Late Friday afternoon, I ran 4 miles at an 8:56/mile average.
Saturday morning, I got up and met the running group early.
I ran with Karen and Kathy again, 5 miles at a 9:14/mile average.
Then Clark and I went to the Weekend Warriors class at the gym. They assigned teams in the challenge earlier this week, so we did a workout as a team, where we rolled a die and then advanced that number of parking spaces to see what exercise and how many reps we had to do. Every time we completed a lap of the parking lot “game board,” we got a playing card, and the team with the best poker hand at the end got some bonus points toward the challenge.
Cranking out some lunges in the parking lot.
We only had the third best hand at the end, but that got us five extra points.
Sunday morning, I did go for a run, but not double digits. I only did 6 at a 9:02/mile average.
We watched the NASCAR race from Martinsville that afternoon. I don’t feel like explaining exactly what was so amazing about this move Ross Chastain pulled off at the end, but he got himself a shot at the championship next week by doing something that would’ve made me laugh and say “That doesn’t work like that in real life!” if it’d been in “Days of Thunder.” He said he tried it because it used to work in “NASCAR 2005” on the Nintendo GameCube haha.
Today is Halloween! There are no afternoon classes at the gym for some reason, so I’m just going for a short run here soon, and then we’re going to one of our gym friend’s house for “beer club.”
Halloween decorations at a restaurant by the beach here in Carlsbad.
I can’t stay out late though because I have an early flight tomorrow morning to go to SEMA! Finally! When I was hired in early 2020, this was one of the selling points of the job, that I’d get to go to the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas in November. Well, COVID shut that down for me the last two years — it was virtual-only in 2020, and while they had it in-person last year, COVID started spiking again in the late summer and my boss decided we weren’t risking it. But the third time’s the charm!
Finally, since today’s the last day of the month, here is my October summary:
Mileage:
Week 1 (Oct. 1-8) 35.8 miles
Week 2 (Oct. 9-15): 23.1
Week 3 (Oct. 16-22): 24
Week 4 (Oct. 23-29): 28.8
Week 5 (Oct. 30-31): 9
Total: 120.7 miles
That was a nice bump up from September’s paltry 79.2. I didn’t run any races this month, but I did some hill repeats and intervals with the running group.
In November, I have one race on the schedule, the O’Side Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. I’m doing the combo again — running the 5-miler and then walking the 5K with my in-laws and Clark.
Other than that, I need to get in a few double digit runs before the Rehoboth Half Marathon the first weekend in December, and keep up my gym schedule for the challenge.
Monday afternoon, I went for a run before we went to the gym, 3 miles at an 8:42/mile average. I saw the kite part of a kite surfer but I never saw the surfer attached to it.
At the gym, we had to do the initial fit test for the current challenge. Part of it is two laps around the entire shopping center parking lot, which is about a quarter mile each, so I’m adding that to my mileage for the day — 3.5 miles total it is.
Tuesday, I ran in the morning before work, 3 miles at 9:02/mile pace, and in the evening, Clark and I both went to the high school to run intervals on the track for the first time in several weeks.
We were told the field hockey team — whose games were the reason we’d not been able to run on the track the last two weeks — were done for the season, but guess what was going on when we got there? A field hockey game. We assumed it was a makeup game for one that probably got canceled for lightning earlier this month.
I don’t know if JV or varsity was playing when we got there, but the other teams were using the ends of the track for practice before their game started. We decided to wait out the first game and then, when those teams’ game started, run intervals on the backstretch and far end of the track.
We got the workout going. With only half the track available, we just did a bunch of 400s and 200s with U-turns at the halfway point to finish at the same line where we’d started.
This is the second time I’ve done this and I hate making the U-turn halfway through, but my paces weren’t bad. We started with three 400s, which I ran in 1:40 each (paces were 6:28, 6:29 and 6:31 depending on exactly how far I’d ran); four 200s, which I ran in 45 seconds each (paces were 5:54, 6:07, 5:58 and 5:56 for the same reason); and three more 400s, which I ran in 1:41 (6:29 pace), 1:38 (6:16) and 1:34 (6:07.)
With a short warm up and cool down, I ran another 3 miles total.
Garmin’s map of my route haha:
Wednesday, I again ran in the morning, 3.1 miles at a 9:02/mile average.
Usually, we go to the gym for a HIIT class before meeting the run club, but I had to skip the gym because my car was ready to be picked up from the shop as soon as I got out of my office!
They wound up being able to just smooth out and repaint the original fender, instead of replacing it, and it looks like the minivan never happened!
They also repainted the door and rear quarter panel that had been keyed a couple years ago, and replaced a taillight and plastic rear grille that had been damaged a couple years before that. The car looks like new again. I am very happy with the job they did at Fixed Auto Carlsbad Village!
We did make it to Vista for the run club.
I ran 3.9 miles at a 9:30/mile average with Karen.
Thursday, I took my first day off running in a week, but Clark and I went to the gym for a HIIT class followed by Swole Patrol. They were pretty similar workouts and we did a LOT of triceps exercises in particular over the hour and 45 minutes we were there. My arms are so sore today!
Today, I am going for a run after I’m done with my work.
This weekend, I’m planning to meet the run club tomorrow morning and go to Weekend Warriors, and I hope to get in a long run. No promises though ha.
Friday afternoon, I ran a workout with Clark, one of the timed interval workouts we got from the Abs Diet book more than 15 years ago.
We ran it in the middle of the afternoon on a warm day, on public roads/paved bike paths, which wasn’t ideal, but we got it done.
After a warm up, we ran hard for two minutes, twice, with a two-minute recovery jog after each. I forgot to hit the lap button on my Garmin to time the first one, but the second was a 7:29/mile pace. Then we ran six 30-second intervals with about a minute of recovery between each; my paces on those were 7:04, 7:07, 6:52, 6:54, 6:22 and 6:33. Finally, we ran six 10-second sprints with a brief recovery between each. I am not a sprinter and my paces weren’t much faster than the 30-second intervals before them: 7:00, 6:22, 7:50 (think I screwed up the lap button on that one), 6:11, 6:36 and 6:22.
Then we ran easy the rest of the way home, finishing a total of 3.2 miles.
That evening, we watched the Padres lose Game 3 of the NLCS against the Phillies.
Saturday morning, I got up early and met the running group.
I ran with Karen and Kathy, 5 miles at an overall average pace of 9:50/mile, with a short bit at a sub-8 pace to catch back up to them after I had to use the bathroom in the fourth mile haha.
Later, Clark and I both went to the Weekend Warriors workout.
When we got home from that, Clark took the truck to go down to San Diego to see some equipment being delivered to a job site. I found a notice online for a one-day warehouse sale for OluKai shoes being held at the mall. My car is currently in the shop but it was only a mile and a half away, so I rode my bike.
The thing is, it is HILLY. The way there was definitely easier, and I was already worn out when I got there. I was not looking forward to biking back home!
The sale was worth it, at least. I scored two pairs of leather sandals and a pair of leather slip-ons for about what one pair would’ve cost on its own.
Then I had to go home. I wound up pushing my bike up the big hill from the mall haha. I see why e-bikes are so popular here!
Clark got back not long after I did, and then we watched the Padres lose again.
Sunday morning, I just could not get up and make myself do a long run. I need to figure out a better time of the week to do it, because after getting up early Saturday to run and go to a class at the gym, I just want to sleep in and take it easy on my other day off work.
I did go out for a short run though, 3.2 miles at an 8:46/mile average.
Then we watched the NASCAR race and the Padres lose AGAIN. That was it — the Phillies won the National League championship and are going to the World Series, and San Diego was done.
I never cared at all about baseball growing up, but I’ve enjoyed watching the Padres and Dodgers the past few years. It’s weird to be sad about a baseball team!
Anyway, today is the start of the second week of the challenge at the gym. I’m going for a short run and then we’re going to a class. We all have to do the fit test today.
Monday evening, I went to the gym for a HIIT class to score my first point for the new challenge. Clark unfortunately had to miss it to catch a flight to a job site in Northern California.
Tuesday, I ran in the morning before work, 4 miles at an 8:59/mile average.
That evening, I met the running group at the high school, but there was another home field hockey game, so instead of an interval workout on the track, we ran to a nearby hill and did repeats.
Karen took us to a hill near the gym that passed two intersections on the way to a cul-de-sac. So we did kind a pyramid hill workout, running to the first intersection and walking back to the start, to the second intersection and back and finally to the top and back, then doing that in reverse. Plus one more run to the top because why not.
My Garmin shows I was “sprinting” up the hills between an 8:00 and 8:39 pace. It was a tough workout!
With the warm up and cool down run to and from the high school, we did 3.2 miles total.
Back at the school after the workout.
We should be able to run intervals again next week. Apparently this school’s field hockey team didn’t have a great season, so we don’t have to worry about playoffs.
Wednesday, I didn’t feel like getting up to run before work, but after, I went straight to the gym for another HIIT class, and then I met the running group at Hungry Bear.
Shawn and I ran a hilly 3.6-mile loop at a 9:32/mile average. Clark got back from his work trip that evening.
Yesterday morning, I dropped my car off at a shop near the village to get the fender and key mark fixed, as well as some damage on the rear from when it was Clark’s company car. Fortunately it’s nothing major and they said today I should have it back next Wednesday.
I walked home and admired some Halloween decorations on the way. I love how into Halloween some people have gotten!
That afternoon, Clark and I went to the gym for a HIIT class followed by Swole Patrol.
Today, I haven’t run yet, but I’m about to go, before we go somewhere to watch Game 3 of the Phillies-Padres. We were going to go to Game 2 on Wednesday afternoon — I even had permission to leave work early — but then Clark got stuck at that job site longer than expected, so that didn’t happen. Hopefully either this series goes to Game 6 and comes back to San Diego or they play in the World Series, because I’d really like to go to a post-season game at Petco Park.
This weekend, we’re meeting the running group early tomorrow morning and going to Weekend Warriors, and then I need to make myself get back into long runs Sunday! Rehoboth is six weeks from tomorrow and I haven’t run double digits since the AFC Half two months ago.
Friday evening, Clark and I went to the inaugural Vista Artistic Club event at our gym (usually known as the Vista Athletic Club.) We all painted a scene of bats flying over a full moon.
Well, most of us did. Clark had a different idea:
His ET rendition was a hit haha.
I tried to paint what we were supposed to. It turned out OK.
It was actually pretty fun, and they had a good turnout.
We went next door to Grand Slam to watch the end of the Padres-Dodgers game, which the Padres won to put them up 2-1 in the series! We thought about trying to get tickets to go to the possible elimination game in San Diego the next night, but the cheapest ones were $230 — to stand in Gallagher Square, outside the stadium. It was at least $270 if you wanted a seat. So we passed on that.
Saturday morning, I met the running group early.
None of my usual running buddies showed up, so I just did 5 by myself at an 8:54/mile average.
Later, Clark and I both went to the Weekend Warriors workout, and then did the initial weigh-in for the challenge that starts today.
We were pretty lazy the rest of Saturday. We did eventually replace the tube in the front tire of my beach cruiser. It was completely flat when we got back from vacation, and wouldn’t hold air when we tried to pump it up. So we assumed I’d run over something that punctured it. However, we couldn’t find anything in the tire, and when we pulled out the flat tube and put some air in it to listen for the leak, it was coming out around the valve stem. No idea what caused that while it was sitting unused in the garage for a week.
That evening, we went to a bar in the village to watch the fourth game in the Dodgers-Padres series. It wasn’t looking great for the Padres for quite a while; the Dodgers were leading 2-0 going into the seventh. But then the Padres scored five in the seventh and went on to win the game AND the series. They’re moving on to the NLCS for the first time since 1998!
I like the Dodgers when they’re not playing the Padres, so I was a little sad for them. But they just won a World Series two years ago, so I don’t feel that bad for them ha.
It was pretty late when we got home from that. I wound up sleeping in a bit more than intended Sunday morning.
I did go out for another run, but I didn’t feel like 90 minutes. I just did another 5-miler. I ran the middle three a little harder than my usual easy run pace though, in 8:26, 8:19 and 8:16. I finished the whole thing with an 8:40/mile average pace.
The sun had come out for the first time in days!
When I got home, we called our parents and watched the NASCAR race from Vegas, and later we went to another restaurant for dinner.
Today is the first day of the eight-week Holiday Hustle challenge at our gym. I’m about to go do a short run and then go to a HIIT class.
It’s been a while since I posted a training update, other than what I mentioned in the recap of our trip, so I have a lot to catch up on.
Going all the way back to Sept. 26, which was a Monday, I didn’t go for a short run after all — I think one of my AirPods was randomly dead after sitting in its fully charged case for four days and it made me so mad, I didn’t want to run haha. But I did go to a HIIT class at the gym.
The next day, Sept. 27, I ran in the morning before work, 4.7 miles at an 8:50/mile average. I met the running group at the track that night for intervals, but there was a field hockey game going on, and the team that wasn’t playing at the moment (JV or varsity) was using one end of the track for practice. There were a lot of very hard field hockey balls flying around, so we scrapped it.
Womp womp.
So I went home and got my packing done.
The next day was when we left on our trip, which I already covered. September ended while we were away and I never mentioned my monthly mileage total — only 79.2! I haven’t run less than 100 miles in a month since June 2015. There was no particular reason for the low mileage; I wasn’t injured or especially busy. Just lazy!
Anyway, we got back from our trip Tuesday, Oct. 4, so I’ll pick up again the day after that.
I got up early enough to run before going to my office, 3.1 miles at an 8:42/mile average. Sea level felt amazing again after huffing and puffing at altitude for the previous week.
That evening, I met the running group in Vista for the Wednesday night neighborhood run and ran another 3.8 miles at a 9:32/mile average with Karen.
It turned out to be the last Wednesday night run for a while where we didn’t quite yet need lights before we were done.
Oct. 6, I took a rest day, and Oct. 7, I got up early and ran 3.2 miles at an 8:50/mile average before heading into the office on a day I usually get to work from home.
Oct. 8 was a Saturday, and I met the running group at 6 a.m. at the park. It is pitch freaking black at that time now and I didn’t feel like running through it by myself to meet them there, so I drove.
Karen just wanted to do a shorter run, since she was a week out from a 10K, her first race back after a long injury layoff, so we did 4.1 at a 9:26/mile average. Later that morning, I went to the Weekend Warriors class.
Sunday, Oct. 9, I continued my favorite tradition of skipping my long run.
Monday, Oct. 10, in the late afternoon, I ran 3.2 miles at a 9:13/mile average and then I went to a HIIT class. I took a shower when I got home from that and then I went with Clark to a luau-themed party at a trade show he was attending a resort here in Carlsbad. It was actually really nice — all the food was great and they had an amazing Hawaiian fire dance performer — but the highlight of the evening was the DOUGHNUT BAR. There were trays of plain raised doughnuts, three icings to dip them in and about a dozen candy or nut toppings to pick from. It was so good!
Tuesday morning, I ran in the morning again, 4 miles at a pace I didn’t write down.
It’s been really gray here the last several days but I did take this picture that morning.
That evening, there was another home field hockey game scheduled at the high school, so we were going to meet there anyway and then go do hill sprints on a nearby hill. Until a pretty strong thunderstorm rolled through and it got cancelled for lightning. At this point it’s been a MONTH since I was able to do a speed workout on a Tuesday evening!
Wednesday, Oct. 12, I ran in the morning again before work, 3.1 miles at another pace I didn’t bother to write down, and then in the evening, Clark and I went to Vista to meet the running group.
Well, Clark went to watch the Padres-Dodgers game at the pizza restaurant where the group was meeting. And the only other runner who showed up was Shawn, who is also easing his way back in after getting treated for a chronic Achilles thing. So he and I ran 3 hilly miles at a 9:30/mile pace.
We all stayed to watch most of the game. (Padres tied up the series!) I was pretty pumped about that until we walked out to the parking lot and I found some damage on my driver’s side front fender that definitely was NOT there when I’d parked. Some asshole in a minivan swiped my car just trying to back straight out of the parking spot next to mine. And no, they didn’t leave a note, so I have to pay my deductible (and I’m sure raised premiums as a result) to get this fixed.
I was seething mad. I don’t think I blinked for about three hours.
I took these pictures the next day.
The whole fender is definitely going to have to be replaced. Somehow they managed to not hit my door at least.
I think I’ll just park in the back of every lot from now on, far away from minivans and SUVs. (There’s a ding in the front passenger door after a kid slammed the door of his parents’ GMC Yukon into my car, when I was parked next to it. I saw him do it.)
I filed a claim with my insurance and have an appointment to drop it off at a body shop next week. I’m also trying to get a separate claim filed to fix the scratch on the driver’s side quarter panel after it got randomly keyed in our apartment complex parking garage a couple years ago. Might as well.
I would like to keep this car for a long time but it’s starting to look like I can’t drive, and I haven’t even done any of it!
Yesterday, I meant to run, but I didn’t.
And finally, today, I am going to go for a run here in a bit, and then tonight, Clark and I are going to the first “Paint and Pints” night event they’re starting at our gym. Our team all won free entries for finishing second in the last challenge.
Speaking of challenges, the next one is starting Monday, and Clark and I are both signed up. But before that, I’ll probably meet the running group tomorrow morning and go to the Weekend Warriors class, and then hopefully I can convince myself to do a 90-minute long run Sunday.
We had an absolutely amazing time driving a loop around the corner where Montana, Idaho and Wyoming meet! We have been home from our trip since Tuesday evening, but work has been hectic since then and this is the first time since we got back I’ve felt like doing any more writing or editing on a computer, let alone a post this massive. But here it is finally!
Wednesday, Sept. 28
We had a 6:35 a.m. flight out of San Diego, a connection in Las Vegas and we were supposed to be in Bozeman, Mont., by 12:30 p.m. MT.
Well, Hurricane Ian threw a major wrench in those plans. A bunch of airports in Florida were closed for the storm and it sent a ripple effect through the country. The airport in Las Vegas got closed to incoming flights because so many scheduled departures couldn’t leave.
Very long story short, our flight to Vegas ultimately got cancelled. After sitting in the increasingly crowded terminal in San Diego for seven hours, we finally got on a flight to Denver, where we had another four hours to kill before our flight to Bozeman.
Oh and in the middle of all this, I got an email that someone had hacked into my account with Road Runner Sports and treated themselves to two pairs of running shoes on my main credit card, so I had to call Road Runner to cancel the order and then cancel the card. Jerk.
Anyway, we got to Bozeman about 10 hours later than planned. By some miracle, my luggage got there at the same time, and we finally had our vacation officially underway. We got our rental car, a Volkswagen Jetta, and stopped in downtown Bozeman at the Rocking R Bar. It was Wild West Wednesday and a shot called the Chuck Norris was on special — Red Bull and huckleberry vodka. So we had a couple of those to celebrate making it to Montana after all, then went to our hotel and hit the hay. Long day!
Thursday, Sept. 29
We started the day with a nice little hilly run in Burke Park in Bozeman. It was so pretty but slow going! We have hills here in Carlsbad but we’re at sea level. Bozeman is about 5,000 feet up and we could definitely feel it. We managed 4 miles with 446 feet of climbing at an 11:39/mile pace.
View at the top of the first big climb, looking back toward the town.
A little fall color.
Bozeman is home to Montana State University, and the downtown area has a lot of really nice restaurants and shops. We had a late breakfast at Jam on Main and then hit the road for Idaho.
In the daylight, we also noticed the insane variety of Montana license plates. It seemed no two vehicles had the same design. I looked it up and there are currently 235 designs to pick from, and more are added all the time.
The drive took us through the Gallatin National Forest. There were a ton of little turnouts along the way and I stopped at a couple to get a better look at the scenery.
We stopped on the way in Big Sky, Mont., at Beehive Basin Brewery.
Crossing into Idaho, we saw several cars stopped along the road and people out with their cameras, so I stopped too (I no longer have any room to get mad at the tourists in Assateague stopping to take pictures of ponies ha.) Turned out everyone was there for moose!
This picture is VERY zoomed in. I don’t mess with wildlife, especially 1,000-lb. moose.
We drove along a river as the sun was setting and saw this guy fly fishing.
It was about this time Clark was getting hungry, so we stopped in Ashton, Idaho, at a bar, Spurs and Spokes aka The Opera House Saloon. Not the fanciest place we’ve ever been but they had beer on tap.
This was where we were introduced to “finger steaks” — battered and deep fried strips of steak that tasted like fried shrimp but were gray inside haha. They were served with fries and we ate every bit of them. The culinary highlight of the trip!
We drove the rest of the way to Idaho Falls, stopped at a place downtown called The Celt and then checked into our hotel and went to bed.
Friday, Sept. 30
We started the day with a run from our hotel to a greenway along the Snake River and back, 4.3 miles at a 9:54/mile average.
We got breakfast at a pancake and steak house but there wasn’t much else to see there, so we hit the road for Wyoming.
I don’t think eastern Idaho is the best part of Idaho, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to drive anywhere like Twin Falls, Boise or Coeur d’Alene. Another time.
We stopped in Alpine, Wyo., right past the state line.
Welcome to Wyoming!
We had a couple beers at Melvin Brewing.
Clark mainly needed to stop there for the WiFi to deal with work stuff.
“Enjoying” his vacation haha.
The town is located where three rivers flow into the Palisades Reservoir, which the brewery overlooks. It’s pretty low this time of year though. There were several RVs that were parked out where there’s water other times of the year.
I think the water rises up at least to where it’s green.
Then we drove to Jackson. The drive there was really pretty too.
We got to Jackson around lunch time. We had elk chili at Snake River Brewing and then walked around the rest of the downtown area. There’s a mix of tourists and very rich residents and it made for an interesting town.
Upper left: Elk antler arches at every corner of Jackson Town Square; lower left: the only bear I wanted to get close to on this whole trip; right: Clark on a saddle stool at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.
Clark hadn’t been able to find any hiking boots to fit his wide feet here at home when we finally tried to buy some for our trip, but he had better luck at an outdoor outfitters shop in Jackson. So we were all set to hit the national parks the next three days.
We had a really good dinner at a restaurant called Gather (no finger steaks though) and stayed in Jackson that night.
Saturday, Oct. 1
Since we were going to be hiking that day, we didn’t run Saturday morning. We had breakfast at the hotel and drove into Grand Teton National Park.
Before we left for our trip, the weather forecast had made it look like it’d be clear the second half of our week there, which was why we saved the parks for later. Well, it rained on us a bit at some point every day over the next three days and there was a lot of cloud cover otherwise, so that didn’t quite work out as expected. It was still pretty though.
The main thing I wanted to do in Grand Teton was hike around Jenny Lake, so we went straight there and got started on a lap of the whole loop around it.
The photo at the top of the post is the view of the Tetons near the Jenny Lake Visitor Center parking lot. Here’s Clark there near the edge of the lake:
As soon as we got away from the paved area near the visitor center overlook and onto the trail, it got a lot quieter. Clark and I were both very nervous about running into a bear, and suddenly feeling very alone made it feel more real. So did the bear alert signs! But the trail was really pretty.
“DO NOT RUN” is the most ominous part of that sign to me!
Any time we got close to an overlook, there’d be a lot more people and we’d feel safer again.
View from Jenny Lake overlook.
Not far past this overlook, we were alone again. Suddenly I heard Clark skid to a stop behind me and mutter “OH SHIT.” I fully expected to see a bear in the woods to our right but instead it was this vicious beast:
Not really a threat haha. We both laughed at ourselves and kept going.
More fall foliage, stream connecting String and Jenny lakes, more terrifying wildlife haha.
About three quarters of the way around, we hiked up to Hidden Falls.
Walking along the stream on the way up to the falls.
At the last junction to turn toward the falls, we ran into a guy coming back down. He said there was a mama and baby bear up there, eating berries, if we wanted to see them! A baby bear with its mom nearby?? That’s the last thing we’d want to run into!
By the time we got up there, the bears had wandered away, but there were still a bunch of people there hoping they’d come back. I heard someone say “It felt safe, like we’re in a zoo.” Well you’re not, dingleberries.
Anyway, Hidden Falls was cool. Worth the side trip for sure.
Then we hiked the rest of the loop back to the visitor’s center parking lot. It was a total of 8.4 miles in a little over three hours, with 738 feet of climbing, at altitude ranging between 6,800 and 7,000 feet. I would call it moderate. I wore the backpack so we could bring plenty of water and snacks with us but we hardly needed any of it because it wasn’t hot at all. It was nice to have our rain jackets to put on when it started drizzling on the way to the falls though.
We had lunch at the Signal Mountain Lodge, overlooking the southern end of Jackson Lake. By that time, the sun had broken through, so we drove up to the top of Signal Mountain, the highest point in the park you can drive to.
View from the top.
We drove a little farther north and got a cabin at Jackson Lake Lodge. We finally got to see the Tetons that evening, just before sunset, from the bar at the lodge.
Clark pointing out Grand Teton, the highest peak in the park at 13,775 feet tall.
It turned out that night was the final night of operations for everything at the Jackson Lake Lodge. The hotel, cabins, restaurants and gift shops were all set to close for the season the next day. Something to keep in mind if you want to visit this or Yellowstone in the fall to avoid the summer crowds — a lot of amenities close between mid-September and mid-October.
Sunday, Oct. 2
We started the day enjoying the view from the patio off the back of our cabin.
Clark: “This green tea better invigorate the shit out of me.”
Then we drove up to Yellowstone.
Yellowstone is a lot bigger than Grand Teton, so we spent two days there. There are two main loops, an upper and lower one. I was hoping to make it all the way around the lower loop on the first day and the upper on the second.
I’d heard of Old Faithful, a well-known geyser at Yellowstone that erupts at pretty predictable times, but I didn’t realize how many thermal features there are — more than 10,000 geysers, hot springs, mud pots and steam vents. They are extremely hot and very dangerous to get close to, so there are boardwalks around the thermal features open to the public to keep everyone far enough away. Every now and then, however, someone goes off the boardwalk and gets their self killed.
We started at the West Thumb Geyser Basin. It was so weird seeing a couple of geysers bubbling on the edge of Yellowstone Lake.
Overlooking the whole geyser basin.
Our next stop was Old Faithful. We got there just as it was finishing up erupting.
So we hung around for the next eruption. We had more than an hour to kill, so we walked around to see some of the other thermal features in the area.
Blue Star Spring. Forbidden hot tub haha.
We climbed a steep half-mile trail to an overlook of Old Faithful.
Then we headed back down and got a front row seat for the next eruption. It was really cool! The water shoots up to 180 feet in the air.
Next stop was the Fairy Falls trail head so we could hike to another waterfall. It was a pretty flat, easy gravel trail until right at the very end at the falls.
Fairy Falls.
Clark and me in front of the falls.
On the way back, we went up to an overlook of the Grand Prismatic Spring. The colors weren’t as brilliant on a cloudy day, because the bright colors come from reflecting sunlight, but it was still something worth seeing.
When we got back to the trail head, we’d covered 5.4 miles in 1:50, only climbing 302 feet (mostly to the overlook) at about 7,200 feet altitude.
Continuing along the lower loop, we spotted our first bison herd off in the distance.
And then we got to what turned out to be my favorite part of the first day — the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
I haven’t seen the actual Grand Canyon yet, but this one was pretty impressive to me. There was a trail that led to the bottom but we didn’t have time this late in the day (and to be honest the second day in our new hiking boots seemed to be the most painful for both of us and neither of us wanted to walk much more in them after the hike to Fairy Falls) but there were plenty of overlooks we could drive to.
The falls.
Where the water keeps running after falling into the canyon.
Further down in the canyon.
At the end of the day, we’d only made it halfway around the lower loop. Not even close to seeing the whole thing!
We tried to get a room in the hotel near the canyon — the only one in the park still open — but it was full. So we drove out to West Yellowstone, Mont., just outside the west entrance to the park, and got a room there.
On the way, we had to pick our way through practically a pileup of cars when people stopped right in the road to try to get a picture of black bear in the woods, doing bear things. We just caught a glimpse of it as we drove by.
Monday, Oct. 3
We got breakfast at the hotel and then headed back into the park to try to get around the upper loop.
Our first stop was Gibbon Falls.
The eastern side of the upper loop didn’t have as many scenic stops, but we did come up on this road block:
We also ran into a lot of fog and even some snow along this road. I guess it was at a higher altitude than a lot of the rest of the park.
We stopped next at Tower Falls, named for the tower-like rock formations around it.
I hiked down to the river at the bottom of the canyon but it didn’t lead to where you could see the bottom of the falls.
I don’t know what this was but I didn’t touch it ha.
Then we stopped at an overlook of Calcite Springs.
Looking east along the Yellowstone River.
Looking west.
Then we stopped to see a petrified tree. There used to be three but people kept chipping off chunks of the other two, so they finally fenced off the last one.
We made it next to Mammoth Hot Springs in the northwest corner of the park. We got some very overpriced sandwiches from a gift shop in a hotel there and then we hiked around the lower and upper terraces — hot springs that rise up through limestone, dissolve the calcium carbonate and deposit the calcite that makes the travertine terraces.
This was probably the most bizarre place we saw. There are lots of microorganisms called thermophiles, or heat lovers, living in the terraces. The live ones appear as color; inactive ones look white and gray. It made the terraces look like the surface of Mars or the moon, depending on whether or not the thermophiles were active.
Palette Hot Spring.
Clockwise from top left: Angel Terrace, Canary Springs, White Elephant Back Terrace and Jupiter Terrace.
Looking down at Historic Fort Yellowstone (now administrative offices and employee housing) from the lower terrace.
Clark and me in front of the Jupiter and Mound terraces.
We hiked a total of 3.7 miles here, with 607 feet of climbing, in about 90 minutes, between 6,300 and 6,800 feet of altitude.
We also saw elk here! There was one buck with about a dozen does and younger elk. The buck looked like he was napping but he was definitely keeping an eye on everyone.
Driving along after we left the Mammoth parking area, we came up on another waterfall along the road. I figured out on this trip I am a sucker for waterfalls haha. If there’s a large amount of water pouring from one level to another, I’m all about it.
Looking back at the road.
The mountains in Yellowstone aren’t as dramatic as the ones in Grand Teton, but we did get a nice view of some of them at one point.
Mount Holmes, Dome Mountain, Antler Peak and Quadrant Mountain behind Swan Lake.
Our last stop was the Norris Geyser Basin.
Emerald Spring.
Steamboat Geyser. The biggest active geyser in the world, but not nearly as predictable as Old Faithful. The last major eruption had happened about two weeks earlier.
We made it all the way around the upper loop, and then we headed back toward the entrance at West Yellowstone. We came up on a very slow-moving traffic jam on the way out, about 10 miles from the gate, but since the road was so twisty, it was hard to see what was causing it or where it started. Finally we caught a glimpse of the issue:
There were actually three of these guys! Two were in our lane and one was weaving back and forth between ours and the oncoming lane. It took forever to get around them, because the drivers in oncoming traffic would stop to take pictures and videos until the bison had passed by them. Then the driver in the next car would do the same, blocking the way around. Finally we got a break in the oncoming traffic and the third bison had wandered back into our lane, so we got around them.
Once we were out of the park, we headed north back toward Bozeman. We stopped in Big Sky again to go to that brewery, and we saw two big horn sheep just hanging out on the side of the road!
Tuesday, Oct. 4
We went back to Burke Park in Bozeman and ran the 4-mile route again. I was a minute faster — 10:47/mile.
We hung out in downtown Bozeman before our flight out. I did a little souvenir shopping — I brought home huckleberry vodka, jam and chocolate, a ceramic pot by a local artist and a small carving of a bison, to remember our favorite road block haha.
Fortunately, the trip home was a lot easier than the trip there had been and we were back in Carlsbad around 7 p.m.
So that was our trip! With those three states, I’ve now seen 38 total, and Clark is up to 46. He’s only missing North and South Dakota, Hawaii and Alaska. I’m missing all of those plus Colorado and Missouri (I’ve been to airports in those states but that doesn’t count), Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Iowa and Kentucky.
The map my phone generated of where our trip pictures came from.
A Simple Running Log 