapeutic Associates Clinic working there as the head DPT.  She is also an amazing person and runs like an animal.    

We were running the course clockwise today.  This is opposite of what they do in the race, but we wanted to hit the trails first.  We had parked at the Elks picnic area and if you run it counter clockwise from there, you run directly over the Dam first, which feels really long.  We also wanted to experience the trail in the opposite direction to the real course on race day.

Everything started off nice and smooth.  We hit the trail and things looked pretty good.  There was some ice due to the very cold temperatures the night before, but this meant that all the mucky mud would be nicely frozen and hard packed.  Hagg Lake is notorious for being really muddy and cruddy.  In some cases you can actually bury your whole leg in a mud bog.  

We were moving along nicely and then we had a bit of a TRAIL FACTOR style ankle sprain on the team.  Unfortunately, Susan rolled her ankle over very thoroughly.  Susan is new to trail running, so this was one of her first trail running ankle sprains.  She toughed it out for a bit, but the swelling was settling in and she headed back for the car.  She got a good hour of running.  

This brings up a good point about trail running.  Although most of us run trail to get off of the road and hopefully prevent injuries; there are certainly cases when the trail can really bite you in the butt and cause some serious injuries.  Trails are unpredictable and require a tremendous amount of stabilization to run smoothly.  I spend a fair amount of time working on balance exercises off of the trails to prevent catastrophic ankle sprains and would recommend others to the same for both on road and off road running health.  

We all continued on with the run.  Jessi and Aubree running together and Shawn, Ruben and Rick staying together like a band of brothers.  

This trail bobs in and out of the woods.  It takes you through dense forest and even incorporates a fair amount of running on the road.  It’s a great combinations of fast trail running mixed with slow mud running.  This trail is also open to mountain bikes, so on occasion you will be sharing the mud with the two wheeled knobbies.  

The conditions of the trail on this particular run were fair to good.  There were many sections that were nicely packed down and free of debris, but we certainly hit some sections that really slowed us down due to downed trees.  This made for some pretty interesting running.

The ladies obviously had the trail figured out.  Even though we were ahead of them, there were two occasions when we took a couple detours that not only added time, but mileage.  We crossed paths with the ladies a couple times throughout the run.  They were always surprised to see us and so were we.  Even though this trail runs along the lake, there are many options that will either shoot you down to the lake or up onto the road.  The trails are marked pretty well in some locations, but in other locations lack markings all together.  Veteran Hagg Lake trail runners can probably navigate this trail with their eyes closed, but Rick, Ruben and myself have only run the course once before and therefore would not be classified as Veteran Hagg Lake Trail Runners.  

We kept on clicking off the miles.  We had a couple of near spills on some muddy sections of the course.  There were also several blackberry thorns in some sections.  By the end, Ruben and Ricks legs looked like they had just finished shaving their legs, but were first timers at the process. 

We did run into a couple of runners, but the trail was mostly clear.  We also ran into a few folks doing trail maintenance.  They were obviously involved in some way with the Hagg Lake Trail Run because they asked us if we would be racing.  We replied with a yes and continued on.  A big thank you should always be given to those who work hard at keeping the trails clear.  Also, if you love trail running, you should try at some point to offer a bit of your time up to trail maintenance.  It helps keep everything clear so we can run effortlessly and smoothly and enjoy the trail for years and years.

We finished up our run with the last road section of the day.  It crosses the Dam and runs you right back into Elks picnic area.  Shawn, Ruben and Rick finished 14+ miles in about 2:07 and the ladies finished shortly after in about 2:25.  

Overall it was a great TRAIL FACTOR run and only had one incident.  Even though Susan sprained her ankle, she was such a trooper and in such good spirits.  We finished up our day with a trip to Mcmenamins for some food and beer, which is nearly my favorite part of the run.

If you are ever interested in joining TRAIL FACTOR for a run, please visit our website at www.trailfactor.com

Shawn Bostad

Trail Factor Run Report - Portland, OR

TRAIL FACTOR Run Report 1-4-2009

Saltzman Firelane 1 Gasline 15.75 mile loop

Written by Shawn Bostad

Trail Factor had its first Sunday run of 2009.  Our plan was to complete a loop within forest park starting at the Saltzman Rd. access point.  The loop that we would be running would wind us through some of my favorite trail up in forest park.  It’s a 15+ mile loop with a couple of good climbs and low number of trails to remember.  

We had a low turnout this weekend.  There were only 5 TRAIL FACTOR folks at the trail head.  Those attending included Shawn, Jessi, Ruben, Mark and Ben.  Most were veteran TRAIL FACTOR runners with the exception of Mark.  It would be his first TRAIL FACTOR run, but certainly not his first trail run.  He has definite running experience and triathlon experience.  He has completed several marathons and half ironman events.  He is also getting ready to become a married man.  Congratulations Mark.

The run starts off on Saltzman road.  Saltzman road is a jeep road that basically climbs to the top of Forest Park.  We normally access forest park on the lower half of Saltzman road, but there is also an access point at the top of Saltzman just off of skyline rd.  

We started our run nice and easy and made sure to keep our eyes forward.  The recent poor weather has left roads and trails littered with debris and downed trees.  The trail is also still relatively icy in some sections and no one wanted to have a trail factor style slip early on in the run.  

We stayed together up Saltzman and took a left onto Maple trail about ½ mile up Saltzman.  Once on maple, we were in a nice little groove.  At this point the trail is single track and winds its way up to Leif Erickson.

We climbed up maple and promptly took a left onto Leif Erickson.  We were blown away immediately by the number of runners that we saw.  We were wondering why trail factor had such a low turnout with all of the Leif Erickson runners out and striding along.  We waved and greeted everyone we saw until we hit firelane #1, which would be our next turn.  

We took a quick right onto firelane #1 and started climbing.  Firelane #1 is a very, very steep climb.  It doesn’t last more than a ½ to ¾ of a mile, but it certainly doesn’t let you forget that you are climbing.  It must pitch up to over 20% in some sections.  We all stayed pretty close together and finished the climb just before turning onto Wildwood Trail.  

We took a right onto Wildwood Trail and decided to just get used to running Wildwood.  We would be on it for about 8-9 miles before heading back to the start of our run.  

Wildwood was in pretty darn good condition considering all of the snow that had recently fallen.  The trail was icy, muddy and debris ridden in some sections, but it was scattered and not consistent.  We were able to run pretty much unhindered and fluidly.  

The pace at this point was nice and steady.  We were probably running between 7:15-7:45 min/miles only slowing down for hills, debris and mud pits.  I actually had a mud pit almost claim my shoe as its own.  I wrestled it back and was back to running smoothly.

We continued on and stopped once to use the rest room and eat some Gu.  As the pace continued on, I felt that it was time for me to call it a day.  I took a shorter routed back to the car and finished with 13 miles in 1:48.  Ruben and Ben continued on.  They were determined to finish the loop.  

They continued running on Wildwood, but turned slightly early.  They accidentally turned right onto Oil Line rather than Gas Line.  They said it was steep a slippery.  They were now on their way down to Leif Erickson.  

They took a right onto Leif Erickson after descending Oil line.  They would run on Leif for about ¾ to 1 mile before hitting the other end of Maple trail.

They promptly took a left on Maple trail and followed its rolling terrain until intersecting Saltzman Rd for the final time.  Down Saltzman for another ½ mile and they were done.  Ruben and Ben had finished 15 miles in 1:58.  Nice run guys.

Not long after finishing, Mark and Jessi came bouncing along Saltzman back to the car.  Everyone was finished.  We were cold, so we kept the post run chat brief and headed home for some food and warm clothes. 

Thanks for all who attended.  It was a great run and I look forward to next weekend.  

If you are interested in joining TRAIL FACTOR for a Sunday run, please visit www.trailfactor.com for more information.

Written by Shawn Bostad

Trail Factor Run Report - Forest Park2, Portland, OR

TRAIL FACTOR Run Report

Forest Park - Wild Cherry Nature Trail 9 mile loop

Written by Shawn Bostad

Happy Holidays everyone.  I hope you all enjoyed time with family, friends and guilty pleasures.  I certainly did.  

It has been two weeks since we had our last TRAIL FACTOR run.  This was not due to the lack of motivation, but rather, Snow, Snow and more Snow that fell around the Portland area.  When it was all said and done, Portland received over 15+ inches of snow, which made running on trail nearly impossible.  An informal TRAIL FACTOR run attempt was made on Sunday the 21st, but the forward progress was slow and it took me 1:16 minutes to travel 6 miles.  It was a day better suited for snowshoeing.  

We were finally starting to see the snow melt in town and the hope was that the trail up in Forest Park would be somewhat clear.  Those thoughts were quickly dashed as soon as Ruben and I pulled up to the trail head.  Leif Erickson was still covered with snow and it was a mixture of 3-4 inches of packed snow and 2-3 inches of undisturbed crusty/fluffy snow.  There was melting snow and water everywhere and enough slush to make a mountain size snow cone.

The plan was to run a 9 mile loop up in Forest Park that included Leif Erickson, Nature Trail, Wildwood, Wild Cherry, and finishing up with Leif Erickson.  This loop is a standard run for me, but this day would certainly offer up a run that was anything but standard. 

Once we got to the trail head, we met up with Richard Bolt.  We waited around until about 8:15 for other runners and then headed down Leif Erickson, which was a snowy corridor.  Since the footing was so poor, are plan was to run comfortably.  I guess comfortable in snowy slushy conditions takes on a different meaning, but we certainly weren’t going to head out there and try to break any speed records.  

This loop starts off on Leif Erickson and gradually climbs for the first 3.5 miles.  We typically start off by running Leif Erickson.  It can sometimes be boring running on Leif, so it’s kind of nice to get it out of the way.  For those of you who have not run Leif Erickson up in Forest Park, the trail or rather jeep road travels 11 miles in one direction.  It has ¼ mile markers placed on it, so you always know how far you have traveled.  

Richard, Ruben and I traveled along Leif Erickson chatting about the holidays and the crappy footing the trail was offering up.  When your foot would strike the ground it would either shoot off laterally or sink into unpacked snow.  Sometimes you would get a melted section that had great footing, but would then douse your foot in icy water.  It was a surprise with every foot strike.  My adductors and abductors were getting a great workout and I knew that I would be paying the price post run.  It took us over 10 minutes to run the first mile.

After lumbering along Leif Erickson for 3.5 miles, we then hit our first turn off.  We took a left on Nature trail and were headed up toward Wildwood.  This was the first single track section of the day and it climbed a bit more aggressively than Leif Erickson.  The grade mixed with the unstable footing, provided a challenging climb. 

 

Once we finished climbing up Nature Trail and turned onto Wildwood, we got our first break of the day.  Wildwood was actually clear and wasn’t blanketed in snow.  Wildwood still climbs at this point, but it was nice to have some stable footing.  Since this section is heavily covered by trees, it more than likely didn’t receive the same amount of snow that the rest of the less covered trail received.  

We finished our climb up Wildwood and crossed Firelane #1.  We were then quickly greeted by more snow and unstable footing on Wildwood Trail.  We pushed onward and settled into a fair pace.  A mile later we were ran into one of our fellow TRAIL FACTOR runners.  Chris was running the loop in the opposite direction and we just missed him at the start of the run.  We were 48 minutes into the run at this point and we were all looking forward to finishing, so we made the greeting brief and continued on.  Chris went on to finish his loop in the direction he was traveling and we continued on in our original direction.

We pushed onward and finally hit our last single track trail of the day.  We took a left on Wild Cherry trail.  It was a slip and slide dance down this trail.  Since it is one of the more heavily traveled trails, it was completely covered in snow and ice.  Snow and water was flying everywhere, but we finally made it to the bottom.  

At the bottom of Wild Cherry, we took a right onto Leif Erickson and finished the last ¼ mile of running on slushy snow covered jeep road.  

We were all happy to be finished and concluded that the trail was much tougher than originally anticipated.  It had taken us 1:17 minutes to run 9 miles and we were pretty tired and ready to head home.  

Thanks for reading and thanks to all those who made it out to the run.  Hope to see everyone on our next Sunday TRAIL FACTOR run.

Shawn Bostad

www.trailfactor.com 

Trail Factor Run Report - Forest Park, Portland, OR

TRAIL FACTOR Run Report - Forest Park Ridge Trail 9 mile loop.  Written by Shawn Bostad www.trailfactor.com

Hello all you trail runners and Happy Holidays.

Trail Factor had another great Sunday run.  It was a local run that was held in forest park and started at the bottom of Ridge Trail.  We had a pretty solid crew considering that the weather conditions were questionable for safe driving.  Portland was getting doused with its first winter blast of the season.  The temps were hovering in the mid 20’s and the snow was falling.  We knew the trails would be snow covered and possibly slippery, but perfect for a TRAIL FACTOR run.

The die-hard crew that showed up for this run included, Richard, Shawn, Del, Jacob, William and Dan Bartoz.  Richard and William had been on previous Trail Factor runs, but Del, Jacob and Dan were new to the group. 

Del is a very experienced trail runner, ultra cyclist and overall ultra distance athlete.  He has the kind of experience racing in ultra events that I can only dream of having.  Jacob is relatively new to trail running, is a former soccer player and did a great job on the trails.  Dan is a road marathoner who just finished racing down in Sacramento and posted a blazing 2:37 marathon time.

We all huddled around the cars and chatted about the trail while the snow pelted our faces.  I personally love running is this kind of weather.  It reminds me of running through sub zero weather in Wisconsin.  It’s something that grows on you after living in Wisconsin for over 10 years.

Our plan was to run a 9 mile loop up in forest park.  We started at the bottom of Ridge Trail just off of the South Side St. Johns bridge ramp.  You know you are at the trail head when you see the concrete stair case leading to the trail.

The trail starts off with a pretty good little climb that actually goes all the way to the top of the west hills.  We were running together and chatting about the weather and getting to know each other.  The trail was completely covered by a blanket of white, but it didn’t hinder traction. 

We climbed the trail until we hit Leif Erikson.  We crossed Leif Erikson and climbed a bit more until we hit Wildwood trail.  Once we hit Wildwood Trail, we turned left.  We were headed toward Trillium Trail, which is a bit hard to see.  It’s an unmarked trail, but does have a dirt staircase, lined by wooden planks.  Those wooden planks are the giveaway that you’ve hit the correct trail.

Trillium trail climbs a bit further up the West Hills and finally dumps you out onto Firelane #7.  At this point the climbing is basically over. 

Once we hit Firelane #7 we took a quick left.  We were headed toward Springville Road.

One of the coolest things about Forest Park is all the steep firelanes that cross over the west hills.  They offer up a tremendous amount of access points to the trails and also many great hills for those into running hill repeats. 

We continued on and intersected Springville Rd.  Took a right on Springville Rd and started descending to intersect Wildwood once again.  The traction wasn’t bad, but I we were all tip toeing a bit since I we were uncertain as to what lied beneath the snow.  You never know what kind of mud pit might be lying beneath the beautiful snow.

Once we hit Wildwood half way down Springville Road, we promptly took a left.  We would head down Wildwood trail for a bit until we hit Tohlinda Trail.  Unfortunately Tohlinda trail is not marked by its correct name.  It’s actually called Waterline trail.  I must have looked pretty funny running along.  I kept pulling the map out to check our route, which isn’t the most effective way to run.  I’ve run wildwood plenty of times, but there are definitely some trails that I have not run and waterline was one of them.  My inattentive running lead to a nice trail factor style fall that left me covered in mud.  I recovered quickly and carried on.

Once we hit waterline trail, I bid a farewell to the rest of the guys.  My stomach was not on the right track and I had a date with the bushes, but I encouraged the rest of the crew to continue on. 

You take a gradual right onto waterline trail and descend down a slippery path toward Leif Erikson.  You take a quick right on Leif Erikson, which at this point opens up and allows you to run a bit more quickly.  I’m sure the guys were running 3 to 4 abreast. 

By the time I had finished my date with the bushes, the guys were well ahead.  I wasn’t feeling well so I decided to cut the run short.  I also headed down Leif, only to be greeted by several Nike runners.  I was about 300 meters behind them and was measuring my stride length against their stride length.  That’s one of the cool things about running in snow.  I was blown away by how much longer each one of their stride lengths were in comparison to mine.  They had stride lengths that were at least 6 inches longer.  No wonder they were so fast.  I held pace for a bit, but a few minutes later they were gonzo, as if the wind had picked them up and carried them away.

I passed Hardesty trail, which is where the original route traveled.  That’s where the rest of the crew had gone.  I saw their foot prints headed up that way.  They took a right onto Hardesty trail and climbed up it to intersect Wildwood once again.  Once they hit Wildwood trail, they took a left and traveled on Wildwood trail for a bit and then reconnected with Ridge Trail.  This would be the last turn of the day.  They hung a left on Ridge Trail and descended the long and slippery hill back to the start of the run. 

What an amazing morning it was for running.  The snow really changes the trail.  It’s visually stunning and a must for me every year that it snows up in forest park.

Thanks to all who came out and braved the weather conditions.  I’ll be posting our next Sunday’s planned run shortly, so stay tuned into www.trailfactor.com.

Shawn Bostad

Trail Run Report - Snow Valley Peak, NV

Spooner Lake to Snow Valley Peak 10 miles
Written by Richard Bolt

As I do on most "business trips", my attendance at the USA Track & Field Annual Meeting (Reno, NV) afforded yet another opportunity to trail run on some new real estate. The area around Reno is ripe with good trail runs so I left it to my friend Dave Dunham to find us good scenic trail. Since Dave has been into bagging county high points, we settled on Snow Valley Peak (elevation 9214') just East of Lake Tahoe. Fortunately for us, the weather has been mild in the Sierras and the route was entirely snow-free.



We started our run at Spooner Lake State Park (Elevation 7000') near the intersection of route 28 and route 50, 18 miles West of Carson City. From Spooner Lake we followed NFD 038 Rd (dirt) into North Canyon which took us to just under 9000' and within .2 miles of the summit.


From there we took a short dirt road to the summit which featured 2 small buildings and a couple communication towers. Despite the man-made structures, the view from the summit was amazing. We could see Reno to the North, Carson City due East and all of Lake Tahoe to our West. It was a very clear and cool (35 degrees) day so we could see for many, many miles in every directon.



From the summit, we bush-wacked down to a singletrack trail that lead South along the ridge and back towards Spooner Lake. Eventually the trail lead back down to the road we came in on so we followed the road back to Spooner Lake. The total distance was about 10.5 miles with 2200' of climb and descend. At a very easy running pace it took 2 hours to complete the run. After spending several days in meeting rooms adjacent to a smokey casino, this quite, crowd-free run was just what the doctor ordered.

Read Dave Dunham's account of this run at: http://ddmountainrunr.blogspot.com/2008/12/county-high-points-nevada.html

See Dave Dunham's photos of this run at:

http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s209/davedunham/2008%20Reno%20County%20HPs/

Trail Factor Run Report - Angels Rest, Columbia Gorge, OR

TRAIL FACTOR Run Report #7 - Angels Rest Palmer Mill Road 13.8 mile loop

Written by Shawn Bostad

I’m always excited on Sunday morning.  It stems from my love for running and especially running trail.  Many of our most recent trail factor runs have given me even more reason to be excited.  This is due to the new trail that some of us are exploring for the first time and also the increase in attendance, which means more awesome people to run with.

TRAIL FACTOR had a record turnout this Sunday.  We had a total of 11 people at the run and 1 cool canine, Pablo.  Those attending the run included Mallory, Rick, Ruben, Shawn, Jessi, Chris, Reed, Michael, Brian, Mike and Joe.  Those who were first timers to a TRAIL FACTOR run included Michael, Brian, Mike and Joe.  

I’ve said this before, but it really is great having new folks attending the runs.  I love getting to know new people and it also gives us a chance to learn from each other.  Joe is a very experienced trail runner who has completed many challenging races such as Plain 100 and brings a wealth of experience to the group.  Brian and Mike both have completed several ultras.  Brian most recently finished the Mt. Hood PCT 50 and Mike the White River 50.  Michael was joining us from Colorado and looks like he will soon be moving out to Portland to experience the NW and join us on some additional trail runs.  

The trail that we enjoyed this weekend started at one of our favorite locations located only 28 miles from Portland at the Bridal Veil exit.  This is a great starting location because it gives you access to so much trail.  We would be running a modified Angels Rest lollipop loop, which is our typical 15 mile run starting from this location.  This weekend we would be running a true loop rather than a lollipop and it would be about 13.8 miles and include 3,400ft of climbing.  Here is a map plotting out the run we completed this past Sunday.

Angels Rest Palmer Mill 13.8

We’ve had such amazing weather this past week.  Several clear days in a row, but this past Sunday would give us some true Portland style weather.  It was cloudy, really foggy and a bit rainy.  It’s actually much more normal for this time of year and is needed.  Without the rain, the lush green forest that we have become so accustomed to seeing, would no longer exist.  I say bring on the rain and keep it coming for a few months.

Once we had all arrived, we talked a bit about the trail and explained the modification to our typical loop.  We would be adding a great section on jeep road that would allow us to practice some long downhill hill running.  Many of the races around the NW have long non-technical jeep road sections that can really beat you up if you are not used to running uninterrupted.  This run started with a long 1,500 ft climb up Angels rest.  It climbs very steadily for about 2.5 miles before leveling out.  There is an option to climb even more up to Devils Rest, but most of us were content to finish the first climb and enjoy some flat.  

We had all started at different times, so we were all spread out across the trail. Ruben and Michael were jamming and slamming the course together, with Rick, Chris and Mallory not far behind.  Joe, Brian, Mike and Reed were bouncing back and forth around each other and Jessi and I were sweeping the route to make sure everyone knew exactly where they were going.

After you finish the Angels Rest climb you run on some flat trail for a couple miles.  It was extremely muddy, which is uncommon for this route.  They no doubt had been performing some trail work in some sections.  Also, it had recently rained which added a nice slippery component to the mud.  

We carried on through the mud and finally reached one of the medium-length downhill sections.  This section is fun.  It’s very gradual and is a super soft trail.  It allows you to run quickly, but is interrupted by a few switchbacks to keep it interesting.  It carries on that way for a bit before hitting Whakeena Springs.  

Once you hit Whakeena Springs, you climb a bit more before descending once again.  This is one of my favorite sections of trail.  Reed and I were chatting about the trails amazing contrast.  The trail looks manicured, with brown pine needles lining the trail, lush green moss and ferns growing on the edges, and then punctuated by the occasional dark grey rock.  You are also surrounded by huge pine trees that on this day were covered by a natural foggy blanket.  It was so cool.  It makes you feel like you are running through a mystical and magical land.  The trail finally dumps into Larch Mountain trail.  We climbed up Larch Mountain trail for a bit but soon turned off the single track trail.  This would be the start of the second half of the run, which would be run entirely on Jeep Road.  

The addition of the jeep road is the major variation in our typical 15 mile loop.  The jeep road is very well maintained and offers up a very nice and gradual climb.  It climbs about 500-800 ft in about 2 miles but then quickly levels out.  I think that most of us would agree that this section definitely woke the legs up. Everyone seemed to be in very good spirits, especially Pablo the canine.  Pablo was destroying the run.  He is so little and runs up the hills with ease.  If only I could harness his energy and strength to weight ratio.    

After finishing the final climb up the jeep road, all we had left to complete was our four mile descent.  This is a non-technical jeep road, which as I said before allows you to practice some uninterrupted downhill running.

Everyone seemed to be cruising really well down the hill.  The first section of road offers a gradual descent, but the last 1.5 miles turns into a controlled fall.  It gets very steep and in some sections must have over 20% in descending grade. 

I had warned everyone about this section before the run, but I think most of them forgot somewhere in the middle of the run.  However, I think they quickly remembered once they got there.  I definitely heard many comments regarding the descent after we were done, but I think most of us agreed that running it in the direction we ran it, was preferred.     

We all finished the run very strong and no one got TRAIL FACTORED.  Ruben and Michael finished just under 2hrs.  Rick, Chris, and Mallory finished in the 2:10 range.  The rest of us finished over 2:30.  It was a great run and we all agreed that it was a new favorite as compared to our original 15 mile loop.  The original 15 mile loop incorporates some asphalt downhill and uphill sections that aren’t preferred.  I think we’ll probably continue to make this loop one of our regulars.

Thanks for showing up everyone.  Special thanks to Joe for tracking the run with his GPS unit.  Without it, we would not have known how much we climbed.  Technology is so cool.  If you are interested in joining us on one of our many TRAIL FACTOR runs, please visit our website for more info: www.trailfactor.com

Shawn Bostad

Portland, OR

Trail Factor Run Report - Salmon River Trail, Zig Zag, OR

TRAIL FACTOR RUN REPORT #6 - Old Salmon River Trail 19 mile loop - Written by Shawn Bostad

These TRAIL FACTOR runs just keep getting better and better.  The trail that we ran this weekend, combined with the great weather, ranks among the top TRAIL FACTOR runs.  On our way out to the trail I was skeptical as to whether we would have nice weather.  It was cloudy, drizzly and very foggy.  It looked like we were going to have a very wet and very cold run.  However, luck was on our side.  Just as soon as we hit the trail head and started running, the sun started peaking through the clouds and the fog burned off.  We were stoked. 

The trail that we slammed on this weekend is located on Salmon River Road.  Salmon River Road is just off Hwy 26 once you get to the town of Zig Zag.  You take a right onto Salmon River Road and drive about 2 miles.  There is a sign just off to the right at the trail head and is titled, Old Salmon River Trail and is also labeled as trail # 742A.  Here is the link to the map we used during the run.

Old Salmon River Trail 19 mile loop

We had a great group show up for our run.  Those attending included Chris, Rick, Jessi, Andrea, Reed, Jamie, and Shawn.  Mallory was also there, but she got there a bit late and ran a bit shorter.  She said that she overslept.  Andrea, Jamie and Reed were new to the TRAIL FACTOR group run and we were stoked to have them there.  They belong to PDX Adventure Racer and are how they found out about the run.

www.pdxadventureracer.com/

PDX Adventure Racer is a Portland based adventure racing resource that is doing a really great job of connecting people to adventure racing.  They allow you to post training and find adventure racing team mates.  Really cool site for those of you interested getting into adventure racing.

Everyone was eager to get started.  We had a quick brief on the trail and distances everyone planned on covering for the day.  Jessi, Reed, Jamie, and Andrea were planning on running 10-12 miles for the day and the rest of us were planning on running the 19 mile loop. 

The 10-12 mile run would include only one trail #742A or Old Salmon River Trail.  Navigating this trail is very simple.  You basically follow the trail as it runs alongside the river.  It jumps onto the road a couple of times and eventually crosses the road about 2.4 miles into the run.  Once you cross the road, the trail meanders further back into the woods and soon begins to climb toward a couple of spectacular lookouts.  I really enjoy running on this trail due to its excellent footing, gradual climbing and great views of the river. 

The 19 mile loop option included a few more trails and would also offer up a couple of navigational challenges.  It starts off on trail #742A (Old Salmon River Trail).  You follow the river and climb past several lookouts, but instead of turning around there, you continue on and intersect trail #665.  You take a left on trail #665 and start a very long climb.  Trail #665 eventually dumps onto an old jeep road for about 50 meters, but continues on toward Devils Peak.  Trail #665 intersects with trail #793 (Hunchback Mt. Trail).  You take a right on Hunchback Mt. Trail and follow it all the way to trail #793A.  It’s a left hand turn at trail #793A, but it’s not marked, with the exception of a couple of orange tethers.  You descend trail #793A for about 3 miles and it dumps you onto Salmon River Road.  You can take a right or left to re-intersect Old Salmon River trail.  If you take a right, you will have to run on the road a bit before picking up the trail.  Once you pick up the trail, you simply stay on it until you reach your original starting point.

According to Jessi, the crew that tackled the 10-12 mile loop really enjoyed the run.  Since the 19 mile crew ran out on the same trail, we all were able to see many of the same view.  There is a point on the Old Salmon River Trail when you start to climb.  This is where things start to get a bit challenging.  It’s not steep, but a sustained gradual climb.  It’s enough to get your heart pumping. 

Jessi, Andrea, Reed and Jamie climbed this portion with consistency and determination to summit the first viewpoint.  They were combining running with power hiking, which is a great way utilize many different muscle groups to get the work of climbing done.  They climbed and climbed and eventually were able to summit the first view point.  It was simply spectacular.  The fog was still lingering down below, close to the rushing water in the Salmon River.  It drifted upward, but was quickly burned off by the sun that was rising above the distant hills.  The sky was a perfect blue.  This is one of those moments when you wished you had a camera, but none of us did.  Hopefully, we will at some point. 

Andrea, Jamie, and Reed turned back for home after taking in the views.  They had run about 5.5 miles out on the trail and would be finish up with a very solid and challenging 11 mile run.  Jessi chose to run on a bit further.  She said that she continued to climb out for another 8-10 min, but soon turned back toward home.  She was just short of the second viewpoint, which again offered an amazing view of the far reaching hills.  Jessi would finish up with a 12.5-13 mile run for the day.  Nice job everyone.

Those of us running the 19 mile loop were predicting a 3.5 hour run.  This would not be the case.  It was the first time we had been up on the Hunchback Mt. Ridge and it offered up a few challenges.

Once we climbed the first gradual stretch up Old Salmon River Trail, we hung a left onto trail #665.  This was the beginning of a grueling climb.  It would climb all the way up to Devils Peak.  It was a long climb but well worth it.  It was littered with spectacular views and we even caught some great views of snow covered Mt. Hood.   Once we hit the summit on Devils Peak the sky was open, blue and allowed our eyes to search into the distant landscape.  It was sweet.

Right on the top of Devils Peak rests a lookout tower.  We actually rolled up on a couple of fellows who had camped out up in the lookout tower the previous night.  They said the night stars were awesome.  They also had a couple of beautiful husky dogs with them that weren’t even theirs.  They had found the dogs up on the trail and would be taking them back to the owners that lost them.  Those doggies and the owners are very lucky.

We spent a few minutes taking in the views, but quickly started running again.  We had to cover 2.4 miles before intersecting trail #793A, which would take us down to our original Salmon River Trail.  This 2.4 mile section was super slow running.  It was littered with blown over trees and was more of a hurdlers dream rather than an ultra-runners dream.  It took us forever to cover this section of trail. 

We finally made it to trail #793A.  At least that is what we thought.  The trail was unmarked.  We were keeping track of our time from trail juncture to trail juncture, so we assumed it was the correct trail.  It was marked with an orange tether guiding us in the direction of the trail.  The trail also headed down hill.  Through a process of elimination, we concluded that it was trail #793A.

We started down and the descent produced some very steep grades.  It’s exactly what we expected, so now we knew we were on the right trail. 

This descent would last three miles and it was the most plush and steep descent that I have ever encountered.  It was really nice on the knees and eventually it dumped us out onto Salmon River Road.

We hung a right on Salmon River road, ran on the road for about 800 meters and re-connected with Old Salmon River trail.  We followed the trail along the river and back to where we parked the cars.  We had been out for almost 4 hrs. 

Wow, what a run.  It was long, lots of climbing, great views, and an excellent time spent with friends.  We were a bit slower than anticipated, but much of that was due to navigation issues and trail conditions.  It was an epic run and one I would definitely recommend. 

If you would like to join us for future TRAIL FACTOR runs or you know someone who would like to join us, please visit. 

www.trailfactor.com

         

 

Trail Factor Run Report - Forest Park, Portland, OR

TRAIL FACTROR RUN REPORT #5 - Saltzman/Wildwood/Lief Erikson 14.5 mile loop

Written by Shawn Bostad - www.trailfactor.com

I love chilly mornings. It makes waking up much harder, but once you’re outside breathing the cool crisp air, you realize how brilliant it is to be alive. It invigorates you and makes you want to move, which is exactly what we were about to do for the next couple of hours.

Temps hovered in the high 30’s, but we had a solid crew that was ripping and ready to go. Today’s crew consisted of 10 runners. Jessi, Kylie, Mallory, Andrew, Chris, Richard, Rick, Joe, Shawn and Danny (Kylie’s super cool dog). This was Richard, Andrew, Kylie and Joes first time out to a TRAIL FACTOR run and let me just tell you how pleasurable it was to have all of you out there. It’s really wonderful catching up with friends and meeting new people. Also, I can’t think of a better place to spend quality time with great people than a trail surrounded by nature.

The trail that we were tackling this morning was a home course trail for TRAIL FACTOR. It lies within the heart of FOREST PARK, which is one of the most amazing urban parks around. It’s an incredible park that offers immense opportunities for trail running, hiking and mountain biking. The park itself is 5,000 acres strong and is actually older than the city of Portland. For more info on the park and a map of all the trail running opportunities within it, visit the Forest Park Conservancy home page.

www.forestparkconservancy.org

The start of this run is super easy to access. All you do is head west on Hwy 30 and hang a left onSaltzman Rd. You know you’re there once you come to the barricade in the road. We would be running a combination of trails and fire lanes this morning. I had originally mapped out four options for people to try out, but most seemed stoked to run the longer loop. The 14.5 mile loop includes Saltzman Rd, Maple Trail (my favorite), Wildwood Trail (30 miles long), fire lane #5, Trillium Trail, fire lane #7, and Lief Erikson.

It skirts up and down the side of Portland’s west hills and the trails are beyond splendid to run on. This is due to the tremendous efforts of the Forest Park Conservancy to retain high quality trails for people to utilize. Most of the trails are single track, with the exception of the fire lanes and Lief Erikson. Our run today started at a nice casual pace. We were all running together up Saltzman Rd in a nice TRAIL FACTOR pack. The boys were planning on running the trail clockwise and the ladies counterclockwise. Andrew and I were discussing which direction is considered the correct direction or the classic direction. Since Andrew and I both have a background of running track, we both agreed that since you run on a track counterclockwise, we were running the loop backwards and the ladies were running it the correct way. I like being different.

Maple trail is only about a half mile up Saltzman road and basically crosses the road. Once we hit the trail the ladies turned right and the boys turned left. This portion of the trail is by far my favorite. It starts off nice and easy, which gives you a chance to warm-up the legs before climbing to the top offorest park. It’s also less traveled and literally makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. Maple trail would be taking us to Wildwood trail, which is the main trail that runs through Forest Park. If you were to run Wildwood end to end, you would have accumulated over 30 miles of running. We were chatting and running along nicely. We hit our first major artery, Lief Erikson. This is a great place to do higher speed runs. It offers 11 + miles of jeep road and is marked every ¼ mile with a post and the mileage traveled.

We crossed the road and reconnected to maple trail. This is kind of where maple trail starts to climb up Forest Park. It’s not a huge climb, but is enough to accelerate your breathing. We jammed up the hill and marveled at the beauty of the trail. While running up maple, we got to talking, which is one cool thing about running with a group. I got to know Joe and Richard a bit more. Richard moved out here from the East coast and he and his wife moved for much of the same reason me and my girlfriend moved. Joe grew up in France and works for a non-profit here in town. Things I would have never come to know had I not had a chance to run with them on the trail.

We hit Wildwood trail and hung a right. Now we were back on some flat terrain that winds in and out of the hillside. It’s also a very well marked trail and one of the more traveled portions of Forest Park. It has quarter mile markers, so you always know how far you’ve gone.

We were in a TRAIL FACTOR pace line and kept a nice brisk pace, occasionally having to dodge fellow trail runners and several unleashed doggies (I love dogs, but unleashed dogs can be a hazard). We made it to one of the trails that connected back to Wildwood and Richard’s turnoff to head back. He was battling an injury and was on the road to recovery. It’s better to head back while you’re still on top of the injury rather than constantly beating yourself down and not allowing yourself to heal. We parted ways with Richard and kept moving along.

We finally hit Saltzman Rd again, hung a left and started the second climb of the day to the top of Forest Park. Saltzman isn’t steep, but we were moving at a nice little pace up the hill. I don’t consider myself a strong runner on the hills, so anytime the gradient rises; I question running hard or just tucking in. I prefer the later of the two options, but when you’re running with a fast miler (Andrew) and a really strong ultra runner (Joe) sometimes my stubbornness makes the decision. The funny thing is that they probably weren’t running that hard up the hill, but it was certainly a strain for me. Sweat was dripping off my face, but I had one pleasant thought in my head. I knew how long the hill was and how long I would have to suffer before getting a break on the cruise back down the hill. Saltzman ends and just beyond the gate is fire lane #5. We took a right on fire lane #5 and started cruising down the hill. Andrew was hacking up a lung. He said that he had sucked in a bug. I hate it when that happens. I then told Joe about this one run that I did in the Gorge in which I sucked in a humungous moth. It was a mouthful, but I quickly spit it out and the moth survived. Andrew got that bug out and rejoined in the downhill fun.

We really moved down fire lane #5 and reconnected with Wildwood trail. Andrew’s early plan was to run about 8-9 miles, so we sent him all the way down fire lane #5 so he could complete the scheduled mileage. We had gotten separated from the others, so we made an arrow out of branches on the ground pointing in the direction we were heading. Rick certainly didn’t need them, but I was concerned that Chris may not have known all of the turns. If you want to get the skinny on Forest Park Trails; ask Rick, he is the master.

Joe and I took a left onto Wildwood, kept jamming and chatted about food and nutrition. After about a mile of running we ran into Kylie and Danny (her coolio leashed dog). Kylie has some IT issues that were flaring up. I mentioned to her that she could cut the loop short and head down fire lane #5. That’s the nice thing about Forest Park. There are so many trails, so it allows you to really augment your runs according to the way you feel.

Mallory and Jessi were not far behind. They had climbed up a different trail and were on the return from their side trip. They had missed Trillium trail, but managed to get back on track and finish the rest of their loop. We exchanged brief words as we crossed paths. I couldn’t understand what they said, but is sounded something like, “We’re swooooosh doing greeeeaaat, swoooosh.” It’s really funny trying to talk to someone as they are running by in the opposite direction.

Joe and I continued on and found Trillium trail off of Wildwood. It’s unmarked, but it has a couple of wooden beams supporting the dirt at the trail head. This is how we knew to turn left on Trillium trail. The trail climbs up to fire lane #7. We turned right on fire lane #7 and then connected to Ridge trail. We descended down Ridge trail, crossed Wildwood and connected back to Lief Erikson. I almost had a spectacular TRAIL FACTOR spill at the bottom of Ridge. It was super muddy, planted with my right foot and proceeded slip and slide. My silly modified Newton shoes provide no traction, but I was lucky to have Joe there to partially catch me. He said later that it could have been a highly rated TRAIL FACTOR fall had I also been able take him out in the process. I’ll try harder next time.

We turned right on Lief Erikson and then connected to Maple once again. We took a left on maple trail for the last single track section of the day. This side of maple is also great. We ran it smoothly and connected once more to Saltzman and descended back down to the cars. The ladies were already there. They had cut the loop a bit short, but it was really nice to see their smiling faces at the end.

Joe and I had finished the 14.5 mile loop in Just over 1:50 and Chris and Rick were not far behind in just over 2 hours. The ladies had done 1:30 hrs of solid running and Andrew looked great after his longest run in a while since battling back from a torn plantar fascia.

What a spectacular day of running. New faces and a great home course route. It was time for food. Visit www.trailfactor.com if you are interested joining TRAIL FACTOR or if you’d like to view a map of the route.

Trail Factor Run Report - Eagle Creek, Columbia Gorge, OR

TRAIL FACTOR Run Report #4 - Eagle Creek/Eagle-Benson/Benson Way/Ruckel Creek/Gorge Trail
by Shawn Bostad

Today was a really great TRAIL FACTOR run. It started pretty sweet with 5 TRAIL FACTOR runners attending. Those enjoying the trail today included Mallory, Rob, Jessi, Rick and Shawn (me). Our plan today was to run Eagle Creek trail. We wanted to take advantage of the early morning so that we could enjoy a nice gradually climbing trail that offered spectacular views. Eagle Creek is an amazing location within the Columbia River Gorge. It happens to be one of the most popular hikes in the gorge and it was especially busy on this day. The reason for all of the commotion was simply due to many individuals taking in the sights of the last lingering salmon running up-stream to spawn. If you haven’t witnessed it, you should definitely partake. It’s one of those many wonders that really allow you to connect with nature and appreciate all that life has to offer.

We had two proposed routes for this trip. One was a 12 or 15 mile out and back on Eagle Creek Trail, which took you to two different locations. The first turnaround would take you to Tunnel Falls, which is a runtastic spot with an amazing waterfall to run behind. The other turnaround was a bit further up at the Eagle Creek/Eagle-Tanner trail junction. The cool thing about this last turnaround is your ability to add lots more mileage and plenty of extra climbing. The second route was a bit more complicated. It was an 18 mile loop that included 5 miles on Eagle Creek trail, a 3 mile climb on Eagle-Benson trail, 3.1 miles on Benson Way trail and finally a decent for 5.8 miles down Ruckel Creek trail that connects to the Gorge trail for the final stretch of running to the car.

Mallory, Rob and Jessi chose the 12 mile option on Eagle Creek. It’s an out and back that runs right alongside Eagle Creek and literally cuts through rock on the edges of the cliffs banking the creek. They had never been to Tunnel falls and really wanted to experience the rush of running behind a waterfall. They had also planned on an easier run for this day and didn’t want to run more than two hours. This trail is especially nice for keeping the runs easier. It’s a gradual climb and also technical, which keeps your pace slower. You can certainly run faster, but then it turns into one of those TRAIL FACTOR ankle breaker trails, which can also be a lot of fun. According to Jessi, they had a terrific run and took in all the magnificence of Tunnel Falls. I asked them if they had gone down to Punch Bowl Falls, which is also on the trail, but Jessi said that instead of cooling off their legs by taking a 60 ft cliff jump plunge into Punch Bowl, they opted for soaking their legs in the creek by the parking lot.

Punch Bowl Falls is another super benefit of running Eagle Creek for those wishing for a summer time cool off spot. It has a waterfall that cascades into a huge pool called the Punch Bowl. I’ve never tried, but I hear there are several great cliffs to jump off that range from 50- 80ft in height. Maybe next time I’ll hit up the 80 footer.

Since Jessi, Mallory and Robs plans included a shorter route, they left early from the trail. Rick and I were on a longer loop that turned out to be quite the challenge. It was the first time I had experienced this loop. It was old news for Rick, but he had never actually run the loop before.
The plan was 18 miles of trail that would take us up to the top of the ridge just above Eagle Creek. The elevation began just above 100ft and climbed up above 4,000 ft. I was excited to try this new loop, but I was also a bit worried. I was experimenting with some new foods in my
diet and wasn’t sure I had taken in enough calories prior to the run.

The run started on the Eagle Creek trail and follows that path for about 5 miles. Soon enough we hit our turn-off, which was Eagle-Benson trail. Rick had descended this trail, but never climbed it. It would take us up 2,500 ft in about 3 miles on a trail that was very narrow with sketchy footing in some sections. We hit the turnoff trail in just under an hour and this is where things got ugly for me.

Since I was experimenting with eating less processed and cooked foods, my system shut down about ¼ of the way up the hill realized that it didn’t have enough calories to sustain climbing efficiently. Luckily, I had an awesome partner that was very patient with me while I stopped and contemplated vomiting on myself. This made the climb go by much more slowly and it took us a bit over an hour to climb the 3 miles. We concluded that that wasn’t too bad considering the circumstances, but I knew that had I been feeling better we could have climbed much faster.

The climb had snaked its way up the hill and offered some really spectacular views of the Gorge. Once you summit the climb, the trail flattens out and travels through dense forest. The trail up there is very soft, but can get confusing sometimes due to low traffic. Higher trafficked trails are much easier to spot.

By this time we were finally running again at a good clip and making up some time. As we were clipping along, we hear someone shout, “Runners.” We stopped and there we saw heading up a different trail was another group of runners doing a power hike. This was very unusual for me. I never see runners on the upper trails in the Gorge. Usually you only see hikers. Stacey Bunton was part of this group. She is a stellar runner and race director. We stopped and chatted for a bit and congratulated her on her recent performance running the Spartathlon. This is a 243km run in Greece. Check it out at http://www.spartathlon.gr/main.html. Also, Stacey is the race director for the Hagg Lake 50k, which is a fast local 50k to try out. Check out the race site at http://www.haggmud.com/. After our little chat it was back to running. We still had a huge descent to run. It was going to be about 5.8 miles of descending 3,500+ ft. It’s not a straight descent, so some sections were extremely steep. The trail was also covered with tons of leaves which made the rocks disappear and offered unsure footing in some sections. I think I fell on my butt about 3 times. It took what seemed like forever to get down Ruckel Creek trail, but we finally made it. Once you get to the bottom, the trail dumps you out onto a road. You stay on this road for about ¼ mile before intersecting Gorge Trail #400.

It’s one more steep little climb to the finish and we were pretty tired so we hiked a bit of it. I think for those of you who know what it feels like to be on your feet for over 3 ½ hours can understand why we hiked this short hill. It feels like liquid acid in your legs. You immediately go anaerobic. Ouch.

We finally made it to the end of our run. It had taken us 4 hours to travel 18 miles. Slowest 18 miles I have done in a while, but my malnourished body and the terrain were to blame. I have to thank Rick for being so patient with me on the first and only big climb of the day. I learned a great lesson on nutrition when eating raw natural foods. Eat more before your run. Pretty simple, I know, but somehow I neglected to do the necessary amount of eating. Next time I’ll just eat everything in my fridge to avoid getting TRAIL FACTORED.

If you are interested in joining us on one of our many TRAIL FACTOR adventures, visit:

www.trailfactor.com

Trail Running Tips – Part One

Are you new to trail running or just looking to improve your trail running game?  Here are some simple tips:

1. Stay on marked and existing trails 

2. Don’t cut switchbacks

3. Go through puddles, not around them

4. Climb or jump over fallen trees instead of going around them

5. When multiple trails exist, run on the one that is the most worn

6. Do not litter, leave no trace, and be sure to pack everything out that you packed in

7. Use minimum impact techniques to dispose of human waste

8. Leave what you find — take only photographs

9. Close all gates that you open

10. Keep pets leashed at all times and be sure to leave pets at home when running in areas posted “no pets”

11. Stop to help others in need: even while racing, sacrifice your event to aid other trail users that might be in trouble

12. Volunteer at trail races – pre, during, or post event

13. Volunteer, support, and encourage others to participate in trail maintenance days

The above tips are re-published courtesy of Nancy Hobbs, the Executive Director, American Trail Running Association (ATRA).

Trail Factor Run Report - Fish Creek Campground, Estacada, OR

TRAIL FACTOR Run Report #3 - Fish Creek to Indian Henry and Back along Clackamas River
by Shawn Bostad

It was another great Trail Factor Run Today. We had a very spritely group show for the Estacada outing. It was a solid group made up of 8 runners. Shawn, Jessi, Mallory, Rob, Ben, Paul, Chris and William made up the bulk of early risers. Both Chris and William were new to the Trail Factor group and they were certainly a great addition to this morning’s run.

Today’s TRAIL FACTOR run took us into and past Estacada. Estacada is located southeast of Portland and is the last small town that you hit before heading into the Mt. Hood National Forest on Hwy 224. It’s about a 47 mile drive to the trail head, but takes a bit longer due to the nature of the roads traveled. Lots of lights and turns littered our pathway.

The planned route was to begin at the Fish Creek campground and trail head. Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s called the Clackamas River Trail. Regardless, the trail starts at the Fish Creek Campground and travels about 7.8 miles to the Indian Henry Campground and then we run back. The trail has a total elevation gain of about 1,000ft, which is one of the main reasons we chose to run it this weekend. We’ve been running so many big hills lately that it was time for a bit of a “hill run up and down break”. At least that’s what my old knees were telling me.

We started off pretty casually down the trail. Today was another moist day, but at least it wasn’t

raining. The foliage has been so spectacular lately with fall in full swing, but one issue that arises is the number of leaves littering the ground. Some sections of this trail are very technical and it can make for some tricky running when the leaves cover up all the rocks and roots. It’s kind of like running on landmines. You never know when you’re going to hit a TRAIL FACTOR style root or rock explosion. That’s basically what the first 2-3 miles of running was like on this trail.

We were all lined up like little piglets for the first mile, but soon started to separate. The first part of the trail is pretty rocky and starts with a good little climb. It doesn’t climb much, but just enough to wake the legs up and get your pulse racing. This is one of my favorite aspects of this trail. No ultra long sustained climbs, which allow you to run faster, but just enough risers and turns to keep your pace in check.

The trail continues up stream. It’s really beautiful running up and down right alongside of the Clackamas River. It’s a tremendous looking river, with cool rapids and large clear pools of water for swimming and wading. It’s a perfect summertime run location. There’s nothing like a cool dip in the Clackamas River after a sweaty hot run.

Another really cool aspect of the trail is the waterfall that sits about halfway through the run. It’s a great stop off that adds about a ½ mile to your overall trip, but is well worth the detour. It cascades into a big pool and would also be great in the summertime dip spot.

For some reason, I completely missed the turn to the falls today. Ben and I went right by, which was probably the precursor to what could have been a very sticky situation.

I know all of us have done this in some way or another, but we almost lost Bens car key and got seriously TRAIL FACTORED today. We were cruising along and Ben calls to me and says, “Crap, Shawn. I think I dropped my car key.” I think most runners who run in the Pacific Northwest know what that means. Foliage, ferns, and debris don’t offer much open searchable trail. We were sure it was a goner. However, being goal oriented people that we are, we didn’t give up. I’m glad we didn’t. I found the key lovingly dropped on a leaf right in front of me. It’s as if it wanted to be found.

Ben looked at his glove, which had a little pocket that previously held his key and wondered about its effectiveness. He said, “I’m going to put this key in my shorts zipper pocket.” I think it put us on edge for a minute, but we soon relaxed back into smooth running.

Once you navigate the 7.8 mile trail, you end up in the Indian Henry campground. It’s really convenient in the summer when all the bathrooms are open. It’s fall and winter now, so everything is locked up. Regardless, Ben and I drank from the creek that runs out of the hills alongside the campground. I hope I don’t get Giardia. I don’t think I will, it was really fast moving water and I don’t think I noticed any large feces piles.

Robert and Chris soon made it to the other end of the trail. We had a little pow-wow and started the trek back to the cars. Not too long after starting back on the trail, we saw Paul, Mallory, William, and Jessi. We all performed a few TRAIL FACTOR high-fives and kept on going. Everyone looked strong and ready for round two of the Trail.

The Trail back is much more downhill. The run out is where you gain most of your elevation. You’ve already run the trail out, so you know what to expect, which makes it much easier.

On the way back you get more great views, leaves and twisty trail. Ben and I ended our run in 2:08 and the rest sporadically came in after that.

Even though the trail was wet, we were wet and a bit chilly; most of us opted for a post run Clackamas River soak. It was a great capper to our 15.8 mile run.

Afterwards, we all huddled together and chatted about the run and with our new TRAIL FACTOR buddies Chris and William. Chris is a med school and loves running new trail. William is an experienced trail runner with many big races under his belt. It was great to get to know them and hope to see them again.

Thanks for coming out and we hope to see you all next weekend on another great TRAIL FACTOR run.

For more information on TRAIL FACTOR, please visit our website under construction at:

www.trailfactor.com