September Adventures

 September rolled in with a few minor back scares, and zero motivation. I didn't do near the running that I should have been doing to get ready for my last race of the year, but I just wasn't feeling it. That isn't like me, so I just rode the feelings, and didn't push myself. I still had some amazing adventures, and now I'm just hoping that October finds me in a better mental state, so I can get out a lot more to enjoy my favorite month.

Women's Run:

I could only make it to one women's run this month, because I helped coach the Ririe MS and Club XC teams. I usually wasn't done with practice in time to get to town for the group runs. I'm glad I could make it to the last summer run of the season though. We did the Cress Creek canal path, and then went to Heise for pizza. I sure missed these ladies! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. 

Running the Cress Creek Canal.

It was a beautiful night along the river.

Such awesome ladies!

Beautiful sunset!

The Butte:

I hiked up and around the Butte with Lachelle, and her sister in law Lisa. Lachelle had a big goal to accomplish this month, and this was a practice for it. There will be more about that farther down in this post.

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Made it to the top for a spectacular sunrise and Teton view.

Teton Circumnavigation:

I got to cross a really amazing thing off my bucket list. We ran the Teton Circumnavigation. A group of 8 of us started at Jenny Lake, ran through Lupine Meadows, past Bradley, Taggart, and Phelps lakes, up Death Canyon, detoured up Static Peak, down into Alaska Basin, over Hurricane Pass, Down Cascade Canyon, and around Jenny Lake back to the cars. It was 37 spectacular miles in the most beautiful place. We saw elk, antelope, deer, moose, a couple snakes, lots of small critters, and even a good size bear. I'm grateful for the amazing people I got to share these miles with. Our trail running community is nothing but encouraging, supportive, and a little insane; just how I like it! Such a fantastic day!

We were treated to a beautiful sunrise at the start.

Getting started at Jenny Lake.

The Jenny Lake outlet.

The sun peaking up.

Bradley Lake

Love him!

I think this is the only picture we got with all 8 of us, and a special appearance from the Tetons.

Taggart Lake

Phelps Lake

The guys going up Death Canyon.
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Still climbing Death Canyon.

Our death march!

So happy to see the Static Peak Divide!

Mark at the divide. We had another third of a mile or so to get to the top of Static Peak. Ugh, it was quite a climb.

Views from Static Peak.

I made it up!

On top of Static Peak with Buck Mountain looking very large behind us.

We took a lunch break at the top, and then it got too cold, so we carried on.
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I loved the trail from Static to Alaska Basin.

Sunset Lake

Looking back into Alaska Basin and Sunset Lake as we climbed toward Hurricane Pass.

Battleship Mountain.

Hurricane Pass has a way of making you feel very small.

The Tetons from the opposite side we started from.

Heading down towards Cascade Canyon.

Ashlee, Michelle, and Brent saw a bear and watched it for awhile. By the time Mark and I caught up, it was wandering off. It was a pretty good size one.

Cute little guy!

The girls at Jenny Lake.

Jenny Lake! Almost done!

A couple of us detoured to Hidden Falls, and we were the only ones there. That never happens!

Heading around the lake back to the cars.

Such a great day!

Waterfalls With Joyce:

I went up to Ashton to go on a waterfall adventure with Joyce. We went to Sheep Falls, Bechler Falls, and Cave Falls. It was an awesome day! Mark and I avoid running in the Ashton and Island Park area because of grizzlies. Joyce assured me we wouldn't even see signs of them. Less than a mile into our run, she stopped dead in her tracks, right on top of GIANT grizzly tracks. The biggest we'd ever seen! We changed our run to a hike, had our spray out, made lots of noise, and followed those tracks for over a mile. I was a little spooked, but I'm pretty sure Joyce was hoping we'd get a glimpse of the big fella. 😅

😲😲😲

The prints were as long as my bear spray!

Sheep Falls were spectacular! I can't believe I'd never been here before!

Next we headed up the Bechler Trail to Bechler Falls. The trail meandered through the pines right along the river. We even got in the river to cool off.

Bechler Falls

We had a beautiful day.

I love adventuring with Joyce!

Lastly, we went to Cave Falls. I have been there a couple times before, but it was a lot of years ago.

So pretty-and check out that Idaho sky.

Tablerock:

Remember earlier when I did the Butte with Lachelle, and said she had a big goal to accomplish this summer? Her goal was to hike Tablerock and see the Tetons from the top. Cool goal for anyone, but the kicker is that she has usher's disease, and she is blind and deaf! 93% of her sight is gone, so she can just see like a little pinprick right in front of her. She practiced all summer on the Butte. Her son Jet wasn't going to be able to go, so she asked if I'd let her hold onto my arm and guide her up Tablerock. That's what we were practicing on the Butte. Jet ended up being able to go after all, so I wasn't needed as a guide, but there was no way I was missing this! What an amazing day! The mountains ended up getting quite a bit of snow the night before, so I was a little stressed it wasn't going to happen. Lachelle is pretty determined, so a little snow wasn't going to deter her.

We went up and down the Huckleberry trail, so our total distance was 14 miles. There were 7 of us hiking; Bruce and Jeanne Hendrix, John Irving, Lachelle's sister in law Lisa, LaChelle, her son Jet, and me. I tried to take a lot of pictures and videos along the way, so I'd be able to tell the story that way.

Off to a great start!

I was a little worried about the water crossings, but with a lot of team work, she didn't have any problems.

We hit snow at about mile four.

We made it up the switchbacks. If you look closely in this picture, you can see the trail coming up the mountain.

Jet leading his mom up the mountain. It was so foggy, we couldn't even see table, even from the very base of it.

We met a cute dog who tried to steal Lachelle's stick. 😅

The cute pup loved Jet! 😁

So close!

👏👏👏

We could see nothing but solid fog all around us. Then all of a sudden, we got about a 20 second window where the clouds parted and showed the Grand. 🙏

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Going down from Table is hard, and slick. I'm always a spaz on it, and I can see. So much respect for Lachelle.

I was so bummed that Lachelle and Jeanne couldn't actually see what they had climbed up. On our way back down, the sky started clearing up, so they could finally turn around and see exactly where they had climbed. I was so glad!

Finally some clear sky and scenery!

Heading back down the switchbacks.

We saw 4 bears! One on the way up, and this mama and two cubs on the way back down.

This whole trail is very rocky and technical, and Lachelle did amazing!

Lachelle took one pretty bad fall, coming down the switchbacks. She just picked herself back up, chuckled a little, and carried on.

We came across these two moose right on the trail on the way back down. It was getting dark, which makes it even harder for Lachelle to see. As if the whole hike wasn't enough of a challenge, we had to take her buskwacking around the moose.

It took us over 13 hours, and we finished our last mile and a half in the pitch dark. I'm so glad I got to be a part of Lachelle's big day. What a huge accomplishment! I learned a lot of things from her, one of them being that life is what you make it, and we can do really hard things.

Palisades:

We love Palisades, and especially in the fall! We knew it was supposed to be stormy, and I almost backed out, but Mark still wanted to give it a try. So glad he did! The fall colors were amazing, and the rain held off until we were on our way back down. Even then, it was a good rain; not cold or windy. It ended up being a great run.

I love this whole area in the fall!

The lower lake.

It got pretty muddy on the way back down.

Drowned rats!

Bogus 50/50:

A group of IFTR runners went over to Boise to run the Bogus 50K. It was our last race of the year, and our  4th and final event to get our four ITUS races completed. Bogus was mine and Mark's very first 50k in 2019, so it was fun to go back. It started raining a little past mile 5, and continued for the majority of the race. I know how bad the mud can get in the Boise foothills, so I decided to just go for it, and get as many miles as I could covered before the trails got too bad. I knew that I had fallen off the training and nutrition wagon for this race, and I definitely wasn't as prepared as I should have been. I figured I'd be able to hang on until about mile 20, and then if I crashed and burned, so be it. I could suffer through another 10-12 miles. I made it to mile 19.5 and then really started to feel it. I only had a little bit of climbing to go, so I took a caffeinated Huma Gel, and just plugged along. Those gels work wonders for me, so I got a second wind and was able to keep a pretty steady pace (as much as the mud would let me) for another few miles. I took one more gel and managed to do really well the last 5-6 miles. I was still running pretty good, and even catching people. I focused a lot on not wasting time in the aid stations. I was in and out of them pretty fast. I finished in 6 hours and 38 minutes, and felt really good about that considering how my last couple months had gone. Mark did awesome getting in and out of the aid stations too. He had some calf cramping issues, but worked through them, and finished just under 7 hours. It was a great end to our race season. 

Michelle and Joyce got off course right at the beginning of the race, and ended up going 5 extra miles. They were very discouraged, but knew they had to finish this race to get their 4 ITUS events done. I was a little bit stressed for them, but they both did amazing, and finished with a lot of bonus miles and vert! Total over achievers. 😆

Start line!
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All the headlamps climbing the first hill at the start of the race.

It had started raining at this point, but just a light mist, and this trail was a little bit sandy, so it stayed pretty good.

On my way back from the turn around point. I was starting to feel the dirt stick to my shoes a little through here, and I knew it was only going to get worse. I pushed pretty hard through this section.

We weren't in the trees very much, but they were very pretty and fall-ish when we were.

We had to climb this big staircase in the last half mile. Not cool! 😅

Mark finishing!

We saw Tom there, and didn't even realize he was going over for it. It was his first 50k!

All 5 of us finished the 50k, and our final ITUS event. Can't wait to go back to Boise for the awards party!

Mark and I decided not to race next year, with the exception of one big, out of state one. We love it, but it was such a busy year for us, and it takes a lot of time. We want to spend the next year working on our farm, camping, exploring, and doing other things without the pressure of always having to be getting certain training distances in. We will still cover a lot of miles, and we have some really great adventures in the works,  just not races.