Dosewallips Road Walk - first part of class exercise journal

01/09/2010

I decided to do the Dose (that rhymes with rosy) road walk today. I did not want to work too hard and be too sore in class on Monday, but I wanted to get enough exercise to maintain my level of conditioning, so I chose the Dose road walk.

I drove my Jeep even though I remember the road being smooth the last time I was up there. I had two reasons to take my jeep, we had a rain on snow event very recently, so the road could have been damaged and snow was forecast for the evening. My Jeep has snow tires and does well in the snow, so I took my Jeep in spite of its poor fuel economy.

I started my hike at about 10 am. There was no snow at the “trailhead” so I decided to leave my snowshoes in the jeep. I was worried that there would be enough snow to keep me from making my goal of the old Dose Car Campground, but I hate carrying snow shoes on my back, so I left them behind.

I made the right choice, there was some snow on the way in, but it was a nice crusty snow. The snow was just soft enough to steal some of my energy on the way up and to absorb some of the shock on the way back down. I slowed down to eat ate a banana about 4 miles into my hike.
At the 5.5 mile point I brewed tea and ate my lunch of two cold grill cheese sandwiches and a half frozen orange. I thawed the orange a bit on the lid of my tea pot before I ate it. There was about one foot of snow and compact ice my picnic table at the campground. Yes, it was very cold at my lunch spot, so I only stayed for about 45 minutes.

My weak ankle was just fine until I after lunch. After lunch I was in a good mood, ok I had hikers high and maybe was hiking too fast, my ankle went over 3-4 times to the outside and once to the inside, but it only hurt the time it went over to the inside. I’m still worried about my ankle but I have decided to ignore it until it either heals or gets so bad I can’t ignore it. Physical therapy helped a lot but I’m still having issues.

For the last 4 miles of the hike my ankle did not flop over at all. It was just that first mile after lunch that gave me problems. I made a point of stretching my calf muscles after lunch, so I didn’t really think that tightness was the problem. But now I think that maybe I was just a little bit tight and perhaps hiking too fast.

It started to snow while I was hiking out and the scene was very pretty. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera today, so I have no pictures.

I’ll try to paint a picture with words. On the way out I marveled at the maple trees have shed their fragile leaves, revealing their sturdy moss covered frames. The luxuriant drapes of moss were lightly coated with fine covering of powdered sugar snow.

Ok that's that, if you want to see more look at he pictures I took the other times I blogged this. Here is a compilation of pictures of the area from other hikes.



While on my way out I ate 1/3 of a Luna bar and gave the rest to my dog. I get migraines if I eat too many Luna bars. I assume they have hidden MSG in them, “natural flavors” is one of the ingredients and is a legal word for MSG in food labels and MSG gives me migraines. I also ate a half frozen “blackberry” pie during the last mile of my hike.

About an inch of snow fell on the trail while I was hiking in. The extra inch of snow on my way out was welcome, because it aided my traction on this otherwise ice coated road. Just before I reached my jeep and giant raven lifted up out of the woods and flew into the sky. There was a little bit of snow at the trail head when I reached it, but none of it had stuck to my Jeep. Tire tracks in the snow revealed that several cars had come and gone while my Jeep was parked.

The Dosewallips washout was actively falling into the river near my parking spot. When I first heard the noise of rocks falling off the hill I thought it was a tree falling, but then I decided it was elk running in the river. That makes sense, because the noise I heard started in the woods and ended at the river. The noise was the sound of rocks rolling down the hill and falling into the river.

I only saw three other people on the road; they were all together and were only about one mile in. Just as I was getting ready to leave my parking spot two cars rolled in, so I guess I picked a good time to leave. I’m afraid that my dog is starting to show her age, I had to help her get up onto the floorboard of the Jeep at the end of the hike. She seemed agile enough while she was hiking though.

Now I’m home and my ankle feels fine, but my legs are sore and both of my knees hurt. I expect that I will be a bit stiff and sore in the morning.

Other times I have blogged this hike


Jan 29, 2010
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006

I also carried my then 12 month old the entire way on my back (after one hell of an argument with my husband) sometime in 2005, but before I started blogging. That may have been my favorite trip.



11 miles with
1,100 feet elevation gain