Mt Ellinor, or the dumbest thing I've ever done

A few months ago, my friend and I decided that we wanted to do a kid-free hike.  I did one last summer with a different friend and had a marvelous time!  This year, we looked toward Olympic National Park and decided on Mt Ellinor. 

Small problem: all the hiking I have done this summer was with the kids.  And hiking with Isaac means that nothing I did this summer prepared me for this.  Also, I may not be in the best shape.  (Shocking, I know.)

  

(some pics are from my friend, some from my Mom's camera that she left here)

The trail started in the shade.  Glorious shade.  We got to the trailhead at 8:30am in an attempt to take advantage of the cool morning temperatures.

Which we needed because soon shade would be scarce.  At one point, we crouched by a bush just to get a break from the sun.

 We needed a break, because this is mostly what we did for about a mile.  Only, the next three pictures were of the easier parts of the trail.

There was, however a beautiful, albeit smoky, view.  I may have neglected to mention that we have moved to Southern California...or maybe Southern California moved here...

Ignore the chubby woman at the top; she's there for perspective.  This is more representational of the trail.

It is at this point that I must say that I have been blessed in this life with people who are willing to take me on cool adventures and then are unbelievably patient with the snail pace that appears to be my maximum speed.  One of those people was my friend who did this hike with me.  I had a great time with her, but I think I added a couple of hours to the time it took to do this hike.

One online description of this trail is "character-building"!  That should have been a red flag!  Ha!  I reached a point that I was fairly certain was done and found a bush to chill under while my friend went for the summit.  After about 20 minutes to allow my body temp and pulse to normalize, I decided to take on the Stairs From Hell (my words, not theirs).  Do you see that faint diagonal line on the mountain?

It looked like this up close and personal.  I think the average pace for most hikers was a break every 10 steps or so.

I did actually make it up the stairs (woohoo!) and was rewarded with this view.

 My friend was kind enough to share some pictures from the top.  Apparently, there were some goats hanging out.

And beautiful wild flowers.

And then we got a picture together on her way back down.

The hike clocked in at 3.1 miles with over 3,300 feet in elevation change.   The first mile or so was a slow, but consist uphill.  The next mile or so was switchbacks.  The last mile or so was like a stairmaster made of boulders.  I'd like to be dramatic and say that it was uphill both directions; however, in some ways downhill was much, much worse.  Uphill was cardio and it turns out that the legs were willing, but the heart and lungs were weak.  Downhill was strength training so the heart was chilling and the legs were fighting collapse.

There were many times that I seriously questioned our decision making ability.  I regret a little that I didn't make it to the top, but as strenuous as it was to get to the top, I knew that it would be really hairy getting back down.  I couldn't give 100% to get to the top if there wasn't a zip line or tram to get back to the bottom.  Also, there was no smoothie bar at the top.  Which I really think would improve this hike.  As it was, my legs were pretty wobbly on the way down.  Thankfully, I only slipped and fell three times.

This way, I have something to aim for next summer.  I am sure that I will have forgotten about how much pain I am in today by then.